Standardizing Ecosystem Morphological Traits from 3D Information Sources.

3D-imaging technologies provide measurements of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems' structure, key for biodiversity studies. However, the practical use of these observations globally faces practical challenges. First, available 3D data are geographically biased, with significant gaps in the tropics. Second, no data source provides, by itself, global coverage at a suitable temporal recurrence. Thus, global monitoring initiatives, such as assessment of essential biodiversity variables (EBVs), will necessarily have to involve the combination of disparate data sets. We propose a standardized framework of ecosystem morphological traits - height, cover, and structural complexity - that could enable monitoring of globally consistent EBVs at regional scales, by flexibly integrating different information sources - satellites, aircrafts, drones, or ground data - allowing global biodiversity targets relating to ecosystem structure to be monitored and regularly reported.

Physical and lubrication properties of magnesium stearate.

The lubrication properties of two commercial-grade magnesium stearates were studied. Their moisture contents and crystal structures were similar. There were minor differences in their fatty acid composition, but the differences did not affect the lubrication properties. The lubrication properties correlated with particle size distributions and specific surface area. The effect of these parameters was further studied with unmilled and milled chemically pure magnesium stearate. Milling decreased the particle size and increased the specific surface area. In both cases, the batch with a smaller particle size and larger specific surface area had considerably better lubricity.