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Item The water of life: Where does desert fog come from?(Futurum, 2021) Wang, Lixin; Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of ScienceThe lack of rainfall in desert environments means that many plants and animals rely on fog and dew to provide their water. But where does this fog come from? And what will happen to these ecosystems as the climate changes? Professor Lixin Wang, a hydrologist at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in the US, has been looking for the answers to these questions.Item Satellite observations reveal decreasing soil erosion in Northeast Inner Mongolia, China, over the past four decades(Frontiers Media, 2022) Jiang, Wei; Pang, Zhiguo; Lv, Juan; Ju, Hongrun; Li, Lin; Fu, June; Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of ScienceKnowledge regarding the soil erosion change patterns in Northeast Inner Mongolia (NIM) is essential for ecological security and sustainable development. Multisource satellite remote sensing with auxiliary data, including meteorology, land use, vegetation coverage, and digital elevation, was collected to establish a distributed soil erosion model to quantify the soil erosion intensity in Northeast Inner Mongolia. The results showed that soil erosion in Northeast Inner Mongolia, China, decreased by 100,654 km2 from 1978 to 2018. The area change rates of the mild, moderate, strong, intensive and severe soil erosion intensities were −48.91%, −41.41%, 32.63%, −91.15%, and −91.14%, respectively. The decrease in soil erosion was mainly located in the Hulunbuir and Tongliao regions. Our findings from satellite observations provide information about the soil erosion intensity and spatial distribution required for policy-making and the management of soil erosion prevention in Northeast Inner Mongolia.Item GLORIA - A globally representative hyperspectral in situ dataset for optical sensing of water quality(Nature, 2023-02) Lehmann, Moritz K.; Gurlin, Daniela; Pahlevan, Nima; Alikas, Krista; Conroy, Ted; Anstee, Janet; Balasubramanian, Sundarabalan V.; Barbosa, Cláudio C. F.; Binding, Caren; Bracher, Astrid; Bresciani, Mariano; Burtner, Ashley; Cao, Zhigang; Dekker, Arnold G.; Di Vittorio, Courtney; Drayson, Nathan; Errera, Reagan M.; Fernandez, Virginia; Ficek, Dariusz; Fichot, Cédric G.; Gege, Peter; Giardino, Claudia; Gitelson, Anatoly A.; Greb, Steven R.; Henderson, Hayden; Higa, Hiroto; Rahaghi, Abolfazl Irani; Jamet, Cédric; Jiang, Dalin; Jordan, Thomas; Kangro, Kersti; Kravitz, Jeremy A.; Kristoffersen, Arne S.; Kudela, Raphael; Li, Lin; Ligi, Martin; Loisel, Hubert; Lohrenz, Steven; Ma, Ronghua; Maciel, Daniel A.; Malthus, Tim J.; Matsushita, Bunkei; Matthews, Mark; Minaudo, Camille; Mishra, Deepak R.; Mishra, Sachidananda; Moore, Tim; Moses, Wesley J.; Nguyễn, Hà; Novo, Evlyn M. L. M.; Novoa, Stéfani; Odermatt, Daniel; O'Donnell, David M.; Olmanson, Leif G.; Ondrusek, Michael; Oppelt, Natascha; Ouillon, Sylvain; Filho, Waterloo Pereira; Plattner, Stefan; Ruiz Verdú, Antonio; Salem, Salem I.; Schalles, John F.; Simis, Stefan G. H.; Siswanto, Eko; Smith , Brandon; Somlai-Schweiger, Ian; Soppa, Mariana A.; Spyrakos, Evangelos; Tessin, Elinor; van der Woerd, Hendrik J.; Vander Woude, Andrea; Vandermeulen, Ryan A.; Vantrepotte, Vincent; Wernand, Marcel R.; Werther, Mortimer; Young, Kyana; Yue, Linwei; Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of ScienceThe development of algorithms for remote sensing of water quality (RSWQ) requires a large amount of in situ data to account for the bio-geo-optical diversity of inland and coastal waters. The GLObal Reflectance community dataset for Imaging and optical sensing of Aquatic environments (GLORIA) includes 7,572 curated hyperspectral remote sensing reflectance measurements at 1 nm intervals within the 350 to 900 nm wavelength range. In addition, at least one co-located water quality measurement of chlorophyll a, total suspended solids, absorption by dissolved substances, and Secchi depth, is provided. The data were contributed by researchers affiliated with 59 institutions worldwide and come from 450 different water bodies, making GLORIA the de-facto state of knowledge of in situ coastal and inland aquatic optical diversity. Each measurement is documented with comprehensive methodological details, allowing users to evaluate fitness-for-purpose, and providing a reference for practitioners planning similar measurements. We provide open and free access to this dataset with the goal of enabling scientific and technological advancement towards operational regional and global RSWQ monitoring.Item Suitability evaluation of the rural settlements in a farming-pastoral ecotone area based on machine learning maximum entropy(Elsevier, 2023-10) Zhou, Haitao; Na, Xiaodong; Li, Lin; Ning, Xiaoli; Bai, Yanru; Wu, Xiaodong; Zang, Shuying; Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of ScienceThe suitability evaluation of rural settlements is the core foundation of planning and layout optimization. Settlements in a farming-pastoral ecotone are migrative, dynamic, and diverse, and thus their suitability changes constantly. However, our limited understanding of factors that drive this dynamic process and affect the suitability of humane settlements in the farming-pastoral ecotone hindered the high-quality development of human settlements in such areas. Here we selected the ethnic minority border area of Dalham Maomingan United Banner (DMUB) in the farming-pastoral ecotone of Northern China to evaluate the suitability of its rural settlements. A data-driven machine learning maximum entropy (Maxent) method was applied to the rural settlement datasets of DMUB in years 1996, 2010, and 2020, as well as to 13 influencing factors derived from optical images and topographical ancillary data, demonstrating that the Maxent model can quantitatively measure the contribution and importance of each factor and its variation over time. Furthermore, the results showed that factors such as distance to cultivated land, population density, and distance to road had a great influence on the early-stage distribution of settlements. However, the importance of cultivated land gradually decreased with the significantly increased effect of grassland in the later period. The influence of road factors fluctuated first increasing and then decreasing. The Maxent model was also used to automatically determine suitable range for each factor according to the response curve: elevation falling between 1450 and 1650 m approximately, slope being <7°, the aspect range about 75°-225°, the optimal distance to town and hospital being within 3000 m, and vegetation cover about 0.60–0.75. Such multi-period suitability evaluation indicated that the suitable area gradually decreased, and the settlement fragmentation was serious. The settlement suitability has been dynamically transformed, but mostly toward the unsuitable development. This study provides a decision-making basis for the site selection and planning layout of rural settlements and for the livability assessment of villages in the farming-pastoral ecotone.Item Errata to “Impact of Spectral Resolution on Quantifying Cyanobacteria in Lakes and Reservoirs: A Machine-Learning Assessment”(IEEE, 2023-08) Zolfaghari, Kiana; Pahlevan, Nima; Binding, Caren; Gurlin, Daniela; Simis, Stefan G. H.; Verdú, Antonio Ruiz; Li, Lin; Crawford, Christopher J.; VanderWoude, Andrea; Errera, Reagan; Zastepa, Arthur; Duguay, Claude R.; Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of ScienceIn the above article [1], the references in the following paragraph should be corrected as shown below. This excerpt appears in the first column on page 4 of the above article.Item Multiple sulfur isotopes fractionations associated with abiotic sulfur transformations in Yellowstone National Park geothermal springs(Springer Nature, 2014-05-28) Kamyshny, Alexey, Jr.; Druschel, Gregory; Mansaray, Zahra F.; Farquhar, James; Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of ScienceBackground: The paper presents a quantification of main (hydrogen sulfide and sulfate), as well as of intermediate sulfur species (zero-valent sulfur (ZVS), thiosulfate, sulfite, thiocyanate) in the Yellowstone National Park (YNP) hydrothermal springs and pools. We combined these measurements with the measurements of quadruple sulfur isotope composition of sulfate, hydrogen sulfide and zero-valent sulfur. The main goal of this research is to understand multiple sulfur isotope fractionation in the system, which is dominated by complex, mostly abiotic, sulfur cycling. Results: Water samples from six springs and pools in the Yellowstone National Park were characterized by pH, chloride to sulfate ratios, sulfide and intermediate sulfur species concentrations. Concentrations of sulfate in pools indicate either oxidation of sulfide by mixing of deep parent water with shallow oxic water, or surface oxidation of sulfide with atmospheric oxygen. Thiosulfate concentrations are low (<6 μmol L(-1)) in the pools with low pH due to fast disproportionation of thiosulfate. In the pools with higher pH, the concentration of thiosulfate varies, depending on different geochemical pathways of thiosulfate formation. The δ(34)S values of sulfate in four systems were close to those calculated using a mixing line of the model based on dilution and boiling of a deep hot parent water body. In two pools δ(34)S values of sulfate varied significantly from the values calculated from this model. Sulfur isotope fractionation between ZVS and hydrogen sulfide was close to zero at pH < 4. At higher pH zero-valent sulfur is slightly heavier than hydrogen sulfide due to equilibration in the rhombic sulfur-polysulfide - hydrogen sulfide system. Triple sulfur isotope ((32)S, (33)S, (34)S) fractionation patterns in waters of hydrothermal pools are more consistent with redox processes involving intermediate sulfur species than with bacterial sulfate reduction. Small but resolved differences in ∆(33)S among species and between pools are observed. Conclusions: The variation of sulfate isotopic composition, the origin of differences in isotopic composition of sulfide and zero-valent sulfur, as well as differences in ∆(33)S of sulfide and sulfate are likely due to a complex network of abiotic redox reactions, including disproportionation pathways.Item Involvement of Intermediate Sulfur Species in Biological Reduction of Elemental Sulfur under Acidic, Hydrothermal Conditions(American Society for Microbiology, 2013) Boyd, Eric S.; Druschel, Gregory K.; Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of ScienceThe thermoacidophile and obligate elemental sulfur (S(8)(0))-reducing anaerobe Acidilobus sulfurireducens 18D70 does not associate with bulk solid-phase sulfur during S(8)(0)-dependent batch culture growth. Cyclic voltammetry indicated the production of hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) as well as polysulfides after 1 day of batch growth of the organism at pH 3.0 and 81°C. The production of polysulfide is likely due to the abiotic reaction between S(8)(0) and the biologically produced H(2)S, as evinced by a rapid cessation of polysulfide formation when the growth temperature was decreased, inhibiting the biological production of sulfide. After an additional 5 days of growth, nanoparticulate S(8)(0) was detected in the cultivation medium, a result of the hydrolysis of polysulfides in acidic medium. To examine whether soluble polysulfides and/or nanoparticulate S(8)(0) can serve as terminal electron acceptors (TEA) supporting the growth of A. sulfurireducens, total sulfide concentration and cell density were monitored in batch cultures with S(8)(0) provided as a solid phase in the medium or with S(8)(0) sequestered in dialysis tubing. The rates of sulfide production in 7-day-old cultures with S(8)(0) sequestered in dialysis tubing with pore sizes of 12 to 14 kDa and 6 to 8 kDa were 55% and 22%, respectively, of that of cultures with S(8)(0) provided as a solid phase in the medium. These results indicate that the TEA existed in a range of particle sizes that affected its ability to diffuse through dialysis tubing of different pore sizes. Dynamic light scattering revealed that S(8)(0) particles generated through polysulfide rapidly grew in size, a rate which was influenced by the pH of the medium and the presence of organic carbon. Thus, S(8)(0) particles formed through abiological hydrolysis of polysulfide under acidic conditions appeared to serve as a growth-promoting TEA for A. sulfurireducens.Item Author Correction: Unraveling iron oxides as abiotic catalysts of organic phosphorus recycling in soil and sediment matrices(Springer Nature, 2024-08-30) Basinski, Jade J.; Bone, Sharon E.; Klein, Annaleise R.; Thongsomboon, Wiriya; Mitchell, Valerie; Shukle, John T.; Druschel, Gregory K.; Thompson, Aaron; Aristilde, Ludmilla; Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of ScienceCorrection to: Nature Communications 10.1038/s41467-024-47931-z, published online 18 July 2024 The original version of this Article contained an error in the Abstract, which was previously incorrectly given as ‘ten-fold’. The correct version states ‘twenty-fold’ in place of ‘ten-fold’. This has been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.Item Unraveling iron oxides as abiotic catalysts of organic phosphorus recycling in soil and sediment matrices(Springer Nature, 2024-07-18) Basinski, Jade J.; Bone, Sharon E.; Klein, Annaleise R.; Thongsomboon, Wiriya; Mitchell, Valerie; Shukle, John T.; Druschel, Gregory K.; Thompson, Aaron; Aristilde, Ludmilla; Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of ScienceIn biogeochemical phosphorus cycling, iron oxide minerals are acknowledged as strong adsorbents of inorganic and organic phosphorus. Dephosphorylation of organic phosphorus is attributed only to biological processes, but iron oxides could also catalyze this reaction. Evidence of this abiotic catalysis has relied on monitoring products in solution, thereby ignoring iron oxides as both catalysts and adsorbents. Here we apply high-resolution mass spectrometry and X-ray absorption spectroscopy to characterize dissolved and particulate phosphorus species, respectively. In soil and sediment samples reacted with ribonucleotides, we uncover the abiotic production of particulate inorganic phosphate associated specifically with iron oxides. Reactions of various organic phosphorus compounds with the different minerals identified in the environmental samples reveal up to ten-fold greater catalytic reactivities with iron oxides than with silicate and aluminosilicate minerals. Importantly, accounting for inorganic phosphate both in solution and mineral-bound, the dephosphorylarion rates of iron oxides were within reported enzymatic rates in soils. Our findings thus imply a missing abiotic axiom for organic phosphorus mineralization in phosphorus cycling.Item Bioenergetic characterization of a shallow-sea hydrothermal vent system: Milos Island, Greece(Public Library of Science, 2020-06-05) Lu, Guang-Sin; LaRowe, Douglas E.; Fike, David A.; Druschel, Gregory K.; Gilhooly, William P., III; Price, Roy E.; Amend, Jan P.; Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of ScienceShallow-sea hydrothermal systems, like their deep-sea and terrestrial counterparts, can serve as relatively accessible portals into the microbial ecology of subsurface environments. In this study, we determined the chemical composition of 47 sediment porewater samples along a transect from a diffuse shallow-sea hydrothermal vent to a non-thermal background area in Paleochori Bay, Milos Island, Greece. These geochemical data were combined with thermodynamic calculations to quantify potential sources of energy that may support in situ chemolithotrophy. The Gibbs energies (ΔGr) of 730 redox reactions involving 23 inorganic H-, O-, C-, N-, S-, Fe-, Mn-, and As-bearing compounds were calculated. Of these reactions, 379 were exergonic at one or more sampling locations. The greatest energy yields were from anaerobic CO oxidation with NO2- (-136 to -162 kJ/mol e-), followed by reactions in which the electron acceptor/donor pairs were O2/CO, NO3-/CO, and NO2-/H2S. When expressed as energy densities (where the concentration of the limiting reactant is taken into account), a different set of redox reactions are the most exergonic: in sediments affected by hydrothermal input, sulfide oxidation with a range of electron acceptors or nitrite reduction with different electron donors provide 85~245 J per kg of sediment, whereas in sediments less affected or unaffected by hydrothermal input, various S0 oxidation reactions and aerobic respiration reactions with several different electron donors are most energy-yielding (80~95 J per kg of sediment). A model that considers seawater mixing with hydrothermal fluids revealed that there is up to ~50 times more energy available for microorganisms that can use S0 or H2S as electron donors and NO2- or O2 as electron acceptors compared to other reactions. In addition to revealing likely metabolic pathways in the near-surface and subsurface mixing zones, thermodynamic calculations like these can help guide novel microbial cultivation efforts to isolate new species.