SLAM Project - Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forest of Azores: I - the spiders from native forests of Terceira and Pico Islands (2012-2019)

Long-term monitoring of invertebrate communities is needed to understand the impact of key biodiversity erosion drivers (e.g. habitat fragmentation and degradation, invasive species, pollution, climatic changes) on the biodiversity of these high diverse organisms. The data we present are part of the long-term project SLAM (Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forest of Azores) that started in 2012, aiming to understand the impact of biodiversity erosion drivers on Azorean native forests (Azores, Macaronesia, Portugal). In this contribution, the design of the project, its objectives and the first available data for the spider fauna of two Islands (Pico and Terceira) are described. Passive flight interception SLAM traps (Sea, Land and Air Malaise traps) were used to sample native forest plots in several Azorean islands, with one trap being set up at each plot and samples taken every three months following the seasons. The key objectives of the SLAM project are: 1) collect long-term ecological data to evaluate species distributions and abundance at multiple spatial and temporal scales, responding to the Wallacean and Prestonian shortfalls, 2) identify biodiversity erosion drivers impacting oceanic indigenous assemblages under global change for conservation management purpose, 3) use species distribution and abundance data in model-based studies of environmental change in different islands, 4) contribute to clarifying the potential occurrence of an "insect decline" in Azores and identifying the spatial and temporal invasion patterns of exotic arthropod species, 5) contribute with temporal data to re-assess the Red-list status of Azorean endemic arthropods and 6) perform studies about the relationship between diversity (taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic) and ecosystem function. The project SLAM (Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forest of Azores) is described in detail. Seasonal distribution and abundance data of Azorean spiders, based on a long-term study undertaken between 2012 and 2019 in two Azorean Islands (Terceira and Pico), is presented. A total of 14979 specimens were collected, of which 6430 (43%) were adults. Despite the uncertainty of juvenile identification, juveniles are also included in the data presented in this paper, since the low diversity allows a relatively precise identification of this life-stage in Azores. A total of 57 species, belonging to 50 genera and 17 families, were recorded from the area, which constitutes baseline information of spiders from the studied sites for future long-term comparisons. Linyphiidae were the richest and most abundant family, with 19 (33%) species and 5973 (40%) specimens. The ten most abundant species are composed mostly of endemic or native non-endemic species and only one exotic species (Tenuiphantes tenuis (Blackwall, 1852)). Those ten most abundant species include 84% of all sampled specimens and are clearly the dominant species in the Azorean native forests. Textrix caudata L. Koch, 1872 was firstly reported from Terceira and Pico Islands, Araneus angulatus Clerck, 1757 was firstly reported from Terceira Island, Neriene clathrata (Sundevall, 1830) and Macaroeris diligens (Blackwall, 1867) were firstly reported from Pico Island. This publication contributes not only to a better knowledge of the arachnofauna present in native forests of Terceira and Pico, but also to understand the patterns of abundance and diversity of spider species, both seasonally and between years.

Simulating the impact of future climate change on runoff processes in selected catchments of Slovakia

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-5074 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Roman Výleta ◽

Milica Aleksić ◽

Patrik Sleziak ◽

Kamila Hlavcova

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Air Temperature ◽

Climate Model ◽

Hydrological Cycle ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Time Horizons ◽

The Future ◽

The Impact ◽

The future development of the runoff conditions, as a consequence of climate change, is of great interest for water managers. Information about the potential impacts of climate change on the hydrological regime is needed for long-term planning of water resources and flood protection.The aim of this study is to evaluate the possible impacts of climate change on the runoff regime in five selected catchments located in the territory of Slovakia. Changes in climatic characteristics (i.e., precipitation and air temperature) for future time horizons were prepared by a regional climate model KNMI using the A1B emission scenario. The selected climatic scenario predicts a general increase in air temperature and precipitation (higher in winter than in summer). For simulations of runoff under changed conditions, a lumped rainfall-runoff model (the TUW model) was used. This model belongs to a group of conceptual models and follows a structure of a widely used Swedish HBV model. The TUW model was calibrated for the period of 2011 &#8211; 2019. We assumed that this period would be similar (to recent/warmer climate) in terms of the average daily air temperatures and daily precipitation totals. The future changes in runoff due to climate change were evaluated by comparing the simulated long-term mean monthly runoff for the current state (1981-2010) and modelled scenarios in three time periods (2011-2040, 2041-2070, and 2071-2100). The results indicate that changes in the long-term runoff seasonality and extremality of hydrological cycle could be expected in the future. The runoff should increase in winter months compared to the reference period. This increase is probably related to a rise in temperature and anticipated snowmelt. Conversely, during the summer periods, a decrease in the long-term runoff could be assumed. According to modelling, these changes will be more pronounced in the later time horizons.It should be noted that the results of the simulation are dependent on the availability of the inputs, the hydrological/climate model used, the schematization of the simulated processes, etc. Therefore, they need to be interpreted with a sufficient degree of caution

Environmental Exposures in Singapore Schools: An Ecological Study

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18041843 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 1843

Author(s):

Divya Periyakoil ◽

Hari Prasanna Das ◽

Clayton Miller ◽

Costas J. Spanos ◽

Ndola Prata

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Academic Success ◽

Air Conditioning ◽

Ecological Study ◽

Environmental Exposures ◽

Low Noise ◽

School Students ◽

Rapid Urbanization ◽

The Impact ◽

Global climate change is a clear and present danger to our environment, but the impacts of climate change on human health are less known. People in Asian countries are more susceptible to the negative impacts of climate change and the subsequent environmental exposures because of the high population density, rapid urbanization, and natural geography of the region. The objective of this multidisciplinary collaborative ecological study was to explore the impact of environmental exposures such as temperature (°C), noise (db), humidity (%rh), air conditioning exposure time (hours), and distance traveled to school (km) on the comfort and academic success of school children in Singapore. Analysis of a large dataset from the Singapore National Science Experiment revealed a positive correlation between the distance traveled to school and favorable environmental conditions (moderate temperatures, low noise, low humidity, and higher amount of air conditioning time) and student academic performance. The analysis revealed that the distance traveled between home and school for public school students falls within a larger range than that for independent (private) school students. On average, students traveled farther distances to attend schools of higher academic caliber thereby increasing their exposure to environmental pollution. Student exposure to pollution can be minimized if all schools adhere to higher standards of environmental comfort and standardized academic caliber. If students can attend the school closest to their homes, they can minimize their daily pollution exposure due to traffic/commute, thereby mitigating the resultant negative health consequences.

Impacts of Climate Change: Can Fisheries and Aquaculture Sectors Survive the Wave?

International Journal of Global Sustainability ◽

10.5296/ijgs.v4i1.17245 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 78

Author(s):

Talent Ndlovu ◽

Sylvain Charlebois

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Warming ◽

Food Security ◽

Food Insecurity ◽

Holistic Approach ◽

Short Term ◽

Ocean Ecosystem ◽

The Impact ◽

Studies have shown the impact of climate change on the ocean ecosystem and the fishing and aquaculture sectors. As global warming intensifies, this will impact communities and communities as the populations of some fish species decline or increase. Research on the impacts of climate change to fisheries will facilitate the development of policies, helping communities to adapt while ensuring resilience and sustainability of the sector(s). This paper assesses the short term and long-term impacts of climate change to the ocean ecosystem, the consequences to economies and communities that rely on fishing for food security. It begins with a review of peer reviewed literature, followed by an analysis of the current policies and ends with some recommendations for governments in the sustainability and management of the ecosystem in the future. Important to note is the impact of human generated hazards and how a more holistic approach to minimizing risks to the ocean ecosystem could resolve threats of food insecurity in future.

The Impact of Near Natural Forest Management on the Carbon Stock and Sequestration Potential of Pinus massoniana (Lamb.) and Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook. Plantations

Forests ◽

10.3390/f10080626 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 626 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Angang Ming ◽

Yujing Yang ◽

Shirong Liu ◽

You Nong ◽

Hua Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Forest Management ◽

Pinus Massoniana ◽

Natural Forest ◽

Sequestration Potential ◽

C Stock ◽

Pinus Massoniana Lamb ◽

The Impact ◽

Natural Forest Management

Quantifying the impact of forest management on carbon (C) stock is important for evaluating and enhancing the ability of plantations to mitigate climate change. Near natural forest management (NNFM) through species enrichment planting in single species plantations, structural adjustment, and understory protection is widely used in plantation management. However, its long-term effect on forest ecosystem C stock remains unclear. We therefore selected two typical coniferous plantations in southwest China, Pinus massoniana (Lamb.) and Cunninghamia lanceolate (Lamb.) Hook., to explore the effects of long-term NNFM on ecosystem C storage. The C content and stock of different components in the pure plantations of P. massoniana (PCK) and C. lanceolata (CCK), and their corresponding near natural managed forests (PCN and CCN, respectively), were investigated during eight years of NNFM beginning in 2008. In 2016, there was no change in the vegetation C content, while soil C content in the 0–20 cm and 20–40 cm layers significantly increased, compared to the pure forests. In the P. massoniana and C. lanceolata plantations, NNFM increased the ecosystem C stock by 31.8% and 24.3%, respectively. Overall, the total C stock of soil and arborous layer accounted for 98.2%–99.4% of the whole ecosystem C stock. The increase in the biomass of the retained and underplanted trees led to a greater increase in the arborous C stock in the near natural forests than in the controls. The NNFM exhibited an increasingly positive correlation with the ecosystem C stock over time. Long-term NNFM enhances ecosystem C sequestration by increasing tree growth rate at individual and stand scales, as well as by likely changing the litter decomposition rate resulting from shifts in species composition and stand density. These results indicated that NNFM plays a positive role in achieving multi-objective silviculture and climate change mitigation.

The Impact of Climate Change on Storage-Yield Curves for Multi-Reservoir Systems

Hydrology Research ◽

10.2166/nh.1999.0007 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 129-146 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

N. R. Nawaz ◽

A. J. Adeloye ◽

M. Montaseri

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Surface Fluxes ◽

Runoff Coefficient ◽

Impact Study ◽

Yield Functions ◽

Reservoir Systems ◽

English System ◽

Multiple Reservoir ◽

The Impact ◽

In this paper, we report on the results of an investigation into the impacts of climate change on the storage-yield relationships for two multiple-reservoir systems, one in England and the other in Iran. The impact study uses established protocol and obtains perturbed monthly inflow series using a simple runoff coefficient approach which accounts for non-evaporative losses in the catchment, and a number of recently published GCM-based scenarios. The multi-reservoir analysis is based on the sequent-peak algorithm which has been modified to analyse multiple reservoirs and to accommodate explicitly performance norms and reservoir surface fluxes, i.e. evaporation and rainfall. As a consequence, it was also possible to assess the effect of including reservoir surface fluxes on the storage-yield functions. The results showed that, under baseline conditions, consideration of net evaporation will require lower storages for the English system and higher storages for the Iranian system. However, with perturbed hydroclimatology different impacts were obtained depending on the systems' yield and reliability. Possible explanations are offered for the observed behaviours.

Natural and Managed Grasslands Productivity during Multiyear in Ex-Arable Lands (in the Context of Climate Change)

Agriculture ◽

10.3390/agriculture11030215 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 215

Author(s):

Liudmila Tripolskaja ◽

Asta Kazlauskaite-Jadzevice ◽

Virgilijus Baliuckas ◽

Almantas Razukas

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Soil Properties ◽

Dry Matter ◽

Arable Land ◽

Rainfall Amount ◽

Rainfall Variation ◽

Global Issue ◽

Term Change ◽

Ex-arable land-use change is a global issue with significant implications for climate change and impact for phytocenosis productivity and soil quality. In temperate humid grassland, we examined the impact of climate variability and changes of soil properties on 23 years of grass productivity after conversion of ex-arable soil to abandoned land (AL), unfertilized, and fertilized managed grassland (MGunfert and MGfert, respectively). This study aimed to investigate the changes between phytocenosis dry matter (DM) yield and rainfall amount in May–June and changes of organic carbon (Corg) stocks in soil. It was found that from 1995 to 2019, rainfall in May–June tended to decrease. The more resistant to rainfall variation were plants recovered in AL. The average DM yield of MGfert was 3.0 times higher compared to that in the AL. The DM yields of AL and MG were also influenced by the long-term change of soil properties. Our results showed that Corg sequestration in AL was faster (0.455 Mg ha−1 year−1) than that in MGfert (0.321 Mg ha−1 year−1). These studies will be important in Arenosol for selecting the method for transforming low-productivity arable land into MG.

Epidemic malaria and warmer temperatures in recent decades in an East African highland

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2010.2020 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 278 (1712) ◽

pp. 1661-1669 ◽

Cited By ~ 89

Author(s):

David Alonso ◽

Menno J. Bouma ◽

Mercedes Pascual

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

East Africa ◽

Nonlinear Response ◽

Climate Change Impacts ◽

Human Model ◽

Recent Past ◽

East African ◽

Highly Nonlinear ◽

Climate change impacts on malaria are typically assessed with scenarios for the long-term future. Here we focus instead on the recent past (1970–2003) to address whether warmer temperatures have already increased the incidence of malaria in a highland region of East Africa. Our analyses rely on a new coupled mosquito–human model of malaria, which we use to compare projected disease levels with and without the observed temperature trend. Predicted malaria cases exhibit a highly nonlinear response to warming, with a significant increase from the 1970s to the 1990s, although typical epidemic sizes are below those observed. These findings suggest that climate change has already played an important role in the exacerbation of malaria in this region. As the observed changes in malaria are even larger than those predicted by our model, other factors previously suggested to explain all of the increase in malaria may be enhancing the impact of climate change.

Extreme weather highlights longer-term Canada concerns

Emerald Expert Briefings ◽

10.1108/oxan-db266493 ◽

2022 ◽

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Clean Energy ◽

Focused Attention ◽

Content Type ◽

Weather Patterns ◽

Extreme Cold ◽

The Impact ◽

Ways Of Life ◽

Significance The extreme cold comes as the province is still dealing with the damage caused by unprecedented levels of heat and wildfires last summer and then record levels of rainfall and flooding in November. Its experience has focused attention on Canada’s wider vulnerability to the impact of shifting weather patterns and climate change. Impacts The natural resource sectors that are vital to Canada’s economy face an increasingly difficult environment for extraction. Indigenous peoples across the country will see their traditional ways of life further disrupted by climate change. The increasingly evident impacts of climate change on day-to-day life will see voters demand greater action from government. Significant investment in green initiatives, clean energy and climate resiliency initiatives will boost green industries.

Climate Change Controls Phosphorus Transport from the Watershed into Lake Kinneret (Israel)

10.1101/2021.03.16.435628 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Moshe Gophen

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Regional Climate ◽

Regional Climate Change ◽

Lake Kinneret ◽

Phosphorus Transport ◽

Efficient Management ◽

Hula Valley ◽

Reclamation Project ◽

AbstractPart of the Kinneret watershed, the Hula Valley, was modified from wetlands – shallow lake for agricultural cultivation. Enhancement of nutrient fluxes into Lake Kinneret was predicted. Therefore, a reclamation project was implemented and eco-tourism partly replaced agriculture. Since the mid-1980s, regional climate change has been documented. Statistical evaluation of long-term records of TP (Total Phosphorus) concentrations in headwaters and potential resources in the Hula Valley was carried out to identify efficient management design targets. Significant correlation between major headwater river discharge and TP concentration was indicated, whilst the impact of external fertilizer loads and 50,000 winter migratory cranes was probably negligible. Nevertheless, confirmed severe bdamage to agricultural crops carried out by cranes led to their maximal deportation and optimization of their feeding policy. Consequently, the continuation of the present management is recommended.

Sooty tern (Onychoprion fuscatus) survival, oil spills, shrimp fisheries, and hurricanes

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.3287 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. e3287 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Ryan M. Huang ◽

Oron L. Bass Jr ◽

Stuart L. Pimm

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Oil Spills ◽

Shrimp Fishery ◽

Technological Advances ◽

Face Threats ◽

Shrimp Fisheries ◽

Onychoprion Fuscatus ◽

Sooty Tern ◽

Migratory seabirds face threats from climate change and a variety of anthropogenic disturbances. Although most seabird research has focused on the ecology of individuals at the colony, technological advances now allow researchers to track seabird movements at sea and during migration. We combined telemetry data on Onychoprion fuscatus (sooty terns) with a long-term capture-mark-recapture dataset from the Dry Tortugas National Park to map the movements at sea for this species, calculate estimates of mortality, and investigate the impact of hurricanes on a migratory seabird. Included in the latter analysis is information on the locations of recovered bands from deceased individuals wrecked by tropical storms. We present the first known map of sooty tern migration in the Atlantic Ocean. Our results indicate that the birds had minor overlaps with areas affected by the major 2010 oil spill and a major shrimp fishery. Indices of hurricane strength and occurrence are positively correlated with annual mortality and indices of numbers of wrecked birds. As climate change may lead to an increase in severity and frequency of major hurricanes, this may pose a long-term problem for this colony.