• Energy Research
• 2021-2025close
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The vulnerability of floodplain forests, a critically sensitive global ecosystem, is exacerbated by both hydrological management practices and the escalating frequency and severity of drought events caused by climate change. This issue is particularly acute in Central European floodplain forests, where river regulation and reduced groundwater levels have markedly contributed to increased water deficits and intensified drought conditions, causing forest growth decline, species dieback and shifts in forest composition. In this study, we utilized tree-ring measurements from pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) and narrow-leaved ash (Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl.) across four sites with varying groundwater levels. This approach allowed us to assess the impact of artificial groundwater modifications and drought conditions in their growth, providing valuable insights into the resilience and adaptation of these species. Our study indicates that the most determining drivers of tree-growth are hydrological parameters such as groundwater levels and drought indices while temperature alone was less important for tree growth. However, we observed species-specific growth responses to these environmental drivers. In particular, Q. robur exhibited a greater adaptability to climatic variables, with a weaker relationship of tree-ring width to climate compared to F. angustifolia, which demonstrated a stronger dependence on hydroclimatic variables and appeared to feature a higher drought susceptibility. Our findings also reveal that radial growth during the vegetation period relies on different water sources - in spring, growth is primarily driven by precipitation, while groundwater levels become more critical in summer and autumn. Overall, our study underscores the significant threat posed to floodplain forests by both groundwater modifications and the escalating frequency of drought events. However, not all floodplain species are equally adaptable to these environmental changes, exhibiting varied responses and vulnerability.

The most extreme environments are the most vulnerable to transformation under a rapidly changing climate. These ecosystems harbor some of the most specialized species, which will likely suffer the highest extinction rates. We document the steepest temperature increase (2010-2021) on record at altitudes of above 4,000 m, triggering a decline of the relictual and highly adapted moss Takakia lepidozioides. Its de-novo-sequenced genome with 27,467 protein-coding genes includes distinct adaptations to abiotic stresses and comprises the largest number of fast-evolving genes under positive selection. The uplift of the study site in the last 65 million years has resulted in life-threatening UV-B radiation and drastically reduced temperatures, and we detected several of the molecular adaptations of Takakia to these environmental changes. Surprisingly, specific morphological features likely occurred earlier than 165 mya in much warmer environments. Following nearly 400 million years of evolution and resilience, this species is now facing extinction.

Earth’s biodiversity and human societies face pollution, overconsumption of natural resources, urbanization, demographic shifts, social and economic inequalities, and habitat loss, many of which are exacerbated by climate change. Here, we review links among climate, biodiversity, and society and develop a roadmap toward sustainability. These include limiting warming to 1.5°C and effectively conserving and restoring functional ecosystems on 30 to 50% of land, freshwater, and ocean “scapes.” We envision a mosaic of interconnected protected and shared spaces, including intensively used spaces, to strengthen self-sustaining biodiversity, the capacity of people and nature to adapt to and mitigate climate change, and nature’s contributions to people. Fostering interlinked human, ecosystem, and planetary health for a livable future urgently requires bold implementation of transformative policy interventions through interconnected institutions, governance, and social systems from local to global levels.

This paper introduces Wireless Compose-2 (WICO2), which is an experiment for the International Space Station (ISS) in order to demonstrate the provision of a flexible and adaptable wireless network infrastructure integrated into a commodity item to conduct and execute low-power, low-weight and wireless experiments in the scientific and medical domain. Recent work revealed a great potential in utilizing Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) in space habitats; however, the focus was only placed on sensing in the narrowband Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) 2.45 GHz band. This work extends these capabilities by utilizing Impulse Radio Ultra Wideband (IR-UWB) for ranging and evaluates the use of internal light sources for energy harvesting to drive the sensor nodes. The focus of the WICO2 experiment is on the operation of the scientific experiment Ballistocardiography for Extraterrestrial Applications and long-Term missions (BEAT), which is a demonstration of novel Ballistocardiography (BCG) sensors to monitor important cardiovascular parameters in a microgravity environment. Integrated in a Smart-Shirt, it will form a Body Area Network and make use of the IR-UWB communication to transmit the data to the network. This paper describes the concept and pre-flight test results to demonstrate the correct function, usability and performance of WICO2.