Socioecology Research Today

Drought conditions in more than half of the United States have slipped into a pattern that climatologists say is uncomfortably similar to the most severe droughts in recent U.S. history, including the 1930s Dust Bowl and the widespread 1950s drought.The 2013 drought season is already off to a worse start than in 2012 or 2011—a [...]

A literature survey of studies reporting nitrous oxide uptake in the soils of natural ecosystems is used to suggest that the median uptake potential is 4 μg m−2 hr−1. The highest values are nearly all associated with soils of wetland and peatland ecosystems. Globally, the consumption of nitrous oxide in soils is not likely to [...]

Get used to a bumpy ride. The strength and frequency of atmospheric turbulence affecting transatlantic flights will increase by midcentury, a new study suggests. Researchers used a global climate model to assess the intensity of clear-air turbulence—the kind that stems from wind shear. In particular, the researchers assessed the intensity of turbulence at a point [...]

Probable maximum precipitation (PMP) is the greatest accumulation of precipitation for a given duration meteorologically possible for an area. Climate change effects on PMP are analyzed, in particular, maximization of moisture and persistent upward motion, using both climate model simulations and conceptual models of relevant meteorological systems. Climate model simulations indicate a substantial future increase [...]

Besides marine inundation, it is largely unrecognized that low-lying coastal areas may also be vulnerable to groundwater inundation, which is localized coastal-plain flooding due to a rise of the groundwater table with sea level. Measurements of the coastal groundwater elevation and tidal influence in urban Honolulu, Hawaii, allow estimates of the mean water table, which [...]

This week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that in January lakes Huron and Michigan dipped to their lowest point since monitoring began in 1860. They predict that lake levels will rise this summer, but not by much. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.340.6131.413-a

This study compares observed and model-simulated spatiotemporal patterns of changes in Chinese extreme temperatures during 1961–2007 using an optimal detection method. Four extreme indices, namely annual maximum daily maximum (TXx) and daily minimum (TNx) temperatures and annual minimum daily maximum (TXn) and daily minimum (TNn) temperatures, are studied. Model simulations are conducted with the CanESM2, [...]

Recent metaanalyses suggest biodiversity loss affects the functioning of ecosystems to a similar extent as other global environmental change agents. However, the abundance and functioning of soil organisms have been hypothesized to be much less responsive to such changes, particularly in plant diversity, than aboveground variables, although tests of this hypothesis are extremely rare. We [...]

Water is a major component of fluids in the Earth’s mantle, where its properties are substantially different from those at ambient conditions. At the pressures and temperatures of the mantle, experiments on aqueous fluids are challenging, and several fundamental properties of water are poorly known; e.g., its dielectric constant has not been measured. This lack [...]

Periodical cicadas are one of those creatures that everyone in eastern North America knows, if only periodically. The seemingly magical invasion every 17 or 13 y of millions upon millions of black, red-eyed, vaguely demonic-looking insects that fill the air with their incessant droning is, indeed, not something that one can easily ignore. These insects [...]