Shifts in the extent and location of rice cropping areas match the climate change pattern in China during 1980–2010

Climate variability is heavily impacting human health all around the globe, in particular, on residents of developing countries. Impacts on surface water and groundwater resources and water-related illnesses are increasing, especially under changing climate scenarios such as diversity in rainfall patterns, increasing temperature, flash floods, severe droughts, heatwaves and heavy precipitation. Emerging water-related diseases such as dengue fever and chikungunya are reappearing and impacting on the life of the deprived; as such, the provision of safe water and health care is in great demand in developing countries to combat the spread of infectious diseases. Government, academia and private water bodies are conducting water quality surveys and providing health care facilities, but there is still a need to improve the present strategies concerning water treatment and management, as well as governance. In this review paper, climate change pattern and risks associated with water-related diseases in developing countries, with particular focus on Pakistan, and novel methods for controlling both waterborne and water-related diseases are discussed. This study is important for public health care, particularly in developing countries, for policy makers, and researchers working in the area of climate change, water quality and risk assessment.

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Ångström exponent errors prevent accurate visibility measurement

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques ◽

10.5194/amt-14-2441-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 2441-2450

Author(s):

Hengnan Guo ◽

Zefeng Zhang ◽

Lin Jiang ◽

Junlin An ◽

Bin Zhu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Measurement Error ◽

Measurement Methods ◽

Significant Error ◽

Atmospheric Transparency ◽

Research Fields ◽

Change Pattern ◽

Clear Change

Abstract. Visibility is an indicator of atmospheric transparency, and it is widely used in many research fields, including air pollution, climate change, ground transportation, and aviation. Although efforts have been made to improve the performance of visibility meters, a significant error exists in measured visibility data. This study conducts a well-designed simulation calibration of visibility meters, which proves that current methods of visibility measurement include a false assumption, leading to the long-term neglect of an important source of visibility error caused by erroneous values of Ångström exponents. This error has two characteristics, namely (1) independence, which means that the magnitude of the error is independent of the performance of the visibility meter. It is impossible to reduce this error by improving the performance of visibility meters. The second characteristic is (2) uncertainty, which means the magnitude of the error does not show a clear change pattern but can be substantially larger than the measurement error of visibility meters. It is impossible to accurately estimate the magnitude of this error or its influence on visibility measurements. Our simulations indicate that, as errors in visibility caused by erroneous values of Ångström exponents are inevitable using current methods of visibility measurement, reliable visibility data cannot be obtained without major adjustments to current measurement methods.

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Ångström exponent errors prevent accurate visibility measurement

10.5194/amt-2020-415 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Hengnan Guo ◽

Zefeng Zhang ◽

Lin Jiang ◽

Junlin An ◽

Bin Zhu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Measurement Error ◽

Measurement Methods ◽

Significant Error ◽

Atmospheric Transparency ◽

Research Fields ◽

Change Pattern ◽

Clear Change

Abstract. Visibility is an indicator of atmospheric transparency and is widely used in many research fields, including air pollution, climate change, ground transportation, and aviation. Although efforts have been made to improve the performance of visibility meters, a significant error exists in measured visibility data. This study conducts a well-designed simulation calibration of visibility meters, which proves that current methods of visibility measurement include a false assumption, which leads to the long-term neglect of an important source of visibility error caused by erroneous values of Ångström exponents. This error has two characteristics. (1) Independence, in which the magnitude of the error is independent of the performance of the visibility meter. It is impossible to reduce this error by improving the performance of visibility meters. (2) Uncertainty, in which the magnitude of the error does not show a clear change pattern but can be substantially larger than the measurement error of visibility meters. It is impossible to accurately estimate the magnitude of this error nor its influence on visibility measurements. Our simulations indicate that, as errors in visibility caused by erroneous values of Ångström exponents are inevitable using current methods of visibility measurement, reliable visibility data cannot be obtained without major adjustments to current visibility measurement methods.

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Impacts of Climate Factors Influencing Rice Production in Bangladesh

International Journal of Environment and Climate Change ◽

10.9734/ijecc/2021/v11i130336 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 43-52

Author(s):

Mahmuda Akter ◽

Md. Mizanur Rahman Sarker

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Least Squares ◽

Climate Extremes ◽

Generalized Least Squares ◽

Ordinary Least Squares ◽

Rice Production ◽

Climate Data ◽

Average Percentage ◽

Climate Change Pattern ◽

Rice Yields

This study aims to study the climate change pattern, assess the situation of climate change, finding the influences of climate change on the production of rice, estimating a model between climate change and rice production in Bangladesh. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Generalized Least Squares (GLS), Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) were used in this study to compare the results. This study included all 64 districts of Bangladesh with a time span from 2011 to 2018. It included panel data of the production of Aus rice, Aman rice, Boro rice as well as HYV of each rice (Aus, Aman, Boro) of 64 districts of Bangladesh for agricultural data, temperature, rainfall and humidity of 64 districts for climate data. This study estimates the stochastic production function formulated by Just and Pope (1978, 1979), which allows the effect of inputs on the mean yield to differ from that on yield variance. The results showed that increased climate variability, climate extremes; in particular, exacerbate risk on Rice production in Bangladesh. Rice yields are sensitive to rainfall extremes, with both deficient and surplus rainfall increasing variability. For 1% increase in annual total rainfall, Mean Yield will decrease by 0.139%, 0.141%, 0.132% in OLS, GLS and FGLS method respectively, if other variables remaining the same. For 1% increase in annual average percentage of humidity, Mean Yield increases by 1.352%, 1.340%, 1.362% in OLS, GLS and FGLS method respectively, if other variables remaining the same. for 1% increase in HYV area, Mean Yield increases by 0.831% in OLS, GLS and FGLS method, if other variables remaining the same. Additionally, climate inputs, non-climate input, high yielding variety seeds are found to increase average yield.

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Averting robo-bees: why free-flying robotic bees are a bad idea

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences ◽

10.1042/etls20190063 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (6) ◽

pp. 723-729

Author(s):

Roslyn Gleadow ◽

Jim Hanan ◽

Alan Dorin

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Computer Simulation ◽

Food Security ◽

European Countries ◽

Plant Interactions ◽

Plant Insect Interactions ◽

Native Habitat ◽

Insect Pollinators ◽

Insect Interactions

Food security and the sustainability of native ecosystems depends on plant-insect interactions in countless ways. Recently reported rapid and immense declines in insect numbers due to climate change, the use of pesticides and herbicides, the introduction of agricultural monocultures, and the destruction of insect native habitat, are all potential contributors to this grave situation. Some researchers are working towards a future where natural insect pollinators might be replaced with free-flying robotic bees, an ecologically problematic proposal. We argue instead that creating environments that are friendly to bees and exploring the use of other species for pollination and bio-control, particularly in non-European countries, are more ecologically sound approaches. The computer simulation of insect-plant interactions is a far more measured application of technology that may assist in managing, or averting, ‘Insect Armageddon' from both practical and ethical viewpoints.

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Modelling ecosystem adaptation and dangerous rates of global warming

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences ◽

10.1042/etls20180113 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 221-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Rebecca Millington ◽

Peter M. Cox ◽

Jonathan R. Moore ◽

Gabriel Yvon-Durocher

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Warming ◽

Diffusion Rate ◽

Individual Species ◽

Genetic Evolution ◽

Rates Of Change ◽

Rapid Climate Change ◽

Warming Climate ◽

Intraspecies Competition ◽

High Trait

Abstract We are in a period of relatively rapid climate change. This poses challenges for individual species and threatens the ecosystem services that humanity relies upon. Temperature is a key stressor. In a warming climate, individual organisms may be able to shift their thermal optima through phenotypic plasticity. However, such plasticity is unlikely to be sufficient over the coming centuries. Resilience to warming will also depend on how fast the distribution of traits that define a species can adapt through other methods, in particular through redistribution of the abundance of variants within the population and through genetic evolution. In this paper, we use a simple theoretical ‘trait diffusion’ model to explore how the resilience of a given species to climate change depends on the initial trait diversity (biodiversity), the trait diffusion rate (mutation rate), and the lifetime of the organism. We estimate theoretical dangerous rates of continuous global warming that would exceed the ability of a species to adapt through trait diffusion, and therefore lead to a collapse in the overall productivity of the species. As the rate of adaptation through intraspecies competition and genetic evolution decreases with species lifetime, we find critical rates of change that also depend fundamentally on lifetime. Dangerous rates of warming vary from 1°C per lifetime (at low trait diffusion rate) to 8°C per lifetime (at high trait diffusion rate). We conclude that rapid climate change is liable to favour short-lived organisms (e.g. microbes) rather than longer-lived organisms (e.g. trees).

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