Contrasting Effects of Local Environmental and Biogeographic Factors on the Composition and Structure of Bacterial Communities in Arid Monospecific Mangrove Soils

Mangrove ecosystems are increasingly being recognized for their potential to sequester atmospheric carbon, thereby mitigating the effects of anthropogenically driven greenhouse gas emissions. The bacterial community in the soils plays an important role in the breakdown and recycling of carbon and other nutrients.

Carboxylation of sodium arylsulfinates with CO2 over mesoporous K-Cu-20TiO2

A mesoporous ternary metal oxide (K-Cu-20TiO2) from a simple sol–gel method was prepared to catalyze heterogeneously the carboxylation reaction of various sodium arylsulfinates under atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Rapid response of silicate weathering rates to climate change in the Himalaya

Chemical weathering of continental rocks plays a central role in regulating the carbon cycle and the Earth’s climate (Walker et al., 1981; Berner et al., 1983), accounting for nearly half the consumption of atmospheric carbon dioxide globally (Beaulieu et al., 2012). However, the role of climate variability on chemical weathering is still strongly debated. Here we focus on the Himalayan range and use the lithium isotopic composition of clays in fluvial terraces to show a tight coupling between climate change and chemical weathering over the past 40 ka. Between 25 and 10 ka ago, weathering rates decrease despite temperature increase and monsoon intensification. This suggests that at this timescale, temperature plays a secondary role compared to runoff and physical erosion, which inhibit chemical weathering by accel-erating sediment transport and act as fundamental controls in determining the feedback between chemical weathering and atmospheric carbon dioxide.

The comparative yield of large-herb plants when growing in the Middle Urals

The purpose of the research is to isolate species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants that are promising for the tasks of accelerating the sequestration of atmospheric carbon, resistant to local soil and climatic conditions and having high productivity from the collection fund of the botanical garden of the Ural Federal University. Methods. The article presents data on the productivity of four types of herbaceous plants: Amaranthus caudatus L., Amaranthus cruentus L., Polygonum weyrichii F. Schmidt and Echinops sphaerocephalus L., grown in the botanical garden. All the research objects were grown under the same conditions. Productivity was measured at the beginning of September. The data were processed using standard statistical methods. Results. It was revealed that the plants P. weyrichii is the most productive in terms of both fresh and dry yield. The yield of the P. weyrichii increases in years with sufficiently high moisture content. Aridity and high summer temperatures have a negative impact on the growth of the P. weyrichii. Amaranths gain a large aboveground mass due to their belonging to the group with the C4 type of photosynthesis. High summer temperatures have a positive effect on the growth and development of amaranths, while correlations with the amount of precipitation are statistically insignificant. The plants E. sphaerocephalus showed average values for productivity and requires further study. It is recommended to grow the plants P. weyrichii in a sufficiently humid area. Amaranth, being a drought-resistant plant, is highly productive in any years, especially in years with the value of the hydrothermal coefficient (HTC) less than 1.0. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the features of the cultivation of the studied crops are considered not only for forage purposes but also from the point of view of atmospheric carbon deposition and cultivation on potential carbon farms in the changing climate of the region.

Evaluation of the Capacity of Agroforestry of Cocoa Trees in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Reduction

The emission of greenhouse gases into the earth’s atmosphere has been credited as the major cause of climate change which is being experienced all over the world. Climate change mitigation is one of the strategies that have been suggested as a way of stabilising the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This study assessed the capacity of agroforestry of cocoa trees in reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide. The carbon content in the cocoa plant variables made up of bean, litter, leaf and podhusk were determined in the laboratory through standard procedure. The laboratory results were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The study showed the magnitude order of carbon storage in cocoa agroforestry as cocoa bean (2.86 kg) > pod husk (2.73 kg) > cocoa litter (2.65kg) > cocoa leaves (2.62 kg) > soil (1.14 kg)..The ability of cocoa and forest soils to retain nitrogen, leaf and litterfall to stock more carbon proved that cocoa agroforestry has a higher potential of mitigating climate change in the tropical region. The study recommended the adoption of agroforestry systems which are capable of sequestering carbon as a means of addressing the challenge of climate change.