scholarly journals Could Protected Areas in Brazil’s Semi-Arid Conserve Endangered Birds Facing Climatic and Land Cover Changes?

Author(s):  
Tiago Castro Silva ◽  
Lara Gomes Côrtes ◽  
Marinez Ferreira de Siqueira

Protected areas act as pillars on which conservation strategies are built. Besides human activities, global climate changes are an additional concern to species’ conservation. In northeastern Brazil, climate change should lead to a replacement of the current native vegetation by semi-desert vegetation. This study evaluates whether the protected areas of the Caatinga can contribute to the maintenance of suitable climatic conditions for endangered birds over time in the face of global climate changes and land cover change. We used ecological niche models as input layers in a spatial prioritization program, in which stability indices were used to weight the targets. Results predicted that most taxa (18) will have their suitability lowered in the future, and all taxa (23) will have their ecological niche geographically displaced. However, our results showed that the Caatinga’s protected areas system integrated with a set of priority areas can maintain suitable climatic conditions for endangered birds in the face of climate change and land cover change. On average, Caatinga’s protected areas system could protect climatic stability areas at least 1.7 times greater than the scenarios without it. This reinforces the importance of protected areas as a biodiversity conservation strategy. 
  

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-91
Author(s):  
Jan Węsławski

Biodiversity of the Arctic Ocean in the Face of Climate Change Global climate changes which has been observed over the recent years affects organisms occurring in the Arctic seas and the functioning of the whole maritime ecosystems there. The research note presents and briefly analyses the biological diversity of the Arctic Ocean and the most important factors which change the relations between organisms and the environment in the Arctic.


Author(s):  
Gizachew Kabite ◽  
Misgana Muleta ◽  
Berhan Gessesse

Land cover and climate changes greatly influence hydrologic responses of a basin. However, the response vary from basin to basin depending on the nature and severity of the changes and basin characteristics. Moreover, the combined impacts of the changes affect hydrologic responses of a basin in an offsetting or synergistic manner. This study quantified the separate and combined impacts, and the relative contributions of land cover and climate changes on multiple hydrological regimes (i.e., surface runoff, streamflow, groundwater recharge evapotranspiration) for the Dhidhessa Subbasin. Land cover and climate change data were obtained from a recent study completed for the basin. Calibrated Soil and Water Analysis Tool (SWAT) was used to quantify the impacts. The result showed that SWAT model performed well for the Dhidhessa Subbasin in predicting the water balance components. Substantial land cover change as well as an increasing temperature and rainfall trends were reported in the river basin during the past three decades. In response to these changes, surface runoff, streamflow and actual evapotranspiration (AET) increased while groundwater recharge declined. Surface runoff was more sensitive to land cover than to climate changes whereas streamflow and AET were more sensitive to climate change than to land cover change. The combined impacts played offsetting effect on groundwater recharge and AET while inconsistent effects within study periods for other hydrologic responses. Overall, the predicted hydrologic responses will have negative impacts on agricultural production and water resources availability. Therefore, the implementation of integrated watershed management strategies such as soil and water conservation and afforestation could reverse the negative impacts.


2019 ◽  
Vol 157 (10) ◽  
pp. 1547-1567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofie Lindström ◽  
Morten Bjerager ◽  
Peter Alsen ◽  
Hamed Sanei ◽  
Jørgen Bojesen-Koefoed

AbstractSmithian–lower Anisian strata in Peary Land, North Greenland, were deposited at ∼45° N on the northern margin of Pangaea in offshore to upper shoreface settings. The well-constrained succession (palynology and ammonite biostratigraphy) documents a remarkable shift from lycophyte spore-dominated assemblages in the upper Smithian to gymnosperm pollen-dominated ones in the lower Spathian in concert with a marked shift of +6 ‰ in δ13Corg. Correlation with other Smithian–Spathian boundary sections that record terrestrial floral changes indicates that the recovery of gymnosperms began earlier in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern Hemisphere. The lycophyte-dominated Late Smithian Thermal Maximum is here interpreted as reflecting dry and hot climatic conditions with only brief seasonal precipitation unable to sustain large areas of gymnosperm trees, but able to revive dehydrated lycophytes. This suggests that the Late Smithian Thermal Maximum was a time of widespread aridity, which is also supported by red bed deposition in many areas globally, even as far south as Antarctica. The shift to gymnosperm-dominated vegetation during the cooling across the Smithian–Spathian boundary reflects a change to seasonally more humid climatic conditions favouring gymnosperm recovery, and could have been initiated by increased albedo over land due to the widespread aridity during the Late Smithian Thermal Maximum. The recovery of gymnosperm vegetation would have helped to draw down CO2 from the atmosphere and exacerbate global cooling.


2012 ◽  
Vol 51 (8) ◽  
pp. 1441-1454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachiho A. Adachi ◽  
Fujio Kimura ◽  
Hiroyuki Kusaka ◽  
Tomoshige Inoue ◽  
Hiroaki Ueda

AbstractIn this study, the impact of global climate change and anticipated urbanization over the next 70 years is estimated with regard to the summertime local climate in the Tokyo metropolitan area (TMA), whose population is already near its peak now. First, five climate projections for the 2070s calculated with the aid of general circulation models (GCMs) are used for dynamical downscaling experiments to evaluate the impact of global climate changes using a regional climate model. Second, the sensitivity of future urbanization until the 2070s is examined assuming a simple developing urban scenario for the TMA. These two sensitivity analyses indicate that the increase in the surface air temperature from the 1990s to the 2070s is about 2.0°C as a result of global climate changes under the A1B scenario in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) and about 0.5°C as a result of urbanization. Considering the current urban heat island intensity (UHII) of 1.0°C, the possible UHII in the future reaches an average of 1.5°C in the TMA. This means that the mitigation of the UHII should be one of the ways to adapt to a local temperature increase caused by changes in the future global climate. In addition, the estimation of temperature increase due to global climate change has an uncertainty of about 2.0°C depending on the GCM projection, suggesting that the local climate should be projected on the basis of multiple GCM projections.


Author(s):  
D. G. Galkin

The goal of the article is to work out recommendations aimed at providing sustainability of agriculture development on the level of national economy in conditions of changing climate. The agriculture development within the frames of traditional approach can be studied in two aspects: as a sector subjected to the global climate change impact; as a sector promoting climate change due to greenhouse gas emission. The authors showed that in regard to present trends scientific recommendations aimed at agriculture adaptation to climate changes are the most significant for Russia. On the basis of provided concepts they identified key lines in the said adaptation: to develop innovation connected with adaptation to consequences of climate changes; to upgrade the system of agro-insurance; to use methods of organic food production; to monitor and appraise adaptation of agriculture to climate changes; to introduce strategic planning of sustainable development and location of agricultural production. These lines should be realized on the basis of integrity, strategic orientation and scientific support of agricultural production. These lines can stabilize the level of key parameters of the sector in the long-term perspective.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Silander

There is a growing bulk of studies on global climate changes and conflicts. It has been argued that climate change may be a triggering factor to conflicts and wars, especially in societies with poor governance. This study explores the climate-security nexus in Africa. It is argued that the global climate change provides profound state and human security challenges to African governments and people. Scarcity of vital resources in food, water, sanitation and health has challenged political and economic structures, infrastructure and integration. This has also been due to poorly governed states with authoritarianism, corruption, ethnic divisions and fragile, dysfunctional institutions. The war in Darfur is a tragic, but illustrative example of the climate change-security nexus of our time.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore Danso Marfo ◽  
Klement Resjek ◽  
Valerie Vranova

Abstract Ecotones are considered as unique environments. The concepts of edge effect and ecotone species (flora and fauna) are widely used. Considering the fact that the majority of the species found in ecotones are usually at their physiologically determined limits of distribution, how they react to global climate changes becomes crucial. Ecotones are reputed to be more biologically diverse than areas close to them, and therefore possesses a high conservation value, yet little is known on how soil properties vary across ecotones. In this paper, we firstly highlighted the roles ecotones play in assessing the effect on global climate change, the mediatory role they play in the movement of material (water and nutrients) into and out of the region. Secondly, we reviewed studies on how soil properties change across ecotones and it is worthwhile to note that soil properties tend to differ across various ecotones (e.g. increasing pH and decreasing P & N across forest–glade ecotones, decreasing pH across ancient–recent forest ecotones) in a manner that defines the character of the ecotones existing.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah S. Eggleston ◽  
Oliver Bothe ◽  
Nerilie Abram ◽  
Bronwen Konecky ◽  
Hans Linderholm ◽  
...  

<p>The past two thousand years is a key interval for climate science because this period encompasses both the era of human-induced global warming and a much longer interval when changes in Earth's climate were governed principally by natural drivers. This earlier 'pre-industrial' period is particularly important for two reasons. Firstly, we now have a growing number of well-dated, climate sensitive proxy data with high temporal resolution that spans the full period. Secondly, the pre-industrial climate provides context for present-day climate change, sets real-world targets against which to evaluate the performance of climate models, and allows us to address other questions of Earth sciences that cannot be answered using only a century and a half of observational data. </p><p>Here, we first provide several perspectives on the concept of a 'pre-industrial climate'. Then, we highlight the activities of the PAGES 2k Network, an international collaborative effort focused on global climate change during the past two thousand years. We highlight those aspects of pre-industrial conditions (including both past climate changes and past climate drivers) that are not yet well constrained, and suggest potential areas for research during this period that would be relevant to the evolution of Earth's future climate.</p>


GeoTextos ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Ronnieplex De Moura Cruz ◽  
Letícia Andrade da Silva ◽  
Elisiene De Macêdo Pereira ◽  
Rebecca Luna Lucena

Este ensaio traz à tona questões intrigantes e dúvidas que permeiam as pesquisas voltadas às mudanças climáticas globais, enfatizando as discordâncias existentes entre as distintas correntes de cientistas e os prognósticos elaborados pelos modelos de previsão do clima. Para tanto, tomou-se por base as teorias propagadas por alarmistas e céticos, bem como o prognóstico do Painel Intergovernamental sobre as Mudanças Climáticas (IPCC) de 2007. O ensaio se baseou na análise de livros, relatórios técnicos e artigos científicos, além da interpretação dos gráficos contidos nos mesmos. Os resultados mostraram que sempre houve variação na temperatura da atmosfera, mesmo antes do surgimento do homem e em níveis bem mais elevados do que os atuais. Contudo, alarmistas e céticos concordam que a Terra passou por um aquecimento de cerca de 0,6ºC no século XX, havendo divergência no que diz respeito às causas desse aquecimento, suas consequências, e se ele ainda está ocorrendo. Entretanto, um aspecto que põe em xeque a confiabilidade de ambas as correntes diz respeito ao problema da previsão, pois são muitos os fatores e elementos envolvidos na complexidade do sistema climático, tornando, assim, previsões climáticas exatas praticamente impossíveis, e deixando o debate, até o momento, no campo das suposições. Abstract DISCUSSIONS ABOUT GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGES: THE ALARMISTS, THE SKEPTICS AND CLIMATE FORECAST MODELS This paper aims to discuss difficult questions and doubts about researches regarding global climate change, showing discordances about what different scientific groups and the forecasts elaborated by forecasting climate models. Therefore, we take for basis the theories formulated by the two scientific groups: the alarmists and skeptics, and the prognostic showed by the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC), 2007. This work was based in a research of books, technical documents and scientific papers, and the interpretation of graphs and data within these works. The results showed that oscillating temperatures always existed in the Earth’s atmosphere before human existence and the oscillation was larger than today. However, alarmists and skeptics believe that the earth atmosphere’s temperature elevated by approximated 0.6º C in the XX century, but there is a big divergence about the causes that rise and the consequences. Finally, an issue that questions the reliability of both groups, concerns the problem of forecast mainly because there are many factors and elements involved in the complexity of climate system thus making accurate climate predictions virtually impossible and leaving the debate so far, in the field of assumptions.


2022 ◽  
pp. 154-175
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Baumgertel ◽  
Sara Lukić ◽  
Milica Caković ◽  
Radovan Savić ◽  
Atila Bezdan ◽  
...  

Wind erosion is a widespread phenomenon causing serious soil degradation. It is estimated that about 28% of the global land area suffers from this process. Global climate changes are expected to accelerate land degradation and significantly affect the intensity of wind erosion. Shelterbelts are linear multi-row planting strips of vegetation (trees or shrubs) established for numerous environmental purposes. Shelterbelts are a specific type of agroforestry system which could reduce soil degradation (soil erosion). Shelterbelts mitigate greenhouse gas through trees storing carbon (C) in their above- and below-ground biomass, wherefore they are highlighted as one of the potential ways to mitigate climate change. The purpose of this chapter is to present wind erosion as a land degradation problem, especially in line with climate changes and the present concept of vegetation establishment in the form of shelterbelts for long-term multi-functional provision of ecosystem services, in particular carbon sequestration.


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