scholarly journals Large mammal exploitation during the c. 14–11 ka Oakhurst techno-complex at Klipdrift Cave, South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 116 (5/6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Discamps ◽  
Christopher S. Henshilwood ◽  
Karen L. van Niekerk
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Subsistence Strategies ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Large Mammal ◽  
Isotopic Analyses ◽  
Subsistence Patterns ◽  
The Impact

Understanding how hunter-gatherers adapted to the marked environmental changes of the last glacialinterglacial transition (~18 to 11.7 ka cal. BP) remains a key question for archaeologists. South Africa, with its rich and well-preserved archaeological sequences, has a major role to play in this study. Reconstructing the subsistence strategies of people during the Later Stone Age (LSA) is crucial for investigating human– environment interactions at this period in South Africa, yet data are scarce. Recent excavations at a new LSA site, Klipdrift Cave, in the southern Cape, revealed c. 14–11 ka levels with excellent faunal preservation associated with an Oakhurst lithic industry. Taphonomic and zooarchaeological analyses of these levels show an almost exclusive accumulation of large mammal remains by LSA groups, with evidence of meat removal, marrow extraction, fire use and the preferential import of nutritious elements back to the site. Large mammals from the site indicate a relatively stable environment dominated by open grasslands that is in accordance with isotopic analyses, with only subtle diachronic variability. Comparison of faunal dynamics with changes in lithic industries, shellfish density and composition reflects complex, asynchronous changes in the macromammal, micromammal, shellfish and lithic records throughout the Oakhurst levels. Rather than evidence of a strong impact of global climate change, Klipdrift Cave shows subtle shifts in subsistence patterns and technology that are better explained by internal societal dynamics and the history of the Oakhurst techno-complex, or local changes in site occupation and direct environment. Significance • LSA archaeological sequences can document the impact of the marked environmental changes of the Pleistocene–Holocene transition on hunter-gatherer societies. Studies of past subsistence strategies are central to our understanding of human–environment interactions in these contexts. • Zooarchaeological, taphonomical and palaeoecological analyses of the large mammal remains from the excavated LSA sequence at Klipdrift Cave provide new data on these interactions. The data highlight asynchronous changes in subsistence patterns, lithic technology and local environment, supporting a complex interplay between climate change, local environment, societal changes and human prehistory. • Klipdrift Cave data set also shows that excavation and analytical choices can strongly bias faunal analysis and environmental reconstructions based thereon.

scholarly journals The Impact of Climate Change on the Resistance of Rice Near-Isogenic Lines with Resistance Genes Against Brown Planthopper

Rice ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun-Hung Kuang ◽  
Yu-Fu Fang ◽  
Shau-Ching Lin ◽  
Shin-Fu Tsai ◽  
Zhi-Wei Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Resistance Genes ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Gene Pyramiding ◽  
Brown Planthopper ◽  
Inhibitory Effect ◽  
Near Isogenic Lines ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Isogenic Lines ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background The impact of climate change on insect resistance genes is elusive. Hence, we investigated the responses of rice near-isogenic lines (NILs) that carry resistance genes against brown planthopper (BPH) under different environmental conditions. Results We tested these NILs under three environmental settings (the atmospheric temperature with corresponding carbon dioxide at the ambient, year 2050 and year 2100) based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change prediction. Comparing between different environments, two of nine NILs that carried a single BPH-resistant gene maintained their resistance under the environmental changes, whereas two of three NILs showed gene pyramiding with two maintained BPH resistance genes despite the environmental changes. In addition, two NILs (NIL-BPH17 and NIL-BPH20) were examined in their antibiosis and antixenosis effects under these environmental changes. BPH showed different responses to these two NILs, where the inhibitory effect of NIL-BPH17 on the BPH growth and development was unaffected, while NIL-BPH20 may have lost its resistance during the environmental changes. Conclusion Our results indicate that BPH resistance genes could be affected by climate change. NIL-BPH17 has a strong inhibitory effect on BPH feeding on phloem and would be unaffected by environmental changes, while NIL-BPH20 would lose its ability during the environmental changes.

The GREASE project: Sustainable cultivation of Greco grapevine - Resource use efficiency and application of the footprint family indicators

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Cirillo ◽  
Antonello Bonfante ◽  
Giovanna Battipaglia ◽  
Angelita Gambuti ◽  
Sheridan Lois Woo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Resource Use ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Selling Price ◽  
Campania Region ◽  
Rural Development Programme ◽  
Isotopic Analyses ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
The Impact

<p>Climate change is one of the main challenges for future agriculture since it can severely affect plant growth and development. The Mediterranean area is one of the most vulnerable regions where climatic models have forecasted a significant increase in frequency and severity of drought events. Ongoing climate change is aggravating some critical issues in the production of the autochthonous grape variety Greco, widely cultivated in the Campania Region (southern Italy) and used alone or blend in many quality label wines.</p><p>Nowadays, there is a high risk for the economic sustainability of Greco cultivation due to the following main issues: reduced vine productivity, low selling price of grapes, and territory fragmentation. Such criticisms induce the abandonment of small/medium-sized farms due to either crop conversion or consolidation into larger farms.</p><p>The Greco variety may represent a study model to introduce innovative and integrated management of cultivation techniques, such as pruning and soil management, with the aim to resolve similar problems affecting other autochthonous regional cultivars. They include issues, such as low fertility, that cause an unbalanced ratio among sugars, acids, and affect grape metabolites important for the oxidative stability and sensory quality of wine.</p><p>The GREASE project, funded by Campania Region within the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, falls within the framework of sustainable management of vineyards (from economic, environmental and social viewpoints) with an insight to climate change. The general objective to improve the potential production of Greco concerns the management of major cultivation practices in viticulture by the realization of a cultivar-specific model for vine canopy and soil management. Optimization of parameters is important in order to achieve a good vegetative and reproductive balance that enhances grape and wine quality, improves farm profitability and environmental sustainability. This project is conducted in a vineyard of Vitis vinifera L. subsp. vinifera ‘Greco’ located in southern Italy (Feudi di San Gregorio farm).</p><p>The projects has 3 main inter-disciplinary actions: A1) to determine the effect of diverse vine pruning systems on plant resource use, through the reconstruction of vine eco-physiological history (dendro-anatomical and -isotopic analyses); A2-A3) to analyse the effect of soil management and of vine training systems on the continuum soil-plant-atmosphere system. Specific activities include: pedoclimatic, vegetative and reproductive, physiological and hydraulic characterization; microvinification and characterization of grapes and wine produced in the different trials; evaluation of resources use efficiency, pests, footprint family markers; model development.</p><p>The impact of the project on other wineries of the Campania Region will be significant due to an increased understanding of how cultivation systems influence the efficient use of available resources in the Greco vineyard. Such knowledge would be useful to design simple modifications to the presently used agronomical practices, to achieve production and economic gains without long-term structural investments. This know-how will also favour other downstream technologies and biotechnologies of viticulture and enology production, as well as the associated companies (e.g., producers of fertilizers, seeds for green manure) to realize products and services better adapted to the development of cultivar-specific viticultural and enological production systems.</p>

Past and Present Farming: Changes in Terms of Engagement

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Armstrong Oma
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Husbandry Practices ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Impact

In archaeology, changes in human–animal relationships are rarely considered beyond the moment of domestication. This is influenced by Ingold’s idea that domestication led to a shift in the human engagement with animals (Ingold 2000: 61–76; see Armstrong Oma 2007: 62–4, 2010 for critique). I do not question the validity of such a claim; however, I argue that changes in terms of engagement also happened beyond domestication, and that various configurations of human–animal relationships have existed throughout history. Further, I argue that such changes also have consequences for the environment, by choice of land use strategies and husbandry regimes. A twofold purpose is pursued: first, to investigate how changes in social systems, in my case changes in terms of engagement between humans and animals, affect land use in such a way as to impinge upon natural systems and ecosystems. Second, I wish to grasp the political underpinnings of the models that are employed by archaeologists and, by doing so, to deconstruct the political use of the past (see also Stump, Chapter 10 this volume). Alternative models regarding economic strategies are sought, and the implications of these are discussed. Human–environment studies frequently deal with the impact of human intrusive land use strategies on ecosystems. Awareness has been created around these processes regarding land use techniques and practices (for example Denham and White 2007; Mazoyer and Roudart 2006). However, in European archaeology the impact of husbandry practices upon ecosystems has received considerably less, if any, attention. People in past societies from the Neolithic onwards made the conscious decision to live with animals as herders or as farmers, blending together social and economic choices that had repercussions for landscape developments and ecosystems. Investigations into the relationship between environmental changes caused by husbandry practices and the social systems that instigated those changes are an important contribution to research on past environmental development. These changes are identifiable in the archaeological record.

Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on the Staple Baskets of Botswana and South Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 115-215
Author(s):  
Wiltrud Durand ◽  
Davide Cammarano ◽  
Olivier Crespo ◽  
Thembeka Mpusaing ◽  
Hlamalani Ngwenya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
The Impact

The impact of early trans-Eurasian exchange on animal utilization in northern China during 5000–2500 BP

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 095968362094116
Author(s):  
Guanghui Dong ◽  
Linyao Du ◽  
Wenyu Wei
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Wild Mammals ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Animal Utilization ◽  
Human Subsistence ◽  
The Bronze Age

Transcontinental exchange emerged and intensified in northern China since the late fifth millennium BP (Before present), especially in the arc, which was the core area of the eastern part of the trans-Eurasian exchange during the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age. In the arc, the exchange profoundly affected the human subsistence strategy and human-environment relationship. Relative to the crop patterns and human diets during the Bronze Age in northern China, systematic investigations of zooarcheological data based on broad spatial and temporal framework to understand the influence of introduced livestock and indigenous livestock on human subsistence are lacking. To show the spatial-temporal variation in animal utilization patterns and its relation to prehistoric trans-Eurasian exchange, the zooarcheological data from 40 sites in northern China dated between 5000 and 2500 BP were analyzed. The strategy of animal utilization in northern China changed substantially from 5000 to 2500 BP, with notable spatial features in different chronological phases. From 5000 to 4300 BP, wild mammals and indigenous livestock (pig, dog) use dominated in the arc and the North China Plain (NCP). During 4300–3500 BP, the importance of introduced livestock (cattle, sheep/goat, horse) exceeded that of indigenous livestock in the arc, whereas indigenous livestock continued to dominate in the NCP. Indigenous livestock acted as the most important animal subsistence in northern China, although the exploitation of introduced livestock increased during 3500–2000 BP. These spatio-temporal differences in animal utilization appear to be closely associated with the prehistoric trans-Eurasian exchange, but were also affected by local environment, agriculture development, and climate change.

scholarly journals The Impact of Climate Change on Cholera: A Review on the Global Status and Future Challenges

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 449
Author(s):  
Eirini Christaki ◽  
Panagiotis Dimitriou ◽  
Katerina Pantavou ◽  
Georgios K. Nikolopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Educational Strategies ◽  
Global Status ◽  
Water Ecosystems ◽  
Sanitation Systems ◽  
The Impact

Water ecosystems can be rather sensitive to evolving or sudden changes in weather parameters. These changes can result in alterations in the natural habitat of pathogens, vectors, and human hosts, as well as in the transmission dynamics and geographic distribution of infectious agents. However, the interaction between climate change and infectious disease is rather complicated and not deeply understood. In this narrative review, we discuss climate-driven changes in the epidemiology of Vibrio species-associated diseases with an emphasis on cholera. Changes in environmental parameters do shape the epidemiology of Vibrio cholerae. Outbreaks of cholera cause significant disease burden, especially in developing countries. Improved sanitation systems, access to clean water, educational strategies, and vaccination campaigns can help control vibriosis. In addition, real-time assessment of climatic parameters with remote-sensing technologies in combination with robust surveillance systems could help detect environmental changes in high-risk areas and result in early public health interventions that can mitigate potential outbreaks.

scholarly journals Climate change, household vulnerability and smart agriculture: The case of two South African provinces

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mkhululi Ncube ◽  
Nomonde Madubula ◽  
Hlami Ngwenya ◽  
Nkulumo Zinyengere ◽  
Leocadia Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Household Vulnerability ◽  
Smart Agriculture ◽  
The Impact

The impact of climate-change disasters poses significant challenges for South Africa, especially for vulnerable rural households. In South Africa, the impact of climate change at the local level, especially in rural areas, is not well known. Rural households are generally poor and lack resources to adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change, but the extent of their vulnerability is largely not understood. This study looked at the micro-level impact of climate change, evaluated household vulnerability and assessed alternative adaptation strategies in rural areas. The results indicate that climate change will hit crop yields hard and that households with less capital are most vulnerable. These households consist of the elderly and households headed by females. Households that receive remittances or extension services or participate in formal savings schemes in villages are less vulnerable. The results suggest that households need to move towards climate-smart agriculture, which combines adaptation, mitigation and productivity growth.

scholarly journals Global warming and climate change with reference to South Africa. Some perspectives

2008 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 294-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gawie De Villiers ◽  
Giel Viljoen ◽  
Herman Booysen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Storm Surges ◽  
Flood Damage ◽  
Coastal Areas ◽  
Sufficient Evidence

According to the geological history of the earth, climate change is an integral part of environmental changes that occurred over time. Sufficient evidence is provided of recurrent wet and dry and cold and hot periods due to natural circumstances. Since the industrial revolution human activities increasingly contribute to air pollution by releasing huge volumes of carbon dioxide and other gasses into the atmosphere, so much so that it is generally accepted that increase in global warming the past decades is directly linked to human activities. Observable signs of human induced climate change include increasing average temperatures at many places, melting ice caps in polar areas, rising sea levels on a global scale and coastal disturbances and damages due to storm surges on coastal areas in various countries, also in South Africa. Consensus from a number of hydrological-meteorological circulation models show, for South Africa, a rise in average annual winter and summer temperatures of between 1.5 and 3.0 degrees Centigrade the following number of decades with a strong possibility of an increase in rainfall in the eastern parts and a decrease in rainfall in the western parts. Bigger floods and longer droughts should occur more frequently as well as severe sea onslaught activities along the eastern and south-eastern coastal areas. The net impact of the predictions on the community is negative. There is though other scientists who indicate that no concrete proof of climate change in South Africa exists; including changes with regard to river floods and droughts. According to more beneficial than detrimental. Despite the differences in opinion about the relative contribution of natural and human activities to the present global warming, changes in hydrological and characteristics of floods in several parts of South Africa in the immediate past, necessitate modifications to available models and approaches to flood damage management and control. Flood conditions need to be managed with applicable models. Modifications are furthermore essential as a result of meaningful demographic, social, physical and economic changes in the working and living environments of people and communities.

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