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In just over 20 years, the northward shift of the subtropical jet stream - a high-altitude airflow - caused by climate change has reduced primary production in the northwestern Mediterranean by about 40%. This marked reduction - the highest ever described - affects the base of the marine food web and could significantly impact living resources, ecosystem health and marine dynamics in this region of the Mediterranean.

Over the last decade, glaciers in Spain have experienced an accelerated retreat, with a significant loss of extension and thickness.

There are still many unknowns about the causes leading to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) shift - a critical climate phenomenon in the Northern Hemisphere - to the east and west of Iceland. To date, some hypotheses suggested that this process known to the international scientific community might be related to the impact of greenhouse gases on the planet.

An international research team, including participation from the University of Valencia, has published an article in Nature Geoscience advocating for a more collaborative and balanced approach between artificial intelligence (AI) and Earth sciences. The study supports the creation of a new field-AIXES (Artificial Intelligence and Earth Sciences)-that will enhance both areas and provide benefits in tackling future environmental challenges.

An international team of scientists, led by professor Veronika Eyring from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the University of Bremen, and with participation from the University of Valencia, has published an innovative approach that integrates artificial intelligence (AI) with Earth system models to improve the accuracy and speed of climate simulations.

A study develops a revolutionary method to establish the time between Neanderthal fires Santiago Sossa-Ríos, from the Universitat de València, excavating a hearth at El Salt. Photo: Sven Kleinhapl. The interdisciplinary research team from the Universitat de València, the University of Burgos, the University of La Laguna, the University of Alacant, the Complutense University of Madrid and the Institute of Geosciences has succeeded in determining with high precision the time between different Neanderthal fires at El Salt site (Alcoi, Alicante).

New study develops revolutionary method for establishing time between Neanderthal fires Santiago Sossa-Ríos, from the Universitat de València, excavating a hearth at El Salt. Photo: Sven Kleinhapl. The interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Universitat de València, the University of Burgos, the University of La Laguna, the University of Alacant, the Complutense University of Madrid and the Institute of Geosciences has succeeded in determining, with high precision, the time between different Neanderthal fires at the El Salt site (Alcoi, Alicante).

A team from the Desertification Research Centre (CIDE) collaborates in a study on the role of the so-called 'facilitating plants' in the survival of other plants in adverse conditions. The implications of this work, in which a total of 141 different plant species from the south of the Iberian Peninsula were recorded, are very important in the current context of climate change.

An article published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution by the Desertification Research Centre (CIDE, UV-CSIC-GVA) and the ECOAQUA Institute (ULPGC) proposes for the first time a conceptual framework for the study of fire ecology in the marine environment. The work warns about the disturbances caused by forest fires in marine systems and raises the main ideas and questions to be resolved from this new study perspective.

An international research team from Spain and France has carried out the chemical and technological analysis of the largest known collection of red and yellow mineral pigments, commonly called ochre,

An international study published in Nature, a scientific journal in collaboration with UV researchers, confirms the threat of plastic waste and microplastic contamination to humans and aquatic life. Up till now, the majority of research in this area has been centred on the world's oceans, yet this study reveals the presence of plastic pollutants in lakes and reservoirs, beyond large urban or highly human-transformed areas.

Discovered a new species of the lichenised fungus genus Lichina on the coast of the Canary Islands An international team led by Isaac Garrido Benavent, researcher at the University of Valencia (UV) and in which the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) also participates, has discovered in the rocky coastal area of the Canary Islands Lichina canariensis , a new species of Lichina , a genus of lichenised fungi that has established a relationship of mutualistic symbiosis with cyanobacteria.

A new species of the lichenised fungus genus Lichina discovered on the coast of the Canary Islands An international team led by Isaac Garrido Benavent, researcher at the University of Valencia (UV) and in which the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) also participates, has discovered in the rocky coastal area of the Canary Islands Lichina canariensis , a new species of Lichina , a genus of lichenised fungi that has established a relationship of mutualistic symbiosis with cyanobacteria.

Recerca Protected marine areas are one of the essential tools for the conservation of natural resources affected by human impact —mainly fishing—, but, are they enough to recover the functioning of these systems? A study published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science , led by researchers from the Biodiversity Research Institute ( IRBio ) of the University of Barcelona, in collaboration with researchers from the Group of Ecosystem Oc

Globally, the coastal lagoons of Lagos (Nigeria), Sakumo (Ghana) and Bizerte (Tunisia) —close to large urban centres and without waste and sewage treatment systems— are among the most affected water ecosystems of this nature by microplastic pollution. However, the highest concentrations of microplastics have been detected in Barnes Sound and other small lagoons in a protected area in the north of Florida Bay (USA), a particular case that can be explained by the transport of microplastics carried by hurricanes from polluted areas.

A study reveals how the Sigillaria brardii species —a fossil plant typical of peatlands and abundant in the flora of Europe and North America during the Upper Carboniferous— colonised new areas in the riverbeds of the great European mountain range known as the Variscan mountains, far from their natural habitat.

Groundwaters that circulate through the subsoil as a result of the melting permafrost can transport carbon dioxide and methane —gases with a strong greenhouse effect— to Arctic lakes and this increases the effects of climate change. This process of transporting gases to the lakes, which culminates with their emission into the atmosphere, is now quantified for the first time in a paper published in the journal Nature Communications .

The intensity and rate of melt during the penultimate ice melting was much higher than previously thought, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications . According to conclusions of the study, in this climate change scenario, the instability of marine-based ice sheets —those that flow directly into the ocean— was instrumental in accelerating global warming.

The impact of the rise in sea temperatures predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) could affect the survival of the North Atlantic populations of Bulwer's petrel in the Azores, Canary Islands and Cape Verde, according to a study conducted by the Seabird Ecology Group of the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute ( IRBio ) of the University of Barcelona.

In the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, the intensity and location of the oceanographic fronts that limit the gene connectivity among populations of marine crabs vary over time. These dynamic changes, described in an article published in the journal Scientific Reports , alter the gene structure of the populations of marine crabs of commercial and gastronomic interest.