Total and methylmercury concentrations in Canadian alpine proglacial freshwater rivers (Banff and Jasper National Parks)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica A. Serbu ◽  
Vincent L. St.Louis ◽  
Sydney J. A. Enns
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sampling Location ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Alpine Regions ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Methyl Hg

<p>Anthropogenic activities have resulted in increased mercury (Hg) emissions, and the deposition of inorganic and methyl Hg to watersheds, including those that are glaciated. Alpine glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates due to climate change, with glacier-fed rivers potentially transporting contaminants such as mercury historically archived in glacial ice to downstream proglacial environments. Hg in glacial rivers can also be derived from natural sources such as the erosion of subglacial and proglacial geologic material as glaciers melt and retreat. Furthermore, as inorganic Hg moves downstream, methylation can occur in regions of the watershed that contain wetlands, for example, transforming into it into toxic methyl Hg (MeHg) that can biomagnify in the watershed’s food web.</p><p>We conducted detailed monthly water quality surveys along three major glacial river transects (the Athabasca, North Saskatchewan, and Bow) in the Canadian Rocky Mountains (Banff and Jasper National Parks, Alberta), that included sampling for total and dissolved concentrations of total Hg (THg; all forms of Hg in a sample) and MeHg up to 100 km downstream of glacial termini. The resultant inter-seasonal data, spanning from May to December in this mid-latitude region, will be used to assess the amount of Hg originating from glacial melt in these systems and how it is transformed as it moves downstream. We will also examine contributions of Hg from the erosion of subglacial and proglacial bedrock material. Preliminary results show that THg and MeHg concentrations are very low in these rivers, consistently measuring at less that 3 ng/L. Additionally, as one moves downstream a larger proportion of THg is in the dissolved fraction. MeHg always measured around or below our laboratory’s detection limit (0.01 ng/L) regardless of the sampling location on our river transects.</p><p>The presence of contaminants such as Hg can have negative impacts on freshwater quality, organisms within the watershed, and downstream human populations. Quantifying the amount and speciation of Hg in the headwaters of three primary watersheds in Canada could have important implications for future research and the ongoing challenge of properly planning for drastic climate change effects in glaciated alpine regions despite concentrations of THg and MeHg being so low. </p>

Vulnerability to climate change and sea-level rise of the 35th biodiversity hotspot, the Forests of East Australia

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. BELLARD ◽  
C. LECLERC ◽  
B. D. HOFFMANN ◽  
F. COURCHAMP
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Biodiversity Hotspot ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽  
Wet Tropics ◽  
Agricultural Areas

SUMMARYThere is an urgent need to understand how climate change, including sea-level rise, is likely to threaten biodiversity and cause secondary effects, such as agro-ecosystem alteration and human displacement. The consequences of climate change, and the resulting sea-level rise within the Forests of East Australia biodiversity hotspot, were modelled and assessed for the 2070–2099 period. Climate change effects were predicted to affectc. 100000 km2, and a rise in sea level an area of 860 km2; this could potentially lead to the displacement of 20600 inhabitants. The two threats were projected to mainly affect natural and agricultural areas. The greatest conservation benefits would be obtained by either maintaining or increasing the conservation status of areas in the northern (Wet Tropics) or southern (Sydney Basin) extremities of the hotspot, as they constitute about half of the area predicted to be affected by climate change, and both areas harbour high species richness. Increasing the connectivity of protected areas for Wet Tropics and Sydney Basin species to enable them to move into new habitat areas is also important. This study provides a basis for future research on the effects on local biodiversity and agriculture.

scholarly journals Climate change and primary health care intervention framework

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rae Walker ◽  
South East Healthy Communities Partnership
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
World Health ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Health Care Intervention ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Harmful Effects

Climate change has been described as the issue of our times. The World Health Organization argues that it will result in both beneficial and harmful effects for human populations and that the harms are likely to outweigh the benefits. Climate scientists can sketch an outline of the probable changes by country, and even region within a country. The effect of climate change on communities is much harder to predict. However, it can be argued with some confidence that the effects will be unequally distributed across communities and that the ways in which communities respond will make a substantial difference to their wellbeing. This paper uses the predictions for climate change in Victoria, Australia, as the background to a discussion of primary health care principles and how they might translate into coping, adaptation and mitigation activities within the primary health care sector. The major primary health care agencies are linked to one another through Primary Care Partnership structures and processes, which provide a foundation for sector-wide responses to climate change. The concept of a storyline, a brief scenario capturing the logic of changes and potential responses, is used to link evidence of climate change effects on communities and individuals to potential responses by primary health care agencies.

scholarly journals Macro-level study on Climate Change effects on agriculture and human health in Western Himalayas: A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashutosh Mohanty
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Western Himalayas ◽  
Forest Pest ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Increasing Temperature

The current study reveals that the western Himalayas has a fragile ecosystem, highly susceptible to rapid changes in land morphology due to the consequences of climate change. Land-use and climatic change in this region has negative impacts on agriculture and human health. Increasing temperature, erratic precipitation, and rising CO2 concentrations are the main drivers which show adverse effects on agriculture and human health. The impacts trends in this region can be categorised into exacerbated pathogenicity are pathogens, and hence disease outbreaks, changes in the traditional agriculture techniques, and people’s migration that directly changes in ecological and leading to social inequalities. In the last few decades, there have been changes in vector species distribution in agriculture and increases of forest pest species attacks by climate change in agriculture and forest pest increases, and parasites are emerging during periods of these last few decades. Enhancement of seasonal transmission and distribution of pests pushes food insecurity and vector-borne infections deteriorate human health. This review article tries to analyse different literature on the effects of climate change on agriculture and human health in the Western Himalayas and suggest agroforestry and agroecology is some of the strategies to overcome climate change impact.

scholarly journals Conceptual Frameworks for Assessing Climate Change Effects on Urban Areas: A Scoping Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10794
Author(s):  
Florian Klopfer ◽  
René Westerholt ◽  
Dietwald Gruehn
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Conceptual Frameworks ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
International Panel ◽  
Climate Change Assessment ◽  
Adaptation Action

Urban areas are amongst the most adversely affected regions by current and future climate change effects. One issue when it comes to measuring, for example, impacts, vulnerabilities, and resilience in preparation of adaptation action is the abundance of conceptual frameworks and associated definitions. Frequently, those definitions contradict each other and shift over time. Prominently, in the transition from the IPCC AR (International Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report) 4 to the IPCC AR 5, a number of conceptual understandings have changed. By integrating common concepts, the literature review presented intends to thoroughly investigate frameworks applied to assess climate change effects on urban areas, creating an evidence base for research and politically relevant adaptation. Thereby, questions concerning the temporal development of publication activity, the geographical scopes of studies and authors, and the dominant concepts as applied in the studies are addressed. A total of 50 publications is identified following screening titles, abstracts, and full texts successively based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Major findings derived from our literature corpus include a recently rising trend in the number of publications, a focus on Chinese cities, an imbalance in favor of authors from Europe and North America, a dominance of the concept of vulnerability, and a strong influence of the IPCC publications. However, confusion regarding various understandings remains. Future research should focus on mainstreaming and unifying conceptual frameworks and definitions as well as on conducting comparative studies.

scholarly journals ACCOUNTING AND CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS DISCLOSURES: EXAMINING ITS IMPACT IN CURTAILING EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES.

2020 ◽  
pp. 106-110
Author(s):  
FEUT Monday Richmond ◽  
Amarachi Chiagoziem
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Organizational Climate ◽  
Emerging Infectious Diseases ◽  
Environmental Accounting ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Accounting Disclosures ◽  
Change Impact

This study aimed at X-raying the role of accounting and climate change effects in the world. The study was purely empirical in nature and data and information were obtained from related literatures and articles. The study further purposed that the accounting profession can support organizational climate change impact disclosures. This study is an additional literature to the existing research and practice in environmental accounting disclosures and set the pace for future research and practice in this field of accounting. KEYWORDS: Accounting, Climate change, Infectious Diseases, Disclosures.

scholarly journals Reply to D. L. Peters' Comment on "Streamflow input to Lake Athabasca, Canada" by Rasouli et al. (2013)

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 1287-1292 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Rasouli ◽  
M. A. Hernández-Henríquez ◽  
S. J. Déry
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Lake Basin ◽  
Recent Effort ◽  
Marked Decline

Abstract. This paper provides a reply to a comment from Peters (2014) on our recent effort focused on evaluating changes in streamflow input to Lake Athabasca, Canada. Lake Athabasca experienced a 21.2% decline in streamflow input between 1960 and 2010 that has led to a marked decline in its water levels in recent decades. A reassessment of trends in naturalized Lake Athabasca water levels shows insignificant changes from our previous findings reported in Rasouli et al. (2013), and hence our previous conclusions remain unchanged. The reply closes with recommendations for future research to minimize uncertainties in historical assessments of trends in Lake Athabasca water levels and to better project its future water levels driven by climate change and anthropogenic activities in the Athabasca Lake basin.

scholarly journals The impact of climate change on tourism in Australia – a case study relating to bushfires in Australia in 2019/2020

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-107
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Kurleto
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Preliminary Analysis ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Summer Season ◽  
Tourism Demand ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
The Impact

The main purpose of the study is to offer a preliminary analysis of the impact of Australian bush fires on tourism in the summer season of 2019/2020. The article addresses issues related to global climate change, including Australia. The author discusses the causes and effects of recent catastrophic fires in Australia, focusing on their negative impacts for tourism. Another problem raised in the article is how climate change in Australia causes bushfires that destroy the nature and life of this country. The study mainly analyses the effects of climate change on the natural environment, especially on the most attractive tourist areas in Australia, i.e. national parks. The study uses the latest information to show the effects of damage caused by fires in Australia, especially in tourism. The author concludes that there is a direct relationship between climate change resulting from global warming and tourism demand.

scholarly journals Non-timber forest products and climate change adaptation among forest-dependent communities in Bamboko forest reserve, the southwest region of Cameroon

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tieminie Robinson Nghogekeh ◽  
Chia Eugene Loh ◽  
Tieguhong Julius Chupezi ◽  
Nghobuoche Frankline Mayiadieh ◽  
Piabuo Serge Mandiefe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Forest Reserve ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Non Timber Forest Products

Abstract Background: Forests are naturally endowed to combat climate change by protecting people and livelihoods as well as creating a base for sustainable economic and social development. But this natural mechanism is often hampered by anthropogenic activities. It is therefore imperative to take measures that are environmentally sustainable not only for mitigation but also for its adaptation. This study was carried out to assess the role of Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) as a strategy to cope with the impacts of climate change among forest-dependent communities around the Bamkoko Forest Reserve in the South West Region of Cameroon.Methods: Datasets were collected through household questionnaires (20% of the population in each village that constitute the study site was a sample), participatory rural appraisal techniques, transect walks in the 4 corners of the Bamboko Forest Reserve with a square sample of 25 m2 x 25 m2 to identified and record NTFPs in the reserve, and direct field observations. ). SPSS package for social scientists was used. The results were used for the construction of tables.Results: A total of 18 plant species were identified as being harvested as Non-Timber Forest Products by the residents around the Bamkoko Forest Reserve. The majority of the respondents (88%) perceived that there has been a change in climate patterns due to increased temperatures and unpredictable rainfalls. Eru was the most affected NTFPs with an std deviation of 1.66799 and crops was the most livelihood by climate change around Bamboko Forest Reserve with an std deviation of 1.20459 and local population used more than one strategy to cope with these adverse effectsConclusions: The study concluded that with the increasing climate change effects on crop production and other livelihoods, non-timber forest products still play a safety net role to assist communities. The need to ensure sustainable harvesting, improved processing, and access to non-timber forest products markets cannot be over-emphasized.

Climate Change Communication in Austria

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Rhomberg
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Climate Change Communication ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Winter Tourism ◽  
Change Communication ◽  
Alpine Regions ◽  
Innovation And Technology

Research on climate change communication is a neglected field in Austria. Only slowly, scientists as well as policy makers are entering the domain of communicating climate change, especially in subprojects of larger funding initiatives by the Austrian Environment Ministry and the Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology. In the field of communication research, only sporadic studies can be found: Some of them are investigating science-policy-interfaces and communication among stakeholders; others are focusing on awareness of climate change, especially in climate sensitive areas like (winter) tourism, agriculture, and forestry, which are significant economic fields in Austria and in which major efforts have to be taken to enhance adaptive capacities. Only a few studies are dealing with media representations of climate. Therefore, this article outlines a future research program, based on the assessment of existing scholarship. More scientific efforts should be given to the following fields of research: public communication of stakeholders, studies on media representation of climate change and framing and its effects as well as comparative studies with countries sharing comparable climate scenarios, and the strong need for adapting to climate change (e.g., from Alpine regions) as well as similar political structures.

scholarly journals Modelling climate change effects on a Dutch coastal groundwater system using airborne Electro Magnetic measurements

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 6135-6184 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Faneca Sànchez ◽  
J. L. Gunnink ◽  
E. S. van Baaren ◽  
G. H. P. Oude Essink ◽  
B. Siemon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Magnetic Measurements ◽  
Water System ◽  
Variable Density ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Groundwater Model ◽  
Groundwater System ◽  
Saline Groundwater ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Electro Magnetic

Abstract. The forecast of climate change effects on the groundwater system in coastal areas is of key importance for policy makers. The Dutch water system has been deeply studied because of its complex system of low-lying areas, dunes, land won to the sea and dikes, but nowadays large efforts are still being done to find out the best techniques to describe complex fresh-brackish-saline groundwater dynamic systems. In this article, we describe a methodology consisting of high-resolution airborne Electro Magnetic (EM) measurements used in a 3-D variable-density transient groundwater model for a coastal area in the Netherlands. We used the Airborne EM measurements in combination with borehole-logging data, Electrical Conductivity Cone Penetration Tests and groundwater samples to create a 3-D fresh-brackish-saline groundwater distribution of the study area. The EM measurements proved to be an improvement compared to older techniques and provided quality input for the model. With the help of the built 3-D variable-density groundwater model, we removed the remaining inaccuracies of the 3-D chloride field and predicted the effects of three climate scenarios on the groundwater and surface water system. Results showed significant changes in the groundwater system, and gave direction for future water policy. Future research should provide more insight in the improvement of data collection for fresh-brackish-saline groundwater systems as it is of high importance to further improve the quality of the model.

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