scholarly journals Evolutionary tipping points in the capacity to adapt to environmental change

2014 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 184-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos A. Botero ◽  
Franz J. Weissing ◽  
Jonathan Wright ◽  
Dustin R. Rubenstein
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Parameter Space ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Tipping Points ◽  
Fluctuating Selection

In an era of rapid climate change, there is a pressing need to understand how organisms will cope with faster and less predictable variation in environmental conditions. Here we develop a unifying model that predicts evolutionary responses to environmentally driven fluctuating selection and use this theoretical framework to explore the potential consequences of altered environmental cycles. We first show that the parameter space determined by different combinations of predictability and timescale of environmental variation is partitioned into distinct regions where a single mode of response (reversible phenotypic plasticity, irreversible phenotypic plasticity, bet-hedging, or adaptive tracking) has a clear selective advantage over all others. We then demonstrate that, although significant environmental changes within these regions can be accommodated by evolution, most changes that involve transitions between regions result in rapid population collapse and often extinction. Thus, the boundaries between response mode regions in our model correspond to evolutionary tipping points, where even minor changes in environmental parameters can have dramatic and disproportionate consequences on population viability. Finally, we discuss how different life histories and genetic architectures may influence the location of tipping points in parameter space and the likelihood of extinction during such transitions. These insights can help identify and address some of the cryptic threats to natural populations that are likely to result from any natural or human-induced change in environmental conditions. They also demonstrate the potential value of evolutionary thinking in the study of global climate change.

scholarly journals Regulation of Seed Dormancy and Germination Mechanisms in a Changing Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1357
Author(s):  
Ewelina A. Klupczyńska ◽  
Tomasz A. Pawłowski
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Seed Germination ◽  
Seed Dormancy ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Plant Evolution ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Adaptation Mechanism ◽  
Seed Dormancy And Germination

Environmental conditions are the basis of plant reproduction and are the critical factors controlling seed dormancy and germination. Global climate change is currently affecting environmental conditions and changing the reproduction of plants from seeds. Disturbances in germination will cause disturbances in the diversity of plant communities. Models developed for climate change scenarios show that some species will face a significant decrease in suitable habitat area. Dormancy is an adaptive mechanism that affects the probability of survival of a species. The ability of seeds of many plant species to survive until dormancy recedes and meet the requirements for germination is an adaptive strategy that can act as a buffer against the negative effects of environmental heterogeneity. The influence of temperature and humidity on seed dormancy status underlines the need to understand how changing environmental conditions will affect seed germination patterns. Knowledge of these processes is important for understanding plant evolution and adaptation to changes in the habitat. The network of genes controlling seed dormancy under the influence of environmental conditions is not fully characterized. Integrating research techniques from different disciplines of biology could aid understanding of the mechanisms of the processes controlling seed germination. Transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenetics, and other fields provide researchers with new opportunities to understand the many processes of plant life. This paper focuses on presenting the adaptation mechanism of seed dormancy and germination to the various environments, with emphasis on their prospective roles in adaptation to the changing climate.

scholarly journals The Impact of Different Environmental Conditions during Vegetative Propagation on Growth, Survival, and Biochemical Characteristics in Populus Hybrids in Clonal Field Trial

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 892
Author(s):  
Valda Gudynaitė-Franckevičienė ◽  
Alfas Pliūra
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Vegetative Propagation ◽  
Genotypic Variation ◽  
Hybrid Poplar ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Biochemical Traits ◽  
Suburban Areas ◽  
Growing Conditions

To have a cleaner environment, good well-being, and improve the health of citizens it is necessary to expand green urban and suburban areas using productive and adapted material of tree species. The quality of urban greenery, resistance to negative climate change factors and pollution, as well as efficiency of short-rotation forestry in suburban areas, depends primarily on the selection of hybrids and clones, suitable for the local environmental conditions. We postulate that ecogenetic response, phenotypic plasticity, and genotypic variation of hybrid poplars (Populus L.) grown in plantations are affected not only by the peculiarities of hybrids and clones, but also by environmental conditions of their vegetative propagation. The aim of the present study was to estimate growth and biochemical responses, the phenotypic plasticity, genotypic variation of adaptive traits, and genetically regulated adaptability of Populus hybrids in field trials which may be predisposed by the simulated contrasting temperature conditions at their vegetative propagation phase. The research was performed with the 20 cultivars and experimental clones of one intraspecific cross and four different interspecific hybrids of poplars propagated under six contrasting temperature regimes in phytotron. The results suggest that certain environmental conditions during vegetative propagation not only have a short-term effect on tree viability and growth, but also can help to adapt to climate change conditions and grow successfully in the long-term. It was found that tree growth and biochemical traits (the chlorophyll A and B, pigments content and the chlorophyll A/B ratio) of hybrid poplar clones grown in field trials, as well as their traits’ genetic parameters, were affected by the rooting-growing conditions during vegetative propagation phase. Hybrids P. balsamifera × P. trichocarpa, and P. trichocarpa × P. trichocarpa have shown the most substantial changes of biochemical traits across vegetative propagation treatments in field trial. Rooting-growing conditions during vegetative propagation had also an impact on coefficients of genotypic variation and heritability in hybrid poplar clones when grown in field trials.

Diatoms in Saline Lakes Paleoclimate and Paleoecology Interpretations

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 149-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik J. Ekdahl
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Light Availability ◽  
Ionic Concentration ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Environmental Response

Average global temperatures are predicted to rise over the next century and changes in precipitation, humidity, and drought frequency will likely accompany this global warming. Understanding associated changes in continental precipitation and temperature patterns in response to global change is an important component of long-range environmental planning. For example, agricultural management plans that account for decreased precipitation over time will be less susceptible to the effects of drought through implementation of water conservation techniques.A detailed understanding of environmental response to past climate change is key to understanding environmental changes associated with global climate change. To this end, diatoms are sensitive to a variety of limnologic parameters, including nutrient concentration, light availability, and the ionic concentration and composition of the waters that they live in (e.g. salinity). Diatoms from numerous environments have been used to reconstruct paleosalinity levels, which in turn have been used as a proxy records for regional and local paleoprecipitation. Long-term records of salinity or paleoprecipitation are valuable in reconstructing Quaternary paleoclimate, and are important in terms of developing mitigation strategies for future global climate change. High-resolution paleoclimate records are also important in groundtruthing global climate simulations, especially in regions where the consequences of global warming may be severe.

scholarly journals Introduction. Antarctic ecology: from genes to ecosystems. Part 2. Evolution, diversity and functional ecology

2007 ◽  
Vol 362 (1488) ◽  
pp. 2187-2189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex D Rogers ◽  
Eugene J Murphy ◽  
Nadine M Johnston ◽  
Andrew Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Functional Ecology ◽  
Antarctic Species ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Genes To Ecosystems ◽  
Micro Organisms ◽  
The Antarctic

The Antarctic biota has evolved over the last 100 million years in increasingly isolated and cold conditions. As a result, Antarctic species, from micro-organisms to vertebrates, have adapted to life at extremely low temperatures, including changes in the genome, physiology and ecological traits such as life history. Coupled with cycles of glaciation that have promoted speciation in the Antarctic, this has led to a unique biota in terms of biogeography, patterns of species distribution and endemism. Specialization in the Antarctic biota has led to trade-offs in many ecologically important functions and Antarctic species may have a limited capacity to adapt to present climate change. These include the direct effects of changes in environmental parameters and indirect effects of increased competition and predation resulting from altered life histories of Antarctic species and the impacts of invasive species. Ultimately, climate change may alter the responses of Antarctic ecosystems to harvesting from humans. The unique adaptations of Antarctic species mean that they provide unique models of molecular evolution in natural populations. The simplicity of Antarctic communities, especially from terrestrial systems, makes them ideal to investigate the ecological implications of climate change, which are difficult to identify in more complex systems.

Climate Change and Cultural Dynamics: Lessons from the Past for the Future

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
David G. Anderson ◽  
Kirk A. Maasch
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Important Lesson ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Technological Civilization ◽  
Nuclear Warfare

As the twenty-first century winds onward, it is becoming increasingly clear that understanding how climate affects human cultural systems is critically important. Indeed, it has been argued by many researchers that how we respond to changing global climate is one of the greatest scientific and political challenges facing our planetary technological civilization, comparable and closely intertwined with concerns about biological or nuclear warfare, famine, disease, overpopulation, or environmental degradation. By any reasonable evaluation of the evidence, this century, and likely the several centuries that follow it, will be characterized by dramatic climate change, perhaps as significant in terms of its impact on our species as any climatic episodes that have occurred in the past. What we don’t know with much certainty is how these environmental changes will play out across the planet, and how individuals as well as nation states will respond to them. Archaeology has a major role to play in helping us move through this period of crisis, however, by showing us how human cultures in the past responded to dramatic changes in climate. As the work of many archaeological scholars has shown, climate change has not invariably proven to be a bad thing: it is how people respond to it that is critical (e.g. Anderson et al. 2007b; Cooper and Sheets 2012; Crumley 2000, 2006, 2007; Hardesty 2007; McAnany and Yoffee 2010; McIntosh et al. 2000; Redman 2004a; Sandweiss and Quilter 2008; Sassaman and Anderson 1996; Tainter 2000). Archaeology working in tandem with a host of palaeoenvironmental and historical disciplines has lessons for our modern world and, as this volume demonstrates, we as a profession are making great strides in getting our message out. Perhaps the most important lesson from the past is that people, through their actions, are the drivers of cultural change, including response to climate change. Societies are not, however, monolithic entities that ‘chose’ to succeed or fail; people as individuals, groups, or factions through their actions generate outcomes, and often some demonstrate remarkable flexibility and resilience (Cooper and Sheets 2012; Diamond 2005; McAnany and Yoffee 2010).

scholarly journals Phenotypic plasticity of stomatal and photosynthetic features of four Picea species in two contrasting common gardens

AoB Plants ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Hao Wang ◽  
Jing Ru Wang ◽  
Xiao Wei Zhang ◽  
Ai Ping Zhang ◽  
Shan Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Physiological Activity ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Leaf Mass Per Area ◽  
Picea Crassifolia ◽  
Common Gardens ◽  
Picea Species ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Global climate change is expected to affect mountain ecosystems significantly. Phenotypic plasticity, the ability of any genotype to produce a variety of phenotypes under different environmental conditions, is critical in determining the ability of species to acclimate to current climatic changes. Here, to simulate the impact of climate change, we compared the physiology of species of the genus Picea from different provenances and climatic conditions and quantified their phenotypic plasticity index (PPI) in two contrasting common gardens (dry vs. wet), and then considered phenotypic plastic effects on their future adaptation. The mean PPI of the photosynthetic features studied was higher than that of the stomatal features. Species grown in the arid and humid common gardens were differentiated: the stomatal length (SL) and width (SW) on the adaxial surface, the transpiration rate (Tr) and leaf mass per area (LMA) were more highly correlated with rainfall than other traits. There were no significant relationships between the observed plasticity and the species’ original habitat, except in P. crassifolia (from an arid habitat) and P. asperata (from a humid habitat). Picea crassifolia exhibited enhanced instantaneous efficiency of water use (PPI = 0.52) and the ratio of photosynthesis to respiration (PPI = 0.10) remained constant; this species was, therefore, considered to the one best able to acclimate when faced with the effects of climate change. The other three species exhibited reduced physiological activity when exposed to water limitation. These findings indicate how climate change affects the potential roles of plasticity in determining plant physiology, and provide a basis for future reforestation efforts in China.

scholarly journals The Impact of Climate Change on Cholera: A Review on the Global Status and Future Challenges

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 449
Author(s):  
Eirini Christaki ◽  
Panagiotis Dimitriou ◽  
Katerina Pantavou ◽  
Georgios K. Nikolopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Educational Strategies ◽  
Global Status ◽  
Water Ecosystems ◽  
Sanitation Systems ◽  
The Impact

Water ecosystems can be rather sensitive to evolving or sudden changes in weather parameters. These changes can result in alterations in the natural habitat of pathogens, vectors, and human hosts, as well as in the transmission dynamics and geographic distribution of infectious agents. However, the interaction between climate change and infectious disease is rather complicated and not deeply understood. In this narrative review, we discuss climate-driven changes in the epidemiology of Vibrio species-associated diseases with an emphasis on cholera. Changes in environmental parameters do shape the epidemiology of Vibrio cholerae. Outbreaks of cholera cause significant disease burden, especially in developing countries. Improved sanitation systems, access to clean water, educational strategies, and vaccination campaigns can help control vibriosis. In addition, real-time assessment of climatic parameters with remote-sensing technologies in combination with robust surveillance systems could help detect environmental changes in high-risk areas and result in early public health interventions that can mitigate potential outbreaks.

Hybrid energy module for experiments and studies in remote locations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Misha Krassovski ◽  
Jeffery Riggs ◽  
Chris Tavino ◽  
Stan Wullschleger ◽  
Susan Heinz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Electrical Power ◽  
Power Equipment ◽  
Hybrid Energy ◽  
Remote Areas ◽  
Remote Locations ◽  
The World

<p>Increased concerns about regional and global climate change in recent decades has led to a significant expansion of monitoring, observational, and experimental sites in remote areas of the world. During this same time, advances in technology and availability of low-power equipment, have allowed increasingly sophisticated measurements with an increasingly wide variety of instruments, sensors, and sensor networks. However, the deployment and use of these technologies in remote locations is restricted not only by harsh environmental conditions, but by the availability of electrical power and communication options. With this presentation we would like to share our experience of designing and building hybrid energy (solar and wind) module that can be used to provide power and communication capabilities for remote installations.</p>

scholarly journals Forecasting the impacts of chemical pollution and climate change interactions on the health of wildlife

2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 669-689 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela D. Noyes ◽  
Sean C. Lema
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Chemical Pollution ◽  
Climate Scenarios ◽  
Chemical Toxicity ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Chemical Exposures

Abstract Global climate change is impacting organisms, biological communities and ecosystems around the world. While most research has focused on characterizing how the climate is changing, including modeling future climatic conditions and predicting the impacts of these conditions on biodiversity, it is also the case that climate change is altering the environmental impacts of chemical pollution. Future climate conditions are expected to influence both the worldwide distribution of chemicals and the toxicological consequences of chemical exposures to organisms. Many of the environmental changes associated with a warming global climate (e.g., increased average – and possibly extreme – temperatures; intense periods of drier and wetter conditions; reduced ocean pH; altered salinity dynamics in estuaries) have the potential to enhance organism susceptibility to chemical toxicity. Additionally, chemical exposures themselves may impair the ability of organisms to cope with the changing environmental conditions of the shifting climate. Such reciprocity in the interactions between climate change and chemicals illustrates the complexity inherent in predicting the toxicological consequences of chemical exposures under future climate scenarios. Here, we summarize what is currently known about the potential reciprocal effects of climate change and chemical toxicity on wildlife, and depict current approaches and ongoing challenges for incorporating climate effects into chemical testing and assessment. Given the rapid pace of new man-made chemistries, the development of accurate and rapid methods to evaluate multiple chemical and non-chemical stressors in an ecologically relevant context will be critical to understanding toxic and endocrine-disrupting effects of chemical pollutants under future climate scenarios.

scholarly journals Gene expression responses to thermal shifts in the endangered lichen Lobaria pulmonaria

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Chavarria Pizarro ◽  
Philipp Resl ◽  
Aleksandar Janjic ◽  
Silke Werth
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Gene Expression ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Strong Response ◽  
Lobaria Pulmonaria ◽  
Green Algal

Anthropogenic climate change has led to unprecedented shifts in temperature across many ecosystems. In a context of rapid environmental changes, acclimation is an important process as it may influence the capacity of organisms to survive under novel thermal conditions. Mechanisms of acclimation could involve upregulation of stress response genes involved in protein folding, DNA damage repair and the regulation of signal transduction genes, along with a simultaneous downregulation of genes involved in growth or cell cycle, in order to maintain cellular functions and equilibria. We transplanted Lobaria pulmonaria lichens originating from different forests to determine the relative effects of long-term acclimation and genetic factors on the variability in expression of mycobiont and photobiont genes. We found a strong response of mycobiont and photobiont to high temperatures, regardless of sample origin. The green-algal photobiont had an overall lower response than the mycobiont. The gene expression of both symbionts was also influenced by acclimation to transplantation sites and by genetic factors. Lobaria pulmonaria seems to have evolved powerful molecular pathways to deal with environmental fluctuations and stress and can acclimate to new habitats by transcriptomic convergence. Although L. pulmonaria has the molecular machinery to counteract short-term thermal stress, survival of lichens like L. pulmonaria depends mostly on their long-term positive carbon balance, which can be compromised by warmer temperatures and reduced precipitation, and both these outcomes have been predicted for Central Europe in connection with global climate change

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