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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Marine Invertebrates: Communities At Risk, Jennifer A. Mather
Marine Invertebrates: Communities At Risk, Jennifer A. Mather
Jennifer Mather, PhD
Our definition of the word ‘animal’ centers on vertebrates, yet 99% of the animals on the planet are invertebrates, about which we know little. In addition, although the Census of Marine Life (COML.org) has recently conducted an extensive audit of marine ecosystems, we still do not understand much about the animals of the seas. Surveys of the best-known ecosystems, in which invertebrate populations often play a key role, show that the invertebrate populations are affected by human impact. Coral animals are the foundation of coral reef systems, which are estimated to contain 30% of the species in the ocean. Physical …
The Costs Of Photorespiration To Food Production Now And In The Future, Berkley J. Walker, Andy Vanloocke, Carl J. Bernacchi, Donald R. Ort
The Costs Of Photorespiration To Food Production Now And In The Future, Berkley J. Walker, Andy Vanloocke, Carl J. Bernacchi, Donald R. Ort
Andy VanLoocke
Photorespiration is essential for C3 plants but operates at the massive expense of fixed carbon dioxide and energy. Photorespiration is initiated when the initial enzyme of photosynthesis, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/ oxygenase (Rubisco), reacts with oxygen instead of carbon dioxide and produces a toxic compound that is then recycled by photorespiration. Photorespiration can be modeled at the canopy and regional scales to determine its cost under current and future atmospheres. A regional-scale model reveals that photorespiration currently decreases US soybean and wheat yields by 36% and 20%, respectively, and a 5% decrease in the losses due to photorespiration would be worth approximately …
Mapping Temperate Vegetation Climate Adaptation Variability Using Normalized Land Surface Phenology, Liang Liang, Mark D. Schwartz, Xiaoyang Zhang
Mapping Temperate Vegetation Climate Adaptation Variability Using Normalized Land Surface Phenology, Liang Liang, Mark D. Schwartz, Xiaoyang Zhang
Xiaoyang Zhang
Climate influences geographic differences of vegetation phenology through both contemporary and historical variability. The latter effect is embodied in vegetation heterogeneity underlain by spatially varied genotype and species compositions tied to climatic adaptation. Such long-term climatic effects are difficult to map and therefore often neglected in evaluating spatially explicit phenological responses to climate change. In this study we demonstrate a way to indirectly infer the portion of land surface phenology variation that is potentially contributed by underlying genotypic differences across space. The method undertaken normalized remotely sensed vegetation start-of-season (or greenup onset) with a cloned plants-based phenological model. As the …
Iceland: Extreme Learning In The Land Of Fire And Ice, Jason Polk, Leslie North
Iceland: Extreme Learning In The Land Of Fire And Ice, Jason Polk, Leslie North
Leslie North
WKU Libraries kicked off the spring season of "Far Away Places" with Dr. Jason Polk and Dr. Leslie North, Asstant Professors from the Department of Geography and Geology at WKU, who talked about leading a study abroad group to Iceland in the summer of 2015. WKU Libraries kicks off the spring season of Far Away Places with Jason Polk and Leslie North, Asst. Professors from the Department of Geography and Geology at WKU, who will be talking about leading a study abroad group to Iceland in the summer of 2015. Dr. Polk and Dr. North co-taught this course with faculty …
Can The Financialised Atmosphere Be Effectively Regulated And Accounted For?, Patty Mcnicholas, Carolyn Windsor
Can The Financialised Atmosphere Be Effectively Regulated And Accounted For?, Patty Mcnicholas, Carolyn Windsor
Carolyn Windsor
Purpose – This paper aims to carry out a critical analysis of the proposed Australian emissions trading scheme (ETS) as a complex market solution to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs). Specifically it seeks to examine the financial regulatory infrastructure that will more than likely oversee the Australian ETS, the same regulatory infrastructure which failed to prevent the global financial crisis.Design/methodology/approach – A critical examination of the financialisation of the atmosphere that follows the growth of the financialisation of capitalism when economic activity shifted from production and service sectors to finance. Financialisation of capitalism is supported by capitalist regulation influenced by neo-liberal …
The Impacts Of Climate Change Mitigation Strategies On Animal Welfare, Sara Shields, Geoffrey Orme-Evans
The Impacts Of Climate Change Mitigation Strategies On Animal Welfare, Sara Shields, Geoffrey Orme-Evans
Sara Shields, PhD
The objective of this review is to point out that the global dialog on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in animal agriculture has, thus far, not adequately considered animal welfare in proposed climate change mitigation strategies. Many suggested approaches for reducing emissions, most of which could generally be described as calls for the intensification of production, can have substantial effects on the animals. Given the growing world-wide awareness and concern for animal welfare, many of these approaches are not socially sustainable. This review identifies the main emission abatement strategies in the climate change literature that would negatively affect animal welfare and …
Maine’S Climate Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow, George L. Jacobson, Ivan J. Fernandez, Paul A. Mayewski, Catherine V. Schmitt
Maine’S Climate Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow, George L. Jacobson, Ivan J. Fernandez, Paul A. Mayewski, Catherine V. Schmitt
Ivan J. Fernandez
Recent evidence suggests that climate change is occurring at an accelerated rate as a result of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions and associated pollutants. Based on a recently completed study, the authors describe the changes Maine’s climate is likely to undergo over the next century. They suggest that while reduction of greenhouse gases is crucial, Maine needs to be prepared to adapt to the impact that our already changing climate will have on various ecosystems and economic sectors within the state
Flowering Phenology Change And Climate Warming In Southwestern Ohio, Ryan Mcewan, Robert J. Brecha, Donald R. Geiger, Grace P. John
Flowering Phenology Change And Climate Warming In Southwestern Ohio, Ryan Mcewan, Robert J. Brecha, Donald R. Geiger, Grace P. John
Robert J. Brecha
Global surface temperature has increased markedly over the last 100 years. This increase has a variety of implications for human societies, and for ecological systems. One of the most obvious ways ecosystems are affected by global climate change is through alteration of organisms’ developmental timing (phenology). We used annual botanical surveys that documented the first flowering for an array of species from 1976 to 2003 to examine the potential implications of climate change for plant development. The overall trend for these species was a progressively earlier flowering time. The two earliest flowering taxa (Galanthus and Crocus) also exhibited the strongest …
Responses Of Global Terrestrial Evapotranspiration To Climate Change And Increasing Atmospheric Co2 In The 21st Century, Shufen Pan, Hanqin Tian, Shree R. S. Dangal, Qichun Yang, Jia Yang, Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu, Bo Tao, Wei Ren, Zhiyun Ouyang
Responses Of Global Terrestrial Evapotranspiration To Climate Change And Increasing Atmospheric Co2 In The 21st Century, Shufen Pan, Hanqin Tian, Shree R. S. Dangal, Qichun Yang, Jia Yang, Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu, Bo Tao, Wei Ren, Zhiyun Ouyang
Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu
Quantifying the spatial and temporal patterns of the water lost to the atmosphere through land surface evapotranspiration (ET) is essential for understanding the global hydrological cycle, but remains much uncertain. In this study, we use the Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model to estimate the global terrestrial ET during 2000–2009 and project its changes in response to climate change and increasing atmospheric CO2 under two IPCC SRES scenarios (A2 and B1) during 2010–2099. Modeled results show a mean annual global terrestrial ET of about 549 (545–552) mm yr−1 during 2000–2009. Relative to the 2000s, global terrestrial ET for the 2090s would increase …
Climate And Land Use Controls On Soil Organic Carbon In The Loess Plateau Region Of China, Yaai Dang, Wei Ren, Bo Tao, Guangsheng Chen, Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu, Jia Yang, Shufen Pan, Guodong Wang, Shiqing Li, Hanqin Tian
Climate And Land Use Controls On Soil Organic Carbon In The Loess Plateau Region Of China, Yaai Dang, Wei Ren, Bo Tao, Guangsheng Chen, Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu, Jia Yang, Shufen Pan, Guodong Wang, Shiqing Li, Hanqin Tian
Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu
The Loess Plateau of China has the highest soil erosion rate in the world where billion tons of soil is annually washed into Yellow River. In recent decades this region has experienced significant climate change and policy-driven land conversion. However, it has not yet been well investigated how these changes in climate and land use have affected soil organic carbon (SOC) storage on the Loess Plateau. By using the Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model (DLEM), we quantified the effects of climate and land use on SOC storage on the Loess Plateau in the context of multiple environmental factors during the period …
Maine’S Climate Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow, George L. Jacobson, Ivan J. Fernandez, Paul A. Mayewski, Catherine V. Schmitt
Maine’S Climate Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow, George L. Jacobson, Ivan J. Fernandez, Paul A. Mayewski, Catherine V. Schmitt
Catherine Schmitt
Recent evidence suggests that climate change is occurring at an accelerated rate as a result of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions and associated pollutants. Based on a recently completed study, the authors describe the changes Maine’s climate is likely to undergo over the next century. They suggest that while reduction of greenhouse gases is crucial, Maine needs to be prepared to adapt to the impact that our already changing climate will have on various ecosystems and economic sectors within the state
Climatic Changes In Mountain Regions Of The American Cordillera And The Tropics: Historical Changes And Future Outlook, Henry F. Diaz, Raymond S. Bradley, Liang Ning
Climatic Changes In Mountain Regions Of The American Cordillera And The Tropics: Historical Changes And Future Outlook, Henry F. Diaz, Raymond S. Bradley, Liang Ning
Raymond S Bradley
We review some recent work regarding climatic changes in selected mountain regions, with particular attention to the tropics and the American Cordillera. Key aspects of climatic variability and trends in these regions are the amplification of surface warming trends with height, and the strong modulation of tempera¬ture trends by tropical sea surface temperature, largely controlled by changes in El Niño–Southern Oscillation on multiple time scales. Corollary aspects of these climate trends include the increase in a critical plant growth temperature threshold, a rise in the freezing level surface, and the possibility of enhanced subtropical drying. Anthropogenic global warming projections indicate …
Coastal Lagoons And Climate Change: Ecological And Social Ramifications In The U.S. Atlantic And Gulf Coast Ecosystems, Abigail Anthony, Joshua Atwood, Peter August, Carrie Byron, Stanley Cobb, Cheryl Foster, Crystal Fry, Arthur Gold, Kifle Hagos, Leanna Heffner, D. Kellogg, Kimberly Lellis-Dibble, James Opaluch, Candace Oviatt, Anna Pfeiffer-Herbert, Nicole Rohr, Leslie Smith, Tiffany Smythe, Judith Swift, Nathan Vinhateiro
Coastal Lagoons And Climate Change: Ecological And Social Ramifications In The U.S. Atlantic And Gulf Coast Ecosystems, Abigail Anthony, Joshua Atwood, Peter August, Carrie Byron, Stanley Cobb, Cheryl Foster, Crystal Fry, Arthur Gold, Kifle Hagos, Leanna Heffner, D. Kellogg, Kimberly Lellis-Dibble, James Opaluch, Candace Oviatt, Anna Pfeiffer-Herbert, Nicole Rohr, Leslie Smith, Tiffany Smythe, Judith Swift, Nathan Vinhateiro
Peter August
Lagoons are highly productive coastal features that provide a range of natural services that society values. Their setting within the coastal landscape leaves them especially vulnerable to profound physical, ecological, and associated societal disturbance from global climate change. Expected shifts in physical and ecological characteristics range from changes in flushing regime, freshwater inputs, and water chemistry to complete inundation and loss and the concomitant loss of natural and human communities. Therefore, managing coastal lagoons in the context of global climate change is critical. Although management approaches will vary depending on local conditions and cultural norms, all management scenarios will need …
Coastal Lagoons And Climate Change: Ecological And Social Ramifications In The U.S. Atlantic And Gulf Coast Ecosystems, Abigail Anthony, Joshua Atwood, Peter V. August, Carrie Byron, Stanley Cobb, Cheryl Foster, Crystal Fry, Arthur Gold, Kifle Hagos, Leanna Heffner, D. Q. Kellogg, Kimberly Lellis-Dibble, James J. Opaluch, Candace A. Oviatt, Anna Pfeiffer-Herbert, Nicole Rohr, Leslie Smith, Tiffany Smythe, Judith Swift, Nathan Vinhateiro
Coastal Lagoons And Climate Change: Ecological And Social Ramifications In The U.S. Atlantic And Gulf Coast Ecosystems, Abigail Anthony, Joshua Atwood, Peter V. August, Carrie Byron, Stanley Cobb, Cheryl Foster, Crystal Fry, Arthur Gold, Kifle Hagos, Leanna Heffner, D. Q. Kellogg, Kimberly Lellis-Dibble, James J. Opaluch, Candace A. Oviatt, Anna Pfeiffer-Herbert, Nicole Rohr, Leslie Smith, Tiffany Smythe, Judith Swift, Nathan Vinhateiro
Arthur Gold
Lagoons are highly productive coastal features that provide a range of natural services that society values. Their setting within the coastal landscape leaves them especially vulnerable to profound physical, ecological, and associated societal disturbance from global climate change. Expected shifts in physical and ecological characteristics range from changes in flushing regime, freshwater inputs, and water chemistry to complete inundation and loss and the concomitant loss of natural and human communities. Therefore, managing coastal lagoons in the context of global climate change is critical. Although management approaches will vary depending on local conditions and cultural norms, all management scenarios will need …
Century-Scale Responses Of Ecosystem Carbon Storage And Flux To Multiple Environmental Changes In The Southern United States, Hanqin Tian, Guangsheng Chen, Chi Zang, Mingliang Liu, Ge Sun, Arthur Chappelka, Wei Ren, Xiaofeng Xu, Chaoqun Lu, Shufen Pan, Hua Chen, Dafeng Hui, Steven Mcnulty, Graeme Lockaby, Eric Vance
Century-Scale Responses Of Ecosystem Carbon Storage And Flux To Multiple Environmental Changes In The Southern United States, Hanqin Tian, Guangsheng Chen, Chi Zang, Mingliang Liu, Ge Sun, Arthur Chappelka, Wei Ren, Xiaofeng Xu, Chaoqun Lu, Shufen Pan, Hua Chen, Dafeng Hui, Steven Mcnulty, Graeme Lockaby, Eric Vance
Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu
Terrestrial ecosystems in the southern United States (SUS) have experienced a complex set of changes in climate, atmospheric CO2 concentration, tropospheric ozone (O3), nitrogen (N) deposition, and land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) during the past century. Although each of these factors has received attention for its alterations on ecosystem carbon (C) dynamics, their combined effects and relative contributions are still not well understood. By using the Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model (DLEM) in combination with spatially explicit, long-term historical data series on multiple environmental factors, we examined the century-scale responses of ecosystem C storage and flux to multiple environmental changes in …
Impacts Of Tropospheric Ozone And Climate Change On Net Primary Productivity And Net Carbon Exchange Of China's Forest Ecosystems, Wei Ren, Hanqin Tian, Bo Tao, Arthur Chappelka, Ge Sun, Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu, Mingliang Liu, Guangsheng Chen, Xiaofeng Xu
Impacts Of Tropospheric Ozone And Climate Change On Net Primary Productivity And Net Carbon Exchange Of China's Forest Ecosystems, Wei Ren, Hanqin Tian, Bo Tao, Arthur Chappelka, Ge Sun, Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu, Mingliang Liu, Guangsheng Chen, Xiaofeng Xu
Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu
We investigated how ozone pollution and climate change/variability have interactively affected net primary productivity (NPP) and net carbon exchange (NCE) across China's forest ecosystem in the past half century. Using the dynamic land ecosystem model (DLEM) in conjunction with 10-km-resolution gridded historical data sets (tropospheric O3 concentrations, climate variability/change, and other environmental factors such as land-cover/land-use change (LCLUC), increasing CO2 and nitrogen deposition), we conducted nine simulation experiments to: (1) investigate the temporo-spatial patterns of NPP and NCE in China's forest ecosystems from 1961–2005; and (2) quantify the effects of tropospheric O3 pollution alone or in combination with climate variability …
Where Do We Stand On Global Warming?, Raymond S. Bradley
Where Do We Stand On Global Warming?, Raymond S. Bradley
Raymond S Bradley
Global temperatures have risen by ~0.8°C since the end of the 19th century. This increase has not been linear, as there have been periods when temperatures were stable for short periods before rising once again. The reasons for these changes in the rate of temperature rise are related to anthropogenic factors (sulphate aerosol pollution versus greenhouse gas inputs to the atmosphere) as well as to natural factors (volcanic eruptions, solar irradiance variations, El Ni.o/Southern Oscillation [ENSO] fluctuations, etc). Over the last decade or so, temperatures have not risen at the same rate as in previous decades, and this has led …
Natural Archives, Changing Climates, Raymond S. Bradley
Natural Archives, Changing Climates, Raymond S. Bradley
Raymond S Bradley
Climatic changes have occurred throughout human history, but instrumental measurements do not provide us with a very long perspective on climate variations. In many regions, instrumental records only extend back a century or two. To understand the longer-term variability of the climate system, we rely on natural archives— sediments, ice caps, peat bogs, cave deposits, banded corals and tree rings—in which a record of past changes in climate has been preserved. They are a treasure trove of the climatic and environmental history of the planet and provide information about factors that may have caused the climate to change, such as …
Recent Advances In The Climate Change Biology Literature: Describing The Whole Elephant, A. Townsend Peterson, Shaily Menon, Xingong Li
Recent Advances In The Climate Change Biology Literature: Describing The Whole Elephant, A. Townsend Peterson, Shaily Menon, Xingong Li
Shaily Menon
Climate change biology is seeing a wave of new contributions, which are reviewed herein. Contributions treat shifts in phenology and distribution, and both document past and forecast future effects. However, many of the current wave of contributions are observational and correlational, and few are experimental in nature, and too often a conceptual framework in which to contextualize the results is lacking. An additional gap is the lack of effective cross-linking among areas of research, for example, connection of sea-level rise and climate change implications for distributions of species, or evolutionary adaptation studies with distributional shift studies. Although numerous important contributions …
Changes In Extreme Climate Indices For The Northeastern United States, 1870-2006, Paula J. Brown, Raymond S. Bradley, Frank T. Keimig
Changes In Extreme Climate Indices For The Northeastern United States, 1870-2006, Paula J. Brown, Raymond S. Bradley, Frank T. Keimig
Raymond S Bradley
The northeastern United States is one of the most variable climates in the world, and how climate extremes are changing is critical to populations, industries, and the environment in this region.Along-term (1870–2005) temperature and precipitation dataset was compiled for the northeastern United States to assess how the climate has changed. Adjustments were made to daily temperatures to account for changes in mean, variance, and skewness resulting from inhomogeneities, but precipitation data were not adjusted. Trends in 17 temperature and 10 precipitation indices at 40 stations were evaluated over three time periods—1893–2005, 1893– 1950, and 1951–2005—and over 1870–2005 for a subset …
Threats To Water Supplies In The Tropical Andes, Raymond S. Bradley, Mathias Vuille, Henry F. Diaz, Walter Vergara
Threats To Water Supplies In The Tropical Andes, Raymond S. Bradley, Mathias Vuille, Henry F. Diaz, Walter Vergara
Raymond S Bradley
Climate models predict that greenhouse warming will cause temperatures to rise faster at higher than at lower altitudes. In the tropical Andes, glaciers may soon disappear, with potentially grave consequences for water supplies.