Corrigendum: Interactions Between Fire Refugia and Climate-Environment Conditions Determine Mesic Subalpine Forest Recovery After Large and Severe Wildfires

In the published article, there was an error in the Funding statement. One of the funding numbers provided was incorrect. The correct Funding statement appears below. Funding for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF awards EAR-1738104 and GSS-1832483). The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated

Reduced Fire Severity offers Near-term Buffer to climate-driven declines in conifer resilience across the western United States

Increasing fire severity and warmer, drier postfire conditions are making forests in the western United States (West) vulnerable to ecological transformation. Yet, the relative importance of and interactions between these drivers of forest change remain unresolved, particularly over upcoming decades. Here, we assess how the interactive impacts of changing climate and wildfire activity influenced conifer regeneration after 334 wildfires, using a dataset of postfire conifer regeneration from 10,230 field plots. Our findings highlight declining regeneration capacity across the West over the past four decades for the eight dominant conifer species studied. Postfire regeneration is sensitive to high-severity fire, which limits seed availability, and postfire climate, which influences seedling establishment. In the near-term, projected differences in recruitment probability between low- and high-severity fire scenarios were larger than projected climate change impacts for most species, suggesting that reductions in fire severity, and resultant impacts on seed availability, could partially offset expected climate-driven declines in postfire regeneration. Across 40 to 42% of the study area, we project postfire conifer regeneration to be likely following low-severity but not high-severity fire under future climate scenarios (2031 to 2050). However, increasingly warm, dry climate conditions are projected to eventually outweigh the influence of fire severity and seed availability. The percent of the study area considered unlikely to experience conifer regeneration, regardless of fire severity, increased from 5% in 1981 to 2000 to 26 to 31% by mid-century, highlighting a limited time window over which management actions that reduce fire severity may effectively support postfire conifer regeneration

Canary in the Forest?—Tree mortality and canopy dieback of western redcedar linked to drier and warmer summers

Aim: Forest dieback is increasing from unfavourable climate conditions. Western redcedar (WRC)—a culturally, ecologically and economically important species—has recently experienced anomalously high mortality rates and partial canopy dieback. We investigated how WRC tree growth and dieback responded to climate variability and drought using tree-ring methods. Location: Pacific Northwest, USA. Taxon: Western redcedar (Thuja plicata). Methods: We collected tree cores from three tree health status groups (no canopy dieback, partial canopy dieback, and dead trees) at 11 sites in coastal (maritime climate) and interior (continental climate) WRC populations. From growth rates, we computed four growth indices that assessed the resilience to drought and estimated the year of death. Results: Warmer and drier climate conditions in May/June that extended the annual July-to- September dry season reduced radial growth in 9 of 11 sites (1975–2020). WRC trees recovered growth to pre-drought rates within 3 years when post-drought climate conditions were cooler/wetter than average. However, recovery from drought was slower or absent when warmer/drier conditions occurred during the post-drought recovery period, possibly leading to the recent and widespread mortality across the coastal population. WRC mortality was portended by 4–5 years of declining growth. Annually-resolved mortality in coastal populations predominately occurred in 2017–2018 (80% of sampled dead trees), a period that coincided with exceedingly hot temperatures and the longest regionally dry period from May to September (1970–2020). In interior populations, mortality was dispersed among years but associated with warmer and drier conditions from August to September. Main conclusions: Our findings forewarn that a warming climate and more frequent and severe summer droughts, especially in consecutive years, will likely increase the vulnerability of WRC to canopy dieback and mortality and possibly other drought-sensitive trees in one of the world\u27s largest forest carbon sinks

Genome-wide examination of the transcriptional response to ecdysteroids 20-hydroxyecdysone and ponasterone A in Drosophila melanogaster

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) hierarchy of gene activation serves as an attractive model system for studying the mode of steroid hormone regulated gene expression and development. Many structural analogs of 20E exist in nature and among them the plant-derived ponasterone A (PoA) is the most potent. PoA has a higher affinity for the 20E nuclear receptor, composed of the ecysone receptor (EcR) and Ultraspiracle proteins, than 20E and a comparison of the genes regulated by these hormones has not been performed. Furthermore, in <it>Drosophila </it>different cell types elicit different morphological responses to 20E yet the cell type specificity of the 20E transcriptional response has not been examined on a genome-wide scale. We aim to characterize the transcriptional response to 20E and PoA in <it>Drosophila </it>Kc cells and to 20E in salivary glands and provide a robust comparison of genes involved in each response.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our genome-wide microarray analysis of Kc167 cells treated with 20E or PoA revealed that far more genes are regulated by PoA than by 20E (256 vs 148 respectively) and that there is very little overlap between the transcriptional responses to each hormone. Interestingly, genes induced by 20E relative to PoA are enriched in functions related to development. We also find that many genes regulated by 20E in Kc167 cells are not regulated by 20E in salivary glands of wandering 3^rdinstar larvae and we show that 20E-induced levels of <it>EcR </it>isoforms <it>EcR-RA, ER-RC</it>, and <it>EcR-RD/E </it>differ between Kc cells and salivary glands suggesting a possible cause for the observed differences in 20E-regulated gene transcription between the two cell types.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We report significant differences in the transcriptional responses of 20E and PoA, two steroid hormones that differ by only a single hydroxyl group. We also provide evidence that suggests that PoA induced death of non-adapted insects may be related to PoA regulating different set of genes when compared to 20E. In addition, we reveal large differences between Kc cells and salivary glands with regard to their genome-wide transcriptional response to 20E and show that the level of induction of certain EcR isoforms differ between Kc cells and salivary glands. We hypothesize that the differences in the transcriptional response may in part be due to differences in the EcR isoforms present in different cell types.</p

Reduced carbon emission estimates from fossil fuel combustion and cement production in China.

Nearly three-quarters of the growth in global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and cement production between 2010 and 2012 occurred in China. Yet estimates of Chinese emissions remain subject to large uncertainty; inventories of China's total fossil fuel carbon emissions in 2008 differ by 0.3 gigatonnes of carbon, or 15 per cent. The primary sources of this uncertainty are conflicting estimates of energy consumption and emission factors, the latter being uncertain because of very few actual measurements representative of the mix of Chinese fuels. Here we re-evaluate China's carbon emissions using updated and harmonized energy consumption and clinker production data and two new and comprehensive sets of measured emission factors for Chinese coal. We find that total energy consumption in China was 10 per cent higher in 2000-2012 than the value reported by China's national statistics, that emission factors for Chinese coal are on average 40 per cent lower than the default values recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and that emissions from China's cement production are 45 per cent less than recent estimates. Altogether, our revised estimate of China's CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production is 2.49 gigatonnes of carbon (2 standard deviations = ±7.3 per cent) in 2013, which is 14 per cent lower than the emissions reported by other prominent inventories. Over the full period 2000 to 2013, our revised estimates are 2.9 gigatonnes of carbon less than previous estimates of China's cumulative carbon emissions. Our findings suggest that overestimation of China's emissions in 2000-2013 may be larger than China's estimated total forest sink in 1990-2007 (2.66 gigatonnes of carbon) or China's land carbon sink in 2000-2009 (2.6 gigatonnes of carbon).This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from NPG via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature1467

The putative Tumor Suppressor VILIP-1 Counteracts Epidermal Growth Factor-Induced Epidermal-Mesenchymal Transition in Squamous Carcinoma Cells

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a crucial step for the acquisition of invasive properties of carcinoma cells during tumor progression. Epidermal growth factor (EGF)-treatment of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cells provokes changes in the expression of lineage markers, morphological changes, and a higher invasive and metastatic potential. Here we show that chronic stimulation with EGF induces EMT in skin-derived SCC cell lines along with the down-regulation of the epithelial marker E-cadherin, and of the putative tumor suppressor VILIP-1 (visinin-like protein 1). In esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and non-small cell lung carcinoma the loss of VILIP-1 correlates with clinicopathological features related to enhanced invasiveness. VILIP-1 has previously been shown to suppress tumor cell invasion via enhancing cAMP-signaling in a murine SCC model. In mouse skin SCC cell lines the VILIP-1-negative tumor cells have low cAMP levels, whereas VILIP-1-positive SCCs possess high cAMP levels, but low invasive properties. We show that in VILIP-1-negative SCCs, Snail1, a transcriptional repressor involved in EMT, is up-regulated. Snail1 expression is reduced by ectopic VILIP-1-expression in VILIP-1-negative SCC cells, and application of the general adenylyl cyclase inhibitor 2′,3′-dideoxyadenosine attenuated this effect. Conversely, EGF-stimulation of VILIP-1-positive SCC cells leads to the down-regulation of VILIP-1 and the induction of Snail1 expression. The induction of Snail is inhibited by elevated cAMP levels. The role of cAMP in EMT was further highlighted by its suppressive effect on the EGF-induced enhancement of migration in VILIP-1-positive SCC cells. These findings indicate that VILIP-1 is involved in EMT of SCC by regulating the transcription factor Snail1 in a cAMP-dependent manner

The North American tree-ring fire-scar network

Fire regimes in North American forests are diverse and modern fire records are often too short to capture important patterns, trends, feedbacks, and drivers of variability. Tree-ring fire scars provide valuable perspectives on fire regimes, including centuries-long records of fire year, season, frequency, severity, and size. Here, we introduce the newly compiled North American tree-ring fire-scar network (NAFSN), which contains 2562 sites, >37,000 fire-scarred trees, and covers large parts of North America. We investigate the NAFSN in terms of geography, sample depth, vegetation, topography, climate, and human land use. Fire scars are found in most ecoregions, from boreal forests in northern Alaska and Canada to subtropical forests in southern Florida and Mexico. The network includes 91 tree species, but is dominated by gymnosperms in the genus Pinus. Fire scars are found from sea level to >4000-m elevation and across a range of topographic settings that vary by ecoregion. Multiple regions are densely sampled (e.g., >1000 fire-scarred trees), enabling new spatial analyses such as reconstructions of area burned. To demonstrate the potential of the network, we compared the climate space of the NAFSN to those of modern fires and forests; the NAFSN spans a climate space largely representative of the forested areas in North America, with notable gaps in warmer tropical climates. Modern fires are burning in similar climate spaces as historical fires, but disproportionately in warmer regions compared to the historical record, possibly related to under-sampling of warm subtropical forests or supporting observations of changing fire regimes. The historical influence of Indigenous and non-Indigenous human land use on fire regimes varies in space and time. A 20th century fire deficit associated with human activities is evident in many regions, yet fire regimes characterized by frequent surface fires are still active in some areas (e.g., Mexico and the southeastern United States). These analyses provide a foundation and framework for future studies using the hundreds of thousands of annually- to sub-annually-resolved tree-ring records of fire spanning centuries, which will further advance our understanding of the interactions among fire, climate, topography, vegetation, and humans across North America

Search for continuous gravitational wave emission from the Milky Way center in O3 LIGO--Virgo data

We present a directed search for continuous gravitational wave (CW) signals emitted by spinning neutron stars located in the inner parsecs of the Galactic Center (GC). Compelling evidence for the presence of a numerous population of neutron stars has been reported in the literature, turning this region into a very interesting place to look for CWs. In this search, data from the full O3 LIGO--Virgo run in the detector frequency band $[10,2000]\rm~Hz$ have been used. No significant detection was found and 95$\%$ confidence level upper limits on the signal strain amplitude were computed, over the full search band, with the deepest limit of about $7.6\times 10^{-26}$ at $\simeq 142\rm~Hz$. These results are significantly more constraining than those reported in previous searches. We use these limits to put constraints on the fiducial neutron star ellipticity and r-mode amplitude. These limits can be also translated into constraints in the black hole mass -- boson mass plane for a hypothetical population of boson clouds around spinning black holes located in the GC.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure

The population of merging compact binaries inferred using gravitational waves through GWTC-3

We report on the population properties of 76 compact binary mergers detected with gravitational waves below a false alarm rate of 1 per year through GWTC-3. The catalog contains three classes of binary mergers: BBH, BNS, and NSBH mergers. We infer the BNS merger rate to be between 10 $\rm{Gpc^{-3} yr^{-1}}$ and 1700 $\rm{Gpc^{-3} yr^{-1}}$ and the NSBH merger rate to be between 7.8 $\rm{Gpc^{-3}\, yr^{-1}}$ and 140 $\rm{Gpc^{-3} yr^{-1}}$ , assuming a constant rate density versus comoving volume and taking the union of 90% credible intervals for methods used in this work. Accounting for the BBH merger rate to evolve with redshift, we find the BBH merger rate to be between 17.9 $\rm{Gpc^{-3}\, yr^{-1}}$ and 44 $\rm{Gpc^{-3}\, yr^{-1}}$ at a fiducial redshift (z=0.2). We obtain a broad neutron star mass distribution extending from $1.2^{+0.1}_{-0.2} M_\odot$ to $2.0^{+0.3}_{-0.3} M_\odot$. We can confidently identify a rapid decrease in merger rate versus component mass between neutron star-like masses and black-hole-like masses, but there is no evidence that the merger rate increases again before 10 $M_\odot$. We also find the BBH mass distribution has localized over- and under-densities relative to a power law distribution. While we continue to find the mass distribution of a binary's more massive component strongly decreases as a function of primary mass, we observe no evidence of a strongly suppressed merger rate above $\sim 60 M_\odot$. The rate of BBH mergers is observed to increase with redshift at a rate proportional to $(1+z)^{\kappa}$ with $\kappa = 2.9^{+1.7}_{-1.8}$ for $z\lesssim 1$. Observed black hole spins are small, with half of spin magnitudes below $\chi_i \simeq 0.25$. We observe evidence of negative aligned spins in the population, and an increase in spin magnitude for systems with more unequal mass ratio