A Fish Story: Hot Water and Dangerous Behavior!

Climate change is warming up water all over the world, including in the San Francisco Estuary. This has caused fish who live there to change their behavior in unexpected ways. All animals, including fish, have regular and specialized behaviors that help them to survive. Fish swim, by themselves or in groups, to move to safer habitats, to find food or mates, or just to avoid danger. Scientists worry that changes to these behaviors brought on by warming water will make estuaries less safe for rare and endangered fish like the delta smelt. In the San Francisco Estuary, we found that warmer waters caused delta smelt to swim faster and further away from their neighbors, and to be eaten more often by predators. All these changes could hurt the ability of delta smelt to survive in the future.

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Delivering Food to Hungry Fish in the San Francisco Estuary

Frontiers for Young Minds ◽

10.3389/frym.2021.611957 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Laura Twardochleb ◽

Leela Dixit ◽

Mallory Bedwell ◽

Brittany Davis ◽

Jared Frantzich

Keyword(s):

Invasive Species ◽

San Francisco ◽

Fish Species ◽

San Francisco Estuary ◽

Fish Food ◽

Yolo Bypass ◽

Delta Smelt ◽

Endangered Fish ◽

The Past

The San Francisco Estuary is home to an important endangered fish called delta smelt. Delta smelt eat small, nutritious animals called zooplankton to survive and grow. In turn, zooplankton grow by eating microscopic plant-like organisms called phytoplankton. In the past, the Estuary was full of plankton and delta smelt. Because people have removed water from the Estuary and invasive species now live there, the Estuary no longer has enough plankton to feed delta smelt, making it difficult for them to survive. Scientists have found a unique place in the Estuary, the Yolo Bypass, that has lots of fish food. The problem is that delta smelt do not live in the Yolo Bypass year-round. Scientists are working to solve this problem by sending river or farm water through the Yolo Bypass, to move fish food downstream to feed the hungry delta smelt and other fish species.

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Modeling the Influence of Outflow and Community Structure on an Endangered Fish Population in the Upper San Francisco Estuary

Water ◽

10.3390/w11061162 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 1162 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Gonzalo C. Castillo

Keyword(s):

San Francisco ◽

Fish Population ◽

San Francisco Estuary ◽

Delta Smelt ◽

Endangered Fish ◽

Population Responses ◽

Low Salinity ◽

Salinity Zone ◽

Community Modeling ◽

Community Variables

The aim of this community modeling study was to evaluate potential mechanisms by which freshwater outflow in the upper San Francisco Estuary, CA, controls the fall habitat and abundance of subadult delta smelt Hypomesus transpacificus and its community. Through analyses of the community matrix, community stability and the direction of change of community variables were qualitatively and quantitatively modeled under four outflow–input scenarios. Three subsystems were modeled in the low salinity zone (1–6 psu), each overlapping the location corresponding to the distance from the mouth of the estuary to upstream positions where the near-bottom 2 psu isohaline (X2) is at 74, 81, and 85 km (corresponding to high-, mid-, and low-outflows). Results suggested communities were qualitatively stable at each X2 position, but simulations showed the percent of stable models decreased from low- to high-X2 positions. Under all outflow–input scenarios, the predicted qualitative population responses of delta smelt were: (1) consistently positive for the low X2 position, and (2) uncertain under both mid- and high-X2 positions. Qualitative predictions were generally consistent with quantitative simulations and with the relations between relative abundance of delta smelt and X2. Thus, high outflow seems beneficial to subadult delta smelt when X2 reaches 74 km during fall.

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Cities of the future, visualizing climate change to inspire actions

10.1101/458018 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Jean-Francois Bastin ◽

Emily Clark ◽

Thomas Elliott ◽

Simon Hart ◽

Johan van den Hoogen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

San Francisco ◽

Climate Impacts ◽

Climate Projections ◽

Climate Variables ◽

Climate Data ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Climate Conditions ◽

The World ◽

The Future

AbstractCombating against climate change requires unified action across all sectors of society. However, this collective action is precluded by the ‘consensus gap’ between scientific knowledge and public opinion. A growing body of evidence suggests that facts do not persuade people to act. Instead, it is visualization - the ability to simulate relatable scenarios - is the most effective approach for motivating behavior change. Here, we exemplify this approach, using current climate projections to enable people to visualize cities of the future, rather than describing intangible climate variables. Analyzing city pairs for 520 major cities of the world, we characterize which cities will most closely resemble the climate conditions of which other major cities by 2050. On average, most cities will resemble cities that are over 1000km south, and 22% of cities will experience climate conditions that are not currently experienced by any existing major cities. We predict that London’s climate in 2050 will resemble Barcelona’s climate today, Madrid will resemble to Marrakesh, Moscow to Sofia, Seattle to San Francisco, Stockholm to Budapest, Tokyo to Changsha, etc. Our approach illustrates how complex climate data can be packaged to provide tangible information. By allowing people to visualize their own climate futures, we hope to empower citizens, policy makers and scientists to visualize expected climate impacts and adapt decision making accordingly.

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Climate, ticks and disease

10.1079/9781789249637.0000 ◽

2021 ◽

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Spatial Distribution ◽

Disease Ecology ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Scenarios ◽

Expert Opinions ◽

The World ◽

Host Pathogen ◽

The Future ◽

Impacts Of Climate Change

Abstract This book is a collection of 77 expert opinions arranged in three sections. Section 1 on "Climate" sets the scene, including predictions of future climate change, how climate change affects ecosystems, and how to model projections of the spatial distribution of ticks and tick-borne infections under different climate change scenarios. Section 2 on "Ticks" focuses on ticks (although tick-borne pathogens creep in) and whether or not changes in climate affect the tick biosphere, from physiology to ecology. Section 3 on "Disease" focuses on the tick-host-pathogen biosphere, ranging from the triangle of tick-host-pathogen molecular interactions to disease ecology in various regions and ecosystems of the world. Each of these three sections ends with a synopsis that aims to give a brief overview of all the expert opinions within the section. The book concludes with Section 4 (Final Synopsis and Future Predictions). This synopsis attempts to summarize evidence provided by the experts of tangible impacts of climate change on ticks and tick-borne infections. In constructing their expert opinions, contributors give their views on what the future might hold. The final synopsis provides a snapshot of their expert thoughts on the future.

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Climate Change, Contaminants, and the Future of Lake Superior

Sustaining Lake Superior ◽

10.12987/yale/9780300212983.003.0009 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Nancy Langston

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Lake Superior ◽

The World ◽

The Future

Lake Superior is one of the fastest warming lakes in the world, leading to enormous changes in its ecosystems and human communities. How might changing climates affect the mobilization of contaminants in the Lake Superior basin? How might those contaminants affect resiliency toward climate change? And what can we do about it?

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Does Climate Change Affect the Yield of the Top Three Cereals and Food Security in the World?

Earth ◽

10.3390/earth3010004 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 45-71

Author(s):

Dhurba Neupane ◽

Pramila Adhikari ◽

Dwarika Bhattarai ◽

Birendra Rana ◽

Zeeshan Ahmed ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Food Security ◽

Greenhouse Gases ◽

Prediction Models ◽

Molecular Techniques ◽

Lower Amount ◽

Cereal Crops ◽

The World ◽

The Future ◽

World Food Security

Climate prediction models suggest that agricultural productivity will be significantly affected in the future. The expected rise in average global temperature due to the higher release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere and increased depletion of water resources with enhanced climate variability will be a serious threat to world food security. Moreover, there is an increase in the frequency and severity of long-lasting drought events over 1/3rd of the global landmass and five times increase in water demand deficits during the 21st century. The top three cereals, wheat (Triticum aestivum), maize (Zea mays), and rice (Oryza sativa), are the major and staple food crops of most people across the world. To meet the food demand of the ever-increasing population, which is expected to increase by over 9 billion by 2050, there is a dire need to increase cereal production by approximately 70%. However, we have observed a dramatic decrease in area of fertile and arable land to grow these crops. This trend is likely to increase in the future. Therefore, this review article provides an extensive review on recent and future projected area and production, the growth requirements and greenhouse gas emissions and global warming potential of the top three cereal crops, the effects of climate change on their yields, and the morphological, physiological, biochemical, and hormonal responses of plants to drought. We also discuss the potential strategies to tackle the effects of climate change and increase yields. These strategies include integrated conventional and modern molecular techniques and genomic approach, the implementation of agronomic best management (ABM) practices, and growing climate resilient cereal crops, such as millets. Millets are less resource-intensive crops and release a lower amount of greenhouse gases compared to other cereals. Therefore, millets can be the potential next-generation crops for research to explore the climate-resilient traits and use the information for the improvement of major cereals.

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What Can I Hope about the Earth’s Future Climate? Affective Resources for Overcoming Intergenerational Distance, Kantian and Otherwise

Moral Philosophy and Politics ◽

10.1515/mopp-2014-0020 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Diane Williamson

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Political History ◽

Future Climate ◽

Future Generations ◽

Theory Of Justice ◽

The World ◽

The Future ◽

Moral Problems

AbstractWhile climate change involves spatial, epistemological, social, and temporal remoteness, each type of distance can be bridged with strategies unique to it that can be borrowed from analogous moral problems. Temporal, or intergenerational, distance may actually be a motivational resource if we look at our natural feelings of hope for the future of the world, via Kant’s theory of political history, and for our children. Kant’s theory of hope also provides some basis for including future generations in a theory of justice.

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Epilogue

Pandemics: A Very Short Introduction ◽

10.1093/actrade/9780199340071.003.0009 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 119-122

Author(s):

Christian W. McMillen

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Climate Change ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

The Past ◽

Public Health Infrastructure ◽

Health Infrastructure ◽

The World ◽

The Future ◽

The Face ◽

New Challenges

There will be more pandemics. A pandemic might come from an old, familiar foe such as influenza or might emerge from a new source—a zoonosis that makes its way into humans, perhaps. The epilogue asks how the world will confront pandemics in the future. It is likely that patterns established long ago will re-emerge. But how will new challenges, like climate change, affect future pandemics and our ability to respond? Will lessons learned from the past help with plans for the future? One thing is clear: in the face of a serious pandemic much of the developing world’s public health infrastructure will be woefully overburdened. This must be addressed.

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