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Soil fumigation is commonly employed for pest control in potato production, although it can unintentionally harm non-target organisms in the soil. The presence of cover crops can significantly influence the abundance and composition of microorganisms. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the combined impact of soil fumigation and cover crops on soil health in potato fields. To address this knowledge gap, a field study was conducted at the Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Oregon State University with a randomized split-plot design consisting of four fumigation treatments (no fumigation control, Telone, metam sodium, and co-applied Telone and metam sodium) as the main plots and five cover crop treatments [no cover crop, wheat (Triticum aestivum), mustard (Brassica nigra), radish (Raphanus sativus), and a mixture of winter pea (Pisum sativum) and faba bean (Vicia faba)] as the subplots. Compared to the control, microbial biomass carbon (MBC) in non-fumigated soils of pea+faba bean, wheat, and radish increased by 41 %, 37 %, and 31 %, respectively. In soils treated with metam sodium, pea+faba bean, wheat, radish, and mustard increased MBC by 30 %, 34 %, 41 %, and 40 % compared to the control. The results demonstrated the potential of cover crops to enhance MBC after fumigation. Both Fumigation and cover crop did not impact the total yield of potatoes, although fumigation increased the yield of tubers within 171-283 g size category compared to the control. However, the current data is not sufficient for making a conclusive remark. Further field studies should be conducted to understand the role of fumigation and cover crops on potato soil health and potato production.

Scenarios to stabilize global climate and meet international climate agreements require rapid reductions in human carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, often augmented by substantial carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from the atmosphere. While some ocean-based removal techniques show potential promise as part of a broader CDR and decarbonization portfolio, no marine approach is ready yet for deployment at scale because of gaps in both scientific and engineering knowledge. Marine CDR spans a wide range of biotic and abiotic methods, with both common and technique-specific limitations. Further targeted research is needed on CDR efficacy, permanence, and additionality as well as on robust validation methods—measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification—that are essential to demonstrate the safe removal and long-term storage of CO2. Engineering studies are needed on constraints including scalability, costs, resource inputs, energy demands, and technical readiness. Research on possible co-benefits, ocean acidification effects, environmental and social impacts, and governance is also required.

Blackouts in recent decades show an increasing prevalence of power outages due to extreme weather events such as hurricanes. Precisely assessing the spatiotemporal outages in distribution networks, the most vulnerable part of power systems, is critical to enhance power system resilience. The Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) simulation method is widely used for spatiotemporal risk analysis of power systems during extreme weather hazards. However, it is found here that the SMC method can lead to large errors by directly applying the fragility function or failure probability of system components in time-sequential analysis, particularly overestimating damages under evolving hazards with high-frequency sampling. To address this issue, a novel hazard resistance-based spatiotemporal risk analysis (HRSRA) method is proposed. This method converts the time-varying failure probability of a component into a hazard resistance as a time-invariant value during the simulation of evolving hazards. The proposed HRSRA provides an adaptive framework for incorporating high-spatiotemporal-resolution meteorology models into power outage simulations. By leveraging the geographic information system data of the power system and a physics-based hurricane wind field model, the superiority of the proposed method is validated using real-world time-series power outage data from Puerto Rico during Hurricane Fiona 2022. Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures

Bioavailable organic-rich food waste (FW) is a promising feedstock for renewable hydrogen production. However, its highly suspended and complex nature presents substantial challenges for producing high-purity hydrogen in dual-chamber microbial electrolysis cells (MECs). This study examined the effects of pretreating FW through pre-fermentation and/or filtration on its microbial electrolysis. Both methods enhanced the exoelectrogenic utilization of FW, with pre-fermentation being especially effective by conditioning substrate composition, while filtration alone was less advantageous due to associated energy loss. The MECs fed with pre-fermented FW exhibited significantly higher performances, achieving the highest hydrogen yield of 1,029 mL/g chemical oxygen demand fed (39.1 % increase over raw FW) when pre-fermentation was followed by filtration. Bioanodes across all MECs were dominated by exoelectrogenic bacteria, mainly Geobacter and Desulfovibrio, with significantly greater abundance observed with pre-fermentation. These findings highlight the value of pretreatment, particularly pre-fermentation, and warrant further optimization research to maximize FW conversion into hydrogen.

The Arctic climate system is in great distress, warming faster than the rest of the world and transforming more rapidly than previously anticipated. Sustained and harmonized multidisciplinary observations at key locations are needed to fill knowledge gaps and evaluate the ongoing climate change impacts on the complex Arctic marine system. For more than a decade, the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) has functioned as a “detection array” for ecosystem changes and trends in the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean. This long-term collaborative initiative builds on active involvement of scientists conducting in situ observations within marine disciplines to systematically document how the arctic marine ecosystem is transforming with environmental change. The DBO concept is currently being expanded into other sectors of the Arctic, including Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, the Atlantic Arctic gateway area, and the East Siberian Sea. Through increased collaboration and joint practices, findings from these regional areas can leverage to pan-Arctic perspectives and improve our understanding of the entire Arctic Ocean. Common practices are now being developed, including key phenomena and relevant indicators to study. Also, we strive towards harmonized routines for sampling, analysis and data sharing to increase the comparability across both disciplines and regions, and to improve the usability of our in-situ observations also for the modelling and remote sensing scopes. An ambition is, moreover, to expand from today's predominantly open-sea coverage towards coastal regions, to the benefit of both local communities and researchers. The process of establishing a pan-Arctic DBO network is to a large part facilitated by the EU Horizon project Arctic PASSION (2022-2025). Here, we present the latest developments and shared priorities, as well as our vision of how to incorporate our efforts into other parallel processes aiming to strengthen the pan-Arctic observing system towards, during and beyond the upcoming IPY.

ABSTRACT Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum is an anaerobic and thermophilic bacterium that has been genetically engineered for ethanol production at very high yields. However, the underlying reactions responsible for electron flow, redox equilibrium, and how they relate to ethanol production in this microbe are not fully elucidated. Therefore, we performed a series of genetic manipulations to investigate the contribution of hydrogenase genes to high ethanol yield, generating evidence for the importance of hydrogen-reacting enzymes in ethanol production. Our results indicate that a high ethanol yield, >85% of the theoretical maximum, only occurs when the hfsD, hydAB , and nfnAB genes are all present together, while the hfsB gene is absent. We propose that the products of these three gene clusters facilitate an NADPH-generating reaction via hydrogen cycling, with a stoichiometry comparable with a canonical ferredoxin:NADP + oxidoreductase (FNOR; EC 1.18.1.2) reaction. The hypothesized mechanism provides a balance of nicotinamide cofactors and facilitates ferredoxin recycling, leading to progress in optimizing the energy conversion of biomass-derived sugars to ethanol. IMPORTANCE Our study elucidates the crucial role of electron flow and redox balancing mechanisms in improving ethanol yields from renewable biomass. We delve into the mechanism of electron transfer, highlighting the potential of key genes to be leveraged for enhanced ethanol production in anaerobic microbial species. We suggest by genetic investigation the existence of a novel Ferredoxin:NADP+ Oxidoreductase (FNOR) reaction, comprising HfsD, HydAB, and NfnAB enzymes, as a promising avenue for achieving balanced stoichiometry and efficient ethanol synthesis. Our findings not only advance the understanding of microbial metabolism but also offer practical insights for developing strategies to improve bioenergy production and sustainability.

Published online: 26 November 2024 This study investigates the relationships between social and political trust and views on energy affordability, which are crucial for promoting sustainable energy practices. The findings indicate that social and especially political trust are negatively correlated with perceptions of energy affordability. The study also finds that the probability of being highly concerned about energy affordability is declining in the level of trust, especially in countries, as those in Southern European, that prioritize energy affordability. These findings confirm the critical role of trust in effective energy policies, fostering public support for transitions to sustainable energy systems. The study recommends that policymakers enhance transparency, accountability, and public engagement to build trust, thereby improving perceptions of energy affordability and supporting sustainable energy transitions.