The combined effects of rising temperature and salinity may halt the future proliferation of symbiont-bearing foraminifera as ecosystem engineers

Author(s):  
Chen Kenigsberg ◽  
Danna Titelboim ◽  
Sarit Ashckenazi-Polivoda ◽  
Barak Herut ◽  
Michal Kucera ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
George C. Hurtt ◽  
Louise Chini ◽  
Ritvik Sahajpal ◽  
Steve Frolking ◽  
Benjamin L. Bodirsky ◽  
...  

Abstract. Human land-use activities have resulted in large changes to the biogeochemical and biophysical properties of the Earth surface, with consequences for climate and other ecosystem services. In the future, land-use activities are likely to expand and/or intensify further to meet growing demands for food, fiber, and energy. As part of the World Climate Research Program Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), the international community is developing the next generation of advanced Earth System Models (ESMs) to estimate the combined effects of human activities (e.g. land use and fossil fuel emissions) on the carbon-climate system. A new set of historical data based on the History of the Global Environment database (HYDE), and multiple alternative scenarios of the future (2015–2100) from Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) teams, are required as input for these models. Here we present results from the Land-use Harmonization 2 (LUH2) project, with the goal to smoothly connect updated historical reconstructions of land-use with new future projections in the format required for ESMs. The harmonization strategy estimates the fractional land-use patterns, underlying land-use transitions, key agricultural management information, and resulting secondary lands annually, while minimizing the differences between the end of the historical reconstruction and IAM initial conditions and preserving changes depicted by the IAMs in the future. The new approach builds off a similar effort from CMIP5, and is now provided at higher resolution (0.25 × 0.25 degree), over a longer time domain (850–2100, with extensions to 2300), with more detail (including multiple crop and pasture types and associated management practices), using more input datasets (including Landsat remote sensing data), updated algorithms (wood harvest and shifting cultivation), and is assessed via a new diagnostic package. The new LUH2 products contain > 50 times the information content of the datasets used in CMIP5, and are designed to enable new and improved estimates of the combined effects of land-use on the global carbon-climate system.


Author(s):  
Sanghyun Woo ◽  
Dongjun Lee ◽  
Kiho Kim ◽  
Yungsik Hur ◽  
Chang-Ho Lee ◽  
...  

OSEANA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-53
Author(s):  
Allsay Kitsash Addifisyukha Cintra

A bioturbator is a biota that can change sediment either directly or indirectly through stirring particles and/or moving water. Changes in the sediment affect the resources that will affect the existence of other organisms. This paper aims to explain bioturbators and their roles as ecosystem engineers in coastal and marine environments. Bioturbators are classified into two main groups, namely reworking organisms and burrow ventilation organisms. Bioturbator affects the biogeochemistry of sediment and the sediment physical structure, both of which cause the formation of new habitats that can be used by other organisms. This, in turn, will affect the structure of the benthic community. It is necessary to understand how bioturbators work and how big their effect is so that they can be used for habitat conservation and restoration in the future.


Geosciences ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Zheng ◽  
Shui-Long Shen ◽  
An-Nan Zhou ◽  
Hao Cai

This paper reports on a large-scale landslide with a movement of 48 thousand m3 of soil and rock that occurred in Sichuan, China. This catastrophic landslide occurred in Aidai village, Ganluo County, at 12:44 on 14 August 2019, blocking a section of the railway between Lianghong station and Aidai station. This landslide resulted in 12 deaths and five people missing. This report describes the preliminary investigation, the rescue activity, topographic survey and analysis as well as the main predisposing and triggering factors. The combined effects of steep topography, continuous rainstorms, floods eroding the foothills of the mountain and human activity were the main influencing factors that triggered this landslide. To reduce the possibility of casualties resulting from large geological disasters, such as landslides and mudslides, in this region in the future, some recommendations are proposed to systematically reduce potential human casualties and economic losses.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Ehrnsten ◽  
Alf Norkko ◽  
Bärbel Müller-Karulis ◽  
Erik Gustafsson ◽  
Bo Gustafsson

<p>Nutrient loading and climate change affect coastal ecosystems worldwide. Unravelling the combined effects of these pressures on benthic macrofauna is essential for understanding the future functioning of coastal ecosystems, as it is an important component linking the benthic and pelagic realms. In this study, we extended an existing model of benthic macrofauna coupled with the physical-biogeochemical BALTSEM model of the Baltic Sea to study the combined effects of changing nutrient loads and climate on biomass and metabolism of benthic macrofauna historically and in scenarios for the future. Based on a statistical comparison with a large validation dataset of measured biomasses, the model showed good or reasonable performance across the different basins and depth strata in the model area. In scenarios with decreasing nutrient loads according to the Baltic Sea Action Plan, but also with continued recent loads (mean loads 2012-2014), overall macrofaunal biomass and carbon processing were projected to decrease significantly by the end of the century despite improved oxygen conditions at the seafloor. Climate change led to intensified pelagic recycling of primary production and reduced export of particulate organic carbon to the seafloor with negative effects on macrofaunal biomass. In the high nutrient load scenario, representing the highest recorded historical loads, climate change counteracted the effects of increased productivity leading to a hyperbolic response: biomass and carbon processing increased up to mid-21<sup>st</sup> century but then decreased, giving almost no net change by the end of the 21<sup>st</sup> century compared to present. The study shows that benthic responses to environmental change are nonlinear and partly decoupled from pelagic responses and indicates that benthic-pelagic coupling might be weaker in a warmer and less eutrophic sea.</p>


2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 395-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory P. Asner ◽  
Scott R. Loarie ◽  
Ursula Heyder

AI ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Kassens-Noor ◽  
Arend Hintze

Artificial intelligence (AI), like many revolutionary technologies in human history, will have a profound impact on societies. From this viewpoint, we analyze the combined effects of AI to raise important questions about the future form and function of cities. Combining knowledge from computer science, urban planning, and economics while reflecting on academic and business perspectives, we propose that the future of cities is far from being a determined one and cities may evolve into ghost towns if the deployment of AI is not carefully controlled. This viewpoint presents a fundamentally different argument, because it expresses a real concern over the future of cities in contrast to the many publications who exclusively assume city populations will increase predicated on the neoliberal urban growth paradigm that has for centuries attracted humans to cities in search of work.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5425-5464 ◽  
Author(s):  
George C. Hurtt ◽  
Louise Chini ◽  
Ritvik Sahajpal ◽  
Steve Frolking ◽  
Benjamin L. Bodirsky ◽  
...  

Abstract. Human land use activities have resulted in large changes to the biogeochemical and biophysical properties of the Earth's surface, with consequences for climate and other ecosystem services. In the future, land use activities are likely to expand and/or intensify further to meet growing demands for food, fiber, and energy. As part of the World Climate Research Program Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), the international community has developed the next generation of advanced Earth system models (ESMs) to estimate the combined effects of human activities (e.g., land use and fossil fuel emissions) on the carbon–climate system. A new set of historical data based on the History of the Global Environment database (HYDE), and multiple alternative scenarios of the future (2015–2100) from Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) teams, is required as input for these models. With most ESM simulations for CMIP6 now completed, it is important to document the land use patterns used by those simulations. Here we present results from the Land-Use Harmonization 2 (LUH2) project, which smoothly connects updated historical reconstructions of land use with eight new future projections in the format required for ESMs. The harmonization strategy estimates the fractional land use patterns, underlying land use transitions, key agricultural management information, and resulting secondary lands annually, while minimizing the differences between the end of the historical reconstruction and IAM initial conditions and preserving changes depicted by the IAMs in the future. The new approach builds on a similar effort from CMIP5 and is now provided at higher resolution (0.25∘×0.25∘) over a longer time domain (850–2100, with extensions to 2300) with more detail (including multiple crop and pasture types and associated management practices) using more input datasets (including Landsat remote sensing data) and updated algorithms (wood harvest and shifting cultivation); it is assessed via a new diagnostic package. The new LUH2 products contain > 50 times the information content of the datasets used in CMIP5 and are designed to enable new and improved estimates of the combined effects of land use on the global carbon–climate system.


Author(s):  
Philip Mzava ◽  
Patrick Valimba ◽  
Joel Nobert

Abstract Over the past half-century, the risk of urban flooding in Dar es Salaam has increased due to changes in land cover coupled with climatic changes. This paper aimed to quantify the impacts of climate and land-cover changes on the magnitudes and frequencies of flood runoffs in urban Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A calibrated and validated SWAT rainfall-runoff model was used to generate flood hydrographs for the period 1969–2050 using historical rainfall data and projected rainfall based on the CORDEX-Africa regional climate model. Results showed that climate change has a greater impact on change in peak flows than land-cover change when the two are treated separately in theory. It was observed that, in the past, the probability of occurrence of urban flooding in the study area was likely to be increased up to 1.5-fold by climate change relative to land-cover change. In the future, this figure is estimated to decrease to 1.1-fold. The coupled effects of climate and land-cover changes cause a much bigger impact on change in peak flows than any separate scenario; this scenario represents the actual scenario on the ground. From the combined effects of climate and land-cover changes, the magnitudes of mean peak flows were determined to increase between 34.4 and 58.6% in the future relative to the past. However, the change in peak flows from combined effects of climate and land-cover changes will decrease by 36.3% in the future relative to the past; owing to the lesser variations in climate and land-cover changes in the future compared with those of the past.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana María Garriga-López

This essay addresses the epistemic limits of crisis as a trope for thinking about the future of Puerto Rico in the context of fiscal austerity programs and the combined effects of multiple disasters. Small-scale agriculture and mutual aid offer models of resistance to US colonialism as the underlying power structure reinforcing debt and political subservience. What can be perceived or accomplished outside the self-perpetuating frame of crisis? This essay sketches the contours of a different approach, one that considers what Puerto Ricans owe to each other as well as accounts for those debts owed to Puerto Ricans that will likely never be paid.


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