One of the ocean currents in the Arctic Ocean is at risk of disappearing this century because of climate change, according to a new joint study from the University of Gothenburg and the German Alfred Wegener Institute. As a result, the North Atlantic could be flooded with freshwater which would weaken the global ocean circulation.  

In a paper published in Science Bulletin, an international team of scientists examined the extent changes in China’s wetlands from 1980 to 2020 and highlighted the hidden loss and restoration effects based on China_Wetlands product. This consistent dataset (i.e., China_Wetlands) has been created by applying the HOHC method to over 53,000 Landsat images acquired in six time periods from 1980 to 2020.

Climate change and unpredictable weather threaten global food security by disrupting agricultural cycles. Now, Japanese researchers have discovered devernalizers (DVRs)—small molecules that delay flowering in plants without heat treatment. These compounds reactivate a key flowering suppression gene, prolonging the nutritional quality and yield of leafy crops. This breakthrough could lead to new agricultural technologies, enabling farmers to control plant growth and adapt to changing climates more effectively.

Subalpine and boreal moorlands are two ecosystems that contribute to climate stability by reducing excess carbon as well as acting to help regulate the climate. Therefore, understanding how to maintain these communities in their natural state is imperative. However, the underlying mechanisms of community stability and how factors such as biodiversity within these communities affect their long-term stability is still not well understood. Scientists in Japan have been studying subalpine and boreal moorland plant communities over an extended area in a national monitoring project, the ‘Monitoring Site 1000’. Using this dataset researchers at YOKOHAMA National University analyzed the relationships between vascular plant species richness, species asynchrony, species stability, community compositional stability, bryophyte cover and the temporal stability of the community cover to understand what factors influence plant communities’ stability.

The SpongeBoost project is taking a creative approach to communicating its mission of enhancing and restoring landscapes' natural water retention capacities. By consolidating existing knowledge, utilising best practices, and testing innovative approaches, the project aims to create a comprehensive roadmap for implementing transformative measures that improve resilience to extreme weather events. This involves synthesising information for policy-making, practical restoration, and land-use planning, as well as showcasing successful examples of sponge restoration and its multiple benefits.