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Abstract Sensitivity of ecosystem productivity to climate variability is a critical component of ecosystem resilience to climate change. Variation in ecosystem sensitivity is influenced by many variables. Here we investigate the effect of bedrock lithology and weathering products on the sensitivity of ecosystem productivity to variation in climate water deficit using Bayesian statistical models. Two thirds of terrestrial ecosystems exhibit negative sensitivity, where productivity decreases with increased climate water deficit, while the other third exhibit positive sensitivity. Variation in ecosystem sensitivity is significantly affected by regolith porosity and permeability and regolith and soil thickness, indicating that lithology, through its control on water holding capacity, exerts important controls on ecosystem sensitivity. After accounting for effects of these four variables, significant differences in sensitivity remain among ecosystems on different rock types, indicating the complexity of bedrock effects. Our analysis suggests that regolith affects ecosystem sensitivity to climate change worldwide and thus their resilience. 

Abstract The superconducting critical temperature T c of intercalated iron-selenide superconductor (Li,Fe)OHFeSe (FeSe11111) can be increased to 42 from 8 K of bulk FeSe. It shows remarkably similar electronic properties as the high- T c monolayer FeSe and provides a bulk counterpart to investigate the origin of enhanced superconductivity. Unraveling the nature of excitations is crucial for understanding the pairing mechanism in high- T c iron selenides. Here we use resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) to investigate the excitations in FeSe11111. Our high-quality data exhibit several Raman-like excitations, which are dispersionless and isotropic in momentum transfer in both superconducting 28 K and 42 K samples. Using atomic multiplet calculations, we assign the low-energy ~0.3 and 0.7 eV Raman peaks as local e g  −  e g and e g  −  t 2 g orbital excitations. The intensity of these two features decreases with increasing temperature, suggesting a dominating contribution of the orbital fluctuations. Our results highlight the importance of the orbital degree of freedom for high- T c iron selenides. 

A rich body of evidence from local-scale experiments and observational studies has revealed stabilizing effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning. However, whether these effects emerge across entire regions and continents remains largely overlooked. Here we combine data on the distribution of more than 57,500 plant species and remote-sensing observations throughout the entire Western Hemisphere to investigate the role of multiple facets of plant diversity (species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and functional diversity) in mediating the sensitivity of ecosystems to climate variability at the regional-scale over the past 20 years. We show that, across multiple biomes, regions of greater plant diversity exhibit lower sensitivity (more stable over time) to temperature variability at the interannual and seasonal-scales. While these areas can display lower sensitivity to interannual variability in precipitation, they emerge as highly sensitive to precipitation seasonality. Conserving landscapes of greater diversity may help stabilize ecosystem functioning under climate change, possibly securing the continuous provisions of productivity-related ecosystem service to people.

 

Self‐organized pattern formation is widespread and functionally significant. Scale‐dependent feedbackin space(short‐distance positive feedback coupled with long‐distance negative feedback) has been embraced as an arguably universal mechanism of ecological self‐organization. Recently, intraspecific territorial competition has been proposed as a complementary mechanism contributing to spatial self‐organization in ecology. In geomorphology, regular patterning is also widespread and has often been attributed to competition among geomorphic features. This mechanism has never been integrated into the framework of ecological pattern formation. Using the regularly patterned landscape of Big Cypress National Preserve in South Florida as a case study, we formalize a third mechanism of spatial self‐organization: competition among pattern elements of finite amplitude stabilized by scale‐dependent feedbackin time. Depressions first accelerate their expansion rate via the positive feedback between depression volume and weathering rate. Later negative feedbacks become stronger, and eventually stabilize the size of depressions. While scale‐dependent feedback in time provides a mechanism to stabilize individual depressions, it is the competition among depressions that induces spatial regularity. A relatively smaller depression could have a greater expansion rate than larger ones in its development. Higher weathering rate on the side of a divide toward the smaller depression causes migration of the divide to the larger depression. Consequently, the smaller depression expands its catchment area while the catchment area of the neighboring larger depression contracts, resulting in depressions achieving similar size and distance from each other. The diversity of regular patterns dictates the need to integrate perspectives from multiple disciplines.

 

Many landforms on Earth are profoundly influenced by biota. In particular, biota play a significant role in creating karst biogeomorphology, through biogenic CO₂accelerating calcite weathering. In this study, we explore the ecohydrologic feedback mechanisms that have created isolated depressional wetlands on exposed limestone bedrock in South Florida – Big Cypress National Preserve –as a case study for karst biogeomorphic processes giving rise to regularly patterned landscapes. Specifically, we are interested in: (1) whether cypress depressions on the landscape have reached (or will reach) equilibrium size; (2) if so, what feedback mechanisms stabilize the size of depressions; and (3) what distal interactions among depressions give rise to the even distribution of depressions in the landscape. We hypothesize three feedback mechanisms controlling the evolution of depressions and build a numerical model to evaluate the relative importance of each mechanism. We show that a soil cover feedback (i.e. a smaller fraction of CO₂reaches the bedrock surface for weathering as soil cover thickens) is the major feedback stabilizing depressions, followed by a biomass feedback (i.e. inhibited biomass growth with deepening standing water and extended inundation period as depressions expand in volume). Strong local positive feedback between the volume of depressions and rate of volume expansion and distal negative feedback between depressions competing for water likely lead to the regular patterning at the landscape scale. The individual depressions, however, are not yet in steady state but would be in ~0.2–0.4 million years. This represents the first study to demonstrate the decoupling of landscape‐scale self‐organization and the self‐organization of its constituent agents. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.