Limited data on emissions in Africa translate into uncertainty during GHG budgeting. We studied annual CO₂, N₂O, and CH₄ emissions in four land-use types in Kenyan savanna using static chambers and gas chromatography. CO₂ emissions varied between seasons and land-use types. Soil moisture and vegetation explained the seasonal variation, while soil temperature was insignificant. N₂O and CH₄ emissions did not vary at all sites. Our results are useful in climate change mitigation interventions.

Sediment input into water bodies is a prominent threat to freshwater ecosystems. We tested the stability of tracers employed in freshwater sediment tracing based on compound-specific isotope analysis during early degradation in soil. While bulk δ¹³C values showed no stability, δ¹³C values of plant-derived fatty acids and n-alkanes were stably transferred to the soil without soil particle size dependency after an early degradation in organic horizons, thus indicating their suitability as tracers.

Coral reefs are a strong source of atmospheric sulfur through stress-induced emissions of dimethylsulfide (DMS). This biogenic sulfur can influence aerosol and cloud properties and, consequently, the radiative balance over the ocean. DMS emissions may therefore help to mitigate coral physiological stress via increased low-level cloud cover and reduced sea surface temperature. The importance of DMS in coral physiology and climate is reviewed and the implications for coral bleaching are discussed.

Rare earth elements (REEs) in coastal seawater are included in bivalve shells during growth, and a regional fingerprint can be defined for provenance and environmental monitoring studies. We present a large dataset of REE abundances from oysters from six locations in France. The cupped oyster can be discriminated from one locality to another, but this is not the case for the flat oyster. Therefore, provenance studies using bivalve shells based on REEs are not adapted for the flat oyster.

In glacial periods, ocean uptake of carbon is likely a key player for achieving low atmospheric CO₂. In climate models, ocean biological uptake of carbon (C) and phosphorus (P) are often assumed to occur in fixed proportions. In this study, we allow the ratio of C : P to vary and simulate, to first approximation, the complex biological changes that occur in the ocean over long timescales. We show here that, for glacial–interglacial cycles, this complexity contributes to low atmospheric CO₂.

Research into climate change has been popular over the past few decades. Greenhouse gas emissions are found to be responsible for climate change. Among all the ecosystems, cropland is the main food source for mankind, therefore its carbon cycle and contribution to the global carbon balance interest us. Our evaluation of the typical wheat–maize rotation cropland over the North China Plain shows it is a net CO₂ emission to the atmosphere and that emissions will continue to rise in the future.

The production of N₂O via nitrification and denitrification associated with low-O₂ waters is a major source of oceanic N₂O. We investigated the regulation and dynamics of these processes with respect to O₂ and organic matter inputs. The transcription of the key nitrification gene amoA rapidly responded to changes in O₂ and strongly correlated with N₂O production rates. N₂O production by denitrification was clearly stimulated by organic carbon, implying that its supply controls N₂O production.

The availability of macronutrients N and Si is of key importance to sustain life in the Southern Ocean. N and Si are available in abundance at the southern boundary of the Southern Ocean due to constant supply from the deep ocean. In the more northern regions of the Southern Ocean, a decline in macronutrient concentration is noticed, especially strong for Si rather than N. This paper uses a simplified biogeochemical model to investigate processes responsible for this decline in concentration.

Increasing deoxygenation and oxygen minimum zone expansion are consequences of global warming. Copepod species had different vertical distribution strategies and physiologies associated with oxygen profile variability (0–1000 m). Species (1) changed vertical distributions and maximum abundance depth, (2) shifted diapause depth, (3) changed diel vertical migration depths, or (4) changed epipelagic depth range in the aerobic mixed layer. Present-day variability helps predict future scenarios.

Future warming threatens many marine organisms; among these are large benthic foraminifera. These symbiont-bearing protists are major carbonate producers and ecosystem engineers. To assess the relative contribution of host and symbiont algae to the holobiont thermal tolerance, we evaluated the calcification rate and photosynthetic activity under future warming scenarios.

Residence times of particulate metals derived from aerosol deposition in the Sea Surface Microlayer of the Mediterranean Sea ranged from a couple of minutes (e.g., for Fe) to a few hours (e.g., for Cu). Microbial activity seems to play an important role in in this process and in the concentration and distribution of metals between diferent water layers.

This work investigates the sensitivity of terrestrial CO₂ fluxes to climate drivers. We observed that CO₂ flux is mostly controlled by temperature during the growing season and by radiation off season. We also observe that radiation importance is increasing over time while sensitivity to temperature is decreasing in Eurasia. Ultimately this analysis shows that ecosystem response to climate is changing, with potential repercussions for future terrestrial sink and land role in climate mitigation.

Our paper shows how sedimentation in a very low oxygen setting provides a unique record of environmental change. We look at the past 250 years through the filter of sediment accumulation via radioisotope dating and other physical and chemical analyses of these sediments. We conclude, remarkably, that there has been very little change in net sediment mass accumulation through the past 100–150 years, yet just prior to 1900  CE, sediments were accumulating at 50 %–70 % of today's rate.