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Abstract Dry deposition is the second largest tropospheric ozone (O3) sink and occurs through stomatal and nonstomatal pathways. Current O3uptake predictions are limited by the simplistic big‐leaf schemes commonly used in chemical transport models (CTMs) to parameterize deposition. Such schemes fail to reproduce observed O3fluxes over terrestrial ecosystems, highlighting the need for more realistic treatment of surface‐atmosphere exchange in CTMs. We address this need by linking a resolved canopy model (1D Multi‐Layer Canopy CHemistry and Exchange Model, MLC‐CHEM) to the GEOS‐Chem CTM and use this new framework to simulate O3fluxes over three north temperate forests. We compare results with in situ measurements from four field studies and with standalone, observationally constrained MLC‐CHEM runs to test current knowledge of O3deposition and its drivers. We show that GEOS‐Chem overpredicts observed O3fluxes across all four studies by up to 2×, whereas the resolved‐canopy models capture observed diel profiles of O3deposition and in‐canopy concentrations to within 10%. Relative humidity and solar irradiance are strong O3flux drivers over these forests, and uncertainties in those fields provide the largest remaining source of model deposition biases. Flux partitioning analysis shows that: (a) nonstomatal loss accounts for 60% of O3deposition on average; (b) in‐canopy chemistry makes only a small contribution to total O3fluxes; and (c) the CTM big‐leaf treatment overestimates O3‐driven stomatal loss and plant phytotoxicity in these temperate forests by up to 7×. Results motivate the application of fully online vertically explicit canopy schemes in CTMs for improved O3predictions.more » « lessFree, publicly-accessible full text available December 28, 2025
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ABSTRACT The aftermath of the North American fur trade resulted in the depletion of many furbearing mammal populations in their native North American range while simultaneously creating invasive populations of these species through translocations worldwide. Here, we document the ongoing results of this mass ecological experiment by describing the natural history of a remnant fur colony of muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) putatively introduced to the Isles of Shoals archipelago in the Gulf of Maine in the early 20th century. Through a combination of intensive surveys and camera trapping, we document how muskrats have been influenced by insular conditions under expectations of island biogeographic theory. Unlike other translocated muskrats that have produced successful wetland‐restricted populations in continental Europe and Asia, the Shoals muskrats appear to have shifted their habitat use and lodge building behavior and have encountered a new predator: gulls (Laridae). This Nature Note formalizes decades of anecdotal observations and provides important insight into the ecological flexibility of muskrats given the paradox of a species that is apparently now declining in its native range but expanding outside of it.more » « less
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Effective coral restoration must include comprehensive investigations of the targeted coral community that consider all aspects of the coral holobiont—the coral host, symbiotic algae, and microbiome. For example, the richness and composition of microorganisms associated with corals may be indicative of the corals’ health status and thus help guide restoration activities. Potential differences in microbiomes of restoration corals due to differences in host genetics, environmental condition, or geographic location, may then influence outplant success. The objective of the present study was to characterize and compare the microbiomes of apparently healthy Acropora cervicornis genotypes that were originally collected from environmentally distinct regions of Florida’s Coral Reef and sampled after residing within Mote Marine Laboratory’s in situ nursery near Looe Key, FL (USA) for multiple years. By using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing, we described the microbial communities of 74 A. cervicornis genotypes originating from the Lower Florida Keys ( n = 40 genotypes), the Middle Florida Keys ( n = 15 genotypes), and the Upper Florida Keys ( n = 19 genotypes). Our findings demonstrated that the bacterial communities of A. cervicornis originating from the Lower Keys were significantly different from the bacterial communities of those originating from the Upper and Middle Keys even after these corals were held within the same common garden nursery for an average of 3.4 years. However, the bacterial communities of corals originating in the Upper Keys were not significantly different from those in the Middle Keys. The majority of the genotypes, regardless of collection region, were dominated by Alphaproteobacteria, namely an obligate intracellular parasite of the genus Ca. Aquarickettsia . Genotypes from the Upper and Middle Keys also had high relative abundances of Spirochaeta bacteria. Several genotypes originating from both the Lower and Upper Keys had lower abundances of Aquarickettsia , resulting in significantly higher species richness and diversity. Low abundance of Aquarickettsia has been previously identified as a signature of disease resistance. While the low- Aquarickettsia corals from both the Upper and Lower Keys had high abundances of an unclassified Proteobacteria, the genotypes in the Upper Keys were also dominated by Spirochaeta . The results of this study suggest that the abundance of Aquarickettsia and Spirochaeta may play an important role in distinguishing bacterial communities among A. cervicornis populations and compositional differences of these bacterial communities may be driven by regional processes that are influenced by both the environmental history and genetic relatedness of the host. Additionally, the high microbial diversity of low- Aquarickettsia genotypes may provide resilience to their hosts, and these genotypes may be a potential resource for restoration practices and management.more » « less
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Abstract We use observations from dual high‐resolution mass spectrometers to characterize ecosystem‐atmosphere fluxes of reactive carbon across an extensive range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and test how well that exchange is represented in current chemical transport models. Measurements combined proton‐transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTRMS) and iodide chemical ionization mass spectrometry (ICIMS) over a Colorado pine forest; together, these techniques have been shown to capture the majority of ambient VOC abundance and reactivity. Total VOC mass and associated OH reactivity fluxes were dominated by emissions of 2‐methyl‐3‐buten‐2‐ol, monoterpenes, and small oxygenated VOCs, with a small number of compounds detected by PTRMS driving the majority of both net and upward exchanges. Most of these dominant species are explicitly included in chemical models, and we find here that GEOS‐Chem accurately simulates the net and upward VOC mass and OH reactivity fluxes under clear sky conditions. However, large upward terpene fluxes occurred during sustained rainfall, and these are not captured by the model. Far more species contributed to the downward fluxes than are explicitly modeled, leading to a major underestimation of this key sink of atmospheric reactive carbon. This model bias mainly reflects missing and underestimated concentrations of depositing species, though inaccurate deposition velocities also contribute. The deposition underestimate is particularly large for assumed isoprene oxidation products, organic acids, and nitrates—species that are primarily detected by ICIMS. Net ecosystem‐atmosphere fluxes of ozone reactivity were dominated by sesquiterpenes and monoterpenes, highlighting the importance of these species for predicting near‐surface ozone, oxidants, and aerosols.more » « less
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