A study in National Science Review reports that periphyton—microbial biofilms at the soil–water interface—captures 6–24% (12% on average) of fertilizer nitrogen in Chinese rice paddies. Combining a 840-field survey with in situ ¹⁵N tracing across climatic zones, this study shows this transient N pool (~0.8 Tg N yr−1) helps close long-standing nitrogen budget gaps in paddy fields.

A recent study published in National Science Review has reconstructed the amount of rainfall experienced in the Middle Yangtze Valley between 4,600 and 3,500 years ago. The results show that a 140-year high-rainfall interval coincided with the abandonment of an ancient Shijiahe city. This highlights that water excess can be as problematic as water shortage, even for advanced ancient civilizations.

New geological data indicate that marine life is somewhat resilient to warming in the tropics. Chris Fokkema, earth scientist at Utrecht University, discovered that tropical algae were largely unaffected by a number of periods of global warming of up to 1.5 degrees Celsius in the distant past. These unicellar organisms form the basis of food webs and are generally very sensitive to rising temperatures. Previous studies of periods of even greater warming showed a dramatic decline in these organisms. “Somewhere beyond those 1.5 degrees, a tipping point occurs.”