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AbstractA better understanding of how climate affects growth in tree species is essential for improved predictions of forest dynamics under climate change. Long-term climate averages (mean climate) and short-term deviations from these averages (anomalies) both influence tree growth, but the rarity of long-term data integrating climatic gradients with tree censuses has so far limited our understanding of their respective role, especially in tropical systems. Here, we combined 49 years of growth data for 509 tree species across 23 tropical rainforest plots along a climatic gradient to examine how tree growth responds to both climate means and anomalies, and how species functional traits mediate these tree growth responses to climate. We showed that short-term, anomalous increases in atmospheric evaporative demand and solar radiation consistently reduced tree growth. Drier forests and fast-growing species were more sensitive to water stress anomalies. In addition, species traits related to water use and photosynthesis partly explained differences in growth sensitivity to both long-term and short-term climate variations. Our study demonstrates that both climate means and anomalies shape tree growth in tropical forests, and that species traits can be leveraged to understand these demographic responses to climate change, offering a promising way forward to forecast tropical forest dynamics under different climate trajectories.

AbstractData capturing multiple axes of tree size and shape, such as a tree's stem diameter, height and crown size, underpin a wide range of ecological research—from developing and testing theory on forest structure and dynamics, to estimating forest carbon stocks and their uncertainties, and integrating remote sensing imagery into forest monitoring programmes. However, these data can be surprisingly hard to come by, particularly for certain regions of the world and for specific taxonomic groups, posing a real barrier to progress in these fields. To overcome this challenge, we developed the Tallo database, a collection of 498,838 georeferenced and taxonomically standardized records of individual trees for which stem diameter, height and/or crown radius have been measured. These data were collected at 61,856 globally distributed sites, spanning all major forested and non‐forested biomes. The majority of trees in the database are identified to species (88%), and collectively Tallo includes data for 5163 species distributed across 1453 genera and 187 plant families. The database is publicly archived under a CC‐BY 4.0 licence and can be access from: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6637599. To demonstrate its value, here we present three case studies that highlight how the Tallo database can be used to address a range of theoretical and applied questions in ecology—from testing the predictions of metabolic scaling theory, to exploring the limits of tree allometric plasticity along environmental gradients and modelling global variation in maximum attainable tree height. In doing so, we provide a key resource for field ecologists, remote sensing researchers and the modelling community working together to better understand the role that trees play in regulating the terrestrial carbon cycle.

AbstractThis study describes the first use of concurrent high-precision temperature and drip rate monitoring to explore what controls the temperature of speleothem forming drip water. Two contrasting sites, one with fast transient and one with slow constant dripping, in a temperate semi-arid location (Wellington, NSW, Australia), exhibit drip water temperatures which deviate significantly from the cave air temperature. We confirm the hypothesis that evaporative cooling is the dominant, but so far unattributed, control causing significant disequilibrium between drip water and host rock/air temperatures. The amount of cooling is dependent on the drip rate, relative humidity and ventilation. Our results have implications for the interpretation of temperature-sensitive, speleothem climate proxies such as δ18O, cave microecology and the use of heat as a tracer in karst. Understanding the processes controlling the temperature of speleothem-forming cave drip waters is vital for assessing the reliability of such deposits as archives of climate change.

Centaurus A (Cen A) is the nearest radio galaxy discovered as a very-high-energy (VHE; 100 GeV–100 TeV) γ-ray source by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.). It is a faint VHE γ-ray emitter, though its VHE flux exceeds both the extrapolation from early Fermi-LAT observations as well as expectations from a (misaligned) single-zone synchrotron-self Compton (SSC) description. The latter satisfactorily reproduces the emission from Cen A at lower energies up to a few GeV. New observations with H.E.S.S., comparable in exposure time to those previously reported, were performed and eight years of Fermi-LAT data were accumulated to clarify the spectral characteristics of the γ-ray emission from the core of Cen A. The results allow us for the first time to achieve the goal of constructing a representative, contemporaneous γ-ray core spectrum of Cen A over almost five orders of magnitude in energy. Advanced analysis methods, including the template fitting method, allow detection in the VHE range of the core with a statistical significance of 12σ on the basis of 213 hours of total exposure time. The spectrum in the energy range of 250 GeV–6 TeV is compatible with a power-law function with a photon index Γ = 2.52 ± 0.13stat ± 0.20sys. An updated Fermi-LAT analysis provides evidence for spectral hardening by ΔΓ ≃ 0.4 ± 0.1 at γ-ray energies above 2.8+1.0−0.6 GeV at a level of 4.0σ. The fact that the spectrum hardens at GeV energies and extends into the VHE regime disfavour a single-zone SSC interpretation for the overall spectral energy distribution (SED) of the core and is suggestive of a new γ-ray emitting component connecting the high-energy emission above the break energy to the one observed at VHE energies. The absence of significant variability at both GeV and TeV energies does not yet allow disentanglement of the physical nature of this component, though a jet-related origin is possible and a simple two-zone SED model fit is provided to this end.

Abstract Efficient hydrogen production from water by photocatalysis under sunlight requires a significant improvement in light-harvesting capability. Zinc sulfide is a promising, inexpensive hydrogen generation photocatalyst, but in its pure, bulk form it is only active under ultra-violet light. Here, we show clear evidence of photoelectrochemical activity of ZnS thin films under visible-light irradiation without any co-catalysts, achieved through defect engineering. Fabrication of nanostructured ZnS under controlled conditions introduces defects, and hence intermediate electronic states within the band gap, which allow significant absorption of light at energies below the band gap energy of pure, bulk ZnS. The measured band gap of the ZnS thin films is ~2.4 eV, while the photocurrent density exceeds 1.5 mA/cm2 under visible-light irradiation (λ≥435 nm). This is the first measurement of such high photocurrents for undoped ZnS under visible light.

Background: Biomass measurement and monitoring is a challenge in a number of biotechnology processes where fast, inexpensive, and non-contact measurement techniques would be of great benefit. Magnetic induction spectroscopy (MIS) is a novel non-destructive and contactless impedance measurement technique with many potential industrial and biomedical applications. The aim of this paper is to use computer modeling and experimental measurements to prove the suitability of the MIS system developed at the University of South Wales for controlled biomass measurements. Methods: The paper reports experimental measurements conducted on saline solutions and yeast suspensions at different concentrations to test the detection performance of the MIS system. The commercial electromagnetic simulation software CST was used to simulate the measurement outcomes with saline solutions and compare them with those of the actual measurements. We adopted two different ways for yeast suspension preparation to assess the system’s sensitivity and accuracy. Results: For saline solutions, the simulation results agree well with the measurement results, and the MIS system was able to distinguish saline solutions at different concentrations even in the small range of 0–1.6 g/L. For yeast suspensions, regardless of the preparation method, the MIS system can reliably distinguish yeast suspensions with lower concentrations 0–20 g/L. The conductivity spectrum of yeast suspensions present excellent separability between different concentrations and dielectric dispersion property at concentrations higher than 100 g/L. Conclusions: The South Wales MIS system can achieve controlled yeast measurements with high sensitivity and stability, and it shows promising potential applications, with further development, for cell biology research where contactless monitoring of cellular density is of relevance.