scholarly journals How Stress Facilitates Phenotypic Innovation Through Epigenetic Diversity

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thanvi Srikant ◽  
Hajk-Georg Drost
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Population Diversity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Species Population ◽  
Epigenetic Diversity

Climate adaptation through phenotypic innovation will become the main challenge for plants during global warming. Plants exhibit a plethora of mechanisms to achieve environmental and developmental plasticity by inducing dynamic alterations of gene regulation and by maximizing natural variation through large population sizes. While successful over long evolutionary time scales, most of these mechanisms lack the short-term adaptive responsiveness that global warming will require. Here, we review our current understanding of the epigenetic regulation of plant genomes, with a focus on stress-response mechanisms and transgenerational inheritance. Field and laboratory-scale experiments on plants exposed to stress have revealed a multitude of temporally controlled, mechanistic strategies integrating both genetic and epigenetic changes on the genome level. We analyze inter- and intra-species population diversity to discuss how methylome differences and transposon activation can be harnessed for short-term adaptive efforts to shape co-evolving traits in response to qualitatively new climate conditions and environmental stress.

The Methow Beaver Project: the Challenges of an Ecosystem Services Experiment

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Philip Brick ◽  
Kent Woodruff
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Castor Canadensis ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Natural Resource Policy ◽  
Watershed Scale ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Climate Conditions

This case explores the Methow Beaver Project (MBP), an ambitious experiment to restore beaver (Castor canadensis) to a high mountain watershed in Washington State, USA. The Pacific Northwest is already experiencing weather regimes consistent with longer term climate projections, which predict longer and drier summers and stronger and wetter winter storms. Ironically, this combination makes imperative more water storage in one of the most heavily dammed regions in the nation. Although the positive role that beaver can play in watershed enhancement has been well known for decades, no project has previously attempted to re-introduce beaver on a watershed scale with a rigorous monitoring protocol designed to document improved water storage and temperature conditions needed for human uses and aquatic species. While the MBP has demonstrated that beaver can be re-introduced on a watershed scale, it has been much more difficult to scientifically demonstrate positive changes in water retention and stream temperature, given hydrologic complexity, unprecedented fire and floods, and the fact that beaver are highly mobile. This case study can help environmental studies students and natural resource policy professionals think about the broader challenges of diffuse, ecosystem services approaches to climate adaptation. Beaver-produced watershed improvements will remain difficult to quantify and verify, and thus will likely remain less attractive to water planners than conventional storage dams. But as climate conditions put additional pressure on such infrastructure, it is worth considering how beaver might be employed to augment watershed storage capacity, even if this capacity is likely to remain at least in part inscrutable.

scholarly journals Synergistic impacts of global warming and thermohaline circulation collapse on amphibians

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julián A. Velasco ◽  
Francisco Estrada ◽  
Oscar Calderón-Bustamante ◽  
Didier Swingedouw ◽  
Carolina Ureta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Thermohaline Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Amphibian Species ◽  
Climate Conditions

AbstractImpacts on ecosystems and biodiversity are a prominent area of research in climate change. However, little is known about the effects of abrupt climate change and climate catastrophes on them. The probability of occurrence of such events is largely unknown but the associated risks could be large enough to influence global climate policy. Amphibians are indicators of ecosystems’ health and particularly sensitive to novel climate conditions. Using state-of-the-art climate model simulations, we present a global assessment of the effects of unabated global warming and a collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) on the distribution of 2509 amphibian species across six biogeographical realms and extinction risk categories. Global warming impacts are severe and strongly enhanced by additional and substantial AMOC weakening, showing tipping point behavior for many amphibian species. Further declines in climatically suitable areas are projected across multiple clades, and biogeographical regions. Species loss in regional assemblages is extensive across regions, with Neotropical, Nearctic and Palearctic regions being most affected. Results underline the need to expand existing knowledge about the consequences of climate catastrophes on human and natural systems to properly assess the risks of unabated warming and the benefits of active mitigation strategies.

scholarly journals Performance Evaluation of Neural Network-Based Short-Term Solar Irradiation Forecasts

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 3030
Author(s):  
Simon Liebermann ◽  
Jung-Sup Um ◽  
YoungSeok Hwang ◽  
Stephan Schlüter
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Solar Irradiation ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Lstm Network ◽  
The Time Domain

Due to the globally increasing share of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, precise forecasts for weather data are becoming more and more important. To compute such forecasts numerous authors apply neural networks (NN), whereby models became ever more complex recently. Using solar irradiation as an example, we verify if this additional complexity is required in terms of forecasting precision. Different NN models, namely the long-short term (LSTM) neural network, a convolutional neural network (CNN), and combinations of both are benchmarked against each other. The naive forecast is included as a baseline. Various locations across Europe are tested to analyze the models’ performance under different climate conditions. Forecasts up to 24 h in advance are generated and compared using different goodness of fit (GoF) measures. Besides, errors are analyzed in the time domain. As expected, the error of all models increases with rising forecasting horizon. Over all test stations it shows that combining an LSTM network with a CNN yields the best performance. However, regarding the chosen GoF measures, differences to the alternative approaches are fairly small. The hybrid model’s advantage lies not in the improved GoF but in its versatility: contrary to an LSTM or a CNN, it produces good results under all tested weather conditions.

scholarly journals Climate bones of contention: How climate variability influences territorial, maritime, and river interstate conflicts

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-150
Author(s):  
Cody J Schmidt ◽  
Bomi K Lee ◽  
Sara McLaughlin Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Intrastate Conflict ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Interstate Conflicts ◽  
The Relationship

Many scholars examine the relationship between climate variability and intrastate conflict onset. While empirical findings in this literature are mixed, we know less about how climate changes increase the risks for conflicts between countries. This article studies climate variability using the issue approach to world politics. We examine whether climate variability influences the onset and militarization of interstate diplomatic conflicts and whether these effects are similar across issues that involve sovereignty claims for land (territory) or water (maritime, river). We focus on two theoretical mechanisms: scarcity ( abundance) and uncertainty. We measure these concepts empirically through climate deviation (e.g. droughts/floods, heat waves/cold spells) and climate volatility (greater short-term variance in precipitation/temperature). Analyses of issue claims in the Western Hemisphere and Europe (1901–2001) show that greater deviations and volatility in climate conditions increase risks for new diplomatic conflicts and militarization of ongoing issues and that climate change acts as a trigger for revisionist states.

scholarly journals DNA methyltransferase 3a mediates developmental thermal plasticity

BMC Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabella Loughland ◽  
Alexander Little ◽  
Frank Seebacher
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Dna Methyltransferase ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Citrate Synthase ◽  
Thermal Sensitivity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Cold Temperatures ◽  
Knock Out ◽  
Thermal Plasticity ◽  
Dna Methyltransferase 3A

Abstract Background Thermal plasticity is pivotal for evolution in changing climates and in mediating resilience to its potentially negative effects. The efficacy to respond to environmental change depends on underlying mechanisms. DNA methylation induced by DNA methyltransferase 3 enzymes in the germline or during early embryonic development may be correlated with responses to environmental change. This developmental plasticity can interact with reversible acclimation within adult organisms, which would increase the speed of response and could alleviate potential mismatches between parental or early embryonic environments and those experienced at later life stages. Our aim was to determine whether there is a causative relationship between DNMT3 enzyme and developmental thermal plasticity and whether either or both interact with short-term acclimation to alter fitness and thermal responses in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Results We developed a novel DNMT3a knock-out model to show that sequential knock-out of DNA methyltransferase 3a isoforms (DNMT3aa−/− and DNMT3aa−/−ab−/−) additively decreased survival and increased deformities when cold developmental temperatures in zebrafish offspring mismatched warm temperatures experienced by parents. Interestingly, short-term cold acclimation of parents before breeding rescued DNMT3a knock-out offspring by restoring survival at cold temperatures. DNMT3a knock-out genotype interacted with developmental temperatures to modify thermal performance curves in offspring, where at least one DNMT3a isoform was necessary to buffer locomotion from increasing temperatures. The thermal sensitivity of citrate synthase activity, an indicator of mitochondrial density, was less severely affected by DNMT3a knock-out, but there was nonetheless a significant interaction between genotype and developmental temperatures. Conclusions Our results show that DNMT3a regulates developmental thermal plasticity and that the phenotypic effects of different DNMT3a isoforms are additive. However, DNMT3a interacts with other mechanisms, such as histone (de)acetylation, induced during short-term acclimation to buffer phenotypes from environmental change. Interactions between these mechanisms make phenotypic compensation for climate change more efficient and make it less likely that thermal plasticity incurs a cost resulting from environmental mismatches.

Short-term concurrent drought and heatwave frequency with 1.5 and 2.0 °C global warming in humid subtropical basins: a case study in the Gan River Basin, China

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 4621-4641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuqing Zhang ◽  
Qinglong You ◽  
Guangxiong Mao ◽  
Changchun Chen ◽  
Zhengwei Ye
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Short Term

scholarly journals Metabolic plasticity can amplify ecosystem responses to global warming

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Kordas ◽  
Samraat Pawar ◽  
Guy Woodward ◽  
Eoin O'Gorman
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Predictive Models ◽  
Chronic Exposure ◽  
Ecosystem Respiration ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Ecosystem Responses ◽  
Metabolic Plasticity ◽  
Ecosystem Level

Abstract Organisms have the capacity to alter their physiological response to warming through acclimation or adaptation, but empirical evidence for this metabolic plasticity across species within food webs is lacking, and a generalisable framework does not exist for modelling its ecosystem-level consequences. Here we show that the ability of organisms to raise their metabolic rate following chronic exposure to warming decreases with increasing body size. Chronic exposure to higher temperatures also increases the sensitivity of organisms to short-term warming, irrespective of their body size. A mathematical model parameterised with these findings shows that metabolic plasticity could account for an additional 60% of ecosystem energy flux with just +2 °C of warming. This could explain why ecosystem respiration continues to rise in long-term warming experiments and highlights the need to embed metabolic plasticity in predictive models of global warming impacts on ecosystems.

Revisiting the existence of the global warming slowdown during the early 21st century

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Selection Bias ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Linear Trend ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Global Temperature Change

Abstract There are heated debates on the existence of the global warming slowdown during the early 21st century. Although efforts have been made to clarify or reconcile the controversy over the issue, it is not explicitly addressed, restricting the understanding of global temperature change particularly under the background of increasing greenhouse-gas concentrations. Here, using extensive temperature datasets, we comprehensively reexamine the existence of the slowdown under all existing definitions during all decadal-scale periods spanning 1990-2017. Results show that the short-term linear-trend dependent definitions of slowdown make its identification severely suffer from the period selection bias, which largely explains the controversy over its existence. Also, the controversy is further aggravated by the significant impacts of the differences between various datasets on the recent temperature trend and the different baselines for measuring slowdown prescribed by various definitions. However, when the focus is shifted from specific periods to the probability of slowdown events, we find the probability is significantly higher in the 2000s than in the 1990s, regardless of which definition and dataset are adopted. This supports a slowdown during the early 21st century relative to the warming surge in the late 20th century, despite higher greenhouse-gas concentrations. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this decadal-scale slowdown is not incompatible with the centennial-scale anthropogenic warming trend, which has been accelerating since 1850 and never pauses or slows. This work partly reconciles the controversy over the existence of the warming slowdown and the discrepancy between the slowdown and anthropogenic warming.

A Review on Green Trust and Environmental Quality Awareness Affect Towards Environmental Attitude

2019 ◽  
pp. 1510-1522
Author(s):  
Trianna Rosli ◽  
Fauziah Sh. Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Environmental Awareness ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Halo Effect ◽  
Personal Satisfaction ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Environmental Attitude ◽  
Green Trust ◽  
Quality Awareness

There are literally thousands of the global warming and pollution issues affecting the living resources, habitats and residents of an ecosystem. The question is, do the issues affects consumers' environmental attitude? Although environmental awareness is gaining more ground among consumers, it is still not clear how this influence their cognitive thinking and consequently their action. The findings on this issue are still equivocal. There are also arguments that most consumers expect others to solve environmental issues which seems to be more of future concerns while they seek immediate gratification or short term personal satisfaction. To date, marketers are still struggling to convince consumers towards eco-products. Furthermore, green halo effect and greenwashing continues distorting buyers and caused them to be more skeptical. This chapter intends to consolidate the literature on green trust factors and environmental quality awareness and assess how these could stimulate environmental attitude.

scholarly journals Climate change impact – residential unit

2019 ◽  
Vol 279 ◽  
pp. 03007
Author(s):  
Ján Hollý ◽  
Adela Palková
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Emission Scenarios ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Residential Unit ◽  
Data Application ◽  
Change Impact ◽  
Selection Of

The issue of climate change is undeniably demonstrating its presence. Consequently, there is a rising need to be prepared for upcoming threats by any means possible. One of the precautions includes obtaining the information characterizing the expected impact of global warming. This will allow authorities and other stakeholders to act accordingly in time. The article presents the assessment of the extent of impact of energy-related construction solutions in dwelling type unit situated in Central Europe region under the 21st century climate conditions. The findings represent eventual demands of energy for cooling and heating and its prospective savings. This is conducted by consecutively and automatically changing the parameters in individual simulation runs. As a basis for simulations, regionally scaled weather data of three different climate areas are used. These data are based on the emission scenarios by IPCC and are reaching to the year 2100. The selection of assessed parameters and climate data application are briefly explained in the article. The results of simulations are evaluated and recommended solutions are stated in regard to the specific energy-related construction changes. The aim is to successfully mitigate and adapt to the climate change phenomenon.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document