• Energy Research
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An overview of high-entropy strategies for batteries is provided, emphasizing their unique structural/compositional attributes and positive effects on stability and performance, alongside a discussion of key challenges and future research directions.

ABSTRACTLitter decomposition is essential in linking aboveground and belowground carbon, nutrient cycles, and energy flows within ecosystems. This process has been profoundly impacted by global change, particularly in drylands, which are highly susceptible to both anthropogenic and natural disturbances. However, a significant knowledge gap remains concerning the extent and drivers of litter decomposition across different dryland ecosystems, limiting our understanding of its role in ecosystem metabolism. Using the ARIDEC data collection and published literature, a global database on litter decomposition and corresponding environmental conditions in drylands was developed, comprising 2204 observations from 158 sites. Decomposition rates varied across the four dryland subregions, with the highest rates in the dry‐subhumid region (3.24% month−1), followed by semi‐arid (3.15% month−1), arid (2.62% month−1), and hyper‐arid (2.35% month−1) regions. Notably, the dry‐subhumid region exhibited the greatest variability. Anthropogenic systems, such as cropland (5.52% month−1) and urban ecosystems (7.88% month−1), demonstrated higher decomposition rates than natural systems (averaging 3.07% month−1). Across drylands, the decomposition rate followed an exponential function of decomposition duration (), influenced by litter quality, climate, and soil properties. Beyond decomposition duration, three boosted regression tree models were developed to identify the primary factors influencing early (R2 = 0.92), mid (R2 = 0.71), and late (R2 = 0.80) decomposition stages. In the early‐ and mid‐stages, precipitation, atmospheric temperature, and soil moisture were critical factors, while the UV index and initial nitrogen content of litter played significant roles in the early and mid‐phases, respectively. In the late phase, soil total nitrogen, soil organic carbon, and the initial C/N ratio of litter were the primary factors. Our findings reveal consistent temporal patterns in decomposition rates and the mechanisms underlying them in global dryland ecosystems. These insights can enhance the accuracy of biogeochemical models in drylands and improve predictions of their feedback to the climate system.

Understanding the causes of past atmospheric methane (CH4) variability is important for characterizing the relationship between CH4, global climate and terrestrial biogeochemical cycling. Ice core records of atmospheric CH4 contain rapid variations linked to abrupt climate changes of the last glacial period known as Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events and Heinrich events (HE)1,2. The drivers of these CH4 variations remain unknown but can be constrained with ice core measurements of the stable isotopic composition of atmospheric CH4, which is sensitive to the strength of different isotopically distinguishable emission categories (microbial, pyrogenic and geologic)3-5. Here we present multi-decadal-scale measurements of δ13C-CH4 and δD-CH4 from the WAIS Divide and Talos Dome ice cores and identify abrupt 1‰ enrichments in δ13C-CH4 synchronous with HE CH4 pulses and 0.5‰ δ13C-CH4 enrichments synchronous with DO CH4 increases. δD-CH4 varied little across the abrupt CH4 changes. Using box models to interpret these isotopic shifts6 and assuming a constant δ13C-CH4 of microbial emissions, we propose that abrupt shifts in tropical rainfall associated with HEs and DO events enhanced 13C-enriched pyrogenic CH4 emissions, and by extension global wildfire extent, by 90-150%. Carbon cycle box modelling experiments7 suggest that the resulting released terrestrial carbon could have caused from one-third to all of the abrupt CO2 increases associated with HEs. These findings suggest that fire regimes and the terrestrial carbon cycle varied contemporaneously and substantially with past abrupt climate changes of the last glacial period.