scholarly journals Interacting stressors and the potential for adaptation in a changing world: responses of populations and individuals

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 161057 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth R. Hopkins ◽  
Susannah S. French ◽  
Edmund D. Brodie

To accurately predict the impact of environmental change, it is necessary to assay effects of key interacting stressors on vulnerable organisms, and the potential resiliency of their populations. Yet, for the most part, these critical data are missing. We examined the effects of two common abiotic stressors predicted to interact with climate change, salinity and temperature, on the embryonic survival and development of a model freshwater vertebrate, the rough-skinned newt ( Taricha granulosa ) from different populations. We found that salinity and temperature significantly interacted to affect newt embryonic survival and development, with the negative effects of salinity most pronounced at temperature extremes. We also found significant variation among, and especially within, populations, with different females varying in the performance of their eggs at different salinity–temperature combinations, possibly providing the raw material for future natural selection. Our results highlight the complex nature of predicting responses to climate change in space and time, and provide critical data towards that aim.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Remi Meynadier ◽  
Hugo Rakotoarimanga ◽  
Madeleine-Sophie Deroche ◽  
Sylvain Buisine

<p>The large-scale and complex nature of climate change makes it difficult to assess and quantify the impact on insurance activities. Climate change is likely affecting the probability of natural hazard occurrence in terms of severity and/or frequency.</p><p>Natural catastrophe risk is a function of hazard, exposure and vulnerability. As a (re)-insurer it is seen that changes in year-on-year losses are a function of all these components and not just the hazard.</p><p>The present study focuses, in a first step, on assessing impacts of climate change on fluvial flood risks in Europe solely due to changes in hazard itself. A stochastic catalogue of future flood risk events is derived from Pan-European data sets of river flood probability of occurrence produced within EU FP7 RAIN project. The loss modelling framework internally developed at AXA is then used to provide a geographical view of changes in future flood risks.</p><p> </p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-59
Author(s):  
Dan Naylor ◽  
Natalie Sadler ◽  
Arunima Bhattacharjee ◽  
Emily B. Graham ◽  
Christopher R. Anderton ◽  
...  

Communities of soil microorganisms (soil microbiomes) play a major role in biogeochemical cycles and support of plant growth. Here we focus primarily on the roles that the soil microbiome plays in cycling soil organic carbon and the impact of climate change on the soil carbon cycle. We first discuss current challenges in understanding the roles carried out by highly diverse and heterogeneous soil microbiomes and review existing knowledge gaps in understanding how climate change will impact soil carbon cycling by the soil microbiome. Because soil microbiome stability is a key metric to understand as the climate changes, we discuss different aspects of stability, including resistance, resilience, and functional redundancy.We then review recent research pertaining to the impact of major climate perturbations on the soil microbiome and the functions that they carry out. Finally, we review new experimental methodologies and modeling approaches under development that should facilitate our understanding of the complex nature of the soil microbiome to better predict its future responses to climate change.


Planta Medica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 86 (01) ◽  
pp. 10-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy L. Applequist ◽  
Josef A. Brinckmann ◽  
Anthony B. Cunningham ◽  
Robbie E. Hart ◽  
Michael Heinrich ◽  
...  

AbstractThe recent publication of a World Scientistsʼ Warning to Humanity highlighted the fact that climate change, absent strenuous mitigation or adaptation efforts, will have profound negative effects for humanity and other species, affecting numerous aspects of life. In this paper, we call attention to one of these aspects, the effects of climate change on medicinal plants. These plants provide many benefits for human health, particularly in communities where Western medicine is unavailable. As for other species, their populations may be threatened by changing temperature and precipitation regimes, disruption of commensal relationships, and increases in pests and pathogens, combined with anthropogenic habitat fragmentation that impedes migration. Additionally, medicinal species are often harvested unsustainably, and this combination of pressures may push many populations to extinction. A second issue is that some species may respond to increased environmental stresses not only with declines in biomass production but with changes in chemical content, potentially affecting quality or even safety of medicinal products. We therefore recommend actions including conservation and local cultivation of valued plants, sustainability training for harvesters and certification of commercial material, preservation of traditional knowledge, and programs to monitor raw material quality in addition to, of course, efforts to mitigate climate change.


Foods ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1794
Author(s):  
Rodney J. Feliciano ◽  
Géraldine Boué ◽  
Jeanne-Marie Membré

Climate change is expected to affect many different sectors across the food supply chain. The current review paper presents an overview of the effects of climate change on the microbial safety of the dairy supply chain and suggest potential mitigation strategies to limit the impact. Raw milk, the common raw material of dairy products, is vulnerable to climate change, influenced by changes in average temperature and amount of precipitation. This would induce changes in the microbial profile and heat stress in lactating cows, increasing susceptibility to microbial infection and higher levels of microbial contamination. Moreover, climate change affects the entire dairy supply chain and necessitates adaptation of all the current food safety management programs. In particular, the review of current prerequisite programs might be needed as well as revisiting the current microbial specifications of the receiving dairy products and the introduction of new pretreatments with stringent processing regimes. The effects on microbial changes during distribution and consumer handling also would need to be quantified through the use of predictive models. The development of Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) models, considering the whole farm-to-fork chain to evaluate risk mitigation strategies, will be a key step to prioritize actions towards a climate change-resilient dairy industry.


2021 ◽  
pp. 193-208
Author(s):  
Isabel Santos ◽  
Matias Pablo Juan Szabó ◽  
Alexandre Rodrigues Caetano ◽  
Maristela Martins de Camargo

Abstract This expert opinion revisits the factors affecting the on- and off-host ecology of Rhipicephalus microplus in the context of climate change. It also highlights how the negative effects of heat stress caused by climate change on animal welfare, productivity and health of cattle will likely become more of an issue in the future if the Earth's climate continues to warm as predicted.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 79-85
Author(s):  
Raghu Bir Bista ◽  
Khet Raj Dahal ◽  
Ram Prasad Gyawali

This study was conducted in the period of January 2014 to December 2015. The main objective of the study was to investigate the impact of climate change in the water basin and its catchment areas. The method was a survey of relevant literatures. Climate change is a big issue not only in developed countries but also in developing countries. The study found that the temperature is rising with 2.00 C on average per annum in western Nepal. This is relatively 3 times higher than lower temperature increase within the country and significantly higher in comparison to global trend of temperature variation. Over the last 36 years (1975-2010) in western Nepal, temperature is rising on an average of 1.2°C per annum. This is twice as compared to the global increment. This indicates more vulnerability of climate change in hills and high hills of Nepal. The average rise of temperature in Nepal is 0.06oC per year. The climate-induced disasters are; drought, severe floods, landslide, etc. They also have negative effects in agriculture in the hills and high hills of Nepal.HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water, Energy and Environment Issue: 23Year: 2018


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (15) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ljiljana Crnogorac ◽  
Boško Vuković

During the working of thermal power plants, due to technological process of coal combustion, wastematter, which takes up large areas of land, degrades and pollutes the environment, is created. In the lastyears, a significant progress has been made in the world in researching new technologies thatimplement technogenic materials which have wide range of optimal economic use.An example for thisis electrofilterash which is, as technogenic raw material,largly and more often used in building industry.This resulted in decreasing negative effects of ash which was deposited considerably on ash waste piles.The use of ash for different industry purposes decreases the costs, increases a company's profitandremoves the negative effects on the environment and human health.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Şevket Süleyman İrtem

Today, ships navigating all around the world are not allowed to emit SOx more than 0.5%. Same regulation for nitrogen has already come into force. More and more nations are becoming aware and concerned about the negative effects of climate change, whereas many countries are already feeling the effects of harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the world’s fleet needs a new fuel types, which are alternative to conventional petroleum-based ship fuels. Benefits such as low sulphur standards accompany all alternative fuel options. As will be discussed further in Section 2, there are challenges and limitations associated with CO2 emissions along with benefits. The review of the literature and field shows that the impact of these current choices on the management and environments is still not bright enough, although each alternative has consisted entirely different effects in their body and each alternative pose specific risks to the environment, crew, management and port states. This chapter gives a review on the impact of each alternative fuels on the environment. In addition, the chapter touches upon handling of risks associated with alternative fuels and technologies.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (23) ◽  
pp. 8097
Author(s):  
Tomasz Jałowiec ◽  
Henryk Wojtaszek ◽  
Ireneusz Miciuła

The EU’s energy policy is geared towards introducing changes in order to stop or avoid negative climate change. The determinants of the energy policies of Poland and Germany are presented along with the priorities until 2050. The possibilities of reducing the impact of energy on the environment were interpreted, emphasizing its common goal. Activities supporting the EU and maintaining the level of energy security are indicated. Possible negative effects in the social and health sphere are presented as a response to the failure to implement these demands. The literature was analyzed and proprietary questionnaires were carried out, and the results realized in the EU by the independent FBI Economic Department were implemented. On the basis of earlier pilot studies, variants of a successful transformation were implemented, assuming different roles performed by a citizen (entrepreneur). Opportunities to tackle climate change and global challenges have been identified based on innovation and motivation. The opinion on the way of thinking in Poland and Germany was compared, and a descriptive model was prepared to increase the achievement of the assumed goals, together with a model based on innovation. Citizens should be active in efforts to promote renewable energy. The EU has a strong base to work to avoid climate change. What is needed is innovative thinking and a motivation to introduce changes with the involvement of every citizen through solidarity, efficiency, and justice. The existing foundations of legal solutions create adaptation possibilities and the ability to achieve goals through self-discipline, comparing with the assumption of EU civic awareness, significantly affecting the successful implementation of RES. Analyzing the attitudes of Poland and Germany, it seems that the distant social consequences are not sufficient. It is necessary not only to perform selected management functions (planning, organizing), but also partly to motivate. There is a strong need to increase motivation and implement the control process required under the threat of negative consequences in the current period as a key strategic preventive action. The analysis of the opinions of Poland and Germany against the background of the European Union allowed for no significant differences, subject to Germany’s readiness to take greater risk. Most of Poland is less inclined to take risks. The lack of an unambiguous opinion may indicate incomplete awareness of both the negative effects of climate change. Both countries are concerned about the unplanned costs of transformation. Germany, unlike Poland, has dedicated employees to handle the climate, and conducts an energy audit and is of interest to investors, thanks to investment plans.


10.26458/1833 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camelia SURUGIU ◽  
Marius SURUGIU ◽  
Raluca MAZILESCU ◽  
Anca CRISTEA ◽  
Ileana MARGINEAN

This paper is focused on the analysis of the impact of climate change on the households from rural Romania. Climate change may have an impact on different sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, food industry, energy sector, tourism, etc. Also, the impact is felt by households. In rural regions of Romania, the households are already facing various risks, related to lack of income, and also related to ageing population. This study aimed to underline how rural people relate to the climatic conditions with emphasis on the trend of major change in the various aspects of the weather, sources used to find information on climate change, reliability level of the climate change information provided by various sources, the possibility to adopt measures to tackle the effects of climate change, and so on. A number of 100 copies of the questionnaire were distributed among households in a rural area of Dâmbovița County, Romania - Petrești commune - in April, 2018, with the main purpose to test it. The respondents were selected randomly. Poor households are vulnerable to climate change because low income cannot provide a satisfactory degree of access to services needed in the protection against threats. Various adaptation strategies may be used by households confronted with negative effects of climate change.


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