Climate change is particularly important in Arctic environments, which are warming faster than the global average. Despite their importance for local biogeochemical cycling and global climate, we have a limited understanding of how warming can affect Arctic soil microbes, and only few studies have examined Arctic soil fungi and bacteria simultaneously or compared the total and active communities. We show the combined effect of simulated summer and winter warming using open-top chambers and snow fences on a tundra soil microbial community in Greenland after one year. The sampling design considers bacteria and fungi, the total (DNA-based) and active (RNA-based) community and changes over the course of a growing season. We observed differences in soil temperature, soil chemical properties and microbial biomass between warming treated sites and controls. Warming significantly affected microbial community composition with a larger effect on fungi compared to bacteria. However, warming only explained 2.6 and 5.7
Abstract Climate change and shifting fire regimes have the potential to alter forest structure and tree growth dynamics in high‐elevation forests; however, the relative role of competitive and facilitative interactions in shaping postfire responses remains unclear. To investigate these dynamics, we studied tree growth across an elevational gradient in the subalpine and treeline forests of the Selway‐Bitterroot Wilderness (Idaho and Montana, USA), where fire atlas data and a history of limited fire suppression enabled the implementation of a 2 × 2 factorial study design. We sampled burned and unburned stands in two elevation strata: within the transition from closed canopy subalpine forest to subalpine parkland (forest–parkland transition; FPT) and near the upper limit of single‐stem upright tree growth (alpine treeline ecotone; ATE), which represent low environmental stress and high environmental stress conditions, respectively. We measured radial growth and tree neighborhood composition for focal trees (≥20 cm diameter at breast height [dbh]) of two functional groups informed by their ecological roles: stress‐tolerant, early successional “benefactor” species (whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis and subalpine larch, Larix lyallii), and shade‐tolerant, late successional “beneficiary” species (subalpine fir, Abies lasiocarpa and Engelmann spruce, Picea engelmannii). Patterns of neighborhood stem density across our sites indicated a shift from competition to facilitation with increasing elevation, while fire served to reduce neighborhood stem density in focal tree plots. Growth responses to fire were group‐specific: spruce/fir showed a clear fire‐induced growth release, particularly at lower elevations, while whitebark pine/larch exhibited a more limited response. Although fire did not alter the sensitivity of tree growth to climate, relationships with winter precipitation shifted from uniformly negative (pre‐1979) to neutral or positive (post‐1979) across all species and elevations. Ultimately, our results suggest that while responses to disturbance are likely to vary across species and elevations, directional climate change is uniformly reducing abiotic limitations on tree growth in the high‐elevation forests of the northern Rocky Mountains.
Research consistently demonstrates that sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth experience health disparities when compared to their heterosexual, cisgender peers due to identity-based stressors. Over the past several decades, scholars studying resilience in development have identified the importance of effective caregiving in buffering against adversity. However, little is known about the specific practices that caregivers of SGM youth might employ to strengthen their relationships and to provide protection in the context of discrimination. As such, the present study employed interpretative phenomenological analysis with eight self-identified affirming caregivers of SGM youth in the United States to understand their experiences and needs. Results are organized into six superordinate themes that capture caregivers' experiences: 1) Secondary Minority Stress, 2) Deconstruction and Transformation, 3) Navigating Oppression and Discrimination, 4) Allies and Supports, 5) Affirmative Parenting Practices, and 6) Meaning, Purpose, and Joy. Together, these themes capture participants' experiences of unique stressors, intrapersonal shifts, and engagement in affirming behaviors on systemic and relational levels as they support their SGM children. In the context of these themes, implications for healthcare providers working with SGM youth and their families are discussed.
The IMAP-Hi Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) Imager on NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission (McComas et al. 2018a, 2025) is designed to measure ENAs from the global interaction between the heliosphere and the local interstellar medium (LISM). These ENAs are initially plasma ions of solar wind origin that are neutralized by charge exchange with the cold neutral atoms of LISM that freely flow through the heliosphere-LISM interaction region. IMAP-Hi consists of two identical single-pixel sensors, each covering the ENA spectral range from 0.44 keV to 15.6 keV over nine contiguous energy passbands and having an approximately conical field-of-view (FOV) of 4.1o full width at half maximum (FWHM). The Hi-45 sensor points 45o relative to the spacecraft spin axis from the antisunward direction; each spacecraft spin, it measures ENA intensity over a circular swath with half-cone angle 45o centered on the ecliptic plane. The Hi-90 sensor points 90o relative to the spin axis; each spacecraft spin, it measures ENA intensity over a great circle in the sky, sampling both the north and south ecliptic poles. As the IMAP spin vector is re-pointed daily toward the Sun, the ecliptic longitude of the swaths moves daily by ∼1o such that a full sky map is acquired by Hi-90 every six months and a complete low latitude (−45o to +45o) map is acquired by Hi-45 annually. The IMAP-Hi sensor design has direct heritage from the IBEX-Hi imager on the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission, with substantial improvements in energy range, energy resolution, angular resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, and, for ecliptic latitudes within ±45o, temporal resolution and exposure time. The global ENA maps acquired by IMAP-Hi partially overlap in energy and viewing with the ENA maps acquired by the IMAP-Lo and IMAP-Ultra ENA imagers, which we combine to answer fundamental questions about the structure and dynamics of the interaction of the heliosphere and the LISM.
We utilize the voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) environment in the Unted States (U.S.) to examine executive compensation and impact on real firm activities. Specifically, we consider both debt-like incentives of pension compensation and complex agency frictions arising from mixed executive compensation structures. We explore how the frictions between the short-term incentives of equity compensation and the long-term incentives of debt-type compensation influence real firm activities. Focusing on CEO pension compensation, we examine voluntary U.S. CSR reporting from 2006 to 2020. We find that firms offering higher pension compensation are less likely to initiate CSR reporting, but more likely to engage in ongoing voluntary CSR disclosure post-initiation. Additionally, ongoing CSR reporting is more prevalent when the CEO's pension compensation is higher relative to other forms of compensation, such as cash-based (salary and bonus) and equity-based compensation (stock options). This indicates that CEOs with substantial pension compensation are incentivized to make decisions that preserve long-term firm value, ensuring their pensions are secured. Furthermore, we observe that CEOs are more likely to engage in ongoing CSR reporting in environments where the alignment of compensation structures with firm capital structures minimizes agency risk. This suggests that the alignment of incentive structures with real firm activities is more achievable in contexts where agency friction is minimized. These insights offer valuable implications for understanding agency theory, optimizing compensation incentives, and enhancing CSR reporting and voluntary disclosure practices.
