Ecological Restoration in the Light of Ecological History

Science ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 325 (5940) ◽  
pp. 567-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen T. Jackson ◽  
Richard J. Hobbs
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecological Restoration ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Novel Ecosystems ◽  
History Plays ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Ecological History ◽  
Restoration Targets

Ecological history plays many roles in ecological restoration, most notably as a tool to identify and characterize appropriate targets for restoration efforts. However, ecological history also reveals deep human imprints on many ecological systems and indicates that secular climate change has kept many targets moving at centennial to millennial time scales. Past and ongoing environmental changes ensure that many historical restoration targets will be unsustainable in the coming decades. Ecological restoration efforts should aim to conserve and restore historical ecosystems where viable, while simultaneously preparing to design or steer emerging novel ecosystems to ensure maintenance of ecological goods and services.

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.

scholarly journals Threshold effects of hazard mitigation in coastal human–environmental systems

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 503-530
Author(s):  
E. D. Lazarus
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Hazard Mitigation ◽  
Coupled System ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Coupling Mechanism ◽  
Environmental Systems

Abstract. Despite improved scientific insight into physical and social dynamics related to natural disasters, the financial cost of extreme events continues to rise. This paradox is particularly evident along developed coastlines, where future hazards are projected to intensify with consequences of climate change, and where the presence of valuable infrastructure exacerbates risk. By design, coastal hazard mitigation buffers human activities against the variability of natural phenomena such as storms. But hazard mitigation also sets up feedbacks between human and natural dynamics. This paper explores developed coastlines as exemplary coupled human–environmental systems in which hazard mitigation is the key coupling mechanism. Results from a simplified numerical model of an agent-managed seawall illustrate the nonlinear effects that economic and physical thresholds can impart into coupled-system dynamics. The scale of mitigation action affects the time frame over which human activities and natural hazards interact. By accelerating environmental changes observable in some settings over human time scales of years to decades, climate change may temporarily strengthen the coupling between human and environmental dynamics. However, climate change could ultimately result in weaker coupling at those human time scales as mitigation actions increasingly engage global-scale systems.

scholarly journals Environmental Scenario Analysis on Natural and Social-Ecological Systems: A Review of Methods, Approaches and Applications

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noelia Guaita García ◽  
Julia Martínez Fernández ◽  
Carl Fitz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Scenario Analysis ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Distributed Models ◽  
Social Ecological Systems ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Use Of Models

Scenario analysis is a useful tool to facilitate discussions about the main trends of future change and to promote the understanding of global environmental changes implications on relevant aspects of sustainability. In this paper, we reviewed 294 articles published between 1995–2019, to evaluate the state of the art use of models and scenarios to investigate the effects of land use change and climate change on natural and social-ecological systems. Our review focuses on three issues. The first explores the extent to which the environmental dynamics of land use and climate change were jointly analyzed and the spatial scales associated with such integrated studies. The second explores the modelling methodologies and approaches used in the scenario analysis. The third explores the methods for developing or building scenarios. Results show that in most predictions there is little integration of key drivers of change. We find most forecasting studies use a sectoral modelling approach through dynamic spatially distributed models. Most articles do not apply a participatory approach in the development of scenarios. Based on this review, we conclude that there are some gaps in how scenario analysis on natural and social-ecological systems are conducted. These gaps pose a challenge for the use of models and scenarios as predictive tools in decision-making processes in the context of global change.

Adaptation options to reduce climate change vulnerability of sustainable forest management in the Austrian Alps

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 694-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rupert Seidl ◽  
Werner Rammer ◽  
Manfred J. Lexer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Mixed Stands ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Adaptation Options

Sustaining forest ecosystem functions and services under climate change is a major challenge for forest management. While conceptual advances of adapting coupled social–ecological systems to environmental changes have been made recently, good practice examples at the operational level still remain rare. The current study presents the development of adaptation options for 164 550 ha of commercial forests under the stewardship of the Austrian Federal Forests (AFF). We used a comprehensive vulnerability assessment as analysis framework, employing ecosystem modeling and multicriteria decision analysis in a participatory approach with forest planers of the AFF. An assessment of the vulnerability of multiple ecosystem goods and services under current management served as the starting point for the development of adaptation options. Measures found to successfully reduce vulnerability include the promotion of mixed stands of species well adapted to emerging environmental conditions, silvicultural techniques fostering complexity, and increased management intensity. Assessment results for a wide range of site and stand conditions, stand treatment programs, and future climate scenarios were used to condense robust recommendations for adapting the management guidelines currently used by AFF practitioners. Overall, our results highlight the importance of timely adaptation to sustain forest goods and services and document the respective potential of silvicultural measures.

scholarly journals Seasonality, niche management, and vertical migration in landscapes of relief

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian John ◽  
Eric S. Post
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Vertical Migration ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Realized Niche ◽  
Vertical Movements ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Continental Slopes ◽  
Anthropogenic Threats ◽  
The Relationship

Landscapes of vertical relief, such as mountains and continental slopes, intensify ecological and climatological variation within narrow spatial windows. Seasonal vertical migrants exploit this variation during their residence in, and movements between, vertically stratified seasonal ranges. Animals in terrestrial, marine, and even human-ecological systems undergo similar patterns of seasonal vertical movements. The diversity of arenas in which vertical migration evolved lends insight to the factors promoting seasonal use of landscapes of relief. Because animals must contend with both endogenous circannual rhythms and exogenous environmental seasonality, vertical migrants may be sensitive to inconsistent change across stratified seasonal ranges under climate change. To better understand how ongoing and future climatic and environmental changes are likely to impact vertical migrants, we examine vertical migration in the context of niche tracking and niche switching. Whereas niche trackers minimize variation in realized environmental conditions throughout their seasonal movements, niche switchers undergo seasonal transitions in realized niche space. These strategies mediate the relationship between migrants and their changing environment, and can be used to forecast impacts of future change and effectively conserve systems of vertical migration. Niche tracking may be hindered by inconsistent or unpredictable environmental change along a single niche axis across strata, while niche switching may be sensitive to incongruous spatiotemporal change across factors. We suggest that climate change will affect seasonal patterns in vertical environments discontinuously across time, space, and strata, and that vertical migrants are likely to face additional anthropogenic threats that interact with environmental seasonality. Conservation of vertical migrants should prioritize the availability of, and facilitate movement between, stratified seasonal ranges.

scholarly journals Coastal green infrastructure to mitigate coastal squeeze

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Chávez ◽  
Debora Lithgow ◽  
Miguel Losada ◽  
Rodolfo Silva-Casarin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Risk Evaluation ◽  
Good Practices ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Holistic Management ◽  
Coastal Squeeze ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Coastal Risk

AbstractInfrastructure is necessary to protect and provide the goods and services required by humans. As coastal green infrastructure (CGI) aims to respect and work with natural processes, it is a feasible response to mitigate or avoid the consequences of coastal squeeze. The concept of CGI is receiving increased attention of late due to the challenges facing us, such as climate change, population growth and the overexploitation of natural resources on the coast. Terms which may be applied to encourage the construction of infrastructure, or to minimize the responsibility for poorly made decisions, often induce misunderstanding. In this paper, the concept of CGI and its use in solving coastal problems is reordered. Four categories are proposed, according to the degree of naturalness of the project: Nature reclamation, Engineered ecosystems, Ecologically enhanced engineering, and De-engineering/Relocation. Existing coastal risk evaluation frameworks can be used to design many types of CGI. Key concepts, challenges and good practices for the holistic management of coastal squeeze are presented from the analysis of successful and unsuccessful CGI projects worldwide.

scholarly journals Sharing Lisboa: A Digital Social Market to Promote Sustainable and Energy Efficient Behaviours

Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Catarina C. Rolim ◽  
Patrícia Baptista
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Urban Mobility ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
New City ◽  
Social Market ◽  
The City ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Change Mitigation

Several solutions and city planning policies have emerged to promote climate change and sustainable cities. The Sharing Cities program has the ambition of contributing to climate change mitigation by improving urban mobility, energy efficiency in buildings and reducing carbon emissions by successfully engaging citizens and fostering local-level innovation. A Digital Social Market (DSM), named Sharing Lisboa, was developed in Lisbon, Portugal, supported by an application (APP), enabling the exchange of goods and services bringing citizens together to support a common cause: three schools competing during one academic year (2018/2019) to win a final prize with the engagement of school community and surrounding community. Sharing Lisboa aimed to promote behaviour change and the adoption of energy-saving behaviours such as cycling and walking with the support of local businesses. Participants earned points that reverted to the cause (school) they supported. A total of 1260 users was registered in the APP, collecting more than 850,000 points through approximately 17,000 transactions. This paper explores how the DSM has the potential to become a new city service promoting its sustainable development. Furthermore, it is crucial for this concept to reach economic viability through a business model that is both profitable and useful for the city, businesses and citizens, since investment will be required for infrastructure and management of such a market.

scholarly journals The Impact of Climate Change on the Resistance of Rice Near-Isogenic Lines with Resistance Genes Against Brown Planthopper

Rice ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun-Hung Kuang ◽  
Yu-Fu Fang ◽  
Shau-Ching Lin ◽  
Shin-Fu Tsai ◽  
Zhi-Wei Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Resistance Genes ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Gene Pyramiding ◽  
Brown Planthopper ◽  
Inhibitory Effect ◽  
Near Isogenic Lines ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Isogenic Lines ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background The impact of climate change on insect resistance genes is elusive. Hence, we investigated the responses of rice near-isogenic lines (NILs) that carry resistance genes against brown planthopper (BPH) under different environmental conditions. Results We tested these NILs under three environmental settings (the atmospheric temperature with corresponding carbon dioxide at the ambient, year 2050 and year 2100) based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change prediction. Comparing between different environments, two of nine NILs that carried a single BPH-resistant gene maintained their resistance under the environmental changes, whereas two of three NILs showed gene pyramiding with two maintained BPH resistance genes despite the environmental changes. In addition, two NILs (NIL-BPH17 and NIL-BPH20) were examined in their antibiosis and antixenosis effects under these environmental changes. BPH showed different responses to these two NILs, where the inhibitory effect of NIL-BPH17 on the BPH growth and development was unaffected, while NIL-BPH20 may have lost its resistance during the environmental changes. Conclusion Our results indicate that BPH resistance genes could be affected by climate change. NIL-BPH17 has a strong inhibitory effect on BPH feeding on phloem and would be unaffected by environmental changes, while NIL-BPH20 would lose its ability during the environmental changes.

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