scholarly journals Suitability of lichens to monitor climate change

Author(s):  
Rajesh Bajpai ◽  
Manoj Semwal ◽  
C. P. Singh

The lichens are one of the most sensitive organism in nature among the different elements of biodiversity and can be affected more due to climate change. Lichens fulfil their water need from rain, fog and dew present in the atmosphere. The change in atmospheric temperature influence, to a greater extent, the thallus temperature and physiology of lichens which leads to emergence of new ecotype and finally the shift in a species. The impact of climatic factors on lichens ecophysiology, is different from higher plantsis due to the poikilohydric nature. The lichen bioindicator communities have been shown to exhibit correlation with climatic factors of an area. The changes in lichen biomass, frequency, diversity and indicatorcommunity indices, indicate changes in environmental gradients (temperature, humidity and UV radiation). A number of techniques regarding study the environmental and climatic change are available. However, the present correspondence hypothesized about some easy and low cost techniques to monitor climate change utilizing lichens. The overview will also leads to assess patterns of lichens responses with species representation and towards its understanding the current and future changes in climate of an area.

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 172
Author(s):  
Yuan Xu ◽  
Jieming Chou ◽  
Fan Yang ◽  
Mingyang Sun ◽  
Weixing Zhao ◽  
...  

Quantitatively assessing the spatial divergence of the sensitivity of crop yield to climate change is of great significance for reducing the climate change risk to food production. We use socio-economic and climatic data from 1981 to 2015 to examine how climate variability led to variation in yield, as simulated by an economy–climate model (C-D-C). The sensitivity of crop yield to the impact of climate change refers to the change in yield caused by changing climatic factors under the condition of constant non-climatic factors. An ‘output elasticity of comprehensive climate factor (CCF)’ approach determines the sensitivity, using the yields per hectare for grain, rice, wheat and maize in China’s main grain-producing areas as a case study. The results show that the CCF has a negative trend at a rate of −0.84/(10a) in the North region, while a positive trend of 0.79/(10a) is observed for the South region. Climate change promotes the ensemble increase in yields, and the contribution of agricultural labor force and total mechanical power to yields are greater, indicating that the yield in major grain-producing areas mainly depends on labor resources and the level of mechanization. However, the sensitivities to climate change of different crop yields to climate change present obvious regional differences: the sensitivity to climate change of the yield per hectare for maize in the North region was stronger than that in the South region. Therefore, the increase in the yield per hectare for maize in the North region due to the positive impacts of climate change was greater than that in the South region. In contrast, the sensitivity to climate change of the yield per hectare for rice in the South region was stronger than that in the North region. Furthermore, the sensitivity to climate change of maize per hectare yield was stronger than that of rice and wheat in the North region, and that of rice was the highest of the three crop yields in the South region. Finally, the economy–climate sensitivity zones of different crops were determined by the output elasticity of the CCF to help adapt to climate change and prevent food production risks.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 1853-1860
Author(s):  
MO Ifeanacho ◽  
HO Okudu

Climate change is a global reality and a major concern of many countries of the world. Its average impacts are the same globally but with some regional peculiarities. This paper reviewed the global events of climate change and its reality in Nigeria. It observed that the world’s climatic elements have been undergoing changing pattern for a long period. Its reality in Nigeria was seen in changing rain pattern, relative humidity, atmospheric temperature, rising sea level, coastal flooding, erosion, desertification and drought among other indicators of climate change. These events were viewed vis-à-vis their impacts on nutrition security. The paper related these events to such drivers of food insecurity as food shortages; increase in crop and animal diseases; shortage of portable water; poor sanitation; loss of rural livelihood and different forms of pollution-related diseases. Measures were suggested for integration into government programmes and policy that will help in mitigating and adapting to the impact of climate change on nutrition security Keywords: Climate change, nutrition security, mitigating, adapting, Nigeria


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanna Battipaglia ◽  
Francesco Niccoli ◽  
Arturo Pacheco-Solana

<p>Climate-induced forest mortality is a critical issue in the Mediterranean basin, with major consequences for the functioning of these key ecosystems. Indeed, in Mediterranean ecosystems, where water stress is already the most limiting factor for tree performance, climatic changes are expected to entail an increase in water deficit. In this context, annual growth rings can provide short- (e.g., years) and long-term (e.g., decades) information on how trees respond to drought events. With climate change, <em>Pinus pinaster</em> and <em>Pinus pinea</em> L. are expected to reduce their distribution range in the region, being displaced at low altitudes by more drought tolerant taxa such as sub Mediterranean <em>Quercus</em> spp.</p><p>This study aims was to assess the physiological response of <em>Pinus</em> and <em>Quercus</em> species growing in the Vesuvio National park, located in Southern Italy and where an increase of temperature and drought events has been recorded in the recent years. Our preliminary results underlined the importance of temperature on the tree ring width of all the analyses species. The high temperatures can cause a change in the constant kinetics of the RuBisCo, leading to a consequent decrease in carboxylation rate and thus to a reduction in tree growth. On the other hand, also precipitation seemed to affect the growth of the sampled trees: indeed, in all the chronologies a reduction in growth was found after particular dry years: for example, the low rainfall in 1999 (455 mm/year) determined a drastic decline in growth in 2000 in all the species. In addition to the climatic factors, competition can also play an important role in the growth rate: dendrochronological analyzes have highlighted how stand specific properties (i.e. density, structure and composition) can influence individual tree responses to drought events. The knowledge of those researches should be integrated into sustainable forest management strategies to minimize the potential impacts of climate change on forest ecosystems.</p>


2022 ◽  
pp. 748-763
Author(s):  
Ashok K. Rathoure ◽  
Unnati Rajendrakumar Patel

Many studies in recent years have investigated the effects of climate change on the future of biodiversity. In this chapter, the authors first examined the different possible effects of climate change that can operate at individual, population, species, community, ecosystem, notably showing that species can respond to climate challenges by shifting their climatic change. Climate change is one of the most important global environmental challenges that affect all the natural ecosystems of the world. Due to the fragile environment, mountain ecosystems are the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Climatic change will affect vegetation, humans, animals, and ecosystem that will impact on biodiversity. Mountains have been recognized as important ecosystems by the Convention on Biological Diversity. Climate change will not only threaten the biodiversity, but also affect the socio-economic condition of the indigenous people of the state. Various activities like habitat loss, deforestation, and exploitation amplify the impact of climate change on biodiversity.


Author(s):  
Kenneth Ofori-Boateng ◽  
Baba Insah

Purpose – The study aimed at examining the current and future impact of climate change on cocoa production in West Africa. Design/methodology/approach – A translog production function based on crop yield response framework was used. A panel model was estimated using data drawn from cocoa-producing countries in West Africa. An in-sample simulation was used to determine the predictive power of the model. In addition, an out-sample simulation revealed the effect of future trends of temperature and precipitation on cocoa output. Findings – Temperature and precipitation play a considerable role in cocoa production in West Africa. It was established that extreme temperature adversely affected cocoa output in the sub-region. Furthermore, increasing temperature and declining precipitation trends will reduce cocoa output in the future. Practical implications – An important implication of this study is the recognition that lagging effects are the determinants of cocoa output and not coincident effects. This finds support from the agronomic point of view considering the gestation period of the cocoa crop. Originality/value – Although several studies have been carried out in this area, this study modeled and estimated the interacting effects of factors that influence cocoa production. This is closer to reality, as climatic factors and agricultural inputs combine to yield output.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Kuriachen ◽  
Asha Devi ◽  
Anu Susan Sam ◽  
Suresh Kumar ◽  
Jyoti Kumari ◽  
...  

Abstract Climate change and consequent variations in temperature pose a significant challenge for sustaining wheat production systems globally. In this study, the potential impact of rising temperature on wheat yield in the north Indian plains, India's major wheat growing region, was analyzed using panel data from the year 1981 to 2009. This study deviates from the majority of the previous studies by including non-climatic factors in estimating the impact of climate change. Two temperature measures were used for fitting the function, viz., Growing Season Temperature (GST) and Terminal Stage Temperature (TST), to find out the differential impact of increased temperature at various growth stages. Analysis revealed that there was a significant rise in both GST as well as TST during the study period. The magnitude of the annual increment in TST was twice that of GST. Wheat yield growth in the region was driven primarily by increased input resources such as fertilizer application and technological development like improved varieties and management practices. Most importantly, the study found that the extent of yield reduction was more significant for an increase in temperature at terminal crop growth stages. The yield reduction due to unit increase in TST was estimated to be 2.26 % while rise in GST by 1◦C resulted in yield reduction of 2.03%.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 9705-9742
Author(s):  
A. M. Aghedo ◽  
K. W. Bowman ◽  
D. T. Shindell ◽  
G. Faluvegi

Abstract. Ensemble climate model simulations used for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments have become important tools for exploring the response of the Earth System to changes in anthropogenic and natural forcings. The systematic evaluation of these models through global satellite observations is a critical step in assessing the uncertainty of climate change projections. This paper presents the technical steps required for using nadir sun-synchronous infrared satellite observations for multi-model evaluation and the uncertainties associated with each step. This is motivated by need to use satellite observations to evaluate climate models. We quantified the implications of the effect of satellite orbit and spatial coverage, the effect of variations in vertical sensitivity as quantified by the observation operator and the impact of averaging the operators for use with monthly-mean model output. We calculated these biases in ozone, carbon monoxide, atmospheric temperature and water vapour by using the output from two global chemistry climate models (ECHAM5-MOZ and GISS-PUCCINI) and the observations from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) satellite from January 2005 to December 2008. The results show that sampling and monthly averaging of the observation operators produce biases of less than ±3% for ozone and carbon monoxide throughout the entire troposphere in both models. Water vapour sampling biases were also within the insignificant range of ±3% (that is ±0.14 g kg−1) in both models. Sampling led to a temperature bias of ±0.3 K over the tropical and mid-latitudes in both models, and up to −1.4 K over the boundary layer in the higher latitudes. Using the monthly average of temperature and water vapour operators lead to large biases over the boundary layer in the southern-hemispheric higher latitudes and in the upper troposphere, respectively. Up to 8% bias was calculated in the upper troposphere water vapour due to monthly-mean operators, which may impact the detection of water vapour feedback in response to global warming. Our results reveal the importance of using the averaging kernel and the a priori profiles to account for the limited vertical resolution of a nadir observation during model application. Neglecting the observation operators resulted in large biases, which are more than 60% for ozone, ±30% for carbon monoxide, and range between −1.5 K and 5 K for atmospheric temperature, and between −60% and 100% for water vapour.


Author(s):  
Opeyemi Gbenga ◽  
H. I. Opaluwa ◽  
Awarun Olabode ◽  
Olowogbayi Jonathan Ayodele

Aim: Agriculture entails majorly crop and animal production. Crop and Livestock production provide the major human caloric and nutrition intake. Assessing the impact of climate change on crop and livestock productivity, is therefore critical to maintaining food supply in the world and particularly in Nigeria. Different studies have yielded different results in other parts of the world, it is therefore, very important to examine the linkage between climate change and agricultural productivity in Nigeria. Study Design: The study utilized secondary data. The study utilize climate data from Nigerian Meteorology Station and Carbon emission, Crop and Livestock production data from FOASTAT. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried in Nigeria and it covers the period between 1970-2016. Methodology: The data were used to estimate the empirical models. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, trend analysis, stationarity, Co-integration and Fully-Modified Least Squares regression. Results: The result of the research reveals that there is variation in the trend of the climatic factors examined and also variation in crop and livestock production over the period covered by the study in Nigeria. The finding also shows that rainfall, temperature and Carbon emission are the climatic factors that significantly affect crop and livestock production in Nigeria. Long term adverse impact of climate change on crop and livestock production index indicates threat to food availability to the country. Conclusion: The study concluded that climatic variables have significant effect on agricultural productivity in Nigeria. The study recommended the need to put in place measures that will reduce the negative effects of climate on agricultural production.


2019 ◽  
Vol 86 ◽  
pp. 00013
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Jasińska

The subject of this publication is to determine what environmental and climatic factors can significantly affect the value of real estate. As a research object, there was chosen area surrounding the Gulf of Gdansk, which, like the entire coast, is attractive for investment and constitutes an interesting object as a space with a special focus on tourism, including short-term rental. Progressing climate change is particularly affecting this sector. It is safe to assume that unfavorable environmental conditions can significantly change the attractiveness of this area. Therefore, the research hypothesis about the correlation between climate aspects distinguishing the coastal belt and the distribution of real estate prices in the selected area has been verified. The area of the Gulf of Gdansk Coast and the technical and protective belt were analyzed. The weather situation on the coast is different from that prevailing in the rest of the country. There are strong and gusty winds, local floods, but at the same time a natural landscape, proximity to the sea and clean, iodized air. Other possible climatic factors have also been tracked, i.e. temperature, sea level and possible changes that may occur over the next years. The analyzes were based on the data of the KLIMAT project entitled "The impact of climate change on the environment, economy and society", and the Government Project KLIMADA and SPA analyzes. An in-depth analysis of the problem of combining planning documents for the maritime sector influencing the Study of Spatial Development of Polish Marine Areas with Local Spatial Management Plans, introduced Flood Risk Maps and Flood Risk Maps was also conducted.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 6493-6514 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Aghedo ◽  
K. W. Bowman ◽  
D. T. Shindell ◽  
G. Faluvegi

Abstract. Ensemble climate model simulations used for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments have become important tools for exploring the response of the Earth System to changes in anthropogenic and natural forcings. The systematic evaluation of these models through global satellite observations is a critical step in assessing the uncertainty of climate change projections. This paper presents the technical steps required for using nadir sun-synchronous infrared satellite observations for multi-model evaluation and the uncertainties associated with each step. This is motivated by need to use satellite observations to evaluate climate models. We quantified the implications of the effect of satellite orbit and spatial coverage, the effect of variations in vertical sensitivity as quantified by the observation operator and the impact of averaging the operators for use with monthly-mean model output. We calculated these biases in ozone, carbon monoxide, atmospheric temperature and water vapour by using the output from two global chemistry climate models (ECHAM5-MOZ and GISS-PUCCINI) and the observations from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument on board the NASA-Aura satellite from January 2005 to December 2008. The results show that sampling and monthly averaging of the observation operators produce zonal-mean biases of less than ±3 % for ozone and carbon monoxide throughout the entire troposphere in both models. Water vapour sampling zonal-mean biases were also within the insignificant range of ±3 % (that is ±0.14 g kg−1) in both models. Sampling led to a temperature zonal-mean bias of ±0.3 K over the tropical and mid-latitudes in both models, and up to −1.4 K over the boundary layer in the higher latitudes. Using the monthly average of temperature and water vapour operators lead to large biases over the boundary layer in the southern-hemispheric higher latitudes and in the upper troposphere, respectively. Up to 8 % bias was calculated in the upper troposphere water vapour due to monthly-mean operators, which may impact the detection of water vapour feedback in response to global warming. Our results reveal the importance of using the averaging kernel and the a priori profiles to account for the limited vertical resolution and clouds of a nadir observation during model application. Neglecting the observation operators resulted in large biases, which are more than 60 % for ozone, ±30 % for carbon monoxide, and range between −1.5 K and 5 K for atmospheric temperature, and between −60 % and 100 % for water vapour.


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