Shifts in forest disturbance regimes may compromise the continuous provisioning of ecosystem services to society. Although forests in Europe are central to many policies, empirical data for understanding disturbance dynamics are lacking. We present a unique database of >170,000 ground-based natural disturbance records in European forests from 1950 to 2019. Disturbances significantly increase over the study period, damaging on average 43.8 million m³ of timber volume per year. This is likely a conservative estimate due to under-reporting. We estimated the magnitude of unreported damages to be between 8.6 and 18.3 million m³/year.

Predictions of how species respond to climate and other global changes should ideally be based explicitly on known processes. Here we review the field of biophysical ecology, which addresses the most fundamental thermodynamic processes by which organisms respond to environmental change. We contend that greater understanding and training in the theory and methods of biophysical models is vital to expand their application.

Conceptual figure illustrating potential conflicts between soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration and food production. The figure depicts two hypothetical cases in which crop residues are removed from one field after harvest to be applied as OM inputs to another crop field. In panel a, residues are transferred from a sandy soil to a clay soil. After some years, a new equilibrium for SOC stock is reached. The clay soil gains more SOC than the sandy soil loses, due to its higher C stabilisation capacity (Kirschbaum et al., 2020). Therefore the net overall effect is that C is sequestered, to the benefit of climate (provided that no additional N₂O or CH₄ emissions would arise). The clay soil also sees crop yield increasing, but not as much as the yield in the sandy soil decreases, due to the stronger yield effect of organic amendments in sandy than clay soils (Hijbeek et al., 2017; Zomer et al., 2017). The net effect for yield is that less crops are produced overall. The reciprocal transfer, in panel b, leads to mirrored effects: Small yield loss in the clay soil and high yield gain in the sandy soil, and large CO₂ emissions in clay soil and small SOC sequestration in the sandy soil with an overall SOC loss and aggravated climate change, but more food produced overall. Importantly, assuming that each field is owned by a different farmer, someone always loses. This clearly illustrates that local win-win scenarios can occur at the expense of fertility elsewhere.

The past two decades have witnessed an explosion in availability of SIF data at increasingly higher spatial and temporal resolutions, sparking applications in diverse research sectors. These applications must deal with complexities caused by tremendous variations in scale and the impacts of interacting and superimposing plant physiology and three dimensional vegetation structure on the emission and scattering of SIF. However, these complexities have not been overcome at present. This paper develops an analytical framework for inferring terrestrial vegetation structures and function, which can serve as a diagnosis and inference tool for versatile applications across diverse spatial and temporal scales. This analytical framework emphasizes that theory and data should go hand-in-hand to enable meaningful applications.

Sequestration of carbon in soils can lead to climate change mitigation or even negative emissions. However, not all measures enhancing soil C result in such C uptake from the atmosphere or negative emissions. At some site measures may only reduce C losses (C loss mitigation) or may be counterbalanced by elevated other greenhouse gas emissions. A more rigorous use of the terms surrounding C sequestration in soils is prerequisite in order to enhance understanding of climate change mitigation efforts in the land-use sector among stakeholders in science, politics, and society.

Optimizing grazing to sequester soil organic carbon is an important opportunity to help mitigate climate change and improve grazingland health, but research challenges have failed to inform a cohesive understanding to inform management. Combining information from plants, soils, and grazing, we provide a conceptual framework that can help inform both better research and grazing management.

Evaluating soil organic carbon (SOC) changes in European croplands and grasslands is vital for agricultural resilience. A data-driven modelling approach using available Land Use/Land Cover Area Frame Survey (LUCAS) datasets highlighted that land use and land use changes, notably the conversion from cropland to grassland, have a significant impact on SOC stocks. From 2009 to 2018, the EU + UK experienced a 0.75% decline in topsoil SOC stock, with the most pronounced losses in central-northern regions.

Salinity changes and their influence on ecosystem structure and function. Increasing temperatures enhance hydrological cycling, resulting in increased meltwater and shifts in evaporation and precipitation patterns that affect global ocean salinity patterns. Local impacts, such as land use practice further modulate terrestrial runoff patterns, affecting coastal ecosystems. Enhanced variation or shifts in salinity impact diversity, growth, and survival of key species. Sea level rise connected with salinization as well as ecotone shifts and trophic cascades may contribute to substantially altered ecosystem structure and functionality.