scholarly journals On species concepts, phylogenetics and the science of natural history—three current issues facing taxonomy

Megataxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-72
Author(s):  
MAARTEN J.M. CHRISTENHUSZ
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Natural History ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Species Concepts ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Changing World

Taxonomy faces some major challenges in the 21st Century (Godfray 2002). The threat to biodiversity comes largely from human overpopulation, but the impact of climate change is unprecedented (Pievani 2014) and increasingly a risk factor for many species. This makes it even more critical to rapidly catalogue our biodiversity to better protect it (Mace 2004). If you do not know what is there, it is impossible to know what we are losing, let alone protect something for which we have no name and cannot identify. Understanding diversity and the dynamics of evolution and speciation is important to discover the adaptability of species in a changing world dominated by humans (e.g. Harvey et al. 2014), but at the same time education about the natural world seems to have failed our children.Below I address three major questions or issues that are current in taxonomy, and natural history in the broader sense, related to species concepts, classification, communication and education. 

scholarly journals Impact of Climate Change in West Africa on Cereal Production Per Capita in 2050

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7585
Author(s):  
Dimitri Defrance ◽  
Benjamin Sultan ◽  
Mathieu Castets ◽  
Adjoua Moise Famien ◽  
Christian Baron
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
West Africa ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Population Pressure ◽  
Climate Modelling ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Cereal Production ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Impact

Food security is a crucial issue in the Sahel and could be endangered by climate change and demographic pressure during the 21st century. Higher temperatures and changes in rainfall induced by global warming are threatening rainfed agriculture in this region while the population is expected to increase approximately three-fold until 2050. Our study quantifies the impact of climate change on food security by combining climate modelling (16 models from CMIP5), crop yield (simulated by agronomic model, SARRA-O) and demographic evolution (provided by UN projection) under two future climatic scenarios. We simulate yield for the main crops in five countries in West Africa and estimate the population pressure on crop production to assess the number of available cereal production per capita. We found that, although uncertain, the African monsoon evolution leads to an increase of rainfall in Eastern Sahel and a decrease in Western Sahel under the RCP8.5 (Representative Concentration Pathway) scenario from IPCC, leading to the higher temperature increase by the end of the 21st century. With regard to the abundance of food for the inhabitants, all the scenarios in each country show that in 2050, local agricultural production will be below 50 kg per capita. This situation can have impact on crop import and regional migration.

scholarly journals Impact of climate change on landslides in Slovenia in the mid-21st century

Geologija ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-171
Author(s):  
Mateja JEMEC AUFLIČ ◽  
Gašper BOKAL ◽  
Špela KUMELJ ◽  
Anže MEDVED ◽  
Mojca DOLINAR ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Climate Scenario ◽  
Baseline Period ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Events ◽  
Landslide Occurrence ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
The Impact

Slovenia is affected by extreme and intense rainfall that triggers numerous landslides every year, resulting in significant human impact and damage to infrastructure. Previous studies on landslides have shown how rainfall patterns can influence landslide occurrence, while in this paper, we present one of the first study in Slovenia to examine the impact of climate change on landslides in the mid-21st century. To do this, we used the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 climate scenario and future climatology simulated by six climate models that differed from each other as much as possible while representing measured values of past climate variables as closely as possible. Based on baseline period (1981-2010) we showed the number of days with exceedance of rainfall thresholds and the area where landslides may occur more frequently in the projection period (2041-2070). We found that extreme rainfall events are likely to occur more frequent in the future, which may lead to a higher frequency of landslides in some areas.

HOW CLIMATE CHANGE CAN INFLUENCE THE AGRICULTURE IN UKRAINE: A REVIEW

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Maidanovych ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Winter Period ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Resource Saving ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Average Annual Temperature ◽  
The Impact

The purpose of this work is to review and analyze the main results of modern research on the impact of climate change on the agro-sphere of Ukraine. Results. Analysis of research has shown that the effects of climate change on the agro-sphere are already being felt today and will continue in the future. The observed climate changes in recent decades have already significantly affected the shift in the northern direction of all agro-climatic zones of Europe, including Ukraine. From the point of view of productivity of the agro-sphere of Ukraine, climate change will have both positive and negative consequences. The positives include: improving the conditions of formation and reducing the harvesting time of crop yields; the possibility of effective introduction of late varieties (hybrids), which require more thermal resources; improving the conditions for overwintering crops; increase the efficiency of fertilizer application. Model estimates of the impact of climate change on wheat yields in Ukraine mainly indicate the positive effects of global warming on yields in the medium term, but with an increase in the average annual temperature by 2 ° C above normal, grain yields are expected to decrease. The negative consequences of the impact of climate change on the agrosphere include: increased drought during the growing season; acceleration of humus decomposition in soils; deterioration of soil moisture in the southern regions; deterioration of grain quality and failure to ensure full vernalization of grain; increase in the number of pests, the spread of pathogens of plants and weeds due to favorable conditions for their overwintering; increase in wind and water erosion of the soil caused by an increase in droughts and extreme rainfall; increasing risks of freezing of winter crops due to lack of stable snow cover. Conclusions. Resource-saving agricultural technologies are of particular importance in the context of climate change. They include technologies such as no-till, strip-till, ridge-till, which make it possible to partially store and accumulate mulch on the soil surface, reduce the speed of the surface layer of air and contribute to better preservation of moisture accumulated during the autumn-winter period. And in determining the most effective ways and mechanisms to reduce weather risks for Ukrainian farmers, it is necessary to take into account the world practice of climate-smart technologies.

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