scholarly journals Behavioural, ecological and evolutionary responses to extreme climatic events: challenges and directions

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1723) ◽  
pp. 20160134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn van de Pol ◽  
Stéphanie Jenouvrier ◽  
Johannes H. C. Cornelissen ◽  
Marcel E. Visser
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Biological Response ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Extreme Climatic Events ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
Theoretical Evidence

More extreme climatic events (ECEs) are among the most prominent consequences of climate change. Despite a long-standing recognition of the importance of ECEs by paleo-ecologists and macro-evolutionary biologists, ECEs have only recently received a strong interest in the wider ecological and evolutionary community. However, as with many rapidly expanding fields, it lacks structure and cohesiveness, which strongly limits scientific progress. Furthermore, due to the descriptive and anecdotal nature of many ECE studies it is still unclear what the most relevant questions and long-term consequences are of ECEs. To improve synthesis, we first discuss ways to define ECEs that facilitate comparison among studies. We then argue that biologists should adhere to more rigorous attribution and mechanistic methods to assess ECE impacts. Subsequently, we discuss conceptual and methodological links with climatology and disturbance-, tipping point- and paleo-ecology. These research fields have close linkages with ECE research, but differ in the identity and/or the relative severity of environmental factors. By summarizing the contributions to this theme issue we draw parallels between behavioural, ecological and evolutionary ECE studies, and suggest that an overarching challenge is that most empirical and theoretical evidence points towards responses being highly idiosyncratic, and thus predictability being low. Finally, we suggest a roadmap based on the proposition that an increased focus on the mechanisms behind the biological response function will be crucial for increased understanding and predictability of the impacts of ECE. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Behavioural, ecological and evolutionary responses to extreme climatic events’.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
pp. 136-138
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Gidley
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Health Economics ◽  
Alternative Energy ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Positive Change ◽  
Futures Studies ◽  
Alternative Futures ◽  
Global Challenges ◽  
Long Term Consequences

Futures studies is the art and science of taking responsibility for the long-term consequences of our decisions and our actions today. The Conclusion proposes that once we know there is not one predictable future, we are freer to imagine alternative futures and work towards creating the futures we prefer—for self and humanity. The grand global challenges faced by humanity may seem insurmountable, but the sense of fear and hopelessness often comes from not knowing enough. By working collaboratively for positive change, whether in the area of climate change, alternative energy, humanitarian causes, health, economics, or transforming education, we can create a critical mass for creating positive futures.

scholarly journals A Review of Factors to Consider for Permanent Cordon Establishment and Maintenance

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1811
Author(s):  
Patrick O’Brien ◽  
Roberta De Bei ◽  
Mark Sosnowski ◽  
Cassandra Collins
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Heat Stress ◽  
Vascular System ◽  
Vascular Diseases ◽  
Stress Conditions ◽  
Normal Flow ◽  
Training Techniques ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
Over Time

Decisions made during the establishment and reworking of permanent cordon arms may have long-term consequences on vineyard health and longevity. This review aims to summarise several of the important considerations that must be taken into account during cordon establishment and maintenance. Commonly practiced cordon training techniques such as wrapping developing arms tightly around the cordon wire may result in a constriction of the vascular system, becoming worse over time and disrupting the normal flow of water and nutrients. Studies have shown that other factors of cordon decline such as the onset of vascular diseases may be influenced by pre-existing stress conditions. Such conditions could be further exacerbated by water and heat stress events, an important consideration as these scenarios become more common under the influence of climate change. Vineyard sustainability may be improved by adopting cordon training techniques which promote long-term vitality and avoid a reduction in vine defence response and the costly, premature reworking of vines.

scholarly journals Predicting combined effects of land use and climate change on river and stream salinity

2018 ◽  
Vol 374 (1764) ◽  
pp. 20180005 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Olson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Combined Effects ◽  
Natural Background ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
Human Use ◽  
Effects Of Land Use ◽  
Dynamic Variables

Agricultural, industrial and urban development have all contributed to increased salinity in streams and rivers, but the likely effects of future development and climate change are unknown. I developed two empirical models to estimate how these combined effects might affect salinity by the end of this century (measured as electrical conductivity, EC). The first model predicts natural background from static (e.g. geology and soils) and dynamic (i.e. climate and vegetation) environmental factors and explained 78% of the variation in EC. I then compared the estimated background EC with current measurements at 2001 sites chosen probabilistically from all conterminous USA streams. EC was more than 50% greater at 34% of these sites. The second model predicts deviation of EC from background as a function of human land use and environmental factors and explained 60% of the variation in alteration from background. I then predicted the effects of climate and land use change on EC at the end of the century by replacing dynamic variables with published projections of future conditions based on the A2 emissions scenario. By the end of the century, the median EC is predicted to increase from 0.319 mS cm −1 to 0.524 mS cm −1 with over 50% of streams having greater than 50% increases in EC and 35% more than doubling their EC. Most of the change is related to increases in human land use, with climate change accounting for only 12% of the increase. In extreme cases, increased salinity may make water unsuitable for human use, but widespread moderate increases are likely a greater threat to stream ecosystems owing to the elimination of low EC habitats. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Salt in freshwaters: causes, ecological consequences and future prospects’.

Flood Country

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily O'Gorman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Murray Darling Basin ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
History Of ◽  
Access To Water ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
Significant Region

Floods in the Murray-Darling Basin are crucial sources of water for people, animals and plants in this often dry region of inland eastern Australia. Even so, floods have often been experienced as natural disasters, which have led to major engineering schemes. Flood Country explores the contested and complex history of this region, examining the different ways in which floods have been understood and managed and some of the long-term consequences for people, rivers and ecologies. The book examines many tensions, ranging from early exchanges between Aboriginal people and settlers about the dangers of floods, through to long running disputes between graziers and irrigators over damming floodwater, and conflicts between residents and colonial governments over whose responsibility it was to protect townships from floods. Flood Country brings the Murray-Darling Basin's flood history into conversation with contemporary national debates about climate change and competing access to water for livelihoods, industries and ecosystems. It provides an important new historical perspective on this significant region of Australia, exploring how people, rivers and floods have re-made each other.

Immune System Dysregulation and Schizophrenia

2018 ◽  
pp. 179-196
Author(s):  
Laura Stertz ◽  
Consuelo Walss-Bass
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Genetic Architecture ◽  
Environmental Stressors ◽  
Psychotic Symptoms ◽  
Common Disease ◽  
Immune System Regulation ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
Genetic And Environmental Factors

Schizophrenia is a common disease with a lifetime prevalence of 1% and a complex etiopathogenesis, probably involving multiple and heterogeneous genetic and environmental factors. Stress and immune system reactivity are implicated in both the pathogenesis and exacerbation of psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia. Exposure to environmental stressors in genetically susceptible individuals may alter brain processes and potentially have long-term consequences leading to the onset of schizophrenia. Here we discuss the role that genetic architecture, in combination with environmental stimuli, plays in immune system regulation and the development of schizophrenia, and review recent and accumulating evidence of associations between immune system genes with schizophrenia.

scholarly journals Investigating Climate Change and Reproduction: Experimental Tools from Evolutionary Biology

Biology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 411-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera M. Grazer ◽  
Oliver Y. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Reproductive Traits ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Reproductive Consequences ◽  
Conflict Research

It is now generally acknowledged that climate change has wide-ranging biological consequences, potentially leading to impacts on biodiversity. Environmental factors can have diverse and often strong effects on reproduction, with obvious ramifications for population fitness. Nevertheless, reproductive traits are often neglected in conservation considerations. Focusing on animals, recent progress in sexual selection and sexual conflict research suggests that reproductive costs may pose an underestimated hurdle during rapid climate change, potentially lowering adaptive potential and increasing extinction risk of certain populations. Nevertheless, regime shifts may have both negative and positive effects on reproduction, so it is important to acquire detailed experimental data. We hence present an overview of the literature reporting short-term reproductive consequences of exposure to different environmental factors. From the enormous diversity of findings, we conclude that climate change research could benefit greatly from more coordinated efforts incorporating evolutionary approaches in order to obtain cross-comparable data on how individual and population reproductive fitness respond in the long term. Therefore, we propose ideas and methods concerning future efforts dealing with reproductive consequences of climate change, in particular by highlighting the advantages of multi-generational experimental evolution experiments.

scholarly journals Ångström exponent errors prevent accurate visibility measurement

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 2441-2450
Author(s):  
Hengnan Guo ◽  
Zefeng Zhang ◽  
Lin Jiang ◽  
Junlin An ◽  
Bin Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Measurement Error ◽  
Measurement Methods ◽  
Significant Error ◽  
Atmospheric Transparency ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Change Pattern ◽  
Clear Change

Abstract. Visibility is an indicator of atmospheric transparency, and it is widely used in many research fields, including air pollution, climate change, ground transportation, and aviation. Although efforts have been made to improve the performance of visibility meters, a significant error exists in measured visibility data. This study conducts a well-designed simulation calibration of visibility meters, which proves that current methods of visibility measurement include a false assumption, leading to the long-term neglect of an important source of visibility error caused by erroneous values of Ångström exponents. This error has two characteristics, namely (1) independence, which means that the magnitude of the error is independent of the performance of the visibility meter. It is impossible to reduce this error by improving the performance of visibility meters. The second characteristic is (2) uncertainty, which means the magnitude of the error does not show a clear change pattern but can be substantially larger than the measurement error of visibility meters. It is impossible to accurately estimate the magnitude of this error or its influence on visibility measurements. Our simulations indicate that, as errors in visibility caused by erroneous values of Ångström exponents are inevitable using current methods of visibility measurement, reliable visibility data cannot be obtained without major adjustments to current measurement methods.

scholarly journals Ångström exponent errors prevent accurate visibility measurement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hengnan Guo ◽  
Zefeng Zhang ◽  
Lin Jiang ◽  
Junlin An ◽  
Bin Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Measurement Error ◽  
Measurement Methods ◽  
Significant Error ◽  
Atmospheric Transparency ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Change Pattern ◽  
Clear Change

Abstract. Visibility is an indicator of atmospheric transparency and is widely used in many research fields, including air pollution, climate change, ground transportation, and aviation. Although efforts have been made to improve the performance of visibility meters, a significant error exists in measured visibility data. This study conducts a well-designed simulation calibration of visibility meters, which proves that current methods of visibility measurement include a false assumption, which leads to the long-term neglect of an important source of visibility error caused by erroneous values of Ångström exponents. This error has two characteristics. (1) Independence, in which the magnitude of the error is independent of the performance of the visibility meter. It is impossible to reduce this error by improving the performance of visibility meters. (2) Uncertainty, in which the magnitude of the error does not show a clear change pattern but can be substantially larger than the measurement error of visibility meters. It is impossible to accurately estimate the magnitude of this error nor its influence on visibility measurements. Our simulations indicate that, as errors in visibility caused by erroneous values of Ångström exponents are inevitable using current methods of visibility measurement, reliable visibility data cannot be obtained without major adjustments to current visibility measurement methods.

Drugs as instruments from a developmental child and adolescent psychiatric perspective

2011 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 312-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Banaschewski ◽  
Dorothea Blomeyer ◽  
Arlette F. Buchmann ◽  
Luise Poustka ◽  
Aribert Rothenberger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Child And Adolescent ◽  
Early Initiation ◽  
Prevention Strategies ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
Social Environmental Factors

AbstractDevelopmental, epidemiological, and neurobiological studies indicate that the adaptive and maladaptive functions, as well as immediate and long-term consequences of drug use, may vary by age. Early initiation seems to be associated with a reduced ability to use drugs purposely in a temporally stable, non-addictive manner. Prevention strategies should consider social environmental factors and aim to delay age at initiation.

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