Decomposition of plant litter is a key ecological process in streams, whose contribution to the global carbon cycle is large relative to their extent on Earth. We examined the mechanisms underlying the temperature sensitivity (TS) of instream decomposition and forecast effects of climate warming on this process. Comparing data from 41 globally distributed sites, we assessed the TS of microbial and total decomposition using lit...

There is a scarcity of long-term groundwater hydrographs from sub-Saharan Africa to investigate groundwater sustainability, processes and controls. This paper presents an analysis of 21 hydrographs from semi-arid South Africa. Hydrographs from 1980 to 2000 were converted to standardised groundwater level indices and rationalised into four types (C1–C4) using hierarchical cluster analysis. Mean hydrographs for each type were cr...

A standardized analysis of palaeoecological data, in the form of six pollen sequences and forty‐ four radiocarbon ages, has permitted a region‐wide reconstruction of Late Quaternary vegetation dynamics for the interlacustrine highlands of central Africa. A landscape widely dominated by ericaceous scrub and grasslands, but also supporting sparse patches of open‐canopied montane forest, possibly in those areas with a topography...