Publications

Policy design for the Anthropocene

Publication ID: pub.1111273968

Publication date: 10/01/2019

Keywords: Anthropocene; Biophysical Limits; Earth; Global; Human Life; International; Local; Planetary Boundaries; Policy Design; Politics; Scientific Disciplines; Society; Spaceship Earth; Underlying Mechanisms

Today, more than ever, ‘Spaceship Earth’ is an apt metaphor as we chart the boundaries for a safe planet1. Social scientists both analyse why society courts disaster by approaching or even overstepping these boundaries and try to design suitable policies to avoid these perils. Because the threats of transgressing planetary boundaries are global, long-run, uncertain […]

Bacterial diversity in typical abandoned multi-contaminated nonferrous metal(loid) tailings during natural attenuation

Publication ID: pub.1111197022

Publication date: 07/01/2019

Keywords: Acidiferrobacter; Acidithiobacillus; Bacillus; Bacteria; Biodegradation, Environmental; China; Desulfurivibrio; Gaiella; Genetic Variation; Guangxi Region; Iron; Metals; Microbiota; Oxidation-Reduction; Plants; Rhizobium; Sulfides; Sulfuriferula; Sulfurifustis; Thiobacillus

Abandoned nonferrous metal(loid) tailings sites are anthropogenic, and represent unique and extreme ecological niches for microbial communities. Tailings contain elevated and toxic content of metal(loid)s that had negative effects on local human health and regional ecosystems. Microbial communities in these typical tailings undergoing natural attenuation are often very poorly examined. The diversity and inferred functions […]

Fire air pollution reduces global terrestrial productivity

Publication ID: pub.1110718648

Publication date: 21/12/2018

Keywords: Aerosols; Air Pollution; Biomass; Fires; Global; Models, Biological; Ozone; Photosynthesis

Fire emissions generate air pollutants ozone (O3) and aerosols that influence the land carbon cycle. Surface O3 damages vegetation photosynthesis through stomatal uptake, while aerosols influence photosynthesis by increasing diffuse radiation. Here we combine several state-of-the-art models and multiple measurement datasets to assess the net impacts of fire-induced O3 damage and the aerosol diffuse fertilization […]

“The good guys are doing it anyway”: The accommodation of environmental concern among English and Welsh farmers

Publication ID: pub.1110518107

Publication date: 10/12/2018

Keywords: Agriculture; Agri-environment Schemes; Avon; Conwy; Eden; England; Environment; Good Farming; Nafferton; Taw; UK; Upper Welland; Wales; Wensum; Yare

Farmers today are increasingly facing pressure from policy and market forces to improve their environmental performance. Yet – despite widespread recognition of the negative externalities of agriculture on a national and global scale – many farmers would argue that, as “custodians of the countryside” they have always respected and cared for the local environment, and […]

Microplastic ingestion ubiquitous in marine turtles

Publication ID: pub.1110376525

Publication date: 04/12/2018

Keywords: Animals; Aquatic Organisms; Atlantic Ocean; Environmental Exposure; Environmental Monitoring; Mediterranean Sea; Pacific Ocean; Plastics; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Turtles; Water Pollutants, Chemical

Despite concerns regarding the environmental impacts of microplastics, knowledge of the incidence and levels of synthetic particles in large marine vertebrates is lacking. Here, we utilize an optimized enzymatic digestion methodology, previously developed for zooplankton, to explore whether synthetic particles could be isolated from marine turtle ingesta. We report the presence of synthetic particles in […]

Predicted Chance That Global Warming Will Temporarily Exceed 1.5 °C

Publication ID: pub.1107590354

Publication date: 04/11/2018

Keywords: Anthropogenic Global Warming; Global; Natural Internal Variability; Paris Agreement; Policy Makers; Probability; Temperatures; Temporary Excursions; Threshold; Warning

The Paris Agreement calls for efforts to limit anthropogenic global warming to less than 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels. However, natural internal variability may exacerbate anthropogenic warming to produce temporary excursions above 1.5 °C. Such excursions would not necessarily exceed the Paris Agreement, but would provide a warning that the threshold is being approached. Here […]