Search results for "Global change"
showing 10 items of 639 documents
Summarizing the state of the terrestrial biosphere in few dimensions
2020
Abstract. In times of global change, we must closely monitor the state of the planet in order to understand the full complexity of these changes. In fact, each of the Earth's subsystems – i.e., the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere – can be analyzed from a multitude of data streams. However, since it is very hard to jointly interpret multiple monitoring data streams in parallel, one often aims for some summarizing indicator. Climate indices, for example, summarize the state of atmospheric circulation in a region. Although such approaches are also used in other fields of science, they are rarely used to describe land surface dynamics. Here, we propose a robust method to crea…
Warming in the Agulhas Current system since the 1980's
2009
International audience; Since the 1980's, the sea surface temperature of the Agulhas Current system has increased significantly. The warming is due to an augmentation of its transport in response to an increase in wind stress curl in the South Indian Ocean at relevant latitudes. This causes an increase in the fluxes of salt and heat into the Atlantic Ocean and in the transfer of energy from the ocean to the atmosphere. Therefore, the changes we are witnessing in the region could have far reaching consequences on top of the regional impacts on ecosystem and climate. The increase in wind stress curl is consistent with a poleward shift of westerly wind in the Southern Hemisphere reported by ot…
Coastal Oceanic climate change and variability from 1982 to 2009 around South Africa
2010
Changes and fluctuations in sea surface temperature (SST) around the South African coast are analysed at a monthly scale from 1982 to 2009. There is a statistically significant negative trend of up to 0.5 °C per decade in the southern Benguela from January to August, and a cooling trend of lesser magnitude along the South Coast and in the Port Elizabeth/Port Alfred region from May to August. The cooling is due to an increase in upwelling-favourable south-easterly and easterly winds. There is a positive trend in SST of up to 0.55 °C per decade in most parts of the Agulhas Current system during all months of the year, except for KwaZulu-Natal where warming is in summer. The warming was attri…
Disentangling the latitudinal and altitudinal shifts in community composition induced by climate change: The case of riparian birds
2021
11 pages; International audience; Aim: This study investigates whether, and how, the composition of riparian bird communities has been affected by climate warming and habitat change. Although these two forces act separately, their respective contributions are rarely examined. Moreover, while the response of a given community may be a function of latitude and altitude, most studies have focused on these gradients separately. Riparian ecosystems are an opportunity to investigate community change along latitudinal and elevational gradients.Location: France, three major rivers (the Doubs, the Allier and the Loire)Taxon: Birds.Methods: Drawing upon bird community monitoring data over a period of…
Tropical Andean forests are highly susceptible to nutrient inputs--rapid effects of experimental N and P addition to an Ecuadorian montane forest.
2012
Tropical regions are facing increasing atmospheric inputs of nutrients, which will have unknown consequences for the structure and functioning of these systems. Here, we show that Neotropical montane rainforests respond rapidly to moderate additions of N (50 kg ha -1 yr -1) and P (10 kg ha -1 yr -1). Monitoring of nutrient fluxes demonstrated that the majority of added nutrients remained in the system, in either soil or vegetation. N and P additions led to not only an increase in foliar N and P concentrations, but also altered soil microbial biomass, standing fine root biomass, stem growth, and litterfall. The different effects suggest that trees are primarily limited by P, whereas some pro…
Pathways towards a sustainable future envisioned by early-career conservation researchers
2021
Scientists have warned decision-makers about the severe consequences of the global environmental crisis since the 1970s. Yet ecological degradation continues and little has been done to address climate change. We investigated early-career conservation researchers' (ECR) perspectives on, and prioritization of, actions furthering sustainability. We conducted a survey (n = 67) and an interactive workshop (n = 35) for ECR attendees of the 5th European Congress of Conservation Biology (2018). Building on these data and discussions, we identified ongoing and forthcoming advances in conservation science. These include increased transdisciplinarity, science communication, advocacy in conservati…
Additive effects of temperature and infection with an acanthocephalan parasite on the shredding activity of Gammarus fossarum (Crustacea: Amphipoda):…
2017
10 pages; International audience; Climate change can have critical impacts on the ecological role of keystone species, leading to subsequent alterations within ecosystems. The consequences of climate change may be best predicted by understanding its interaction with the cumulative effects of other stressors, although this approach is rarely adopted. However, whether this interaction is additive or interactive can hardly be predicted from studies examining a single factor at a time. In particular, biotic interactions are known to induce modifications in the functional role of many species. Here, we explored the effect of temperature on leaf consumption by a keystone freshwater shredder, the …
Land cover and its transformation in the backward trajectory footprint region of the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory
2019
Abstract. The Amazon rain forest experiences the combined pressures from human-made deforestation and progressing climate change, causing severe and potentially disruptive perturbations of the ecosystem's integrity and stability. To intensify research on critical aspects of Amazonian biosphere–atmosphere exchange, the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) has been established in the central Amazon Basin. Here we present a multi-year analysis of backward trajectories to derive an effective footprint region of the observatory, which spans large parts of the particularly vulnerable eastern basin. Further, we characterize geospatial properties of the footprint regions, such as climatic condition…
Social process of adaptation to environmental changes: How eastern african societies intervene between crops and climate
2014
Abstract Studies on climate change can only be conducted on a long time scale, and observing how societies adapt their sowing practices to climate variability is challenging and costly. As an alternative, a space and time substitution design was used, changes in space corresponding to that induced in time by environmental change. On the eastern slope of Mount Kenya, the Tharaka community, originating from the lowlands (750 m), moved up to the midlands (950 m) with their lowland-adapted resources, whereas the Mwimbi, originating from wetter upland (1100 m), moved down to the midlands with their highland-adapted genetic resources. A weather station was installed at 950 and 1100 m, and a logis…
Early developmental conditions affect stress response in juvenile but not in adult house sparrows (Passer domesticus).
2009
6 pages; International audience; The short- and long-term consequences of developmental conditions on fitness have received growing attention because the environmental conditions during early life may influence growth, condition at independence, recruitment, reproductive success or survival. We tested here, in a natural house sparrow population, if early conditions during nestling stage affected the stress response of the birds (i) shortly after fledging and (ii) next year, during their first breeding. We experimentally manipulated brood size to mimic different rearing conditions, creating reduced (-2 chicks) and enlarged broods (+2 chicks), while in a third group brood size was not manipul…