Populations of Paracentrotus lividus have been widely studied across their geographic range due to their key role as herbivores capable of transforming benthic communities. However, no comprehensive population assessment had previously been conducted in the Canary Islands. We carried out an extensive survey between 2006 and 2009 across five islands and the northern islets of Lanzarote, sampling both intertidal and subtidal habitats. Sea urchin abundance, algal composition, and physical variables were recorded to identify spatial patterns in population distribution. Macroalgal assemblages were grouped into functional categories: turf, Lobophora, brown erect algae, red bushy algae, and crustose corallines. Lobophora showed a strong negative relationship with P. lividus abundance, whereas brown erect algae were associated with the highest sea urchin densities. Island identity emerged as a major structuring factor, particularly in the subtidal, revealing a clear archipelagic gradient: populations were nearly absent in the westernmost island (El Hierro) and progressively more abundant toward the eastern islands. Wave exposure also significantly influenced abundance and size structure, although effects differed between habitats. In subtidal zones, P. lividus was more abundant in exposed areas, whereas intertidal densities peaked at intermediate exposure levels. At smaller spatial scales, substrates characterized by higher structural complexity and porosity supported greater sea urchin abundance. By integrating environmental drivers across spatial scales, this study highlights the combined influence of habitat structure, algal composition, and hydrodynamic conditions in shaping P. lividus distribution, providing a baseline for future management and conservation strategies in oceanic island systems.

Drylands account for a disproportionate share of the world’s armed conflicts, a pattern frequently interpreted through the lens of resource scarcity – where climate change and water stress are seen as primary drivers of violence. While this framing underscores critical environmental pressures, it risks simplifying the complex social, ecological and political realities of these regions. This article critically examines the climate-conflict narrative surrounding Syria, which posits that drought-induced agricultural collapse and rural outmigration significantly contributed to the onset of civil war. Building on this critique, the paper advocates for a broader conceptual shift – viewing drylands not solely as zones of vulnerability, but as landscapes of endurance. In these regions, communities often navigate both extreme climatic conditions and chronic insecurity, which together constrain agricultural productivity and perpetuate poverty. This perspective highlights the adaptive capacities of dryland populations and the lessons they offer for understanding survival under compound stress. It also challenges dominant narratives and opens space for interdisciplinary approaches that integrate quantitative and qualitative perspectives. The article calls for a more nuanced research agenda that centers lived experience, long-term adaptation and the interplay between environmental and political pressures.

Achieving net-zero energy systems requires combining technological deployment with governance innovations that secure public legitimacy, equity and international credibility. Nuclear energy – including large reactors and emerging small modular reactors (SMRs) – offers firm, low-carbon power that can complement variable renewables, but expansion is constrained by public distrust, governance fragmentation, workforce challenges and concerns about cost and waste. This article advances the Qudrat-Ullah Nuclear Peace and Trust (Q-NPT) framework as a systemic governance approach that explicitly embeds trust, equity and institutional learning into nuclear energy deployment strategies, aligning nuclear investments with energy transition objectives. Using Canada as a detailed case, we map Q-NPT elements onto Canadian governance structures, energy infrastructure and nascent SMR programs. Empirical material (national generation shares, regulatory milestones, SMR licensing progress and workforce trends) shows both the opportunity and the governance barriers Canada faces.

This study introduces measurable governance metrics – covering trust, equity, transparency, participation and institutional capacity – to evaluate nuclear social legitimacy and transition readiness. Quantitative thresholds include targeted increases of ≥20 percentage points in public trust; ≥25% Indigenous participation in decision processes; ≥80–90% transparency in project documentation and a workforce pipeline of 75,000–90,000 skilled workers by 2040. These thresholds provide a predictive, results-oriented basis for evaluating governance progress, addressing a key gap in existing nuclear policy frameworks.

We propose actionable institutional reforms (independent trust panels, stakeholder engagement protocols, workforce pipelines and international integration strategies) and an operational roadmap for Q-NPT implementation. Results indicate that applying Q-NPT measurably improves governance performance compared to conventional models by elevating trust, reducing procedural conflict, strengthening equity outcomes and accelerating regulatory acceptance. Without such deliberate trust-building and equity mechanisms, nuclear energy’s technical potential will remain underutilized; conversely, Q-NPT provides a structured pathway for achieving just, credible and scalable decarbonization.

The reduction of anthropogenic methane emissions is a priority due to its potent global warming potential. Radiocarbon (14C) can distinguish between methane from natural biogenic and fossil fuel sources, however, the analysis of methane 14C by conventional accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) techniques is demanding. At SUERC, a prototype positive ion mass spectrometer (PIMS) is set up to directly analyze 14C in methane with minimal sample preparation. Methane gas was mixed with a stoichiometric amount of oxygen in an open split and admitted directly into the source. A series of modern, blank and unknown methane samples were clearly distinguishable by their 14C/13C raw ratios. The collision cell gas flowrate was then increased to lower the limit of detection. We obtained a corrected 14C/13C raw ratio of less than 2 × 10–13 for blank fossil methane which corresponds to a radiocarbon age greater than 50 kyr. Modern biogenic methane had a measured 14C/13C raw ratio approaching 1 × 10–10 which is consistent with the nominal value of contemporary atmospheric methane. These first results indicate that PIMS has the potential to be a valuable new analytical technique for screening the 14C content of biogas and in climate research studies.

The Nerja Cave is a key archaeological site in the Southern Iberian Peninsula. It was inhabited by humans from the Upper Palaeolithic until recent Prehistory (30 and 3.7 ka cal BP). Various excavation campaigns performed in its external chambers (Vestíbulo, Mina and Torca) have recovered evidence of its use as habitat and burial site. Multiple studies on these matters have been published, but, until now, no Bayesian chronological modeling that utilized radiocarbon dates of the three chambers has been performed. To do so, all the available radiocarbon dates and stratigraphic and archaeological data have been compiled. These comprehend ample and diverse information about which, firstly, individual phase models based on the stratigraphic sequence of each one of the chambers have been created. After critically evaluating the results for each of the chambers, a general phase model for the prehistoric occupation of the external chambers has been created considering the cultural adscription of the samples. This has enabled the identification of 11 phases which correspond to the different technocomplexes of the Gravettian, Solutrean, Magdalenian, Epipalaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic. Still pending are the refinement and improvement of the model for the Neolithic horizon among other phases of the sequence. The individual and the general models have evidenced important differences between the different archaeological phases in radiocarbon information as well as in the occupation of the three chambers.

A database of ca. 970 radiocarbon dates on bones, teeth, and tusks of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius Blum.) from Siberia was created in order to understand the spatiotemporal distribution of this species over the last 50,000 14C years (BP). Mammoths populated all parts of Siberia until ca. 12,000 BP. After that, a few refugia exited south of ca. 60°N at ca. 10,600–12,000 BP, and in the northern part of mainland Siberia mammoths survived until ca. 9700 BP. At ca. 9500–3700 BP, they existed only in today’s insular regions such as the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island in the High Arctic. The relationship between the dynamics of mammoth populations and climatic fluctuations is complicated. In the warmer intervals (interstadials), the number of mammoths in Siberia was generally slightly larger than in the colder times (stadials); however, the difference is often not significant. The connection between the dynamics of mammoth populations and climatic fluctuations in Siberia is therefore complicated and non-linear.