Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids thus fail to reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions are controlled and most terrestrial species reside. Here we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km² resolution for 0-5 and 5-15 cm depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e., offset) between in-situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km² pixels (summarized from 8500 unique temperature sensors) across all of the world's major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding 2 m gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (3.6 ± 2.3°C warmer than gridded air temperature), whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (0.7 ± 2.3°C cooler). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets underpin that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining global gaps by collecting more in-situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications.
Italy has a rich natural heritage, which is dangerously under pressure. In recent years, there is an increased awareness of the crucial role of plants in ecosystem functioning and in providing ecosystem services. Consequently, an updated Red List of the Italian vascular flora was compiled in this work, at the request of the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection, with the scientific support of the Italian Botanical Society. The IUCN Red List criteria were applied to 2,430 Italian native vascular plant taxa to assess their current extinction risk and to highlight the major threats affecting the Italian flora. Our results revealed that 54 taxa (2.2% of the assessed taxa) are extinct or possibly extinct at regional level, while 590 taxa (24.3%) were assigned to a risk category. Moreover, 404 taxa (16.6%) were categorized as Data Deficient. The Italian vascular flora is primarily threatened by habitat modifications due to anthropic disturbance and, especially, to agriculture, tourism and residential development. Coastal areas and lowlands, where anthropogenic impacts and ecosystem destruction are more pronounced, host the greatest number of extinct or declining taxa. Our results represent an important baseline to establish conservation priorities, legislative choices and intervention strategies on a national scale.
Research in environmental science relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature at around 2 meter above ground1-3. These climatic grids however fail to reflect conditions near and below the soil surface, where critical ecosystem functions such as soil carbon storage are controlled and most biodiversity resides4-8. By using soil temperature time series from over 8500 locations across all of the world’s terrestrial biomes4, we derived global maps of soil temperature-related variables at 1 km resolution for the 0–5 and 5–15 cm depth horizons. Based on these maps, we show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding 2 m gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C, with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Soils in cold and/or dry biomes are annually substantially warmer (3.6°C ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are slightly cooler (0.7 ± 2.3°C). As a result, annual soil temperature varies less (by 17%) across the globe than air temperature. The effect of macroclimatic conditions on the difference between soil and air temperature highlights the importance of considering that macroclimate warming may not result in the same level of soil temperature warming. Similarly, changes in precipitation could alter the relationship between soil and air temperature, with implications for soil-atmosphere feedbacks9. Our results underpin that the impacts of climate and climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments.
Italian maize germplasm is particularly rich in local materials and each region is characterized by the presence of peculiar local varieties deriving from centuries of adaptation, selection and cultivation. While the introduction of hybrids, during the 1950s, led to the disappearing of many of these varieties, some have been maintained in cultivation by farmers, frequently in marginal areas, as a kind of family heritage. Local varieties were identified throughout field surveys carried out in recent years. The discovery of a traditional popcorn variety over the most common flint and semi-flint materials used for production of polenta was interesting. Since these varieties have never been adequately described and reported in scientific literature, this study was aimed to solve this lack of knowledge on recently discovered local maize populations. Characterization represents the first step of a process focused on the preservation and possible exploitation of important genetic resources. Traditional materials are a useful reservoir of genes for adaptation to local conditions and climate changes. Adequate breeding programs can use such germplasm for developing new and more resilient varieties. These local materials have been characterized at the morphological level highlighting plant, ear and kernel differences. Genetic characterization, carried out on 455 individuals by the use of 10 SSR markers, revealed 62 different alleles ranging from four for markers phi127, phi076 and phi084 to nine for marker p-bnlg176. The landraces are well distinguishable at genetic level since 40% of genetic variability is present among accessions. Five landraces are characterized by the presence of private alleles and heterozygosity levels are generally good. These findings support the possibility to correctly preserve local materials through in situ conservation. Phylogenetic analysis evidenced the presence of varietal clusters, the clearest one formed by three red-pigmented accessions. STRUCTURE analysis revealed that five landraces have a well-defined genetic attribution while the remaining two (EMR04-Mais Rosso di Rasora and EMR10-Mais del Principe di Scavolino) are both constituted by two different backgrounds.
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