Accelerated shifts in terrestrial life zones under rapid climate change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. Elsen ◽  
Earl C. Saxon ◽  
B. Alexander Simmons ◽  
Michelle Ward ◽  
Brooke A. Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Rapid Climate Change ◽  
Terrestrial Life

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).

scholarly journals Engineering Climate-Change-Resilient Crops: New Tools and Approaches

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (15) ◽  
pp. 7877
Author(s):  
Fahimeh Shahinnia ◽  
Néstor Carrillo ◽  
Mohammad-Reza Hajirezaei
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Plant Growth ◽  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Stress Tolerance ◽  
Crop Yield ◽  
Plant Science ◽  
Chemical Treatments ◽  
Coated Nanoparticles ◽  
Rapid Climate Change ◽  
Protective Resources

Environmental adversities, particularly drought and nutrient limitation, are among the major causes of crop losses worldwide. Due to the rapid increase of the world’s population, there is an urgent need to combine knowledge of plant science with innovative applications in agriculture to protect plant growth and thus enhance crop yield. In recent decades, engineering strategies have been successfully developed with the aim to improve growth and stress tolerance in plants. Most strategies applied so far have relied on transgenic approaches and/or chemical treatments. However, to cope with rapid climate change and the need to secure sustainable agriculture and biomass production, innovative approaches need to be developed to effectively meet these challenges and demands. In this review, we summarize recent and advanced strategies that involve the use of plant-related cyanobacterial proteins, macro- and micronutrient management, nutrient-coated nanoparticles, and phytopathogenic organisms, all of which offer promise as protective resources to shield plants from climate challenges and to boost stress tolerance in crops.

scholarly journals New insights into lake responses to rapid climate change: the Younger Dryas in Lake Gościąż, central Poland

Boreas ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Müller ◽  
Rik Tjallingii ◽  
Mateusz Płóciennik ◽  
Tomi P. Luoto ◽  
Bartosz Kotrys ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Younger Dryas ◽  
Central Poland ◽  
Rapid Climate Change

Rapid climate change has increased post‐breeding and autumn bird density at the eastern limit of Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-242
Author(s):  
Oleg Askeyev ◽  
Arthur Askeyev ◽  
Igor Askeyev ◽  
Tim Sparks
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Bird Density ◽  
Rapid Climate Change

Biodiversity, Distributions, and Extinction

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Post
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Species Diversity ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Upper And Lower Bounds ◽  
Ecosystem Goods And Services ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Local Diversity ◽  
Rapid Climate Change ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines the relationship between species diversity and ecosystem function and stability. This subject is currently one of the most intensely studied topics in ecology. It is also of paramount importance in the study of the ecological consequences of climate change, most probably because of its obvious relevance to ecosystem goods and services. More classically, however, the subject of biodiversity response to climate change relates to what factors set limits to the upper and lower bounds of species diversity and how those factors might be altered by rapid climate change. Of the two processes generating diversity—speciation and immigration—the latter obviously operates at shorter time scales and is likely to respond more immediately to climate change. Of the processes reducing local diversity—extinction and emigration—the latter is, again, likely to operate at shorter time scales, but both processes are likely to be influenced by climate change, although at potentially different timescales.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document