scholarly journals Plasticity and environmental heterogeneity predict geographic resilience patterns of foundation species to future change

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Telesca ◽  
Lloyd S. Peck ◽  
Trystan Sanders ◽  
Jakob Thyrring ◽  
Mikael K. Sejr ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTAlthough geographic patterns of species’ sensitivity to global environmental changes are defined by interacting multiple stressors, little is known about the biological mechanisms shaping regional differences in organismal vulnerability. Here, we examine large-scale spatial variations in biomineralisation under heterogeneous environmental gradients of temperature, salinity and food availability across a 30° latitudinal range (3,334 km), to test whether plasticity in calcareous shell production and composition, from juveniles to large adults, mediates geographic patterns of resilience to climate change in critical foundation species, the mussels Mytilus edulis and M. trossulus. We find mussels produced thinner shells with a higher organic content in polar than temperature regions, indicating decreasing shell calcification towards high latitudes. Salinity was the major driver of regional differences in mussel shell deposition, and in shell mineral and organic composition. In low-salinity environments, the production of calcite and organic shell layers was increased, providing higher resistance against dissolution in more corrosive waters. Conversely, under higher-salinity regimes, increased aragonite deposition suggests enhanced mechanical protection from predators. Interacting strong effects of decreasing salinity and increasing food availability on the compositional shell plasticity in polar and subpolar mussels during growth predict the deposition of a thicker external organic layer (periostracum) under forecasted future environmental conditions. This marked response potential of Mytilus species suggests a capacity for increased protection of high-latitude mussel populations from ocean acidification. Our work illustrates that mechanisms driving plastic responses to the spatial structure of multiple stressors can define geographic patterns of unforeseen species resilience to global environmental change.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bronwen L. Konecky ◽  
Nicholas P. McKay ◽  
Olga V. Churakova (Sidorova) ◽  
Laia Comas-Bru ◽  
Emilie P. Dassié ◽  
...  

Abstract. Reconstructions of global hydroclimate during the Common Era (CE; the past ~ 2000 years) are important for providing context for current and future global environmental change. Stable isotope ratios in water are quantitative indicators of hydroclimate on regional to global scales, and these signals are encoded in a wide range of natural geologic archives. Here we present the Iso2k database, a global compilation of previously published datasets from a variety of natural archives that record the stable oxygen (δ18O) or hydrogen (δ2H) isotopic composition of environmental waters, which reflect hydroclimate changes over the CE. The Iso2k database contains 756 isotope records from the terrestrial and marine realms, including: glacier and ground ice (205); speleothems (68); corals, sclerosponges, and mollusks (145); wood (81); lake sediments and other terrestrial sediments (e.g., loess) (158); and marine sediments (99). Individual datasets have temporal resolutions ranging from sub-annual to centennial, and include chronological data where available. A fundamental feature of the database is its comprehensive metadata, which will assist both experts and non-experts in the interpretation of each record and in data synthesis. Key metadata fields have standardized vocabularies to facilitate comparisons across diverse archives and with climate model simulated fields. This is the first global-scale collection of water isotope proxy records from multiple types of geological and biological archives. It is suitable for evaluating hydroclimate processes through time and space using large-scale synthesis, model-data intercomparison and (paleo)data assimilation. The Iso2k database is available for download at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.11553162 (McKay and Konecky, 2020).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora Amalie Karlsen ◽  

‘PLANCTation’ – The story about Aurelia Oline Ebeltoft is a story about how the power and ingenuity of female leadership and large-scale collaboration can help find solutions to the health and existential problems created by severe global environmental change. With a focus on solving air-pollution and its consequences for people’s health and lung function, Aurelia’s invention of PLANCTation – an algae farm for oxygen generation – has given people and planet a new lease on life. Algae farming is, in fact, being increasingly explored for a variety of health and environmental benefits, so this story is incredibly close to some very real developments. Woven into, however, is also a sense of getting fed up with resistance to change and a call to take responsibility, as people and healthcare professionals. To recognize and open ourselves to the many different possibilities to contribute to people’s health and wellbeing and take action.


Author(s):  
Diana Liverman ◽  
Brent Yarnal

The human–environment condition has emerged as one of the central issues of the new millennium, especially as it has become apparent that human activity is transforming nature at a global scale in both systemic and cumulative ways. Originating with concerns about potential climate warming, the global environmental change agenda rapidly enlarged to include changes in structure and function of the earth’s natural systems, notably those systems critical for life, and the policy implications of these changes, especially focused on the coupled human–environment system. Recognition of the unprecedented pace, magnitude, and spatial scale of global change, and of the pivotal role of humankind in creating and responding to it, has led to the emergence of a worldwide, interdisciplinary effort to understand the human dimensions of global change. The term “global change” now encompasses a range of research issues including those relating to economic, political, and cultural globalization, but in this chapter we limit our focus to global environmental change and to the field that has become formally known as the human dimensions of global (or global environmental) change. We also focus mainly on the work of geographers rather than attempting to review the whole human dimensions research community. Intellectually, geography is well positioned to contribute to global environmental change research (Liverman 1999). The large-scale human transformation of the planet through activities such as agriculture, deforestation, water diversion, fossil fuel use, and urbanization, and the impacts of these on living conditions through changes in, for example, climate and biodiversity, has highlighted the importance of scholarship that analyzes the human–environmental relationship and can inform policy. Geography is one of the few disciplines that has historically claimed human–environment relationships as a definitional component of itself (Glacken 1967; Marsh 1864) and has fostered a belief in and reward system for engaging integrative approaches to problem solving (Golledge 2002; Turner 2002). Moreover, global environmental change is intimately spatial and draws upon geography-led remote sensing and geographic information science (Liverman et al. 1998). Geographers anticipated the emergence of current global change concerns (Thomas et al. 1956; Burton et al. 1978) and were seminal in the development of the multidisciplinary programs of study into the human dimensions of global change.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 261-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Frumkin ◽  
Andy Haines

Multiple global environmental changes (GECs) now under way, including climate change, biodiversity loss, freshwater depletion, tropical deforestation, overexploitation of fisheries, ocean acidification, and soil degradation, have substantial, but still imperfectly understood, implications for human health. Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) make a major contribution to the global burden of disease. Many of the driving forces responsible for GEC also influence NCD risk through a range of mechanisms. This article provides an overview of pathways linking GEC and NCDs, focusing on five pathways: ( a) energy, air pollution, and climate change; ( b) urbanization; ( c) food, nutrition, and agriculture; ( d) the deposition of persistent chemicals in the environment; and ( e) biodiversity loss.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 2261-2288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bronwen L. Konecky ◽  
Nicholas P. McKay ◽  
Olga V. Churakova (Sidorova) ◽  
Laia Comas-Bru ◽  
Emilie P. Dassié ◽  
...  

Abstract. Reconstructions of global hydroclimate during the Common Era (CE; the past ∼2000 years) are important for providing context for current and future global environmental change. Stable isotope ratios in water are quantitative indicators of hydroclimate on regional to global scales, and these signals are encoded in a wide range of natural geologic archives. Here we present the Iso2k database, a global compilation of previously published datasets from a variety of natural archives that record the stable oxygen (δ18O) or hydrogen (δ2H) isotopic compositions of environmental waters, which reflect hydroclimate changes over the CE. The Iso2k database contains 759 isotope records from the terrestrial and marine realms, including glacier and ground ice (210); speleothems (68); corals, sclerosponges, and mollusks (143); wood (81); lake sediments and other terrestrial sediments (e.g., loess) (158); and marine sediments (99). Individual datasets have temporal resolutions ranging from sub-annual to centennial and include chronological data where available. A fundamental feature of the database is its comprehensive metadata, which will assist both experts and nonexperts in the interpretation of each record and in data synthesis. Key metadata fields have standardized vocabularies to facilitate comparisons across diverse archives and with climate-model-simulated fields. This is the first global-scale collection of water isotope proxy records from multiple types of geological and biological archives. It is suitable for evaluating hydroclimate processes through time and space using large-scale synthesis, model–data intercomparison and (paleo)data assimilation. The Iso2k database is available for download at https://doi.org/10.25921/57j8-vs18 (Konecky and McKay, 2020) and is also accessible via the NOAA/WDS Paleo Data landing page: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/29593 (last access: 30 July 2020).


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristy J. Kroeker ◽  
Eric Sanford

Marine ecosystems are increasingly impacted by global environmental changes, including warming temperatures, deoxygenation, and ocean acidification. Marine scientists recognize intuitively that these environmental changes are translated into community changes via organismal physiology. However, physiology remains a black box in many ecological studies, and coexisting species in a community are often assumed to respond similarly to environmental stressors. Here, we emphasize how greater attention to physiology can improve our ability to predict the emergent effects of ocean change. In particular, understanding shifts in the intensity and outcome of species interactions such as competition and predation requires a sharpened focus on physiological variation among community members and the energetic demands and trophic mismatches generated by environmental changes. Our review also highlights how key species interactions that are sensitive to environmental change can operate as ecological leverage points through which small changes in abiotic conditions are amplified into large changes in marine ecosystems. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Marine Science, Volume 14 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1096-1119
Author(s):  
Stephanie Buechler ◽  
América Lutz-Ley

Livelihoods in rural communities have become increasingly complex due to rapidly changing socio-economic and environmental forces, with differing impacts on and responses by female and male youth. This study contributes to feminist political ecology through an explicit focus on youth and an examination of the intersections of age and gender in educational choices, livelihood systems, and human–environment interactions. We undertake double exposures analysis to explore female and male youths’ livelihood-related decision-making in Rayón, a semi-arid rural community in Northwest Mexico, undergoing global environmental change and globalization-related shifts in agriculture, climate, water, and socio-economic conditions. Global environmental change exacerbates an already fragile, local ecological context. A focus on gender issues among youth in three age categories (14–15, 16–19, and youth in their 20s) with respect to their decision-making concerning the future is critical to gaining a better understanding of the roles women and men will play in linked agricultural and non-agricultural, rural to urban livelihood systems. Agricultural employment increasingly includes global agribusiness where local youth compete with people from other areas. Access to employment, education, as well as water and land resources varied by gender, age, and social class, and played significant roles in livelihood diversification and migration decisions and outcomes. Mothers’ access to government assistance for their natural resource-based livelihoods positively impacted daughters’ opportunities. Educational curricula failed to link environmental change with local livelihoods and to prepare students for urban careers. This study offers insights related to female and male youths’ needs associated with environmental education, technology access, job training, and child and sibling care in order for them to more successfully confront the future across village, town, and city spaces.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-41
Author(s):  
Md. Mizanuzzaman

Global environmental change and sustainability science increasingly recognize the need to address the consequences of changes taking place in the structure and function of the biosphere. These changes raise questions such as: Who and what are vulnerable to the multiple environmental changes underway, and where? This recognition requires revisions and enlargements in the basic design of vulnerability assessments, including the capacity to treat coupled human–environment systems and those linkages within and without the systems that affect their vulnerability. A vulnerability framework for the assessment of coupled human–environment systems is presented. (Turner. et.al).This study is related with economic analysis of vulnerability and capacity contextually Jessore’s village.


2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (8) ◽  
pp. 1837-1842 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Ferry Slik ◽  
Janet Franklin ◽  
Víctor Arroyo-Rodríguez ◽  
Richard Field ◽  
Salomon Aguilar ◽  
...  

Knowledge about the biogeographic affinities of the world’s tropical forests helps to better understand regional differences in forest structure, diversity, composition, and dynamics. Such understanding will enable anticipation of region-specific responses to global environmental change. Modern phylogenies, in combination with broad coverage of species inventory data, now allow for global biogeographic analyses that take species evolutionary distance into account. Here we present a classification of the world’s tropical forests based on their phylogenetic similarity. We identify five principal floristic regions and their floristic relationships: (i) Indo-Pacific, (ii) Subtropical, (iii) African, (iv) American, and (v) Dry forests. Our results do not support the traditional neo- versus paleotropical forest division but instead separate the combined American and African forests from their Indo-Pacific counterparts. We also find indications for the existence of a global dry forest region, with representatives in America, Africa, Madagascar, and India. Additionally, a northern-hemisphere Subtropical forest region was identified with representatives in Asia and America, providing support for a link between Asian and American northern-hemisphere forests.


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