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Soil respiration is the largest single efflux in the global carbon cycle and varies in complex ways with climate, vegetation, and soils. The suppressive effect of nitrogen (N) addition on soil respiration is well documented, but the extent to which it may be moderated by stand age or the availability of soil phosphorus (P) is not well understood. We quantified the response of soil respiration to manipulation of soil N and P availability in a full-factorial N x P fertilization experiment spanning 10 years in 13 northern hardwood forests in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, USA. We analyzed data for 2011 alone, to account for potential treatment effects unique to the first year of fertilization, and for three 3-year periods; data from each 3-year period was divided into spring, summer, and fall. Nitrogen addition consistently suppressed soil respiration by up to 14% relative to controls (p £ 0.01 for the main effect of N in 5 of 10 analysis periods). This response was tempered when P was also added, reducing the suppressive effect of N addition from 24 to 1% in one of the ten analysis periods (summer 2012–2014, p = 0.01 for the interaction of N and P). This interaction effect is consistent with observations of reduced foliar N and available soil N following P addition. Mid-successional stands (26–41 years old at the time of the first nutrient addition) consistently had the lowest rates of soil respiration across stand age classes (1.4–6.6 lmol CO2 m-2 s-1), and young stands had the highest (2.5–8.5 lmol CO2 m-2 s-1). In addition to these important effects of treatment and stand age, we observed an unexpected increase in soil respiration, which doubled in 10 years and was not explained by soil temperature patterns, nutrient additions, or increased in fine-root biomass. 

Identification of cryptic species often relies on invasive techniques such as comparison of cranial morphology or generation of DNA sequences. Myotis lucifugus and M. septentrionalis recently have been reported to occur near the Texas border in Oklahoma and Louisiana, respectively, and due to similarity of appearance, both species easily could be mistaken for M. austroriparius, a common inhabitant of East Texas. All three species co-occur across much of the southeastern United States. Myotis septentrionalis recently was listed under the Endangered Species Act as Endangered, and M. lucifugus has seen drastic reductions in abundance due to white-nose syndrome. Therefore, special care is needed when capturing any of these species due to the cryptic nature of their external morphology and the potential for misidentification in the field. The objective of this study was to determine if wing measurements obtained in the field could be used to differentiate among these three species. Measurements of 13 wing elements from 45 museum specimens were compared using univariate and multivariate statistics. Significant multivariate differences among species were detected, indicating that some wing characteristics may be effective for differentiation. These wing characteristics were compiled into a dichotomous key that researchers can use to easily identify species in the field. Using this technique, non-target species can be released quickly without harm, whereas individuals of species of interest can be confidently collected for scientific research. 

Abstract In June 2020, the tropical Atlantic and the Caribbean Basin were affected by a series of African dust outbreaks unprecedented in size and intensity. These events, informally named “Godzilla”, coincided with CALIMA, a large field campaign, offering a rare opportunity to assess the impact of African dust on air quality in the Greater Caribbean Basin. Network measurements of respirable particles (i.e., PM₁₀and PM_2.5) showed that dust significantly degraded regional air quality and increased the risk to public health in the Caribbean, the southern United States, northern South America, and Central America. CALIMA examined the meteorological context of Godzilla dust events over North Africa and how these conditions might relate to the greatly increased dust emissions and enhanced transport to the Americas. Godzilla was linked to strong pressure anomalies over West Africa, resulting in a large-scale geostrophic wind anomaly at 700 hPa over North Africa. We used surface-based and columnar measurements to test the performance of two frequently used aerosol forecast models: the NASA GEOS and WRF-Chem models. The models showed some skills, but differed substantially between their forecasts, suggesting large uncertainties in these forecasts that are critical for issuing early warnings of health-threatening dust events. Our results demonstrate the value of an integrated approach in characterizing the spatial and temporal variability of African dust transport and assessing its impact on regional air quality. Future studies are needed to improve models and to track the long-term changes in dust transport from Africa under a changing climate. 

This Letter reports new results from the HAYSTAC experiment’s search for dark matter axions in our galactic halo. It represents the widest search to date that utilizes squeezing to realize subquantum limited noise. The new results cover $1.71\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{eV}$of newly scanned parameter space in the mass ranges $17.28–18.44\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{eV}$and $18.71–19.46\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{eV}$. No statistically significant evidence of an axion signal was observed, excluding couplings $\left|g_{\gamma }\right|\ge 2.75\times \left|g_{\gamma }^{\mathrm{KSVZ}}\right|$and $\left|g_{\gamma }\right|\ge 2.96\times \left|g_{\gamma }^{\mathrm{KSVZ}}\right|$at the 90% confidence level over the respective region. By combining this data with previously published results using HAYSTAC’s squeezed state receiver, a total of $2.27\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{eV}$of parameter space has now been scanned between $16.96–19.46\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{eV}$ $\mu \mathrm{eV}$, excluding $\left|g_{\gamma }\right|\ge 2.86\times \left|g_{\gamma }^{\mathrm{KSVZ}}\right|$at the 90% confidence level. These results demonstrate the squeezed state receiver’s ability to probe axion models over a significant mass range while achieving a scan rate enhancement relative to a quantum-limited experiment. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

Materials composed of spin-1 antiferromagnetic (AFM) chains are known to adopt complex ground states that are sensitive to the single-ion-anisotropy (SIA) energy ( $D$), and intrachain ( $J_0$) and interchain ( $J_{1,2}^{\prime }$) exchange energy scales. While theoretical and experimental studies have extended this model to include various other energy scales, the effect of the lack of a common SIA axis is not well explored. Here we investigate the magnetic properties of $\mathrm{Ni}\left(\mathrm{pyrimidine}\right){\left({\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\right)}_2{\left({\mathrm{NO}}_3\right)}_2$, a chain compound where the tilting of Ni octahedra leads to a twofold alternation of the easy-axis directions along the chain. Muon-spin relaxation measurements indicate a transition to long-range order at $T_{\text{N}}=2.3\mathrm{K}$and the magnetic structure is initially determined to be antiferromagnetic and collinear using elastic neutron diffraction experiments. Inelastic neutron scattering measurements were used to find $J_0=5.107\left(7\right)\mathrm{K}, D=2.79\left(1\right)\mathrm{K},J_1^{\prime }=0.00\left(5\right)\mathrm{K}, J_2^{\prime }=0.18\left(3\right)\mathrm{K}$, and a rhombic anisotropy energy $E=0.19\left(9\right)\mathrm{K}$. Mean-field modeling reveals that the ground state structure hosts spin canting of $\varphi \approx 6.5^{\circ }$, which is not detectable above the noise floor of the elastic neutron diffraction data. Monte Carlo simulation of the powder-averaged magnetization, $M\left(H\right)$, is then used to confirm these Hamiltonian parameters, while single-crystal $M\left(H\right)$simulations provide insight into features observed in the data. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

Abstract To explore both environmental change and the response of non‐fossilizing phytoplankton across the Cretaceous‐Paleogene (K‐Pg) boundary mass extinction event, we determined changes in organic matter (OM) sources using a range of apolar (n‐alkanes, acyclic isoprenoids, steranes, and hopanes) and polar (BIT index) biomarkers. We analyzed two K‐Pg proximal sections, located in the Mississippi Embayment, Gulf Coastal Plain (USA), covering ∼300 kyrs prior to and ∼3 myrs after the K‐Pg event. The OM abundance and composition changed dramatically across the boundary. The post‐impact ejecta layer and burrowed unit are characterized by an increase in the mass accumulation rate (MAR) of plant and soil biomarkers, including high‐molecular‐weightn‐alkanes and C₂₉steranes as well as the BIT index, related to an erosive period which transported terrestrial OM to the ocean in the aftermath of the impact event. At the same time, MARs of putative aquatic biomarkers decrease (low‐molecular‐weightn‐alkanes, C₂₇steranes and pristane and phytane), which suggests a collapse of the marine phytoplankton community. The increase of terrestrial OM to the ocean, during the first 280 kyrs after the Chicxulub impact event, is a combination of reworked kerogen, soil and some plant material. Crucially, within the latter part of this erosion period, only ∼160 kyrs after the K‐Pg do biomarkers return to distributions similar to those in the upper Cretaceous, although not to pre‐impact MARs. Thus, our results suggest a long‐term interval for the full sedimentary and ecological recovery of the non‐fossilizing phytoplankton community after this event. 

We investigate the magnetic properties of $S=1$antiferromagnetic diamond-lattice, $\mathrm{Ni}{X}_2{\left(\mathrm{pyrimidine}\right)}_2$ $(X=\mathrm{Cl}, \mathrm{Br})$, hosting a single-ion anisotropy (SIA) orientation which alternates between neighboring sites. Through neutron diffraction measurements of the $X=\mathrm{Cl}$compound, the ordered state spins are found to align collinearly along a pseudo-easy axis, a unique direction created by the intersection of two easy planes. Similarities in the magnetization, exhibiting spin-flop transitions, and the magnetic susceptibility in the two compounds imply that the same magnetic structure and a pseudo-easy axis is also present for $X=\mathrm{Br}$. We estimate the Hamiltonian parameters by combining analytical calculations and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of the spin-flop and saturation field. The MC simulations also reveal that the spin-flop transition occurs when the applied field is parallel to the pseudo-easy axis. Contrary to conventional easy-axis systems, there exist field directions perpendicular to the pseudo-easy axis for which the magnetic saturation is approached asymptotically and no symmetry-breaking phase transition is observed at finite fields. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

Abstract Haystack and Owens Valley Radio Observatory observations recently revealed strong, intermittent, sinusoidal total flux-density variations that maintained their coherence between 1975 and 2021 in the blazar PKS 2131−021 (z= 1.283). This was interpreted as possible evidence of a supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB). Extended observations through 2023 show a coherence over 47.9 yr, with an observed periodP_{15 GHz}= (1739.8 ± 17.4) days. We reject, withp-value = 2.09 × 10⁻⁷, the hypothesis that the variations are due to random fluctuations in the red noise tail of the power spectral density. There is clearly a physical phenomenon in PKS 2131−021 producing coherent sinusoidal flux-density variations. We find the coherent sinusoidal intensity variations extend from below 2.7 GHz to optical frequencies, from which we derive an observed periodP_optical= (1764 ± 36) days. Across this broad frequency range, there is a smoothly varying monotonic phase shift in the sinusoidal variations with frequency. Hints of periodic variations are also observed atγ-ray energies. The importance of well-vetted SMBHB candidates to searches for gravitational waves is pointed out. We estimate the fraction of blazars that are SMBHB candidates to be >1 in 100. Thus, monitoring programs covering tens of thousands of blazars could discover hundreds of SMBHB candidates. 

The Brillouin sphere is defined as the smallest sphere, centered at the origin of the geocentric coordinate system, that incorporates all the condensed matter composing the planet. The Brillouin sphere touches the Earth at a single point, and the radial line that begins at the origin and passes through that point is called the singular radial line. For about 60 years there has been a persistent anxiety about whether or not a spherical harmonic (SH) expansion of the external gravitational potential,V, will converge beneath the Brillouin sphere. Recently, it was proven that the probability of such convergence is zero. One of these proofs provided an asymptotic relation, called Costin’s formula, for the upper bound,E_N, on the absolute value of the prediction error,e_N, of a SH series model, $V_N(\theta ,\lambda ,r)$, truncated at some maximum degree, $N=n_{max}$. When the SH series is restricted to (or projected onto) a particular radial line, it reduces to a Taylor series (TS) in $1/r$. Costin’s formula is $E_N\simeq B{N}^{-b}(R/r{)}^N$, whereRis the radius of the Brillouin sphere. This formula depends on two positive parameters:b, which controls the decay of error amplitude as a function ofNwhenris fixed, and a scale factorB. We show here that Costin’s formula derives from a similar asymptotic relation for the upper bound,A_non the absolute value of the TS coefficients,a_n, for the same radial line. This formula, $A_n\simeq K{n}^{-k}$, depends on degree,n, and two positive parameters,kandK, that are analogous tobandB. We use synthetic planets, for which we can compute the potential,V, and also the radial component of gravitational acceleration, $g_r=\partial V/\partial r$, to hundreds of significant digits, to validate both of these asymptotic formulas. Let superscriptVrefer to asymptotic parameters associated with the coefficients and prediction errors for gravitational potential, and superscriptgto the coefficients and predictions errors associated withg_r. For polyhedral planets of uniform density we show that $b^V=k^V=7/2$and $b^g=k^g=5/2$almost everywhere. We show that the frequency of oscillation (around zero) of the TS coefficients and the series prediction errors, for a given radial line, is controlled by the geocentric angle,α, between that radial line and the singular radial line. We also derive useful identities connecting $K^V,B^V,K^g$, andB^g. These identities are expressed in terms of quotients of the various scale factors. The only other quantities involved in these identities areαandR. The phenomenology of ‘series divergence’ and prediction error (whenr < R) can be described as a function of the truncation degree,N, or the depth,d, beneath the Brillouin sphere. For a fixed $r\text{⩽}R$, asNincreases from very low values, the upper error boundE_Nshrinks until it reaches its minimum (best) value whenNreaches some particular or optimum value, $N_{\mathrm{opt}}$. When $N>N_{\mathrm{opt}}$, prediction error grows asNcontinues to increase. Eventually, when $N\gg N_{\mathrm{opt}}$, prediction errors increase exponentially with risingN. If we fix the value ofNand allow $R/r$to vary, then we find that prediction error in free space beneath the Brillouin sphere increases exponentially with depth,d, beneath the Brillouin sphere. Because $b^g=b^V-1$everywhere, divergence driven prediction error intensifies more rapidly forg_rthan forV, both in terms of its dependence onNandd. If we fix bothNandd, and focus on the ‘lateral’ variations in prediction error, we observe that divergence and prediction error tend to increase (as doesB) as we approach high-amplitude topography.