scholarly journals Scaled biotic disruption during early Eocene global warming events

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1237-1257
Author(s):  
S. J. Gibbs ◽  
P. R. Bown ◽  
B. H. Murphy ◽  
A. Sluijs ◽  
K. M. Edgar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Threshold Value ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Natural Experiments ◽  
Thermal Maximum ◽  
Carbon Release ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Carbon Redistribution ◽  
Extinction Events

Abstract. Late Paleocene and early Eocene hyperthermals are transient global warming events associated with massive carbon injection or carbon redistribution in the ocean-atmosphere system, and are considered partial analogues for current anthropogenic climate change. Because the magnitude of carbon release varied between the events, they are natural experiments ideal for exploring the relationship between carbon cycle perturbations, climate change and biotic response. Here we quantify marine biotic variability through three million years of the early Eocene, including five hyperthermals, utilizing a method that allows us to integrate the records of different plankton groups through scenarios ranging from background to major extinction events. Our long-time-series calcareous nannoplankton record indicates a scaling of biotic disruption to climate change associated with the amount of carbon released during the various hyperthermals. Critically, only the three largest hyperthermals, the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2) and the I1 event, show above-background variance, suggesting that the magnitude of carbon input and associated climate change needs to surpass a threshold value to cause significant biotic disruption.

scholarly journals Scaled biotic disruption during early Eocene global warming events

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 4679-4688 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Gibbs ◽  
P. R. Bown ◽  
B. H. Murphy ◽  
A. Sluijs ◽  
K. M. Edgar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
Threshold Value ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Natural Experiments ◽  
Thermal Maximum ◽  
Carbon Release ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Extinction Events ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract. Late Paleocene and early Eocene hyperthermals are transient warming events associated with massive perturbations of the global carbon cycle, and are considered partial analogues for current anthropogenic climate change. Because the magnitude of carbon release varied between the events, they are natural experiments ideal for exploring the relationship between carbon cycle perturbations, climate change and biotic response. Here we quantify marine biotic variability through three million years of the early Eocene that include five hyperthermals, utilizing a method that allows us to integrate the records of different plankton groups through scenarios ranging from background to major extinction events. Our long time-series calcareous nannoplankton record indicates a scaling of biotic disruption to climate change associated with the amount of carbon released during the various hyperthermals. Critically, only the three largest hyperthermals, the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2) and the I1 event, show above-background variance, suggesting that the magnitude of carbon input and associated climate change needs to surpass a threshold value to cause significant biotic disruption.

scholarly journals Mammal faunal response to the Paleogene hyperthermals ETM2 and H2

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1371-1405
Author(s):  
A. E. Chew
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Bighorn Basin ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
The South ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Early Eocene Climatic Optimum ◽  
South Central ◽  
Species Vulnerability ◽  
Thermal Maximum

Abstract. Scientists are increasingly turning to deep-time fossil records to decipher the long-term consequences of climate change in the race to preserve modern biotas from anthropogenically driven global warming. "Hyperthermals" are past intervals of geologically rapid global warming that provide the opportunity to study the effects of climate change on existing faunas over thousands of years. A series hyperthermals is known from the early Eocene (∼56–54 million years ago), including the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and two subsequent hyperthermals, Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2) and H2. The later hyperthermals occurred following the onset of warming at the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO), the hottest sustained period of the Cenozoic. The PETM has been comprehensively studied in marine and terrestrial settings, but the terrestrial biotic effects of ETM2 and H2 are unknown. Their geochemical signatures have been located in the northern part of the Bighorn Basin, WY, USA, and their levels can be extrapolated to an extraordinarily dense, well-studied terrestrial mammal fossil record in the south-central part of the basin. High-resolution, multi-parameter paleoecological analysis reveals significant peaks in species diversity and turnover and changes in abundance and relative body size at the levels of ETM2 and H2 in the south-central Bighorn Basin record. In contrast with the PETM, faunal change at the later hyperthermals is less extreme, does not include immigration and involves a proliferation of body sizes, although abundance shifts tend to favor smaller congeners. Faunal response at ETM2 and H2 is distinctive in its high proportion of species losses potentially related to heightened species vulnerability in response to the changes already underway at the beginning of the EECO. Faunal response at ETM2 and H2 is also distinctive in high proportions of beta richness, suggestive of increased geographic dispersal related to transient increases in habitat (floral) complexity and/or precipitation or seasonality of precipitation. These results suggest that rapid ecological changes, increased heterogeneity in species incidence, and heightened species vulnerability and loss may be expected across most of North America in the near future in response to anthropogenically-driven climate change.

scholarly journals Rapid carbon injection and transient global warming during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum

2008 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Stuijs ◽  
H. Brinkhuis
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Biotic Response ◽  
Thermal Maximum ◽  
Carbon Injection

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), ~55.5 Myr ago, was a geologically brief (~170 kyr) episode of globally elevated temperatures, which occurred superimposed on the long-term late Paleocene and early Eocene warming trend (Fig. 1). It was marked by a 5 – 8° C warming in both low and high-latitude regions, a perturbation of the hydrological cycle and major biotic response on land and in the oceans, including radiations, extinctions and migrations (see overviews in Bowen et al., 2006; Sluijs et al., 2007a).

Global Warming: More Common Than Tragic

2004 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth R. DeSombre
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Kyoto Protocol ◽  
Tragedy Of The Commons ◽  
The United States ◽  
Time Horizons ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Process Work

Global warming is indeed a difficult international environmental problem to address: it has tragedy of the commons characteristics, and problems of time horizons and uncertainty. But previous efforts at international cooperation on other environmental issues such as ozone depletion suggest that international cooperation should be possible–though difficult–on climate change. Cooperation on issues that involve long time horizons suggests that the present generation is not calculating utility quite so narrowly as game theorists posit. Experience also suggests that successful cooperation on climate change will start with measures so small as to seem inconsequential, but will set in place an institutional and scientific process that will ultimately result in much more significant cooperative efforts. Rather than representing a tragedy, the Kyoto Protocol (or something much like it) could represent the beginnings of a process in which current generations take the first steps at collective action that dramatically improve the lives of future generations. Those who are concerned about the weakness of the Kyoto Protocol should first focus on persuading the United States to join-since this is the best way to let the process work and avoid a tragedy of the commons.

scholarly journals Global mean surface temperature and climate sensitivity of the early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO), Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), and latest Paleocene

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 1953-1968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon N. Inglis ◽  
Fran Bragg ◽  
Natalie J. Burls ◽  
Margot J. Cramwinckel ◽  
David Evans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Climate Sensitivity ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Early Eocene Climatic Optimum ◽  
Thermal Maximum ◽  
Global Mean Surface Temperature ◽  
Climatic Optimum ◽  
Global Mean

Abstract. Accurate estimates of past global mean surface temperature (GMST) help to contextualise future climate change and are required to estimate the sensitivity of the climate system to CO2 forcing through Earth's history. Previous GMST estimates for the latest Paleocene and early Eocene (∼57 to 48 million years ago) span a wide range (∼9 to 23 ∘C higher than pre-industrial) and prevent an accurate assessment of climate sensitivity during this extreme greenhouse climate interval. Using the most recent data compilations, we employ a multi-method experimental framework to calculate GMST during the three DeepMIP target intervals: (1) the latest Paleocene (∼57 Ma), (2) the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; 56 Ma), and (3) the early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO; 53.3 to 49.1 Ma). Using six different methodologies, we find that the average GMST estimate (66 % confidence) during the latest Paleocene, PETM, and EECO was 26.3 ∘C (22.3 to 28.3 ∘C), 31.6 ∘C (27.2 to 34.5 ∘C), and 27.0 ∘C (23.2 to 29.7 ∘C), respectively. GMST estimates from the EECO are ∼10 to 16 ∘C warmer than pre-industrial, higher than the estimate given by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (9 to 14 ∘C higher than pre-industrial). Leveraging the large “signal” associated with these extreme warm climates, we combine estimates of GMST and CO2 from the latest Paleocene, PETM, and EECO to calculate gross estimates of the average climate sensitivity between the early Paleogene and today. We demonstrate that “bulk” equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS; 66 % confidence) during the latest Paleocene, PETM, and EECO is 4.5 ∘C (2.4 to 6.8 ∘C), 3.6 ∘C (2.3 to 4.7 ∘C), and 3.1 ∘C (1.8 to 4.4 ∘C) per doubling of CO2. These values are generally similar to those assessed by the IPCC (1.5 to 4.5 ∘C per doubling CO2) but appear incompatible with low ECS values (<1.5 per doubling CO2).

Flood management under climatic variability and its future perspective in Japan

2005 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 133-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Ikeda ◽  
J. Yoshitani ◽  
A. Terakawa
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Flood Management ◽  
Future Perspective ◽  
Recent Climate ◽  
Flood Disasters ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Management Policies ◽  
Flood Characteristics

Devastating magnitudes of flood disasters have been occurring in various areas of Japan, and their impact has been increasing in recent years. Looking ahead, it is foreseen that rainfall and its patterns will be altered due to the climate change accompanied by global warming, and there is concern that the intensity and frequency of flood disasters might be exacerbated. This paper aims to introduce flood characteristics and management policies in Japan that have been undertaken for a long time in order to mitigate these recurrent flood disasters. It also highlights extremely devastating floods in some areas that occurred under recent climate variability, and to address the progress in the assessment of hydro-meteorological tendencies and in the promotion of dialogue among climatologists and hydrologists. Lastly, a new initiative to establish an international centre on water-related hazards and its risk management is presented.

Climate change and conservation biology

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy T. Kerr ◽  
Heather M. Kharouba
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Levels ◽  
To Come

It is increasingly recognized that, as a result of ever-growing atmospheric inputs of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels, the climate is changing regionally and globally. This has been affirmed, in light of increasing scientific understanding, in the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2001, by the US National Academy of Sciences in its 2001 report, and most recently by a statement from the Science Academies of all G8 countries, along with China, India, and Brazil. This latter statement calls on the G8 nations to ‘Identify cost-effective steps that can be taken now to contribute to substantial and longterm reduction in net global greenhouse gas emission [and to] recognize that delayed action will increase the risk of adverse environmental effects and will likely incur a greater cost’. Global warming caused by elevated greenhouse gas levels is expressed with long time lags, which can be difficult to appreciate by those unfamiliar with physical systems. Once in the atmosphere, the characteristic residence time of a carbon dioxide molecule is a century. And the time taken for the ocean’s expansion to come to equilibrium with a given level of greenhouse warming is several centuries. If current trends continue, by around 2050 atmospheric carbon dioxide levels will have reached more than 500 parts per million, which is nearly double pre-industrial levels. The last time our planet experienced levels this high was some 20–40 million years ago, when sea levels were around 100m higher than today. It can also be difficult to relate intuitively to the seriousness of the roughly 0.7 °C average warming of the Earth’s surface over the past century. And the warning by the IPCC in its 2001 report, that global warming would be in the range of 1.4–5.8 °C by the end of this century, may also seem unalarming when we experience such temperature swings from one day to the next. There is, however, a huge difference between daily fluctuations, and global averages sustained year on year; the difference in average global temperature between today and the last ice age is only around 5 °C.

KEBIJAKAN NASIONAL DALAM BIDANG ENERGI DAN LINGKUNGAN DALAM ADAPTASI DAN MITIGASI PEMANASAN GLOBAL

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ichwanudin Mawardi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Water Vapor ◽  
Greenhouse Effect ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
Long Time

Current human activities have the potential to increase gas caused by the greenhouse effect. Increasing the temperature is not constant, but in the long time scales indicates that there has been global warming. In connection with efforts to save the earth from climate change in poor countries in the world through the UN session held in Bali have agreed to: (1) Bali Roadmap; (2) agreement on action to perform activities of adaptation to the negative impacts of climate change. Many people who took out the activities of carbon dioxide, kloroflorometan, nitrogen oxides, methane, aerosols, and heat or clearing land for housing, agriculture or logging. The greenhouse effect in nature has been going on for billions of years. Without water vapor and CO2 in the atmosphere,the temperature of the earth will be cooler 33 ° C compared to the current condition, so the earth becomes unfit for habitation. Thus, the greenhouse effect caused by water vapor and CO2 has a positive effect for human life. The problem right now is a greenhouse gas concentrations increasing beyond normal levels of natural as well as the emergence of several new greenhouse gases such as CFCs and CFC successors, which would cause further warming and increasingly threatening the environment carrying capacity. The world has undergone changes in temperature, season, and also increased the frequency of the most dramatic climate that requires continuous regulation to control the global climate system strictly.Keywords: greenhouse effect, global warming, climate change

Modelling ecosystem adaptation and dangerous rates of global warming

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Millington ◽  
Peter M. Cox ◽  
Jonathan R. Moore ◽  
Gabriel Yvon-Durocher
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Diffusion Rate ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Genetic Evolution ◽  
Rates Of Change ◽  
Rapid Climate Change ◽  
Warming Climate ◽  
Intraspecies Competition ◽  
High Trait

Abstract We are in a period of relatively rapid climate change. This poses challenges for individual species and threatens the ecosystem services that humanity relies upon. Temperature is a key stressor. In a warming climate, individual organisms may be able to shift their thermal optima through phenotypic plasticity. However, such plasticity is unlikely to be sufficient over the coming centuries. Resilience to warming will also depend on how fast the distribution of traits that define a species can adapt through other methods, in particular through redistribution of the abundance of variants within the population and through genetic evolution. In this paper, we use a simple theoretical ‘trait diffusion’ model to explore how the resilience of a given species to climate change depends on the initial trait diversity (biodiversity), the trait diffusion rate (mutation rate), and the lifetime of the organism. We estimate theoretical dangerous rates of continuous global warming that would exceed the ability of a species to adapt through trait diffusion, and therefore lead to a collapse in the overall productivity of the species. As the rate of adaptation through intraspecies competition and genetic evolution decreases with species lifetime, we find critical rates of change that also depend fundamentally on lifetime. Dangerous rates of warming vary from 1°C per lifetime (at low trait diffusion rate) to 8°C per lifetime (at high trait diffusion rate). We conclude that rapid climate change is liable to favour short-lived organisms (e.g. microbes) rather than longer-lived organisms (e.g. trees).

Political Preferences, Personality Traits, and Environmentalism

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair Soutter ◽  
René Mõttus
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Environmental Attitudes ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Anthropogenic Climate Change ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Party Voting

Although the scientific evidence of anthropogenic climate change continues to grow, public discourse still reflects a high level of scepticism and political polarisation towards anthropogenic climate change. In this study (N = 499) we attempted to replicate and expand upon an earlier finding that environmental terminology (“climate change” versus “global warming”) could partly explain political polarisation in environmental scepticism (Schuldt, Konrath, &amp; Schwarz, 2011). Participants completed a series of online questionnaires assessing personality traits, political preferences, belief in environmental phenomenon, and various pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. Those with a Conservative political orientation and/or party voting believed less in both climate change and global warming compared to those with a Liberal orientation and/or party voting. Furthermore, there was an interaction between continuously measured political orientation, but not party voting, and question wording on beliefs in environmental phenomena. Personality traits did not confound these effects. Furthermore, continuously measured political orientation was associated with pro-environmental attitudes, after controlling for personality traits, age, gender, area lived in, income, and education. The personality domains of Openness, and Conscientiousness, were consistently associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours, whereas Agreeableness was associated with pro-environmental attitudes but not with behaviours. This study highlights the importance of examining personality traits and political preferences together and suggests ways in which policy interventions can best be optimised to account for these individual differences.

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