Climate change and cetaceans: concerns and recent developments

At least a quarter of the world's cetaceans were recently confirmed as endangered and the situation may be worse as the status of many others remains unclear. Climate change is affecting the oceans and a number of studies have recently highlighted its potential impact on cetacean species - for example, there are important linkages between sea ice and krill, the primary prey for baleen whales in Antarctica. This paper provides a synthesis of new information available on this theme and considers its implications for the future conservation and management of cetacean populations and species.The more mobile (or otherwise adaptable) cetaceans may be able to respond to climate related changes, although the extent of this adaptability is largely unknown. However, there is broad agreement that certain species and populations are likely to be especially vulnerable to climate related changes, including those with a limited habitat range, or those for which sea ice provides an important habitat for the cetacean population and/or that of their prey. International conservation bodies, such as the Convention for Migratory Species and the International Whaling Commission, are striving to address these issues. The challenges presented by climate change require an innovative, large scale, long term and multinational response from scientists, conservation managers and decision makers. This response that should encompass a precautionary approach, including addressing the detrimental effects of other factors negatively impacting populations and species.

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Changes in the Antarctic sea ice ecosystem: potential effects on krill and baleen whales

Marine and Freshwater Research ◽

10.1071/mf07161 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 59 (5) ◽

pp. 361 ◽

Cited By ~ 60

Author(s):

Stephen Nicol ◽

Anthony Worby ◽

Rebecca Leaper

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Southern Ocean ◽

Sea Ice ◽

Ocean Circulation ◽

Trophic Levels ◽

Global Ocean ◽

Ecological Change ◽

Cetacean Species ◽

Baleen Whales ◽

The Antarctic

The annual formation and loss of some 15 million km2 of sea ice around the Antarctic significantly affects global ocean circulation, particularly through the formation of dense bottom water. As one of the most profound seasonal changes on Earth, the formation and decay of sea ice plays a major role in climate processes. It is also likely to be impacted by climate change, potentially changing the productivity of the Antarctic region. The sea ice zone supports much wildlife, particularly large vertebrates such as seals, seabirds and whales, some exploited to near extinction. Cetacean species in the Southern Ocean will be directly impacted by changes in sea ice patterns as well as indirectly by changes in their principal prey, Antarctic krill, affected by modifications to their own environment through climate change. Understanding how climate change will affect species at all trophic levels in the Southern Ocean requires new approaches and integrated research programs. This review focuses on the current state of knowledge of the sea ice zone and examines the potential for climatic and ecological change in the region. In the context of changes already documented for seals and seabirds, it discusses potential effects on the most conspicuous vertebrate of the region, baleen whales.

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Lyell, the Geikies and Croll's observations on terrestrial glacial sediments and landforms

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh ◽

10.1017/s1755691021000116 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

James ROSE

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

High Quality ◽

Glacial Sediments ◽

Direct Observations ◽

The Social ◽

The Status ◽

Social And Physical Environment ◽

Glacial Landforms

ABSTRACT Within the context of the work and achievements of James Croll, this paper reviews the records of direct observations of glacial landforms and sediments made by Charles Lyell, Archibald and James Geikie and James Croll himself, in order to evaluate their contributions to the sciences of glacial geology and Quaternary environmental change. The paper outlines the social and physical environment of Croll's youth and contrasts this with the status and experiences of Lyell and the Geikies. It also outlines the character and role of the ‘Glasgow School’ of geologists, who stimulated Croll's interest into the causes of climate change and directed his focus to the glacial and ‘interglacial’ deposits of central Scotland. Contributions are outlined in chronological order, drawing attention to: (i) Lyell's high-quality observations and interpretations of glacial features in Glen Clova and Strathmore and his subsequent rejection of the glacial theory in favour of processes attributed to floating icebergs; (ii) the significant impact of Archibald Geikie's 1863 paper on the ‘glacial drift of Scotland’, which firmly established the land-ice theory; (iii) the fact that, despite James Croll's inherent dislike of geology and fieldwork, he provided high-quality descriptions and interpretations of the landforms and sediments of central Scotland in order to test his theory of climate change; and (iv) the great communication skills of James Geikie, enhanced by contacts and evidence from around the world. It is concluded that whilst direct observations of glacial landforms and sediments were critical to the long-term development of the study of glaciation, the acceptance of this theory was dependent also upon the skills, personality and status of the Geikies and Croll, who developed and promoted the concepts. Sadly, the subsequent rejection of the land-ice concept by Lyell resulted in the same factors challenging the acceptance of the glacial theory.

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Vulnerability of the North Water ecosystem to climate change

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-24742-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sofia Ribeiro ◽

Audrey Limoges ◽

Guillaume Massé ◽

Kasper L. Johansen ◽

William Colgan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Sea Ice ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Sediment Cores ◽

Arctic Ecosystems ◽

Little Auk ◽

The North ◽

Water Ecosystem ◽

North Water

AbstractHigh Arctic ecosystems and Indigenous livelihoods are tightly linked and exposed to climate change, yet assessing their sensitivity requires a long-term perspective. Here, we assess the vulnerability of the North Water polynya, a unique seaice ecosystem that sustains the world’s northernmost Inuit communities and several keystone Arctic species. We reconstruct mid-to-late Holocene changes in sea ice, marine primary production, and little auk colony dynamics through multi-proxy analysis of marine and lake sediment cores. Our results suggest a productive ecosystem by 4400–4200 cal yrs b2k coincident with the arrival of the first humans in Greenland. Climate forcing during the late Holocene, leading to periods of polynya instability and marine productivity decline, is strikingly coeval with the human abandonment of Greenland from c. 2200–1200 cal yrs b2k. Our long-term perspective highlights the future decline of the North Water ecosystem, due to climate warming and changing sea-ice conditions, as an important climate change risk.

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What can we learn from long-term groundwater data to improve climate change impact studies?

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions ◽

10.5194/hessd-8-7621-2011 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 7621-7655 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

S. Stoll ◽

H. J. Hendricks Franssen ◽

R. Barthel ◽

W. Kinzelbach

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Land Use ◽

Climate Change Impact ◽

Large Scale ◽

Climate Models ◽

Groundwater Resources ◽

Groundwater Dynamics ◽

Impact Studies ◽

Change Impact

Abstract. Future risks for groundwater resources, due to global change are usually analyzed by driving hydrological models with the outputs of climate models. However, this model chain is subject to considerable uncertainties. Given the high uncertainties it is essential to identify the processes governing the groundwater dynamics, as these processes are likely to affect groundwater resources in the future, too. Information about the dominant mechanisms can be achieved by the analysis of long-term data, which are assumed to provide insight in the reaction of groundwater resources to changing conditions (weather, land use, water demand). Referring to this, a dataset of 30 long-term time series of precipitation dominated groundwater systems in northern Switzerland and southern Germany is collected. In order to receive additional information the analysis of the data is carried out together with hydrological model simulations. High spatio-temporal correlations, even over large distances could be detected and are assumed to be related to large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns. As a result it is suggested to prefer innovative weather-type-based downscaling methods to other stochastic downscaling approaches. In addition, with the help of a qualitative procedure to distinguish between meteorological and anthropogenic causes it was possible to identify processes which dominated the groundwater dynamics in the past. It could be shown that besides the meteorological conditions, land use changes, pumping activity and feedback mechanisms governed the groundwater dynamics. Based on these findings, recommendations to improve climate change impact studies are suggested.

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Appraising the Status of Fish Community Structure in the Yellow Sea Based on an Indicator-Testing Framework

Frontiers in Marine Science ◽

10.3389/fmars.2021.646733 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Yuru Li ◽

Shuyang Ma ◽

Caihong Fu ◽

Yongjun Tian ◽

Jianchao Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Fisheries Management ◽

Fish Community ◽

Large Scale ◽

The Yellow Sea ◽

Total Catch ◽

Fish Community Structure ◽

Testing Framework ◽

The Status ◽

Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management

Fish community structure (FCS) of the Yellow Sea (YS) is affected by multiple pressures. Quantifying the responses of indicators of FCS (IFCSs) to pressures is a key aspect of ecosystem-based fisheries management. Quantitative methodology has hitherto been rarely applied to evaluate the performance of ecological indicators in response to physical and anthropogenic pressures and management actions. In this study, we adopted a quantitative and flexible framework to quantify the performance of IFCSs in the YS as well as to identify a suite of operational IFCSs to evaluate the status of the FCS via two state-space approaches. A total of 22 IFCSs were tested for their responses to three types of pressures including anthropogenic activities (fishing), large-scale climate change, and regional environmental variables. Our results indicate that the majority of IFCSs have good performance in terms of sensitivity in their responses to pressures, but weak performance in terms of robustness. The IFCSs tend to respond stronger to fishing than to large-scale climatic indices and regional environmental indices both in terms of sensitivity and robustness. A final indicator suite of five best-performing IFCSs was identified. The five IFCSs include total catch (ToC), mean trophic level (MTL), the ratio of catch of large predatory groups to total catch (LPC/ToC), mean temperature of catch (MTC) [or alternatively catch of small pelagic groups (SPC)], and functional evenness based on thermal groups (T-J′FD), all of which show regime shift patterns consistent with climate change. Compared to a reference period (1960–1964), the status of the current FCS has been obviously changed, and the long-term trajectories of the final indicator suite is consistent with that of fishing pressure. This study demonstrates the applicability of the indicator-testing framework in appraising the status of FCS, and facilitates moving towards ecosystem-based fisheries management in the YS.

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Strategic Ethnography and the Biography of Artefacts

Enterprise Resource Planning ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-4153-2.ch021 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 347-376 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Neil Pollock ◽

Robin Williams

Keyword(s):

Enterprise Resource Planning ◽

Technology Implementation ◽

Large Scale ◽

Resource Planning ◽

Work Organisation ◽

Social Scientists ◽

Knowledge Based ◽

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems ◽

Recent Developments

In health research and services, and in many other domains, the authors note the emergence of large-scale information systems intended for long-term use with multiple users and uses. These e-infrastructures are becoming more widespread and pervasive and, by enabling effective sharing of information and coordination of activities between diverse, dispersed groups, are expected to transform knowledge-based work. Social scientists have sought to analyse the significance of these systems and the processes by which they are created. Much current attention has been drawn to the often-problematic experience of those attempting to establish them. By contrast, this chapter is inspired by concerns about the theoretical and methodological weakness of many studies of technology and work organisation—particularly the dominance of relatively short-term, often single site studies of technology implementation. These weaknesses are particularly acute in relation to the analysis of infrastructural technologies. The authors explore the relevance to such analysis of recent developments in what they call the Biography of Artefacts (BoA) perspective—which emphasises the value of strategic ethnography: theoretically-informed, multi-site, and longitudinal studies. They seek to draw insights from a programme of empirical research into the long-term evolution of corporate e-infrastructures (reflected in current Enterprise Resource Planning systems) and review some new conceptual tools arising from recent research into e-Infrastructures (e-Is). These are particularly relevant to understanding the current and ongoing difficulties encountered in attempts to develop large-scale Health Infrastructures.

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Space-based geoengineering: Challenges and requirements

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part C Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science ◽

10.1243/09544062jmes1439 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 224 (3) ◽

pp. 571-580 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

C R McInnes

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Carbon Dioxide ◽

Large Scale ◽

Climate Model ◽

Carbon Dioxide Concentration ◽

Complex Solution ◽

Lagrange Point ◽

Simple Climate Model ◽

Earth’S Climate

The prospect of engineering the Earth's climate (geoengineering) raises a multitude of issues associated with climatology, engineering on macroscopic scales, and indeed the ethics of such ventures. Depending on personal views, such large-scale engineering is either an obvious necessity for the deep future, or yet another example of human conceit. In this article a simple climate model will be used to estimate requirements for engineering the Earth's climate, principally using space-based geoengineering. Active cooling of the climate to mitigate anthropogenic climate change due to a doubling of the carbon dioxide concentration in the Earth's atmosphere is considered. This representative scenario will allow the scale of the engineering challenge to be determined. It will be argued that simple occulting discs at the interior Lagrange point may represent a less complex solution than concepts for highly engineered refracting discs proposed recently. While engineering on macroscopic scales can appear formidable, emerging capabilities may allow such ventures to be seriously considered in the long term. This article is not an exhaustive review of geoengineering, but aims to provide a foretaste of the future opportunities, challenges, and requirements for space-based geoengineering ventures.

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Climate change and peak oil—two large-scale disruptions likely to adversely affect long-term tourism growth in the Asia Pacific

Journal of Destination Marketing & Management ◽

10.1016/j.jdmm.2013.08.001 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 132-136

Author(s):

Bruce Prideaux

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Large Scale ◽

Asia Pacific ◽

Peak Oil

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Incorporating large-scale atmospheric variables in long-term seasonal rainfall forecasting using artificial neural networks: an application to the Ping Basin in Thailand

Hydrology Research ◽

10.2166/nh.2016.212 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 867-882 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

M. S. Babel ◽

T. A. J. G. Sirisena ◽

N. Singhrattna

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

General Circulation ◽

Large Scale ◽

Resource Planning ◽

Seasonal Rainfall ◽

Annual Rainfall ◽

Rainfall Forecasting ◽

Artificial Neural ◽

Atmospheric Variables

Understanding long-term seasonal or annual or inter-annual rainfall variability and its relationship with large-scale atmospheric variables (LSAVs) is important for water resource planning and management. In this study, rainfall forecasting models using the artificial neural network technique were developed to forecast seasonal rainfall in May–June–July (MJJ), August–September–October (ASO), November–December–January (NDJ), and February–March–April (FMA) and to determine the effects of climate change on seasonal rainfall. LSAVs, temperature, pressure, wind, precipitable water, and relative humidity at different lead times were identified as the significant predictors. To determine the impacts of climate change the predictors obtained from two general circulation models, CSIRO Mk3.6 and MPI-ESM-MR, were used with quantile mapping bias correction. Our results show that the models with the best performance for FMA and MJJ seasons are able to forecast rainfall one month in advance for these seasons and the best models for ASO and NDJ seasons are able do so two months in advance. Under the RCP4.5 scenario, a decreasing trend of MJJ rainfall and an increasing trend of ASO rainfall can be observed from 2011 to 2040. For the dry season, while NDJ rainfall decreases, FMA rainfall increases for the same period of time.

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