Peatlands are crucial sinks for atmospheric carbon but are critically threatened due to warming climates. Sphagnum (peat moss) species are keystone members of peatland communities where they actively engineer hyperacidic conditions, which improves their competitive advantage and accelerates ecosystem-level carbon sequestration. To dissect the molecular and physiological sources of this unique biology, we generated chromosome-scale genomes of two Sphagnum species: S. divinum and S. angustifolium. Sphagnum genomes show no gene colinearity with any other reference genome to date, demonstrating that Sphagnum represents an unsampled lineage of land plant evolution. The genomes also revealed an average recombination rate an order of magnitude higher than vascular land plants and short putative U/V sex chromosomes. These newly described sex chromosomes interact with autosomal loci that significantly impact growth across diverse pH conditions. This discovery demonstrates that the ability of Sphagnum to sequester carbon in acidic peat bogs is mediated by interactions between sex, autosomes and environment. © 2023, The Author(s).

Remotely sensed data have the potential to monitor natural hazards and their consequences on socioeconomic systems. However, in much of the world, inadequate validation data of disaster damage make reliable use of satellite data difficult. We attempt to strengthen the use of satellite data for one application-flood index insurance-which has the potential to manage the largely uninsured losses from floods. Flood index insurance is a particularly challenging application of remote sensing due to floods' speed, unpredictability, and the significant data validation required. We propose a set of criteria for assessing remote sensing flood index insurance algorithm performance and provide a framework for remote sensing application validation in data-poor environments. Within these criteria, we assess several validation metrics-spatial accuracy compared to high-resolution PlanetScope imagery (F1), temporal consistency as compared to river water levels (Spearman's ρ), and correlation to government damage data (R2)-that measure index performance. With these criteria, we develop a Sentinel-1 flood inundation time series in Bangladesh at high spatial (10 m) and temporal (∼weekly) resolution and compare it to a previous Sentinel-1 algorithm and a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) time series used in flood index insurance. Results show that the adapted Sentinel-1 algorithm (F1avg = 0.925, ρavg = 0.752, R2 = 0.43) significantly outperforms previous Sentinel-1 and MODIS algorithms on the validation criteria. Beyond Bangladesh, our proposed validation criteria can be used to develop and validate better remote sensing products for index insurance and other flood applications in places with inadequate ground truth damage data. © 2008-2012 IEEE.

We study the properties of two quantum particles which are confined in a ring. The particles interact via a long-range gauge potential proportional to the distance between the particles. It is found that the two-body ground state corresponds to a state with non-zero angular momentum provided that the interaction between the particles is strong enough. In addition, the particles are correlated in the sense that depending on the interaction strength there is a propensity to be found close together or separated in the ring. We discuss the effect of measuring the position of one of the particles and thereby removing the particle from the ring, where we show that the remaining particle can be prepared in a non-dispersive state with non-zero angular momentum. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.

Circularly polarized light (CPL) is widely used for various applications in sensing and imaging1–3. An ongoing challenge is to realize high-quality CPL detection using chiral organic semiconductors, especially in the near-infrared (NIR) region4. Chiral molecules tend to rely on twisted stereogenic moieties; however, conventional approaches to reduce the bandgap of organic semiconductors are based on the use of co-planar backbones that commonly lead to molecular symmetries preventing chirality. Here we report a widely applicable strategy to directly induce chiroptical activity in planar non-fullerene acceptors5–7, which are widely used for high-performance organic photovoltaics and provide a wealth of opportunities to fill the spectral gap of CPL detection in the NIR regime. We demonstrate proof-of-concept circularly polarized organic photodiodes using chiroptically active non-fullerene acceptor blends, which exhibit strong circular dichroism and hence great sensitivity to CPL in the NIR region. Importantly, this strategy is found to be effective in a wide series of state-of-the-art non-fullerene acceptor families including ITIC5, o-IDTBR6 and Y6 analogues7, which substantially broadens the range of materials applicable to NIR CPL detection. © 2023, The Author(s).

In organic solar cells with very small energetic-offset (ΔELE − CT), the charge-transfer (CT) and local-exciton (LE) states strongly interact via electronic hybridization and thermal population effects, suppressing the non-radiative recombination. Here, we investigated the impact of these effects on charge generation and recombination. In the blends of PTO2:C8IC and PTO2:Y6 with very small, ultra-fast CT state formation was observed, and assigned to direct photoexcitation resulting from strong hybridization of the LE and CT states (i.e., LE-CT intermixed states). These states in turn accelerate the recombination of both CT and charge separated (CS) states. Moreover, they can be significantly weakened by an external-electric field, which enhanced the yield of CT and CS states but attenuated the emission of the device. This study highlights that excessive LE-CT hybridization due to very low, whilst enabling direct and ultrafast charge transfer and increasing the proportion of radiative versus non-radiative recombination rates, comes at the expense of accelerating recombination losses competing with exciton-to-charge conversion process, resulting in a loss of photocurrent generation. © 2023 The Authors. Advanced Energy Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

To address the longstanding issue of provenance interpretation of non-unique detrital zircon age populations, we integrated zircon U-Pb, rare earth element (REE), and εHf(t) data from upper Paleozoic strata in the northern Central Colorado Trough and Cambrian intrusions with petrography, paleocurrent data, and structural and stratigraphic observations. This data set indicates that Cambrian sediment was shed by multiple local sources instead of distant sources hundreds of kilometers away, and it reveals a detailed history of tectonic drainage reorganization in the northern Central Colorado Trough during Ancestral Rocky Mountain deformation. During the Early–Middle Pennsylvanian, Cambrian detrital zircons were a minor constituent of northern Central Colorado Trough sediment. However, during the Late Pennsylvanian–early Permian, westward advancement of the adjacent Apishapa Uplift deformation front precipitated drainage reorganization, which resulted in an episode of dominant Cambrian detrital zircon sourcing. Paleocurrent and petrographic data indicate that the source of Cambrian detritus was shed by an igneous rock body that was ≤15 km northeast of the depocenter, which has since been eroded away or mantled by Tertiary volcanic rocks. The addition of zircon petrochronology to the data set applied here was critical in confirming this hidden source of detritus and elucidating the compositional characteristics of that igneous rock. Zircon εHf(t) provided a regional provenance indicator of a western Laurentian affinity, and REE composition aided in discriminating possible local sources of Cambrian zircon. Furthermore, this work serves as a case study of a dominant Cambrian detrital zircon signature sourced from outside of the well-known Amarillo-Wichita Uplift, and it has implications for the interpretation of such detrital spectra in the context of a direct-from- basement source or the recycling of Cambrian zircon-dominated rocks. In summary, we demonstrate the utility of this multi-provenance proxy approach in interpreting a complex structural history of a dynamic hinterland and concomitant drainage reorganization through an in-depth investigation into the basin record © 2023,Geosphere. All Rights Reserved.

Remote sensing of plant traits and their environment facilitates non-invasive, high-throughput monitoring of the plant's physiological characteristics. However, voluminous observational data generated by such autonomous sensor networks overwhelms scientific users when they have to analyze the data. In order to provide a scalable and effective analysis environment, there is a need for storage and analytics that support high-throughput data ingestion while preserving spatiotemporal and sensor-specific characteristics. Also, the framework should enable modelers and scientists to run their analytics while coping with the fast and continuously evolving nature of the dataset. In this paper, we present Radix+, a high-throughput distributed data storage system for supporting scalable georeferencing, and interactive query-based spatiotemporal analytics with trackable data integrity. We include empirical evaluations performed on a commodity machine cluster with up to 1 TB of data. Our benchmarks demonstrate subsecond latency for majority of our evaluated queries and (Formula presented.) improvement in data ingestion rate over systems such as Geomesa. © 2023 The Authors. Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Recent work has shown that evaluating functional trait distinctiveness, the average trait distance of a species to other species in a community offers promising insights into biodiversity dynamics and ecosystem functioning. However, the ecological mechanisms underlying the emergence and persistence of functionally distinct species are poorly understood. Here, we address the issue by considering a heterogeneous fitness landscape whereby functional dimensions encompass peaks representing trait combinations yielding positive population growth rates in a community. We identify four ecological cases contributing to the emergence and persistence of functionally distinct species. First, environmental heterogeneity or alternative phenotypic designs can drive positive population growth of functionally distinct species. Second, sink populations with negative population growth can deviate from local fitness peaks and be functionally distinct. Third, species found at the margin of the fitness landscape can persist but be functionally distinct. Fourth, biotic interactions (positive or negative) can dynamically alter the fitness landscape. We offer examples of these four cases and guidelines to distinguish between them. In addition to these deterministic processes, we explore how stochastic dispersal limitation can yield functional distinctiveness. Our framework offers a novel perspective on the relationship between fitness landscape heterogeneity and the functional composition of ecological assemblages. © 2023 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Bismuth sulphide (Bi2S3), an n-type semiconductor that critically demonstrates the Seebeck effect with Seebeck coefficients of about 300 μVK−1. However, its poor electrical conductivity makes it unsuitable for thermoelectric applications. In this study, we present a facile preparation method for fabricating Bi-sprayed Bi2S3 particles that alters their thermoelectric properties. Samples were created with differing Bi concentrations into the Bi2S3 compound to test for enhanced thermoelectric properties of the resulting Bi/Bi2S3 composites. The incorporation of excess Bi into Bi2S3 significantly improves the compound's electrical conductivity and optimises overall thermoelectric performance. The electrical conductivity of the Bi/Bi2S3 composites improved from 6.5 Scm−1 (for pristine Bi2S3) to 154 Scm−1 (for highest Bi added Bi2S3). Although the Seebeck coefficient of samples decreased with Bi incorporation, a high power factor (∼390 μWm−1K−2) has been achieved for an optimised composition of the composite. Incorporation of metallic Bi has led to an increase in the thermal conductivity of the samples, but the increase is not significant for the optimised composition of the composites where a high thermoelectric performance has been observed. Therefore, enhanced power factor and moderate thermal conductivity have resulted in a peak ZT value of 0.11 at room temperature. The strategy proposed here improves the thermoelectricity in Bi2S3 and shows excellent potential for developing better-performing thermoelectric compounds with excess elemental contents. © 2023

Aim: The sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci MED is a globally invasive species that causes serious economic damage to agroecosystems. Despite the significant threat it poses to agricultural and economic crops worldwide, the global perspective of the invasion patterns and genetic mechanisms contributing to the success of this notorious pest is still poorly understood. The objective of this research was to enhance genome and population genetic analyses to better understand the intricate invasion patterns of B. tabaci MED. Location: Samples were collected in native (Spain, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, and Israel) and invaded regions (China, South Korea and North America). Methods: We first assembled a chromosome-scale reference genome of B. tabaci MED and then employed the restriction site-associated 2b-RAD method to genotype over 20,000 high-quality single-nucleotide polymorphisms from 29 geographical populations. Results: A reference genome of B. tabaci MED, with a size of 637.47 Mb, was available. The majority of the assembled sequences (99%) were anchored onto 10 linkage groups, with an N50 size of 58.76 Mb, representing a significant improvement over previous whitefly genome assemblies. We identified rapidly expanded gene families and positively selected genes, probably contributing to successful invasion and rapid adaptation to the new environment. Population genomics analysis showed that three highly differentiated genetic groups were formed, and complex and extensive gene flow occurred across the Mediterranean populations. The genetic admixture patterns in East Asia populations were distinct from those in North America, indicating that they had different source populations. Conclusions: The high-quality, chromosome-scale genome of B. tabaci MED offered opportunities for more comprehensive genome-wide studies and provided solid foundation to the complex introduction events and the differential invasiveness of B. tabaci MED worldwide. © 2023 The Authors. Diversity and Distributions published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.