Search results for "Climatic change"

A European Multi Lake Survey dataset of environmental variables, phytoplankton pigments and cyanotoxins

2018

Under ongoing climate change and increasing anthropogenic activity, which continuously challenge ecosystem resilience, an in-depth understanding of ecological processes is urgently needed. Lakes, as providers of numerous ecosystem services, face multiple stressors that threaten their functioning. Harmful cyanobacterial blooms are a persistent problem resulting from nutrient pollution and climate-change induced stressors, like poor transparency, increased water temperature and enhanced stratification. Consistency in data collection and analysis methods is necessary to achieve fully comparable datasets and for statistical validity, avoiding issues linked to disparate data sources. The Europea…

Tracking the ice: Subterranean harvestmen distribution matches ancient glacier margins

2019

Biogeographic studies often underline the role of glacial dynamism during Pleistocene (1.806-0.011 Mya) in shaping the distribution of subterranean species. Accordingly, it is presumed that present-day distribution of most specialized cold-adapted (cryophilic) cave-dwelling species should bear the signatures of past climatic events. To test this idea, we modelled the distribution of specialized cold-adapted subterranean alpine harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones: Ischyropsalididae: Ischyropsalis). We found that the distance from the glacier margins during Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; about 22,000 years ago) was the most important predictor of their present-day distribution. In particular, the pe…

Reliability and effectiveness of Ellenberg’s indices in checking flora and vegetation changes induced by climatic variations

2001

Two methods are proposed to assess the significance of time-spanned local variations of Ellenberg’s indicator values in floristic and phytosociological data sets respectively. Both methods are based on frequencies and averages of the indicator values within and among data sets. Main goal of proposed methods is to determine the threshold above which the observed variations are to be considered significant. In order to relate the observed floristic variations to recent climatic changes, attention was focused on the Ellenberg’s indices dealing with the main climatic variables: heliophany, temperature and precipitation. Study-cases from Zannone Island (Pontine Archipelago, Mediterranean region)…

A time series study on the effects of heat on mortality and evaluation of heterogeneity into European and Eastern-Southern Mediterranean cities: resu…

2013

Background: The Mediterranean region is particularly vulnerable to the effect of summer temperature. Within the CIRCE project this time-series study aims to quantify for the first time the effect of summer temperature in Eastern-Southern Mediterranean cities and compared it with European cities around the Mediterranean basin, evaluating city characteristics that explain between-city heterogeneity. Methods: The city-specific effect of maximum apparent temperature (Tappmax) was assessed by Generalized Estimation Equations, assuming a linear threshold model. Then, city-specific estimates were included in a random effect meta-regression analysis to investigate the effect modification by several…

Algunas reflexiones sobre la percepción del cambio climático en una muestra de población adulta de nivel cultural medio

1994

El cambio climático es uno de los aspectos del Medio Ambiente que mayor eco social ha alcanzado en los últimos años. El tema ha trascendido de los centros de investigación a la opinión pública de manera distorsionada, debido, en gran parte, a medios de comunicación poco rigurosos. Este trabajo reflexiona sobre la percepción del fenómeno por parte de una muestra de población adulta de nivel cultural medio, que da por sentado un cambio climático importante, producido en los últimos años por el hombre y que ha originado la mayor parte de catástrofes naturales de tipo hidrometeorológico. Esta imagen catastrofista contrasta con la indeterminación que muestra la comunidad científica, que pone de …

Cyclic fluctuations, climatic changes and role of noise in planktonic foraminifera in the Mediterranean Sea

2005

The study of Planktonic Foraminifera abundances permits to obtain climatic curves on the basis of percentage ratio between tropical and temperate/polar forms. Climatic changes were controlled by several phenomena as: (i) Milankovitch's cycles, produced by variations of astronomical parameters such as precession, obliquity and eccentricity; (ii) continental geodynamic evolution and orogenic belt; (iii) variations of atmospheric and oceanic currents; (iv) volcanic eruptions; (v) meteor impacts. But while astronomical parameters have a quasi-regular periodicity, the other phenomena can be considered as "noise signal" in natural systems. The interplay between cyclical astronomical variations, t…

Geospatial analysis of drought tendencies in the Carpathians as reflected in a 50-year time series

2019

Climate change is one of the most important issues of anthropogenic activities. The increasing drought conditions can cause water shortage and heat waves and can influence the agricultural production or the water supply of cities. The Carpathian region is also affected by this phenomenon; thus, we aimed at identifying the tendencies between 1960 and 2010 applying the CarpatClim (CC) database. We calculated the trends for each grid point of CC, plotted the results on maps, and applied statistical analysis on annual and seasonal level. We revealed that monthly average temperature, maximum temperature and evapotranspiration had similar patterns and had positive trends in all seasons except aut…

Reply to comment by C. Morhange, C. Flaux, P.A. Pirazzoli, M.B. Carre on “Holocene Sea level Change in Malta”

2013

The pits of Birzebbugia are located near the present-day mean sea level, and some are partially submerged. They were dated using pottery discovered in an archaeological site close to the coast, dated to the Bronze Age (Zammit, 1928; Abela, 1999). As they have been interpreted as sites for the retting of flax, during their utilization they should have remained dry and the sea could not submerge them. This is the reason why these structures are not directly related to the sea level, as suggested by Biolchi et al. (2011), so they represent an upper limit.

Cyclic Fluctuations, Climatic Changes and Role of Noise in Planktonic Foraminifera in the Mediterranean Sea

2004

Developing fall-sown pea cultivars as an answer to the challenges of climatic changes

2012

Chapitre 4; International audience; Pea is considered rather well adapted to wide temperature ranges, with seedlings able to survive even -20 °C. From a physiological viewpoint, pea becomes tolerant to frost if first exposed to low non-freezing temperatures, causing the so-called cold acclimation. Delayed floral initiation helps some forage pea genotypes to escape the main winter freezing periods, as susceptibility to frost increases during the transition to the reproductive state. The oldest winter pea cultivars carry the dominant allele, Hr, although some bear hr. They are generally characterized by prominent winter hardiness and a long growing season, from sowing in early October until e…