We investigated the biogeochemical processes that dominate the release and retention of elements (nutrients and potentially toxic elements) during litter degradation. Our results show that toxic elements are retained in the litter, while nutrients are released in solution during the first stages of degradation. This seems linked to the capability of trees to distribute the elements between degradation-resistant and non-degradation-resistant compounds of leaves according to their chemical nature.

Deep coastal inlets are important sites for regulating land-based organic pollution before it enters coastal oceans. This study focused on how large climate forces, rainfall, and river flow impact organic loading and oxygen conditions in a coastal inlet in Tasmania. Increases in rainfall were linked to higher organic loading and lower oxygen in basin waters. Finally we observed a significant correlation between the Southern Annular Mode and oxygen concentrations in the system's basin waters.

We measured CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes in heterogenous Arctic tundra in eastern Siberia. We found that tundra wetlands with sedge and grass vegetation contributed disproportionately to the landscape's ecosystem CO₂ uptake and CH₄ emissions to the atmosphere. Moreover, we observed high CH₄ consumption in dry tundra, particularly in barren areas, offsetting part of the CH₄ emissions from the wetlands.

Our field experiment tested if a mixture of a nitrogen-fixing legume and non-legume cover crop could reduce nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions following tillage, compared to the legume grown alone. We found higher N₂O following both legume treatments, compared to those without, and lower emissions from the cover crop mixture at one of the two test sites, suggesting that interactions between cover crop types and soil quality influence N₂O emissions.

We report census counts of planktic foraminifera in depth-stratified plankton net samples off Indonesia. Our results show that the vertical distribution of foraminifera species routinely used in paleoceanographic reconstructions varies in hydrographically distinct regions, likely in response to food availability. Consequently, the thermal gradient based on mixed layer and thermocline dwellers also differs for these regions, suggesting potential implications for paleoceanographic reconstructions.

The remineralisation proxy, barite, was measured along 30°E in the southern Indian Ocean during early austral winter. To our knowledge this is the first reported Southern Ocean winter study. Concentrations throughout the water column were comparable to observations during spring to autumn. By linking satellite primary production to this proxy a possible annual timescale is proposed. These findings also suggest possible carbon remineralisation from satellite data on a basin scale.

Soil erosion is one of the most serious environmental challenges of our time, which also applies to forests when forest soil is disturbed. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) can play a key role as erosion control. In this study, we combined soil erosion measurements with vegetation surveys in disturbed forest areas. We found that soil erosion was reduced primarily by pioneer bryophyte-dominated biocrusts and that bryophytes contributed more to soil erosion mitigation than vascular plants.

Excessive leaching of nitrate from forested catchments during storm events degrades water quality and causes eutrophication in downstream areas. Thus, tracing the source of nitrate increase during storm events in forested streams is important for sustainable forest management. Based on the isotopic compositions of stream nitrate, including Δ¹⁷O, this study clarifies that the source of stream nitrate increase during storm events was soil nitrate in the riparian zone.

To become carbon neutral by 2050, the European Union (EU27) forest C sink should increase to −450 Mt CO₂ yr^-1. Our study highlights that under current management practices (i.e. excluding any policy scenario) the forest C sink of the EU27 member states and the UK may decrease to about −250 Mt CO_2eq yr^-1 in 2050. The expected impacts of future climate change, however, add a considerable uncertainty, potentially nearly doubling or halving the sink associated with forest management.

Peatland respiration is made up of plant and peat sources. How to separate these sources is not well known as peat respiration is not straightforward and is more influenced by vegetation dynamics than previously thought. Results of plot level measurements from shrubs and sparse grasses in a woody bog show that plants' respiration response to changes in climate is related to their different root structures, implying a difference in the mechanisms by which they obtain water resources.

Reconstructions of past CO₂ concentrations rely on proxy estimates, with one line of proxies relying on the CO₂-dependence of stable carbon isotope fractionation in marine phytoplankton. Culturing experiments provide insights into which processes may impact this. We found, however, that the methods with which these culturing experiments are performed also influence ¹³C fractionation. Caution should therefore be taken when extrapolating results from these experiments to proxy applications.

Pre- and post-fire values of four climate variables and four vegetation variables were analysed at the global scale, in order to observe (i) the general fire likelihood factors and (ii) the vegetation recovery trends over various biomes. The main result of this study is that L-band vegetation optical depth (L-VOD) is the most impacted vegetation variable and takes the longest to recover over dense forests. L-VOD could then be useful for post-fire vegetation recovery studies.

We studied the effects of benthic fauna, animals living on or in the seafloor, on the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus using a model of the Baltic Sea ecosystem. By eating and excreting, the animals transform a large part of organic matter sinking to the seafloor into inorganic forms, which fuel plankton blooms. Simultaneously, when they move around (bioturbate), phosphorus is bound in the sediments. This reduces nitrogen-fixing plankton blooms and oxygen depletion.