Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Alternative hyperspherical adiabatic decoupling scheme for tetratomic molecules: quantum two-dimensional study of the ammonia umbrella motion

The prototypical example of the inversion of ammonia is studied as an approach to hyperspheric decoupling schemes for tetratomic molecule. We perform two-dimensional calculations including totally symmetric stretching and inversion modes, associated to the hyperradius and an hyperangle. Two adiabatic procedures are employed: the hyperradial one where the hyperangular part is solved to give hyperradial adiabatic curves, and the hyperangular one where the hyperradial part is solved to give hyperangular adiabatic curves. Two methodologies are employed: the hyperquantization algorithm and the finite element method. For completeness a diabatic procedure is also formulated

Umbrella motion of the methyl cation, radical, and anion molecules

The main purpose of the present work is to characterize the umbrella inversion motion of the CH-3, CH3 and CH-3 molecules as a function of the environmental conditions. In particular, for the three investigated species we have studied how temperature affects times for umbrella inversion modes and their propagation velocity. These data are used to predict the statistical behavior of the reactions involving the AB3 like molecules and to relate the umbrella potential with the rate constants. The second aspect of this study concerns the molecular distribution charges as a function of the umbrella opening angle and of the total charge. The results have been used to calculate the induced electric field on a probe charge located at a given position perpendicular to the plane of the hydrogen atoms which is the most relevant for the reaction. Obtained values are presented as a function of the umbrella opening angle

Umbrella motion of the methyl cation, radical, and anion molecules

A study of the umbrella motion of the methyl cation, radical, and anion molecules is presented. This is the floppiest mode of vibration of all three species and its characterization is of fundamental importance for understanding their reactivity. Minimum Energy Paths of the umbrella motions according to the hyperspherical treatment were obtained, by single point calculations, at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVQT level of theory in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. These energy profiles permit us to calculate the vibrational levels through the Hyperquantization algorithm, which is shown appropriated for the description of the umbrella motion of these three molecules. The adiabatic electron affinity and ionization potentials were estimated to good accuracy. Partition functions are also calculated in order to obtain information on the reaction rates involving these groups

Quantum angular momentum, projective geometry and the networks of seven and ten spins: Fano, Desargues and alternative incidence configurations

The basic ingredients of the quantum theory of orbital and spin angular momentum (vector coefficients, 3nj symbols) encounter continuing relevance in wide areas beyond the traditional ones (molecular, atomic and nuclear spectroscopies and dynamics). This paper offers insight on the connection at the most elementary of levels with the diagrammatic approaches to projective geometry. In particular here we exhibit how the Fano, Desargues and related incidence configurations emerge in the Racah and in the Biedenharn-Elliott identities, corresponding respectively to the hexagonal and pentagonal relationships that provide the basis for the construction of 3nj symbols and of spin networks. It is shown that the treatment, although mostly confined to the quadrangulation of the real projective plane, permits however the introduction of networks involving seven and ten spins, and preludes to developments towards computational and asymptotic approaches for quantum and semi-classical applications to spectroscopy and dynamics