scholarly journals Patterns and biases in climate change research on amphibians and reptiles: a systematic review

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 160158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maiken Winter ◽  
Wolfgang Fiedler ◽  
Wesley M. Hochachka ◽  
Arnulf Koehncke ◽  
Shai Meiri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
The Body ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Climatic Effects ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Global Impacts

Climate change probably has severe impacts on animal populations, but demonstrating a causal link can be difficult because of potential influences by additional factors. Assessing global impacts of climate change effects may also be hampered by narrow taxonomic and geographical research foci. We review studies on the effects of climate change on populations of amphibians and reptiles to assess climate change effects and potential biases associated with the body of work that has been conducted within the last decade. We use data from 104 studies regarding the effect of climate on 313 species, from 464 species–study combinations. Climate change effects were reported in 65% of studies. Climate change was identified as causing population declines or range restrictions in half of the cases. The probability of identifying an effect of climate change varied among regions, taxa and research methods. Climatic effects were equally prevalent in studies exclusively investigating climate factors (more than 50% of studies) and in studies including additional factors, thus bolstering confidence in the results of studies exclusively examining effects of climate change. Our analyses reveal biases with respect to geography, taxonomy and research question, making global conclusions impossible. Additional research should focus on under-represented regions, taxa and questions. Conservation and climate policy should consider the documented harm climate change causes reptiles and amphibians.

scholarly journals Climate change effects on macrofaunal litter decomposition: the interplay of temperature, body masses and stoichiometry

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1605) ◽  
pp. 3025-3032 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Ott ◽  
Björn C. Rall ◽  
Ulrich Brose
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Litter Quality ◽  
Handling Time ◽  
The Body ◽  
Nutrient Ratios ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Decomposition Rates ◽  
Litter Bag ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Compensatory Feeding

Macrofauna invertebrates of forest floors provide important functions in the decomposition process of soil organic matter, which is affected by the nutrient stoichiometry of the leaf litter. Climate change effects on forest ecosystems include warming and decreasing litter quality (e.g. higher C : nutrient ratios) induced by higher atmospheric CO 2 concentrations. While litter-bag experiments unravelled separate effects, a mechanistic understanding of how interactions between temperature and litter stoichiometry are driving decomposition rates is lacking. In a laboratory experiment, we filled this void by quantifying decomposer consumption rates analogous to predator–prey functional responses that include the mechanistic parameters handling time and attack rate. Systematically, we varied the body masses of isopods, the environmental temperature and the resource between poor (hornbeam) and good quality (ash). We found that attack rates increased and handling times decreased (i) with body masses and (ii) temperature. Interestingly, these relationships interacted with litter quality: small isopods possibly avoided the poorer resource, whereas large isopods exhibited increased, compensatory feeding of the poorer resource, which may be explained by their higher metabolic demands. The combination of metabolic theory and ecological stoichiometry provided critically important mechanistic insights into how warming and varying litter quality may modify macrofaunal decomposition rates.

Does Climate Change Worsen Resource Scarcity and Cause Violent Ethnic Conflict?

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyal S. Sunga
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Ethnic Conflict ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Resource Scarcity ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Conflict Situations

Does climate change create conditions in which ethnic groups, particularly in developing countries, become more likely to struggle for scarce resources which can then spur ethnically motivated violence and serious atrocities? Or is the relation between climate change and atrocities, if there is one, far more complex and perhaps indirect? How should climate change be viewed as a risk factor for the onset of violent ethnic conflict? What practical relevance could climate change effects have on early warning and prevention of serious human rights violations including crimes against humanity and genocide? The author first considers whether climate change science warnings deserve to be taken seriously before reviewing empirical studies focussing on the supposed link between climate change and ethnic conflict. Second, he argues that it is valuable to treat climate change as a possible risk factor for ethnic conflict situations in which crimes against humanity or genocide might be perpetrated, and to reflect upon early warning and prevention in this connection. The author then sets out five considerations that research on the question of a causal link between climate change and ethnic conflict should take into account.

scholarly journals Green Technology Solution to Global Climate Change Mitigation

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
SA Olaleru ◽  
JK Kirui ◽  
FI Elegbeleye ◽  
TE Aniyikaiye
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Green Technology ◽  
Climatic Effects ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Sustainable Environment ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change

Climate change is probably the most substantial issue ever to have faced human political, social and financial frameworks. The risks are enormous, with serious vulnerabilities and dangers, the economic matters questionable, the science assaulted, the governmental issues severe and muddled, the psychology perplexing, the effects annihilating, the relations with non-environmental and environmental issues occurring in several directions. Appropriate public health and policy need to be put in place to face the present and impending pollution and climate change difficulties. The question is whether our responses should focus on a mitigation of its rate and magnitude by minimizing carbon emissions of economic activity and adaptation to its unavoidable consequences. In this review, we discuss on climate change, the risk and hazard emanating from GHGs emission and its climatic effects, global actions, meetings and approach to mitigate climate change effects, policies such as economic, regulatory, forest/land use, technological approach. We suggest that the preventative actions including both mitigation and adaptation measures are good options. However, prevention of environmental problems is a key issue to sustainability. The most ideal approach to deal with environmental problem is to prevent it from being created in the first place. Therefore, green technology proffer the solution to climate change and take the lead in preventing environmental problems resulting to a sustainable environment.

scholarly journals THE WCRP CMIP3 Multimodel Dataset: A New Era in Climate Change Research

2007 ◽  
Vol 88 (9) ◽  
pp. 1383-1394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald A. Meehl ◽  
Curt Covey ◽  
Thomas Delworth ◽  
Mojib Latif ◽  
Bryant McAvaney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
The Body ◽  
Climate Simulation ◽  
Coupled Climate Model ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
New Era

A coordinated set of global coupled climate model [atmosphere–ocean general circulation model (AOGCM)] experiments for twentieth- and twenty-first-century climate, as well as several climate change commitment and other experiments, was run by 16 modeling groups from 11 countries with 23 models for assessment in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). Since the assessment was completed, output from another model has been added to the dataset, so the participation is now 17 groups from 12 countries with 24 models. This effort, as well as the subsequent analysis phase, was organized by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR) Working Group on Coupled Models (WGCM) Climate Simulation Panel, and constitutes the third phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3). The dataset is called the WCRP CMIP3 multimodel dataset, and represents the largest and most comprehensive international global coupled climate model experiment and multimodel analysis effort ever attempted. As of March 2007, the Program for Climate Model Diagnostics and Intercomparison (PCMDI) has collected, archived, and served roughly 32 TB of model data. With oversight from the panel, the multimodel data were made openly available from PCMDI for analysis and academic applications. Over 171 TB of data had been downloaded among the more than 1000 registered users to date. Over 200 journal articles, based in part on the dataset, have been published AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY so far. Though initially aimed at the IPCC AR4, this unique and valuable resource will continue to be maintained for at least the next several years. Never before has such an extensive set of climate model simulations been made available to the international climate science community for study. The ready access to the multimodel dataset opens up these types of model analyses to researchers, including students, who previously could not obtain state-of-the-art climate model output, and thus represents a new era in climate change research. As a direct consequence, these ongoing studies are increasing the body of knowledge regarding our understanding of how the climate system currently works, and how it may change in the future.

Assessment of aquifers groundwater storage for the mitigation of climate change effects

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 89-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Alberti ◽  
Martino Cantone ◽  
Loris Colombo ◽  
Gabriele Oberto ◽  
Ivana La Licata
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Groundwater Storage ◽  
Climate Change Effects
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