Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Mehmet Evren Soylu, Rafael L. Bras
Summary: Groundwater is vital for the earth's water and energy balance, but the lack of high spatiotemporal resolution observations hinders our understanding of its interactions with surface soil moisture. This study successfully estimated the global spatial and temporal distributions of shallow groundwater using a machine learning algorithm and satellite observations. The results showed that 19% of terrestrial land cover had been influenced by shallow groundwater. The study demonstrates the potential of using satellite observations for high-resolution global monitoring of shallow groundwater and its applications in environmental studies.
IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATIONS AND REMOTE SENSING
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Andre M. D'Angioli, Andre L. Giles, Patricia B. Costa, Gabriel Wolfsdorf, Luisa L. F. Pecoral, Larissa Verona, Fernanda Piccolo, Alexandre B. Sampaio, Isabel B. Schmidt, Lucy Rowland, Hans Lambers, Ellen Kandeler, Rafael S. Oliveira, Anna Abrahao
Summary: Around 40% of the original Brazilian savanna territory is occupied by pastures dominated by fast-growing exotic C-4 grasses, which impact ecosystem nutrient cycling. The restoration of these areas depends on the re-establishment of soil processes. Abandoned pastures had faster nutrient turnover than native savanna, dominated by slow-growing native species. Compared with native savanna, restored areas had similar levels of soil enzyme activities, but lower microbial biomass and soil organic matter. The reduction of soil microbial biomass and organic matter content reduces the immobilization of soil nutrients and is expected to favor a fast nutrient turnover in the ecosystem. The restoration of abandoned pastures should consider a greater focus on restoring soil carbon and nutrient cycling.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Liang Qiao, Zhiyan Zuo, Dong Xiao
Summary: This study evaluates global shallow and deep soil moisture in CMIP6 simulations using multiple reanalysis datasets. The multimodel ensemble mean produces generally reasonable simulations, but significant discrepancies exist at high elevations and latitudes and in extreme arid areas.
JOURNAL OF CLIMATE
(2022)
Article
Forestry
Jose Miguel Reichert, Juliana Prevedello, Paulo Ivonir Gubiani, Eduardo Saldanha Vogelmann, Dalvan Jose Reinert, Claudine Ohana Barcellos Consensa, Julio Cesar Wincher Soares, Raghavan Srinivasan
Summary: Adjusting Eucalyptus tree stocking can increase cellulose, timber, or bioenergy production, but its impact on ecosystem water balance is still understudied. Research on soil and catchment hydrology, as well as forest management, is needed to improve water use efficiency and streamflow regulation in understudied ecosystems. By studying different Eucalyptus tree stocking conditions, it is possible to quantify rainfall partitioning, soil water balance, and water use efficiency.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ayan Santos Fleischmann, Ahmad Al Bitar, Aline Meyer Oliveira, Vinicius Alencar Siqueira, Bibiana Rodrigues Colossi, Rodrigo Cauduro Dias de Paiva, Yann Kerr, Anderson Ruhoff, Fernando Mainardi Fan, Paulo Rogenes Monteiro Pontes, Walter Collischonn
Summary: Hydrological models can be calibrated effectively by using multiple variables, such as in situ discharge and remote sensing soil moisture data, to improve accuracy and precision. In tropical humid areas, a synergistic calibration approach combining field observations and remote sensing data is preferable for providing reasonable estimates of discharge and soil moisture basin-wide.
Article
Forestry
Marissa J. Goodwin, Lucy P. Kerhoulas, Harold S. J. Zald, Malcolm P. North, Matthew D. Hurteau
Summary: Climate change is causing more severe and prolonged droughts in forest ecosystems, affecting the ability of trees to survive. The research investigated the water-use patterns of Sierra Nevada conifers during a recent drought using tree ring analysis. The study found no significant changes in water-use patterns during the drought period and identified species-specific variations in water sources. The lack of plasticity in water-use patterns may make Sierra Nevada conifers vulnerable to drought mortality in the future.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mark R. Salvatore, John E. Barrett, Laura E. Fackrell, Eric R. Sokol, Joseph S. Levy, Lily C. Kuentz, Michael N. Gooseff, Byron J. Adams, Sarah N. Power, J. Paul Knightly, Haley M. Matul, Brian Szutu, Peter T. Doran
Summary: This study quantified the soil moisture content in the Fryxell basin of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica using satellite remote sensing techniques. The results showed that liquid water in the soils may be more abundant than previously thought, and its distribution and availability are influenced by soil properties and water sources. These findings can help identify ecological hotspots and serve as a baseline for detecting future changes in soil hydrology.
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Jiang Zhou, Ciprian Briciu-Burghina, Fiona Regan, Muhammad Intizar Ali
Summary: This paper proposes a machine learning approach to build a model for soil water storage capacity. By using soil moisture as a proxy variable, this method enables a convenient estimation of soil water storage capacity at a large scale. The study shows satisfactory results in soil moisture estimation and demonstrates its applicability in continuous soil moisture monitoring.
Article
Water Resources
Mariane Chittolina, Humberto Ribeiro da Rocha, Leonardo Moreno Domingues, Gre de Araujo Lobo
Summary: The hydrological response of a subtropical catchment in Serra da Mantiqueira, Brazil, and its four sub-catchments were investigated. Baseflow played a vital role in sustaining streamflow during the dry and wet seasons. Soil moisture did not synchronize with streamflow, showing increases in early wet season followed by streamflow increase and decreases in late wet season followed by streamflow decrease. The study provided consistent estimates of flows and threshold behaviors, contributing to understanding runoff generation at the catchment scale.
HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES
(2023)
Article
Water Resources
Tailin Li, Jakub Jerabek, Nina Noreika, Tomas Dostal, David Zumr
Summary: The WALNUD dataset contains hydrological and meteorological records at the Nucice experimental catchment in the Czech Republic, representative of an intensively farmed landscape. The catchment is equipped with a meteorological station, rain gauges, and a flume, and records groundwater levels and soil moisture. The dataset benefits both hydrologists and local farmers.
HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES
(2021)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Jian Peng, Clement Albergel, Anna Balenzano, Luca Brocca, Oliver Cartus, Michael H. Cosh, Wade T. Crow, Katarzyna Dabrowska-Zielinska, Simon Dadson, Malcolm W. J. Davidson, Patricia de Rosnay, Wouter Dorigo, Alexander Gruber, Stefan Hagemann, Martin Hirschi, Yann H. Kerr, Francesco Lovergine, Miguel D. Mahecha, Philip Marzahn, Francesco Mattia, Jan Pawel Musial, Swantje Preuschmann, Rolf H. Reichle, Giuseppe Satalino, Martyn Silgram, Peter M. Van Bodegom, Niko E. C. Verhoest, Wolfgang Wagner, Jeffrey P. Walker, Urs Wegmuller, Alexander Loew
Summary: Soil moisture observations from satellite data are important for various applications, and significant progress has been made in estimating soil moisture. However, there is a need for further development of high-resolution soil moisture products to meet the requirements of different disciplines.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Tamir Kamai, Shmuel Assouline
Summary: The study introduces a novel model to describe the evaporation process from porous media, demonstrating its reliability and predictive capabilities through validation and experiments. The model accounts for soil hydraulic properties and can be used to analyze evaporation under different conditions.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Amar Deep Tiwari, Parthasarathi Mukhopadhyay, Vimal Mishra
Summary: This study evaluates the impact of bias correction of meteorological forecasts and streamflow postprocessing on hydrological prediction skill in India. The results show that bias correction significantly improves precipitation forecasts, but has limited effect on streamflow prediction.
JOURNAL OF HYDROMETEOROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Lu Su, Qian Cao, Mu Xiao, David M. Mocko, Michael Barlage, Dongyue Li, Christa D. Peters-Lidard, Dennis P. Lettenmaier
Summary: The study examined the drought variability over the conterminous United States using the Noah-MP land surface model and found that the representation of groundwater and dynamic vegetation had different effects on drought reconstruction. Different model configurations showed a small decreasing trend in dry area coverage over CONUS, with representation of groundwater tending to increase drought duration and dynamic vegetation tending to shorten major droughts duration. Regional variations were observed, with the U.S. Southwest having the longest major drought durations and other subregions showing a decrease in dry area coverage.
JOURNAL OF HYDROMETEOROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Water Resources
Johnny Boggs, Ge Sun, Jean-Christophe Domec, Steven McNulty
Summary: Quantifying spatial variability of species-specific tree transpiration across different zones is crucial for estimating watershed-scale evapotranspiration and predicting drought effects on vegetation. Species-specific sap flux density responds nonlinearly to vapor pressure deficit, impacting watershed-level transpiration. Large spatial variability in transpiration was driven by differences in soil moisture and forest composition, emphasizing the importance of considering spatial heterogeneity in accurately quantifying watershed-level evapotranspiration.
HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES
(2021)
Article
Fisheries
Andrew K. Carlson, William W. Taylor, Dennis R. DeVries, C. Paola Ferreri, Michael J. Fogarty, Kyle J. Hartman, Dana M. Infante, Michael T. Kinnison, Simon A. Levin, Richard T. Melstrom, Raymond M. Newman, Malin L. Pinsky, Daniel Rubenstein, S. Mazeika P. Sullivan, Paul A. Venturelli, Michael J. Weber, Melissa R. Wuellner, Gayle B. Zydlewski
Summary: "The Ten Steps to Responsible Inland Fisheries" are global recommendations aiming to address the subordinate position of inland fisheries. Survey results showed that Science, Communication, and Assessment are rated as highly important, well funded, and achievable steps, while Aquaculture and a global Action Plan are not favored. Nutrition was identified as the most inadequately supported yet achievable step.
Article
Limnology
Adam C. Martiny, George Hagstrom, Tim DeVries, Robert T. Letscher, Gregory L. Britten, Catherine A. Garcia, Eric Galbraith, David Karl, Simon A. Levin, Michael W. Lomas, Allison R. Moreno, David Talmy, Weilei Wang, Katsumi Matsumoto
Summary: The rising temperature, surface stratification, and decreasing nutrient inputs in the oceans are expected to cause the expansion of warm, nutrient-depleted ecosystems, negatively affecting phytoplankton biomass, primary productivity, and carbon export. However, diverse phytoplankton communities have adaptive potential that may render them resilient to global changes.
LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Daniel J. Rosenkrantz, Anil Vullikanti, S. S. Ravi, Richard E. Stearns, Simon Levin, H. Vincent Poor, Madhav Marathe
Summary: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of reliable forecasting models for decision makers. However, forecasting contagion dynamics remains challenging due to complex behavioral responses, data uncertainty, stochastic processes, and the sensitivity of disease parameters to environmental changes. This study offers a rigorous explanation of the difficulty in short-term forecasting on networked populations using computational complexity concepts and develops efficient algorithms or approximation algorithms for restricted versions of forecasting problems.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gao Wang, Trung Phan, Shengkai Li, Jing Wang, Yan Peng, Guo Chen, Junle Qu, Daniel Goldman, Simon A. Levin, Kenneth Pienta, Sarah Amend, Robert H. Austin, Liyu Liu
Summary: Experimental robobiological physics explores the impact of genetic diversity and different landscapes on the survival of autonomous robots, shedding light on biological evolution.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Vitor V. Vasconcelos, Astrid Dannenberg, Simon A. Levin
Summary: In human societies, punishment is used to enforce the provision of public goods. Costly punishment institutions can be adopted through voting and learning, but may face challenges if the decision-making process is not aligned with the scale of the public good. This study explores how punishment institutions are adopted and promote cooperation in different scenarios.
NATURE SUSTAINABILITY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Li Xu, Denis Patterson, Simon Asher Levin, Jin Wang
Summary: Complex systems often experience sudden regime shifts, known as critical transitions. Identifying warning signals for these transitions early enough to prevent them is challenging. In this study, we use landscape-flux theory to quantify the stability of ecological systems and provide early warning signals based on average flux, entropy production rate, non-equilibrium free energy, and time irreversibility. Our proposed method, demonstrated using a shallow lake model, can potentially predict critical transitions earlier than conventional methods, contributing to the resilience assessment of various ecological systems.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Biology
Edward Schrom, Ann Kinzig, Stephanie Forrest, Andrea L. Graham, Simon A. Levin, Carl T. Bergstrom, Carlos Castillo -Chavez, James P. Collins, Rob J. de Boer, Adam Doupe, Roya Ensafi, Stuart Feldman, Bryan T. Grenfell, Alex Halderman, Silvie Huijben, Carlo Maley, Melanie Moses, Alan S. Perelson, Charles Perrings, Joshua Plotkin, Jennifer Rexford, Mohit Tiwari
Summary: Defending against various types of attacks and avoiding self-attacks are the common challenges faced by mammalian immune systems and computer systems. Despite extensive research, there has been limited exchange of information between the fields of biological immunity and cybersecurity. This paper proposes a conceptual framework to compare and evaluate different defensive strategies in both fields, aiming to identify general principles of optimal defense applicable to various defensive realms.
MATHEMATICAL BIOSCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biology
Partha Dasgupta, Simon Levin
Summary: Contemporary economic thinking neglects the fact that the human economy is interconnected with Nature and treats humans as mere consumers of natural resources. This paper suggests an alternative economic reasoning approach that focuses on the demand for Nature's services and its sustainable supply. It advocates for the measurement of inclusive wealth and its distribution by national statistical offices instead of relying solely on GDP. Policy instruments for managing global public goods, such as the open seas and tropical rainforests, are discussed based on the concept of inclusive wealth.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Arne Traulsen, Simon A. Levin, Chadi M. Saad-Roy
Summary: Individual and societal reactions to a pandemic can create social dilemmas. The extent of regulations to reduce transmission is small in most countries, resulting in interventions driven by individual decision-making. We propose a framework to quantify this situation based on protection, infection risk, and intervention costs, and discuss the tension between individual and societal benefits.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Daniel B. Cooney, Simon A. Levin, Yoichiro Mori, Joshua B. Plotkin
Summary: Biological and social systems are structured at multiple scales, and individuals in a group may have different incentives from the group as a whole. Mechanisms to resolve this tension are important for evolutionary transitions in history. This article synthesizes a growing literature on multilevel evolutionary dynamics and analyzes how different mechanisms influence evolutionary outcomes within and among groups.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mansi Sood, Anirudh Sridhar, Rashad Eletreby, Chai Wah Wu, Simon A. Levin, Osman Yagan, H. Vincent Poor
Summary: A key scientific challenge during the outbreak of novel infectious diseases is predicting changes in the epidemic under countermeasures that limit population interaction. Pathogens have the capacity to mutate and new strains can emerge, posing a threat to public health. Different transmission risks in different settings and the emergence of new strains should be considered when evaluating the impact of mitigation measures.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Bjarke Frost Nielsen, Chadi M. Saad-Roy, Yimei Li, Kim Sneppen, Lone Simonsen, Cecile Viboud, Simon A. Levin, Bryan T. Grenfell
Summary: Identifying drivers of viral diversity is crucial for understanding the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic. A mechanistic model of saltational evolution with epistasis explains the observed temporal dynamics of viral diversity. This supports the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 may exhibit saltational evolution, allowing the virus to evolve highly transmissible variants.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Chadi M. M. Saad-Roy, Simon A. A. Levin, Bryan T. T. Grenfell, Mike Boots
Summary: Infectious diseases can cause long-term damage to the host, leading to increased mortality even after recovery. The mortality due to 'long COVID' is an example of this potential, but the impact of such post-infection mortality (PIM) on epidemic dynamics is not known. Using an epidemiological model, researchers found that PIM can induce epidemic cycling, especially when there is weak PIM and no robust immunity. This overlooked phenomenon highlights the importance of characterizing heterogeneity in susceptibility for accurate epidemiological predictions.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Simon A. A. Levin, Elke U. U. Weber
Summary: Achieving global sustainability in the face of climate change, pandemics, and other global systemic threats requires collective intelligence and action beyond current experiences. Increasing polarization and populist trends make the problem even harder. Recognizing the common threats and implementing polycentric governance may be a pathway to address these global challenges.
PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Maximilian M. Nguyen, Ari S. Freedman, Sinan A. Ozbay, Simon A. Levin
Summary: This article derives an exact upper bound on the epidemic overshoot for the Kermack-McKendrick SIR model, and highlights the public health hazard posed by overshoot for epidemics with R0 near 2 through an analysis of COVID-19 pandemic data in Manaus, Brazil. Additionally, more complex SIR models incorporating vaccination are considered using the presented analysis framework.
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INTERFACE
(2023)
