scholarly journals Effects of Waves and Sediment Disturbance on Seed Bank Persistence at Tidal Flats

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenchang Zhu ◽  
Tjeerd J. Bouma ◽  
Qin Zhu ◽  
Yanpeng Cai ◽  
Zhifeng Yang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Seed Bank ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Tidal Flats ◽  
Coastal Vegetation ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Sediment Disturbance ◽  
Seed Bank Dynamics

Coastal wetlands such as salt marshes have been increasingly valued for their capacity to buffer global climate change effects, yet their long-term persistence is threatened by environmental changes. Whereas, previous studies largely focused on lateral erosion risk induced by stressors like sea level rise, it remains poorly understood of the response of lateral expansion to changing environments. Seedling establishment is a key process governing lateral marsh expansion as seen in many coastal regions such as Europe and East Asia. Here, we evaluate mechanistically the response of seed bank dynamics to changing physical disturbance at tidal flats, using the globally common coastal foundation plant, cordgrass as a model. We conducted a large-scale field study in an estuary in Northwest Europe, where seed bank dynamics of cordgrass in the tidal flats was determined and linked to in situ hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics. The results revealed that wave disturbance reduced the persistence of seeds on the surface, whereas amplified sediment disturbance lowered the persistence of both surface and buried seeds. Overall, this indicates that increasing storminess and associated sediment variability under climate change threatens seed bank persistence in tidal flats, and hence need urgently be incorporated into models for long-term bio-geomorphological development of vegetated coastal ecosystems. The knowledge gained here provides a basis for more accurate predictions on how climatically driven environmental changes may alter the fitness, resilience and persistence of coastal foundation plants, with significant implications for nature-based solutions with coastal vegetation to mitigate climate change effects.

scholarly journals COVID-19 pandemic: the possible influence of the long-term ignorance about climate change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaghayegh Gorji ◽  
Ali Gorji
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Emerging Diseases ◽  
Zoonotic Diseases ◽  
Human Immune System ◽  
Timely Manner ◽  
Trace Back ◽  
Human Immune

AbstractIn addressing the current COVID-19 pandemic and evaluating the measures taken by global leaders so far, it is crucial to trace back the circumstances influencing the emergence of the crisis that the world is presently facing. Could it be that the failure to act in a timely manner dates way back to when first concerns about climate change and its inevitable threat to human health came up? Multiple lines of evidence suggest that the large-scale and rapid environmental changes in the last few decades may be implicated in the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic by increasing the potential risk of the occurrence and the spread of zoonotic diseases, worsening food security, and weakening the human immune system. As we are facing progressive climatic change, a failure to act accordingly could inevitably lead to further, more frequent confrontations with newly emerging diseases.

scholarly journals Application of a 1 km2 resolution model for climate change effects upon Benin and Nigeria vegetable agriculture

GEOMATICA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 93-106
Author(s):  
Colin Minielly ◽  
O. Clement Adebooye ◽  
P.B. Irenikatche Akponikpe ◽  
Durodoluwa J. Oyedele ◽  
Dirk de Boer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Climate Modelling ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Amaranthus Cruentus ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Climate Change Effects

Climate change and food security are complex global issues that require multidisciplinary approaches to resolve. A nexus exists between both issues, especially in developing countries, but little prior research has successfully bridged the divide. Existing resolutions to climate change and food security are expensive and resource demanding. Climate modelling is at the forefront of climate change literature and development planning, whereas agronomy research is leading food security plans. The Benin Republic and Nigeria have grown and developed in recent years but may not have all the tools required to implement and sustain long-term food security in the face of climate change. The objective of this paper is to describe the development and outputs of a new model that bridges climate change and food security. Data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 5th Regional Assessment (IPCC AR5) were combined with a biodiversity database to develop the model to derive these outputs. The model was used to demonstrate what potential impacts climate change will have on the regional food security by incorporating agronomic data from four local underutilized indigenous vegetables (Amaranthus cruentus L., Solanum macrocarpon L., Telfairia occidentalis Hook f., and Ocimum gratissimum L.). The model shows that, by 2099, there is significant uncertainty within the optimal recommendations that originated from the MicroVeg project. This suggests that MicroVeg will not have long-term success for food security unless additional options (e.g., new field trials, shifts in vegetable grown) are considered, creating the need for need for more dissemination tools.

scholarly journals Climate change drives mountain butterflies towards the summits

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Rödder ◽  
Thomas Schmitt ◽  
Patrick Gros ◽  
Werner Ulrich ◽  
Jan Christian Habel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Life History ◽  
Climate Warming ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Solar Irradiation ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Detailed Knowledge ◽  
Annual Range

AbstractClimate change impacts biodiversity and is driving range shifts of species and populations across the globe. To understand the effects of climate warming on biota, long-term observations of the occurrence of species and detailed knowledge on their ecology and life-history is crucial. Mountain species particularly suffer under climate warming and often respond to environmental changes by altitudinal range shifts. We assessed long-term distribution trends of mountain butterflies across the eastern Alps and calculated species’ specific annual range shifts based on field observations and species distribution models, counterbalancing the potential drawbacks of both approaches. We also compiled details on the ecology, behaviour and life-history, and the climate niche of each species assessed. We found that the highest altitudinal maxima were observed recently in the majority of cases, while the lowest altitudes of observations were recorded before 1980. Mobile and generalist species with a broad ecological amplitude tended to move uphill more than specialist and sedentary species. As main drivers we identified climatic conditions and topographic variables, such as insolation and solar irradiation. This study provides important evidence for responses of high mountain taxa to rapid climate change. Our study underlines the advantage of combining historical surveys and museum collection data with cutting-edge analyses.

scholarly journals Assessing the Vulnerability of Marine Fisheries in China: Towards an Inter-Provincial Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Chen ◽  
Weiteng Shen ◽  
Bing Yu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Adaptive Capacity ◽  
Fisheries Management ◽  
Vocational Training ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Marine Pollution ◽  
Marine Fisheries ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Adaptation Measures

China’s marine fisheries are undergoing large-scale environmental changes associated with climate change, marine pollution, and overfishing. The assessment of marine fisheries vulnerability has become extremely necessary for fisheries management and sustainable development. However, studies on China’s marine fisheries vulnerability remains sparse. This study aimed to provide an analysis of the inter-provincial level vulnerability of China’s marine fisheries under multiple disturbances. The vulnerability measure was composed of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity indicators specific to marine fisheries based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) definitions. Results showed that Liaoning, Hebei, Fujian, and Hainan provinces appeared to be the most vulnerable; Shanghai appeared to be less vulnerable among China’s 11 coastal provinces; and the key sources of vulnerability differed considerably among coastal regions. The high vulnerability regions could be divided into two different patterns according to the combination of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, but they all had one thing in common: relatively low adaptive capacity. While some existing coercive measures to reduce dependence on fisheries were found to be helpful in China, the reality showed that appropriate adaptation measures such as improving fishermen’s education level and increasing vocational training may be helpful in enhancing the existing policy effectiveness.

scholarly journals Climate-mediated changes to mixed-layer properties in the Southern Ocean: assessing the phytoplankton response

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 847-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. W. Boyd ◽  
S. C. Doney ◽  
R. Strzepek ◽  
J. Dusenberry ◽  
K. Lindsay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Environmental Control ◽  
Climate System Model ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Detection And Attribution ◽  
Key Species ◽  
Phytoplankton Functional Groups

Abstract. Concurrent changes in ocean chemical and physical properties influence phytoplankton dynamics via alterations in carbonate chemistry, nutrient and trace metal inventories and upper ocean light environment. Using a fully coupled, global carbon-climate model (Climate System Model 1.4-carbon), we quantify anthropogenic climate change relative to the background natural interannual variability for the Southern Ocean over the period 2000 and 2100. Model results are interpreted using our understanding of the environmental control of phytoplankton growth rates – leading to two major findings. Firstly, comparison with results from phytoplankton perturbation experiments, in which environmental properties have been altered for key species (e.g., bloom formers), indicates that the predicted rates of change in oceanic properties over the next few decades are too subtle to be represented experimentally at present. Secondly, the rate of secular climate change will not exceed background natural variability, on seasonal to interannual time-scales, for at least several decades – which may not provide the prevailing conditions of change, i.e. constancy, needed for phytoplankton adaptation. Taken together, the relatively subtle environmental changes, due to climate change, may result in adaptation by resident phytoplankton, but not for several decades due to the confounding effects of climate variability. This presents major challenges for the detection and attribution of climate change effects on Southern Ocean phytoplankton. We advocate the development of multi-faceted tests/metrics that will reflect the relative plasticity of different phytoplankton functional groups and/or species to respond to changing ocean conditions.

scholarly journals What can we learn from long-term groundwater data to improve climate change impact studies?

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 7621-7655 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Stoll ◽  
H. J. Hendricks Franssen ◽  
R. Barthel ◽  
W. Kinzelbach
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Climate Change Impact ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Groundwater Dynamics ◽  
Impact Studies ◽  
Change Impact

Abstract. Future risks for groundwater resources, due to global change are usually analyzed by driving hydrological models with the outputs of climate models. However, this model chain is subject to considerable uncertainties. Given the high uncertainties it is essential to identify the processes governing the groundwater dynamics, as these processes are likely to affect groundwater resources in the future, too. Information about the dominant mechanisms can be achieved by the analysis of long-term data, which are assumed to provide insight in the reaction of groundwater resources to changing conditions (weather, land use, water demand). Referring to this, a dataset of 30 long-term time series of precipitation dominated groundwater systems in northern Switzerland and southern Germany is collected. In order to receive additional information the analysis of the data is carried out together with hydrological model simulations. High spatio-temporal correlations, even over large distances could be detected and are assumed to be related to large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns. As a result it is suggested to prefer innovative weather-type-based downscaling methods to other stochastic downscaling approaches. In addition, with the help of a qualitative procedure to distinguish between meteorological and anthropogenic causes it was possible to identify processes which dominated the groundwater dynamics in the past. It could be shown that besides the meteorological conditions, land use changes, pumping activity and feedback mechanisms governed the groundwater dynamics. Based on these findings, recommendations to improve climate change impact studies are suggested.

scholarly journals Vegetation and seed bank dynamics highlight the importance of post-restoration management in sown grasslands

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orsolya Valkó ◽  
Balázs Deák ◽  
Péter Török ◽  
Katalin Tóth ◽  
Réka Kiss ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seed Bank ◽  
Soil Seed Bank ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
List Type ◽  
Restoration Management ◽  
Seed Bank Dynamics ◽  
Term Management

AbstractSowing grass seeds generally supports the rapid development of a closed perennial vegetation, which makes the method universally suitable for fast and effective landscape-scale restoration of grasslands. However, sustaining the recovered grasslands, and increasing their diversity is a challenging task. Understanding the role of seed bank compositional changes and vegetation dynamics contributes to designating management regimes that support the establishment of target species and suppress weeds. Our aim was to reveal the effect of post-restoration management on the vegetation and seed bank dynamics in grasslands restored in one of the largest European landscape-scale restoration projects. Eight years after restoration we sampled the vegetation and seed bank in a total of 96 plots located in 12 recovered grasslands in the Great Hungarian Plain. In each recovered grassland stand we designated a mown (mown from Year 1 to Year 8) and an abandoned sample site (mown from Year 1 to Year 3 then abandoned from Year 4 to Year 8). Mown and abandoned sites showed divergent vegetation and seed bank development. Abandonment led to the decline of sown grasses and higher cover of weeds, especially in the alkaline grasslands. Our study confirmed that seed bank has a limited contribution to the maintenance of biodiversity in both grassland types. We found that five years of abandonment had a larger effect on the seed bank than on the vegetation. We stress that long-term management is crucial for controlling the emergence of the weeds from their dense seed bank in restored grasslands.Implications for practiceSeed sowing of grass mixtures can be a feasible tool for restoring grasslands at large scales. However, the developed vegetation usually has low biodiversity and a high seed density of weeds is typical in the soil seed bank even several years after the restoration. Therefore, post-restoration management is necessary for suppressing weeds both aboveground and belowground.We recommend to design the long-term management of the sites subjected to grassland restoration already in the planning phase of the restoration projects and ensure that the management plan is ecologically and economically feasible.We recommend to complement the monitoring of vegetation with the analysis of soil seed bank for evaluating restoration success.

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