scholarly journals Habitat heterogeneity affects the thermal ecology of an endangered lizard

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Gaudenti ◽  
Emmeleia Nix ◽  
Paul Maier ◽  
Michael Westphal ◽  
Emily Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Surface Activity ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Thermal Ecology ◽  
Sensitive Species ◽  
Major Activity ◽  
Thermal Constraints ◽  
Desert Habitat ◽  
Activity Restrictions

Global climate change is already contributing to the extirpation of numerous species worldwide, and sensitive species will continue to face challenges associated with rising temperatures throughout this century and beyond. It is especially important to evaluate the thermal ecology of endangered ectotherm species now so that mitigation measures can be taken as early as possible. A recent study of the thermal ecology of the federally endangered Blunt-Nosed Leopard Lizard (Gambelia sila) suggested that they face major activity restrictions due to thermal constraints in their desert habitat, but that large shade-providing shrubs act as thermal buffers to allow them to maintain surface activity without overheating. We replicated this study and also included a population of G. sila with no access to large shrubs to facilitate comparison of the thermal ecology of G. sila in shrubless and shrubbed populations. We found that G. sila without access to shrubs spent more time sheltering inside rodent burrows than lizards with access to shrubs, especially during the hot summer months. Lizards from a shrubbed population had higher midday body temperatures and therefore poorer thermoregulatory accuracy than G. sila from a shrubless population, suggesting that greater surface activity may represent a thermoregulatory tradeoff for G. sila. Lizards at both sites are currently constrained from using open, sunny microhabitats for much of the day during their short active seasons, and our projections suggest that climate change will exacerbate these restrictions and force G. sila to use rodent burrows for shelter even more than they do now, especially at sites without access to shrubs. The continued management of shrubs and of burrowing rodents at G. sila sites is therefore essential to the survival of this endangered species.

Towards Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-158
Author(s):  
Umer Khayyam ◽  
Rida Bano ◽  
Shahzad Alvi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Level Of Motivation ◽  
The University

Abstract Global climate change is one of the main threats facing humanity and the impacts on natural systems as well as humans are expected to be severe. People can take action against these threats through two approaches: mitigation and adaptation. However, mitigations and adaptations are contingent on the level of motivation and awareness, as well as socio-economic and environmental conditions. This study examined personal perception and motivation to mitigate and adapt to climate change among the university students in the capital city of Pakistan. We divided the respondents into social sciences, applied sciences and natural sciences, using logistic regression analysis. The results indicated that students who perceive severity, benefits from preparation, and have more information about climate change were 1.57, 4.98 and 1.63 times more likely to take mitigation and 1.47, 1.14 and 1.17 times more likely to take adaptation measures, respectively. Students who perceived self-efficacy, obstacles to protect from the negative consequences of climate change and who belonged to affluent families were more likely to take mitigation measures and less likely to take adaptation strategies. However, mitigation and adaptation were unaffected by age, gender and study discipline.

scholarly journals Research progress and prospect of coastal flood disaster risk assessment against global climate change

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiayi Fang ◽  
Peijun Shi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
High Tide ◽  
Coastal Flooding ◽  
Coastal Areas ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Coastal Flood

The sea level rise under global climate change and coastal floods caused by extreme sea levels due to the high tide levels and storm surges have huge impacts on coastal society, economy, and natural environment. It has drawn great attention from global scientific researchers. This study examines the definitions and elements of coastal flooding in the general and narrow senses, and mainly focuses on the components of coastal flooding in the narrow sense. Based on the natural disaster system theory, the review systematically summarizes the progress of coastal flood research in China, and then discusses existing problems in present studies and provide future research directions with regard to this issue. It is proposed that future studies need to strengthen research on adapting to climate change in coastal areas, including studies on the risk of multi- hazards and uncertainties of hazard impacts under climate change, risk assessment of key exposure (critical infrastructure) in coastal hotspots, and cost-benefit analysis of adaptation and mitigation measures in coastal areas. Efforts to improve the resilience of coastal areas under climate change should be given more attention. The research community also should establish the mechanism of data sharing among disciplines to meet the needs of future risk assessments, so that coastal issues can be more comprehensively, systematically, and dynamically studied.

Causality in the diversity-abundance relationship across the main World’s forest biomes: insights for nature-based mitigation solutions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Madrigal-Gonzalez ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Storage ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Tree Diversity ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Causal Mechanism ◽  
Causal Pathways ◽  
Diversity Effects

<p>Increasing evidence now exists for a tight connection between tree diversity and carbon storage capacity. As part of the Paris Agreement (COP21), forests play a critical and prominent role to reach the ambitious goal of net-zero emissions in the second half of this century. Besides reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (also known as REDD), maintaining and enriching tree assemblages could thus help mitigating climate change via increased abundance and more efficient resource use.</p><p>However, recent evidence questions this widespread idea of positive diversity effects on forest carbon storage. Specifically, tree diversity may not always be a causal mechanism but rather a consequence of tree abundance and productivity (following the ‘more individuals hypothesis’). To test these contrasting hypotheses, this contribution analyses the most plausible causal pathways and their stability along global climatic gradients in the diversity-abundance relationship across the World’s main forest biomes, using a dataset comprising more than 2,500 forest plots and 83,800 trees sampled in pristine forest landscapes in all continents (except Antarctica).</p><p>We demonstrate that causal relations can be reconciled along global climate gradients, with diversity effects prevailing in the most productive environments, and abundance effects becoming dominant towards the most limiting conditions. These findings have major implications on climate change mitigation strategies aimed at carbon sequestration: we find that future nature-based mitigation solutions focused on fostering biodiversity will only be cost-effective in productive forest landscapes. In less productive environments, by contrast, mitigation measures should promote the abundance of locally adapted functional strategies. Conservation of species diversity in equatorial and tropical areas is thus a priority, not only to preserve the inherent value of biodiversity but also to achieve the global goals on atmospheric decarbonization. In less productive lands on Earth, the conservation of abundance through productivity should be posed, next to diversity, as a major element in environmental policies and land management.</p><p> </p>

scholarly journals Climate Literacy of Davao City Residents in Coastal Areas

10.17158/479 ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ma.Teresa M. Gravino ◽  
Princy A. Luga ◽  
Lucila T. Lupo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Demographic Profile ◽  
Climate Literacy ◽  
The Impact

<p>This study was conducted to determine the demographic profile and the level of awareness of climate literacy and mitigation measures of the residents of six selected coastal areas in Davao City, namely, Sasa 11, Brgy. 76A, Bucana, Matina Aplaya, Talomo, and Gulf View. Further, this study determined the mitigation measures of the respondents in terms of the respondents’ actions. Descriptivecorrelation research design was utilized and a total of four hundred twenty eight randomly selected residents to answer a three part Survey Questionnaire. Pearson product moment coefficient of correlation was used to establish the relationship between the respondents’ awareness on global warming and global climate change and their corresponding mitigation measures.Chi-square tests were used to ascertain the association between the respondents’ demographic profile and awareness on global warming and global climate change; and between the respondents’ demographic profile and their corresponding mitigation measures. Study showed that the respondents’ overall awareness on global warming and global climate is moderate but significantly correlated to their actions to mitigate the impact of these phenomena. Analysis of the results also revealed that among the demographic variables, sex and educational attainment are significantly associated while age, socio-economic status and length of stay in the area are not significantly associated. On the other hand, only age and educational attainment show significant association to the level of awareness on global climate change.Moreover, analysis revealed that, age and educational attainment show significant association while sex, socio-economic status and length of stay do not show significant association to the actions of the respondents to mitigate the impact of global warming and global climate change.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> Climate literacy, global warming, global climate change, awareness, descriptive research, Davao City, Philippines.</p>

scholarly journals Climate Change Research – What Do We Need Really?

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-121
Author(s):  
P. Rama Chandra Prasad
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Future Scenarios ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
Current Climate ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This research note focuses on the current climate change research scenario and discusses primarily what is required in the present global climate change conditions. Most of the climate change research and models predict adverse future conditions that have to be faced by humanity, with less emphasis on mitigation measures. Moreover, research ends as reports on the shelves of scientists and researchers and as publications in journals. At this juncture the major focus should be on research that helps in reducing the impact rather than on analysing future scenarios of climate change using different models. The article raises several questions and suggestions regards climate change research and lays emphasis on what we really need from climate change researchers.

scholarly journals Risk of flood to the light of global climate change in Northeastern Argentina

2000 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliseo Popolizio
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Drainage System ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Quaternary Period ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Northeastern Region

During the 20th century, several catastrophic pluvial and fluvial floods took place over the northeastern region of Argentina. These disastrous floods caused great damage worth hundreds of millions of US dollars. The rehabilitation programme was supported by regional economies. The idea of this paper is to point out the risks of greater floods as a consequence of the global climatic change. The experiences obtained from the palaeogeomorphological research, historical data over the regional rivers, and the climatic and environmental changes are taken into account in this research. The record of the geomorphological study of the region strongly suggests that in past epochs, different wet and dry periods occurred with the global climate change, especially in the Quaternary Period. It is possible to infer that the region is very sensitive to these changes and anthropogenic action. On the other hand, environmental and climatic conditions show a tendency of tropicalising the area. In this case, consequences are unpredictable if the processes are evolving rapidly. It is possible to observe that after the 1960's, the characteristics of the fluvial courses are changing. The changes are in the direction of the maximum and minimum amplitudes with the same mean values. Besides, the frequency of large floods has increased from the 1960’s. The Parana River, the largest fluvial course of the region, serves as a model for the propositions mentioned above. This is because we have historical records from 1748 on high flood levels and hydrometrical measurements from 1900. The northeastern region is a very vast and flat plain with an inefficient drainage system. This physical framework induces pluvial flooding, which covers millions of hectares. True catastrophes develop when pluvial and fluvial floods coincide. The record of overflows has a recurrence period of less than 50 years. This strongly suggests a very high risk. In the 21st century, it is very probable that flooding phenomena greater than known will occur. But no mitigation measures are planned to face them.

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