Search results for " Climate Change"

DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS OF TWO LABRID SPECIES IN THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN: IS WATER WARMING AFFECTING THEIR ECOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS?

2009

Climate warming should favor ‘warm water’ species over ‘cold water’ species at the same site. Regional warming in the Western Mediterranean has allowed the documented northward expansion of southern marine species. Conversely, very little is known on the response of cold loving species to temperature variations. We propose to work with two common coastal fishes: the rainbow wrasse Coris julis and the ornate wrasse Thalassoma pavo, with the general objective to exploring patterns of distribution and their potential to interact under warming conditions. Large scale quantitative observations revealed: (1) opposing trends in abundance along latitudinal (35o − 45oN) and depth gradients (0-36m), …

Towards the urbanisation of the Med sea: MSP challenges and opportunities for floating cities between utopia and reality

2023

Anthropogenic climate change effects push us to reimagine human life on the planet confronting extreme living conditions. Droughts, risk of submersion and flooding, saline intrusion, and land scarcity lead to more inhospitable life conditions on land. These demanding risks have led governments to envisage the displacement from the coasts of some cities at significant risk or to think of new settlements for human life, such as floating cities. Floating offshore settlements, reminiscent of the XXth-century architectural utopias, are gaining more and more popularity in contemporary debate and are, in fact, emerging realities in other parts of the globe due to advanced technology. Floating sett…

Globālo klimata pārmaiņu novēršanas politikas izvērtējums

2020

Bakalaura darba temats ir “Globālo klimata pārmaiņu novēršanas politikas izvērtējums”. Globālo klimata pārmaiņu jautājums pēdējo gadu laikā ir atzīts par vienu no steidzamāk risināmajām pasaules problēmām. Darba teorētisko ietvaru veido ieviešanas teorijas un dažādu ieviešanas aspektu teorijas, kā arī teorija par klimata pārmaiņu politiku. Darba empīriskajā daļā, izmantojot teorētiskajā daļā izvirzītos kritērijus, tiek analizēti septiņi Latvijas Republikas Nacionālie ziņojumi ANO Vispārējās konvencijas par klimata pārmaiņām ietvaros. Darba mērķis ir izvērtēt konvencijas saistību īstenošanas laikā veiktos klimata politikas pasākumus un to atbilstību konvencijas mērķim. Atslēgvārdi : globālās…

Infection success of Echinoparyphium aconiatum (Trematoda) in its snail host under high temperature: role of host resistance

2014

Background Extreme weather events such as summer heat waves become more frequent owing to global climate change and are predicted to alter disease dynamics. This is because high temperatures can reduce host immune function. Predicting the impact of climate change on host-parasite interactions is, however, difficult as temperature may also affect parasite infective stages and other host characteristics determining the outcome of interaction. Methods Two experiments were conducted to investigate these phenomena in a Lymnaea stagnalis–Echinoparyphium aconiatum (Trematoda) interaction. In the first experiment, the effects of exposure of snails to experimental heat waves [maintenance at 25°C vs.…

Ilmasto on kaikkien huulilla, mutta humanistit leikkivät kuurupiiloa

2018

Ecological Functions in the City. Green Infraestructure In Vitoria-Gasteiz

2015

Negli anni recenti, la pianificazione ha cominciato a fare uso di una sorta di razionalità ecologica, nel disegnare le città, che ha portato all’introduzione di misure volte ad accogliere le funzioni naturali nell’ambiente urbano. Da questo punto di vista, Vitoria-Gasteiz nei Paesi Baschi (Spagna) spicca per aver cercato molto a lungo, nella sua storia, di instaurare una relazione equilibrata fra la città e il suo contesto ambientale. Il caso ha ottenuto notorietà internazionale nel 2012, quando la città è stata premiata come “European Green Capital”. Oltre a questa riconosciuta esperienza, a renderla unica è la sua posizione geografica nel Sud dell’Europa, lontano dagli esempi più noti dei…

Review of immediate cardiac response in intertidal gastropods limpets at varying temperature, salinity and air exposure

2009

In 1990 Depledge and Andresen developed a #eld/laboratory, non-invasive technique to monitor the immediate response of cardiac activity in bivalves. Since then, several researchers have experienced and tested the variability of heart beat rate (HBR)and of associated metabolic rates under di$erent conditions in intertidal molluscs. Review of HBR immediate response in acute exposure and acclimation to changes of salinity, thermal stressors and air exposure were examined to test di$erent hypothesis. In intertidal Mediterranean and tropical limpets, the decrease in metabolic rate with a decrease in salinity was di$erent in animals experiencing di$erent degrees of salinity !uctuation in their re…

Heart beat rate: a physiological response to thermal stress in blue mussels species.

2009

Non-native species often have ecological impacts on invaded communities. The quanti#cation of features of invaders and recipient ecosystems facilitating and/or interfering with successful invasion remains a challenge because of several factors may in!uence the success of invasions. Among them, life history strategies (e.g., reproductive potential, body size), ability to avoid predators, disease resistance and physiological compensatory mechanisms to adapt to changing habitats are among the most important factors. The latter has been often invoked as the key to success for many intertidal invasive invertebrates and have been suggested as key indicators of invasibility rate and the ultimate d…

Identifying suitable proxies for climate change impacts in shallow Mediterranean habitats: sponge filtration not a ready-to-use tool yet

2009

The identi#cation of reliable proxies is crucial to undertake experimental manipulation and test hypotheses on climate change impacts. We evaluated the potential use of sponge #ltering activity as a proxy for the e$ect of temperature (T) increase in shallow marine habitats since: i) Porifera are ubiquitous, sessile and long-lived aquatic organisms; ii) Porifera are active #lter feeders and play a key-role in benthic-pelagic coupling; iii) #ltering activity already proved reliable to detect T e$ects on bivalves. The systematic screening of current literature to gather data and test the assumption “T increase -> increase in sponge #ltering activity” led to a #rst list of 840 sources (title re…

Adopting sustainable irrigation technologies in Italy: a study on the determinants of inter- and intra-farm diffusion

2023

This paper analyses the drivers for adopting irrigation systems with water conservation and saving technologies (WCSTs) by Italian farmers. The agricultural sector in Italy, like in other Mediterranean countries, suffers from water scarcity and water endowment variability. Water resources play a decisive role in agricultural production and in implementing large-scale WCSTs capable of improving the resilience of the whole agricultural sector. This study uses a microeconomic panel data approach to estimate farmers' decisions in adopting (inter-farm) sustainable irrigation technologies and assesses the intensity of (intra-farm) water-saving practices. Our analysis identifies the main determina…