Environmental impact articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Carcinogenic heavy metals are an underappreciated public health concern from wildfire. Fire severity, geology, and ecosystem type influence landscape-scale production of hexavalent chromium, concentrated in wind-dispersible particles.

    • Alandra Marie Lopez
    • , Juan Lezama Pacheco
    •  & Scott Fendorf

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study introduce the Global Biojet Fuel Sustainability Index, a holistic 25-indicator sustainability index encompassing the four domains of energy-water-food nexus and governance, to measure the potential impact of RJF productions on 154 countries/territories through the oil-to-jet, alcohol-to-jet and gas-to-jet conversion methods.

    • Cheng Tung Chong
    •  & Jo-Han Ng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Forecasting ecology can support proactive decision-making in the face of uncertain environmental conditions. Using case studies on whale entanglement and sea turtle bycatch, this study showcases the capacity for existing management tools to transition to a forecast configuration and provide skilful forecasts up to 12 months in advance.

    • Stephanie Brodie
    • , Mercedes Pozo Buil
    •  & Michael G. Jacox

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microplastic uptake by animals is often assumed to reflect the level of contamination in the environment. Here, the authors compile a global inventory of individual microplastic body burden in benthic marine invertebrates and find that feeding mode and geographic location are more important predictors than environmental microplastic loading.

    • Adam Porter
    • , Jasmin A. Godbold
    •  & Tamara S. Galloway

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ronco and colleagues analyze disaster-induced movements in the presence of floods, storms, and landslides during 2016–2021, providing empirical evidence that differential vulnerability exists and quantifying its extent. They achieve this by employing explainable machine learning techniques to model and understand internal displacement flows and patterns from observational data.

    • Michele Ronco
    • , José María Tárraga
    •  & Gustau Camps-Valls

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Domoic acid, a red tide algal toxin, enhances nitrification, dissimilates nitrate reduction to ammonification in sediments, while concurrently inhibiting denitrification, anammox, and nitrogen fixation.

    • Zelong Li
    • , Jing Wang
    •  & Jingfeng Fan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While accounting for intrinsic differences between short- and long-lived greenhouse gases, solely relying on soil carbon sequestration in grasslands to offset warming effect of emissions from current ruminant systems is not feasible

    • Yue Wang
    • , Imke J. M. de Boer
    •  & Corina E. van Middelaar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The deep ocean is increasingly subjected to human-induced environmental change, but little is known about species-specific responses to stressors, including those from deep sea mining. This study shows that elevated temperatures and simulated sediment plumes cause physiological stress in a cosmopolitan deep-sea jellyfish, confirming the detrimental impact of seabed mining.

    • Vanessa I. Stenvers
    • , Helena Hauss
    •  & Henk-Jan T. Hoving

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Englander and Costello note that African coastal waters are among the world’s most biologically rich, but African countries earn much less than their peers from selling access to foreign fishers. They find forming a “fish cartel" would increase African fish biomass by 16% and profits by 23%.

    • Gabriel Englander
    •  & Christopher Costello

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Membrane distillation is an emerging desalination technology to obtain freshwater from saline based on low-grade energy. Here the authors report on novel superhydrophobic hierarchical porous membranes with enhanced distillation flux suitable for desalination or wastewater treatment.

    • Youmin Hou
    • , Prexa Shah
    •  & Hans-Jürgen Butt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wetlands can affect regional climate by altering surface-atmosphere interactions. This paper investigates drivers and patterns of evapotranspiration in South American wetlands, from the Amazon floodplains to the large Pantanal system.

    • Ayan Santos Fleischmann
    • , Leonardo Laipelt
    •  & Anderson Ruhoff

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study shows that lake heating in response to atmospheric warming slows as surface waters warm and evaporate. Lake sensitivity to warming air is higher in clear, cold, undisturbed, or elevated lakes, but declines when land-use practices fertilize basins.

    • Jian Zhou
    • , Peter R. Leavitt
    •  & Boqiang Qin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A study of 1,028 global cities from 2000-2018 shows increased human exposure to greenspace, reducing greenspace inequality. Notably, cities in the Global South improved nearly four times faster than those in the Global North. These insights can guide city greening strategies.

    • Shengbiao Wu
    • , Bin Chen
    •  & Peng Gong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    European rivers have over a million barriers hindering aquatic species migration and altering freshwater habitats. This study quantifies the spatial extent of upstream fish habitat alteration caused by physical blockage and shows that impoundments have altered 10% or 200,000 km of free-flowing river habitat in Europe.

    • Piotr Parasiewicz
    • , Kamila Belka
    •  & Wiesław Wiśniewolski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    U.S. federal climate policies can reduce air pollutant emissions and associated health impacts from fine particulate matter. However, near-term CO2 reductions alone are insufficient to address racial/ethnic disparities in pollution exposure.

    • Paul Picciano
    • , Minghao Qiu
    •  & Noelle E. Selin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Enhancing nitrogen use efficiency can improve global food production while minimizing environmental damage. Here, the authors combine 29 meta-analyses revealing that tailored practices based on local conditions can boost NUEr by 30% with variation between high- and middle-income regions.

    • Luncheng You
    • , Gerard H. Ros
    •  & Wim de Vries

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors compile pollen records from across Iberia and Morocco, comparing them with other paleohydrological and archaeological data, as well as historical sources. Using these data, they suggest that a series of strong droughts could have contributed to the decline of the Visigothic Kingdom and subsequent Islamic expansion.

    • Jon Camuera
    • , Francisco J. Jiménez-Espejo
    •  & Manuel Castro-Priego

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Rapid Arctic warming may increase erosion and stream channel formation, which alters the flux of sediments, carbon, and nutrients in these sensitive ecosystems. Yet, understanding landscape change is hampered by a lack of predictive tools applicable to permafrost settings.

    • Joel C. Rowland

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This multidisciplinary fingerprinting study, using isotopic, structural and genetic fingerprints, has shown that the suspended particulate matter in the Great Barrier Reef does not have terrestrial origin but produced locally by marine phytoplankton

    • Mohammad Bahadori
    • , Chengrong Chen
    •  & Tom Stevens

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Meat and dairy alternatives are promoted for diet sustainability. Here, the authors use a modelling approach to show that replacing 50% of pork, chicken, beef and milk globally with plant-based alternatives can reduce GHG emissions by 6.3 Gt CO2eq year-1 and more than half biodiversity loss by 2050.

    • Marta Kozicka
    • , Petr Havlík
    •  & Noel Gurwick

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Climate change and other factors are expected to further drive global dengue spread. This study projects changes in future dengue incidence in Southeast Asia up to 2099, predicting a peak this century. Equatorial areas will see the biggest increases, Thailand and Cambodia will show the biggest decreases in incidence.

    • Felipe J. Colón-González
    • , Rory Gibb
    •  & Oliver J. Brady

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Global fine particulate matter air pollution recently pivots from increase to decrease as inferred from satellite observations, driven by unprecedented exposure reduction in China and slowed exposure growth in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

    • Chi Li
    • , Aaron van Donkelaar
    •  & Randall V. Martin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Estimating health burden of air pollution against the background of population aging is of significance for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3.9. Here, the authors show that population aging is expected to be the leading contributor to increased deaths attributable to PM2.5 in China by 2035, which will counter the positive gains achieved by improvements in air pollution and healthcare.

    • Fangjin Xu
    • , Qingxu Huang
    •  & Brett A. Bryan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Potential lead contamination risk and environmental vulnerability risk impose a significant obstacle for the commercialization of perovskite solar cells. Here, the authors create a biomimetic cage traps to mitigate lead leakage and establish a sustainable closed-loop lead management process.

    • Huaiqing Luo
    • , Pengwei Li
    •  & Yanlin Song

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This work quantifies the climate benefits of efficiently utilizing concrete through improved material and structural design, and it shows that over 75% of CO2 emissions from global concrete production could be cut with already implementable measures

    • Josefine A. Olsson
    • , Sabbie A. Miller
    •  & Mark G. Alexander

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study shows that 716 million of the world’s lowest income people live in areas with unsafe levels of air pollution, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. With limited access to healthcare, they are especially vulnerable.

    • Jun Rentschler
    •  & Nadezda Leonova

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Europe’s aviation must reduce more than just flight CO2 emissions to achieve net-zero. Synthetic fuels and carbon capture and storage could help but decreasing air traffic is crucial due to non-CO2 climate impacts and resource constraints.

    • Romain Sacchi
    • , Viola Becattini
    •  & Marco Mazzotti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this study, the authors report that, developed economies allocate metal-intensive-low value-added production activities to developing economies in global renewable power value chains. It necessitates building metal-efficient and green supply chains for just transition of power sector.

    • Rao Fu
    • , Kun Peng
    •  & Jiashuo Li

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