The purpose of this meta-synthesis was to investigate why students from the U.S. receive the scores they do on the international TIMSS and PISA science exams. This work sought to shed light on the perceived disparity between science performance of U.S. students and students from other countries. To do so,...
Global recognition of the need for ecosystem restoration and revegetation following natural and anthropogenic disturbances has been growing in recent years. Successful programs often depend on the use of nursery-grown seedlings and appropriate mitigation of limiting factors on outplanting sites. Nursery production of high-quality native plants for restoration can be...
The fungus Fusarium fujikuroi causes "bakanae" disease of rice due to its ability to produce gibberellins (GAs), but it is also known for producing harmful mycotoxins. However, the genetic capacity for the whole arsenal of natural compounds and their role in the fungus' interaction with rice remained unknown. Here, we...
Biological organisms, phenomena and strategies, herein referred to as biological systems, provide a rich set of analogies that can be used to inspire engineering innovation. Biologically-inspired, or biomimetic, designs are publicly viewed as creative and novel solutions to human problems. Moreover, some biomimetic designs have become so commonplace that it...
The global cryosphere, defined as the world’s ice and snow covered regions, is a crucial water source for society and ecosystem functions, as well as an important regulator of the earth’s energy budget. Melt from glaciers and seasonal snow cover provides water for more than a sixth of the world’s...
The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT), an activity of the international marine carbon research community, provides access to synthesis and gridded fCO2 (fugacity of carbon dioxide) products for the surface oceans. Version 2 of SOCAT is an update of the previous release (version 1) with more data (increased from 6.3...
Mechanical thinning and prescribed fire are widely used to restore western forests after a century of fire suppression, yet we know little about
how these treatments affect understory communities where plant diversity is highest. We followed understory plants and environmental factors in
old-growth, Sierran mixed conifer for two pre-treatment and...
The glaciated coastal mountain watersheds that drain into the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) provide a model laboratory to explore the challenges of hydrological modeling and study the impact of climate and glacier cover change on regional hydrology. The region is data-sparse and contains a complex assemblage of topography and land...
Research in warm-climate biomes has shown
that invasion by symbiotic dinitrogen (N₂)-fixing plants can
transform ecosystems in ways analogous to the transformations
observed as a consequence of anthropogenic, atmospheric
nitrogen (N) deposition: declines in biodiversity, soil
acidification, and alterations to carbon and nutrient cycling,
including increased N losses through nitrate...