scholarly journals Climate change and elevational diversity capacity: do weedy species take up the slack?

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 20120806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven L. Chown ◽  
Peter C. le Roux ◽  
Tshililo Ramaswiela ◽  
Jesse M. Kalwij ◽  
Justine D. Shaw ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Energy Availability ◽  
Marion Island ◽  
Spare Capacity ◽  
Weedy Species ◽  
Elevational Range

Climate change leads to species range shifts and consequently to changes in diversity. For many systems, increases in diversity capacity have been forecast, with spare capacity to be taken up by a pool of weedy species moved around by humans. Few tests of this hypothesis have been undertaken, and in many temperate systems, climate change impacts may be confounded by simultaneous increases in human-related disturbance, which also promote weedy species. Areas to which weedy species are being introduced, but with little human disturbance, are therefore ideal for testing the idea. We make predictions about how such diversity capacity increases play out across elevational gradients in non-water-limited systems. Then, using modern and historical data on the elevational range of indigenous and naturalized alien vascular plant species from the relatively undisturbed sub-Antarctic Marion Island, we show that alien species have contributed significantly to filling available diversity capacity and that increases in energy availability rather than disturbance are the probable underlying cause.

Climate change and elevational range shifts: evidence from dung beetles in two European mountain ranges

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 646-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Menéndez ◽  
Adela González-Megías ◽  
Pierre Jay-Robert ◽  
Rocío Marquéz-Ferrando
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Dung Beetles ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
European Mountain ◽  
Elevational Range

scholarly journals Streamflow-based evaluation of climate model sub-selection methods

2020 ◽  
Vol 163 (3) ◽  
pp. 1267-1285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Kiesel ◽  
Philipp Stanzel ◽  
Harald Kling ◽  
Nicola Fohrer ◽  
Sonja C. Jähnig ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Selection Method ◽  
Danube River ◽  
Selection Methods ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractThe assessment of climate change and its impact relies on the ensemble of models available and/or sub-selected. However, an assessment of the validity of simulated climate change impacts is not straightforward because historical data is commonly used for bias-adjustment, to select ensemble members or to define a baseline against which impacts are compared—and, naturally, there are no observations to evaluate future projections. We hypothesize that historical streamflow observations contain valuable information to investigate practices for the selection of model ensembles. The Danube River at Vienna is used as a case study, with EURO-CORDEX climate simulations driving the COSERO hydrological model. For each selection method, we compare observed to simulated streamflow shift from the reference period (1960–1989) to the evaluation period (1990–2014). Comparison against no selection shows that an informed selection of ensemble members improves the quantification of climate change impacts. However, the selection method matters, with model selection based on hindcasted climate or streamflow alone is misleading, while methods that maintain the diversity and information content of the full ensemble are favorable. Prior to carrying out climate impact assessments, we propose splitting the long-term historical data and using it to test climate model performance, sub-selection methods, and their agreement in reproducing the indicator of interest, which further provide the expectable benchmark of near- and far-future impact assessments. This test is well-suited to be applied in multi-basin experiments to obtain better understanding of uncertainty propagation and more universal recommendations regarding uncertainty reduction in hydrological impact studies.

An Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on Los Angeles (California USA) Hospitals, Wildfires Highest Priority

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 556-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina A. Adelaine ◽  
Mizuki Sato ◽  
Yufang Jin ◽  
Hilary Godwin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Los Angeles County ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
The United States ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Ed Visits

AbstractIntroductionAlthough many studies have delineated the variety and magnitude of impacts that climate change is likely to have on health, very little is known about how well hospitals are poised to respond to these impacts.Hypothesis/ProblemThe hypothesis is that most modern hospitals in urban areas in the United States need to augment their current disaster planning to include climate-related impacts.MethodsUsing Los Angeles County (California USA) as a case study, historical data for emergency department (ED) visits and projections for extreme-heat events were used to determine how much climate change is likely to increase ED visits by mid-century for each hospital. In addition, historical data about the location of wildfires in Los Angeles County and projections for increased frequency of both wildfires and flooding related to sea-level rise were used to identify which area hospitals will have an increased risk of climate-related wildfires or flooding at mid-century.ResultsOnly a small fraction of the total number of predicted ED visits at mid-century would likely to be due to climate change. By contrast, a significant portion of hospitals in Los Angeles County are in close proximity to very high fire hazard severity zones (VHFHSZs) and would be at greater risk to wildfire impacts as a result of climate change by mid-century. One hospital in Los Angeles County was anticipated to be at greater risk due to flooding by mid-century as a result of climate-related sea-level rise.ConclusionThis analysis suggests that several Los Angeles County hospitals should focus their climate-change-related planning on building resiliency to wildfires.AdelaineSA, SatoM, JinY, GodwinH. An assessment of climate change impacts on Los Angeles (California USA) hospitals, wildfires highest priority. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(5):556–562.

Indigenous Ecological Reconstruction After Industrial Ruin in Two Iconic Sámi Catchments: Ethics of Comanagement?

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-275
Author(s):  
Tero Mustonen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Ecological Restoration ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Case Examples ◽  
Algae Blooms ◽  
European North ◽  
Ecological Reconstruction

The applicability of Indigenous ethics to the evaluation of ecological restoration is explored through two case examples involving the Indigenous Sámi rivers of Näätämö and Ponoi in the European North. Six key restoration approaches are described that would have been overlooked had it not been for the use of Indigenous ethics from the start of the work. The detection of rapidly proceeding climate change impacts and species range shifts, algae blooms, documentation of gendered coastal lifestyles, and ultimately the ecological restoration of salmonid habitats were recognized as critical markers of success when these approaches were practiced, lived and cherished by all members of the cogovernance community. This article asks critical questions about the role of Indigenous knowledge and rights within comanagement and environmental evaluations and makes the case for land-based lifestyles as vehicles for maintaining distinct, culturally relevant ethics processes.

scholarly journals Ecological Correlates of Elevational Range Shifts in Tropical Birds

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Montague H. C. Neate-Clegg ◽  
Samuel E. I. Jones ◽  
Joseph A. Tobias ◽  
William D. Newmark ◽  
Çaǧan H. Şekercioǧlu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Dispersal Ability ◽  
High Dispersal ◽  
Elevational Shift ◽  
Elevational Range ◽  
The Tropics

Globally, birds have been shown to respond to climate change by shifting their elevational distributions. This phenomenon is especially prevalent in the tropics, where elevational gradients are often hotspots of diversity and endemism. Empirical evidence has suggested that elevational range shifts are far from uniform across species, varying greatly in the direction (upslope vs. downslope) and rate of change (speed of elevational shift). However, little is known about the drivers of these variable responses to climate change, limiting our ability to accurately project changes in the future. Here, we compile empirical estimates of elevational shift rates (m/yr) for 421 bird species from eight study sites across the tropics. On average, species shifted their mean elevations upslope by 1.63 ± 0.30 m/yr, their upper limits by 1.62 m ± 0.38 m/yr, and their lower limits by 2.81 ± 0.42 m/yr. Upslope shift rates increased in smaller-bodied, less territorial species, whereas larger species were more likely to shift downslope. When considering absolute shift rates, rates were fastest for species with high dispersal ability, low foraging strata, and wide elevational ranges. Our results indicate that elevational shift rates are associated with species’ traits, particularly body size, dispersal ability, and territoriality. However, these effects vary substantially across sites, suggesting that responses of tropical montane bird communities to climate change are complex and best predicted within the local or regional context.

Climate Change, Elevational Range Shifts, and Bird Extinctions

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
CAGAN H. SEKERCIOGLU ◽  
STEPHEN H. SCHNEIDER ◽  
JOHN P. FAY ◽  
SCOTT R. LOARIE
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Elevational Range

scholarly journals Asymmetry in marginal population performance foreshadows widespread species range shifts

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Pulido ◽  
Bastien Castagneyrol ◽  
Francisco Rodríguez-Sánchez ◽  
Yónatan Cáceres ◽  
Adhara Pardo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Widespread Species ◽  
Marginal Population ◽  
Geographic Ranges ◽  
Latitude Range ◽  
Global Trend ◽  
Range Dynamics ◽  
And Function

While current climate change is altering the distribution of species worldwide1, a poor understanding of the mechanisms involved limits our ability to predict future range dynamics. Range shifts are expected to occur when populations at one range margin perform better than those at the other margin2, yet no such global trend has been demonstrated empirically. Here we show that populations at high-latitude range margins generally perform as well as those from the range centre, whereas populations at low-latitude margins perform markedly worse. The trend is moderate but pervasive across plants and animals and terrestrial and marine environments. Such global asymmetry in performance between range edges signals that species are in disequilibrium with current environmental conditions. Our findings are consistent with predicted impacts of a warming climate and imply that the geographic ranges of species are undergoing directional changes. They highlight the pressing need for a more thorough knowledge of population dynamics across species ranges as a mean to forecast climate change impacts on the structure and function of ecosystems across the globe.

Climate change and elevational range shifts in insects

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christy M McCain ◽  
Chloe F Garfinkel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Elevational Range

The TasFACE climate-change impacts experiment: design and performance of combined elevated CO2 and temperature enhancement in a native Tasmanian grassland

2006 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Hovenden ◽  
F. Miglietta ◽  
A. Zaldei ◽  
J. K. Vander Schoor ◽  
K. E. Wills ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Co2 Enrichment ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Co2 Concentration ◽  
Elevated Concentration ◽  
Plant Population Dynamics ◽  
Community Interactions ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Elevated Co2 And Temperature

The potential impacts of climate change on both natural and managed ecosystems are far-reaching and are only beginning to be understood. Here we describe a new experiment that aims to determine the impacts of elevated concentration of CO2 ([CO2]) and elevated temperature on a native Themeda–Austrodanthonia-dominated grassland ecosystem in south-eastern Tasmania. The experimental site contains 60 vascular plant species. The experiment combines the latest developments in free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) technology with the use of infrared (IR) heaters to mimic environmental conditions expected to exist in the year 2050. The CO2 concentration in the FACE treatments is reliably maintained at 550 µmol mol–1 and leaf temperature is elevated by an average of 2.1°C by the IR treatment, with 1-cm soil temperature being elevated by 0.8°C. Measurements being made in the experiment cover plant ecophysiological responses, plant population dynamics and community interactions. Soil processes and ecosystem effects, including nutrient cycling and plant animal interactions, are also being investigated. Collaborations are invited from interested parties.

Latitudinal and Elevational Range Shifts under Contemporary Climate Change

2013 ◽  
pp. 599-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Lenoir ◽  
Jens-Christian Svenning
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Elevational Range ◽  
Contemporary Climate
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document