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To reduce global greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C, individuals and households play a key role. Behavior change interventions to promote pro-environmental behavior in individuals are needed to reduce emissions globally. This systematic literature review aims to assess the a) evidence-based effectiveness of such interventions and b) the content of very successful interventions without limiting the results to specific emitting sectors or countries. Based on the “PICOS” mnemonic and PRISMA statement, a search strategy was developed, and eligibility criteria were defined. Three databases (Embase, PsycInfo, and Web of Science) were searched to retrieve and review potential literature. As a result, 54 publications from 2010 to 2021 were included in the analysis. The results show that most interventions only have small positive effects or none at all. A total of 15 very successful interventions focused on the sectors of mobility, energy, and waste and incorporated improved (infra-) structures, education, feedback, enablement or made the sustainable option the default. Six evidence-based recommendations for content, timing, and setting are deducted and given for interventions on enhancing pro-environmental behavior (PEB). In summary, although the various interventions and intervention types to promote PEB differ in their effectiveness, very successful interventions have common elements. Future research should focus on high-/low-impact and high-/low-cost behavior to develop interventions that aim at high-impact but low-cost behavior changes, or avoid low-impact but high-cost behavior.
Rewetting is the most effective way to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from drained peatlands and must significantly contribute to the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate within the land sector. In 2010–2013, more than 73 thousand hectares of fire-prone peatlands were rewetted in the Moscow Region (the hitherto largest rewetting program in the Northern Hemisphere). As the Russian Federation has no national accounting of rewetted areas yet, this paper presents an approach to detect them based on multispectral satellite data verified by ground truthing. We propose that effectively rewetted areas should minimally include areas with wet grasslands and those covered with water (cf. the IPCC categories “rewetted organic soils” and “flooded lands”). In 2020, these lands amounted in Moscow Region to more than 5.3 and 3.6 thousand hectares, respectively. Assuming that most rewetted areas were former peat extraction sites and using IPCC default GHG emission factors, an overall GHG emission reduction of over 36,000 tCO2-eq year−1 was calculated. We furthermore considered the uncertainty of calculations. With the example of a 1535 ha large rewetted peatland, we illustrate the estimation of GHG emission reductions for the period up to 2050. The approach presented can be used to estimate GHG emission reductions by peatland rewetting on the national, regional, and object level.
Summary
Sphagnum farming can substitute peat with renewable biomass and thus help mitigate climate change. Large volumes of the required founder material can only be supplied sustainably by axenic cultivation in bioreactors.
We established axenic in vitro cultures from sporophytes of 19 Sphagnum species collected in Austria, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Russia, and Sweden: S. angustifolium, S. balticum, S. capillifolium, S. centrale, S. compactum, S. cuspidatum, S. fallax, S. fimbriatum, S. fuscum, S. lindbergii, S. medium/divinum, S. palustre, S. papillosum, S. rubellum, S. russowii, S. squarrosum, S. subnitens, S. subfulvum and S. warnstorfii. These species cover five of the six European Sphagnum subgenera; namely, Acutifolia, Cuspidata, Rigida, Sphagnum and Squarrosa.
Their growth was measured in suspension cultures, whereas their ploidy was determined by flow cytometry and compared with the genome size of Physcomitrella patens. We identified haploid and diploid Sphagnum species, found that their cells are predominantly arrested in the G1 phase of the cell cycle, and did not find a correlation between plant productivity and ploidy. DNA barcoding was achieved by sequencing introns of the BRK1 genes.
With this collection, high‐quality founder material for diverse large‐scale applications, but also for basic Sphagnum research, is available from the International Moss Stock Center.
Abstract
In the 21st century, most of the world’s glaciers are expected to retreat due to further global warming. The range of this predicted retreat varies widely as a result of uncertainties in climate and glacier models. To calibrate and validate glacier models, past records of glacier mass balance are necessary, which often only span several decades. Long-term reconstructions of glacier mass balance could increase the precision of glacier models by providing the required calibration data. Here we show the possibility of applying shrub growth increments as an on-site proxy for glacier summer mass balance, exemplified by Salix shrubs in Finse, Norway. We further discuss the challenges which this method needs to meet and address the high potential of shrub growth increments for reconstructing glacier summer mass balance in remote areas.
Tree growth at northern boreal treelines is generally limited by summer temperature, hence tree rings serve as natural archives of past climatic conditions. However, there is increasing evidence that a changing summer climate as well as certain micro-site conditions can lead to a weakening or loss of the summer temperature signal in trees growing in treeline environments. This phenomenon poses a challenge to all applications relying on stable temperature-growth relationships such as temperature reconstructions and dynamic vegetation models. We tested the effect of differing ecological and climatological conditions on the summer temperature signal of Scots pine at its northern distribution limits by analyzing twelve sites distributed along a 2200 km gradient from Finland to Western Siberia (Russia). Two frequently used proxies in dendroclimatology, ring width and maximum latewood density, were correlated with summer temperature for the period 1901–2013 separately for (i) dry vs. wet micro-sites and (ii) years with dry/warm vs. wet/cold climate regimes prevailing during the growing season. Differing climate regimes significantly affected the temperature signal of Scots pine at about half of our sites: While correlations were stronger in wet/cold than in dry/warm years at most sites located in Russia, differing climate regimes had only little effect at Finnish sites. Both tree-ring proxies were affected in a similar way. Interestingly, micro-site differences significantly affected absolute tree growth, but had only minor effects on the climatic signal at our sites. We conclude that, despite the treeline-proximal location, growth-limiting conditions seem to be exceeded in dry/warm years at most Russian sites, leading to a weakening or loss of the summer temperature signal in Scots pine here. With projected temperature increase, unstable summer temperature signals in Scots pine tree rings might become more frequent, possibly affecting dendroclimatological applications and related fields.
Abstract
Climate change will lead to more frequent and severe drought periods which massively reduce crop production worldwide. Besides drought, nitrogen (N)‐deficiency is another critical threat to crop yield production. Drought and N‐deficiency both decrease photosynthesis and induce similar adaptive strategies such as longer roots, reduction of biomass, induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and antioxidative enzymes. Due to the overlapping response to N‐deficiency and drought, understanding the physiological and molecular mechanisms involved in cross‐stresses tolerance is crucial for breeding strategies and achieving multiple stress resistance and eventually more sustainable agriculture. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a mild N‐deficiency on drought stress tolerance of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L., cv. Moneymaker). Various morphological and physiological parameters such as dry biomass, root length, water potential, SPAD values, stomatal conductance, and compatible solutes accumulation (proline and sugar) were analyzed. Moreover, the expression of ROS scavenging marker genes, cytosolic ASCORBATE PEROXIDASES (cAPX1, cAPX2, and cAPX3), were investigated. Our results showed that a former mild N‐deficiency (2 mM NO3−) enhances plant adaptive response to drought stress (4 days) when compared to the plants treated with adequate N (5 mM NO3−). The improved adaptive response was reflected in higher aboveground biomass, longer root, increased specific leaf weight, enhanced stomatal conductance (without reducing water content), and higher leaf sugar content. Moreover, the APX1 gene showed a higher expression level compared to control under N‐deficiency and in combination with drought in the leaf, after a one‐week recovery period. Our finding highlights a potentially positive link between a former mild N‐deficiency and subsequent drought stress response in tomato. Combining the morphological and physiological response with underlying gene regulatory networks under consecutive stress, provide a powerful tool for improving multiple stress resistance in tomato which can be further transferred to other economically important crops.
How well populations can cope with global warming will often depend on the evolutionary potential and plasticity of their temperature-sensitive, fitness-relevant traits. In Bechstein's bats (Myotis bechsteinii), body size has increased over the last decades in response to warmer summers. If this trend continues it may threaten populations as larger females exhibit higher mortality. To assess the evolutionary potential of body size, we applied a Bayesian ‘animal model’ to estimate additive genetic variance, heritability and evolvability of body size, based on a 25-year pedigree of 332 wild females. Both heritability and additive genetic variance were reduced in hot summers compared to average and cold summers, while evolvability of body size was generally low. This suggests that the observed increase in body size was mostly driven by phenotypic plasticity. Thus, if warm summers continue to become more frequent, body size likely increases further and the resulting fitness loss could threaten populations.
Abstract
Aim
Distribution ranges of temperate tree species are shifting poleward and upslope into cooler environments due to global warming. Successful regeneration is crucial for population persistence and range expansion. Thus, we aimed to identify environmental variables that affect germination and seedling establishment of Europe's dominant forest tree, to compare the importance of plasticity and genetic variation for regeneration, and to evaluate the regeneration potential at and beyond the southern and northern distribution margins.
Location
Europe.
Time period
2016–2018.
Major taxa studied
European beech (Fagus sylvatica (L.)).
Methods
We investigated how germination, establishment and juvenile survival change across a reciprocal transplantation experiment using over 9,000 seeds of beech from 7 populations from its southern to its northern distribution range margins.
Results
Germination and establishment at the seedling stage were highly plastic in response to environmental conditions. Germination success increased with warmer and declined with colder air temperature, whereas establishment and survival were hampered under warmer and drier conditions. Germination differed among populations and was positively influenced by seed weight. However, there was no evidence of local adaptation in any trait.
Main conclusions
The high plasticity in the early life‐history traits found irrespective of seed origin may allow for short‐term acclimatization. However, our results also indicate that this plasticity might not be sufficient to ensure the regeneration of beech in the future due to the low survival found under dry and hot conditions. The future climatic conditions in parts of the distribution centre and at the rear edge might thus become limiting for natural regeneration, as the likelihood of extreme heat and drought events will increase. By contrast, at the cold distribution margin, the high plasticity in the early life‐history traits may allow for increasing germination success with increasing temperatures and may thus facilitate natural regeneration in the future.
1. Anthropogenic climate change is a substantial threat to global biodiversity. It may affect insect herbivores directly and indirectly. Indirect effects are, among others, mediated by climate‐change induced variation in host‐plant quality. Although being potentially important, little is known on the significance of such indirect effects and on interactions among environmental stressors in plant–herbivore interactions.
2. To simulate the potential impact of climate change, we investigated effects of host‐plant temperature and soil moisture on herbivore performance in the tropical butterfly Bicyclus anynana under laboratory conditions.
3. Maize grown at high temperatures or under wet conditions reduced herbivore performance, indicated by decreased body mass, storage reserves, phenoloxidase activity, and increased development time. Temperature and soil moisture acted largely independent of one another. Detrimental effects of the high plant temperature were restricted to males, indicating a higher vulnerability of this sex to environmental stress.
4. In nature, B. anynana might be threatened by increasing temperatures during the wet season negatively affecting host‐plant quality. Our study shows that herbivore performance can be substantially affected by indirect effects mediated through changes in host‐plant quality, which deserves more attention in the current era of global climate change.
Coastal sand dunes near the Baltic Sea are a dynamic environment marking the boundary between land and sea and oftentimes covered by Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests. Complex climate-environmental interactions characterize these ecosystems and largely determine the productivity and state of these coastal forests. In the face of future climate change, understanding interactions between coastal tree growth and climate variability is important to promote sustainable coastal forests. In this study, we assessed the effect of microsite conditions on tree growth and the temporal and spatial variability of the relationship between climate and Scots pine growth at nine coastal sand dune sites located around the south Baltic Sea. At each site, we studied the growth of Scots pine growing at microsites located at the ridge and bottom of a dune and built a network of 18 ring-width and 18 latewood blue intensity chronologies. Across this network, we found that microsite has a minor influence on ring-width variability, basal area increment, latewood blue intensity, and climate sensitivity. However, at the local scale, microsite effects turned out to be important for growth and climate sensitivity at some sites. Correlation analysis indicated that the strength and direction of climate-growth responses for the ring-width and blue intensity chronologies were similar for climate variables over the 1903–2016 period. A strong and positive relationship between ring-width and latewood blue intensity chronologies with winter-spring temperature was detected at local and regional scales. We identified a relatively strong, positive influence of winter-spring/summer moisture availability on both tree-ring proxies. When climate-growth responses between two intervals (1903–1959, 1960–2016) were compared, the strength of growth responses to temperature and moisture availability for both proxies varied. More specifically, for the ring-width network, we identified decreasing temperature-growth responses, which is in contrast to the latewood blue intensity network, where we documented decreasing and increasing temperature-growth relationships in the north and south respectively. We conclude that coastal Scots pine forests are primarily limited by winter-spring temperature and winter-spring/summer drought despite differing microsite conditions. We detected some spatial and temporal variability in climate-growth relationships that warrant further investigation.
How organisms that are part of the same trophic network respond to environmental variability over small spatial scales has been studied in a multitude of systems. Prevailing theory suggests a large role for plasticity in key traits among interacting species that allows matching of life cycles or life‐history traits across environmental gradients, for instance insects tracking host‐plant phenology across variable environments (Posledovich et al. 2018). A key aspect that remains understudied is the extent of intrapopulation variability in plasticity and whether stressful conditions canalize plasticity to an optimal level, or alternatively if variation in plasticity indeed could increase fitness in itself via alternative strategies. In a From the Cover article in this issue of Molecular Ecology, Kahilainen et al. (2022) investigate this issue in a classical insect study system, the metapopulation of the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitea cinxia) in the Åland archipelago of Finland. The authors first establish how a key host plant responds to water limitation, then quantify among‐family variation in larval growth and development across control and water‐limited host plants. Finally, they use RNA sequencing to gain mechanistic insights into some of these among‐family differences in larval performance in response to host‐plant variation, finding results suggesting the existence of heritable, intrapopulation variability in ecologically relevant plasticity. This final step represents a critically important and often overlooked component of efforts to predict sensitivity of biological systems to changing environmental conditions, since it provides a key metric of adaptive resilience present in the system.
Understanding the effects of temperature and moisture on radial growth is vital for assessing the impacts of climate change on carbon and water cycles. However, studies observing growth at sub-daily temporal scales remain scarce.
We analysed sub-daily growth dynamics and its climatic drivers recorded by point dendrometers for 35 trees of three temperate broadleaved species during the years 2015–2020. We isolated irreversible growth driven by cambial activity from the dendrometer records. Next, we compared the intra-annual growth patterns among species and delimited their climatic optima.
The growth of all species peaked at air temperatures between 12 and 16°C and vapour pressure deficit (VPD) below 0.1 kPa. Acer pseudoplatanus and Fagus sylvatica, both diffuse-porous, sustained growth under suboptimal VPD. Ring-porous Quercus robur experienced a steep decline of growth rates with reduced air humidity. This resulted in multiple irregular growth peaks of Q. robur during the year. By contrast, the growth patterns of the diffuse-porous species were always right-skewed unimodal with a peak in June between day of the year 150–170.
Intra-annual growth patterns are shaped more by VPD than temperature. The different sensitivity of radial growth to VPD is responsible for unimodal growth patterns in both diffuse-porous species and multimodal growth pattern in Q. robur.
Changing climate can strongly affect tree growth and forest productivity. The dendrochronological approach to assessing the impact of climate change on tree growth is possible through climate–growth correlation analysis. This study uses an individual tree-based approach to model Pinus wallichiana (P. wallichiana) radial growth response to climate across the physiographic gradients in the lower distributional range of Nepal. This study sampled six sites across the Makwanpur district of central Nepal that varied in elevation and aspect, obtaining 180 tree-ring series. Climate data series were obtained from Climate Research Unit (CRU 4.0). The pair correlation approach was used to assess P. wallichiana growth response to climate and site-level physiographic variables such as site-level environmental stress. The study also determined long-term growth trends across the elevation and aspect gradients. Trees at sites with higher elevation and northeast aspect (NEA) were more responsive to winter and spring precipitation, whereas trees with lower elevation and northwest aspect (NWA) were more responsive to winter and spring precipitation. Basal area increment (BAI) analysis showed the variation of growth at site-level environmental stress, suggesting that the sensitivity of forest ecosystems to changing climate will vary across the lower growth limit of P. wallichiana due to differences in local physiographic conditions.
In a changing world, phytoplankton communities face a large variety of challenges including altered light regimes. These alterations are caused by more pronounced stratification due to rising temperatures, enhanced eutrophication, and browning of lakes. Community responses toward these effects can emerge as alterations in physiology, biomass, biochemical composition, or diversity. In this study, we addressed the combined effects of changes in light and nutrient conditions on community responses. In particular, we investigated how light intensity and variability under two nutrient conditions influence (1) fast responses such as adjustments in photosynthesis, (2) intermediate responses such as pigment adaptation and (3) slow responses such as changes in community biomass and species composition. Therefore, we exposed communities consisting of five phytoplankton species belonging to different taxonomic groups to two constant and two variable light intensity treatments combined with two levels of phosphorus supply. The tested phytoplankton communities exhibited increased fast reactions of photosynthetic processes to light variability and light intensity. The adjustment of their light harvesting mechanisms via community pigment composition was not affected by light intensity, variability, or nutrient supply. However, pigment specific effects of light intensity, light variability, and nutrient supply on the proportion of the respective pigments were detected. Biomass was positively affected by higher light intensity and nutrient concentrations while the direction of the effect of variability was modulated by light intensity. Light variability had a negative impact on biomass at low, but a positive impact at high light intensity. The effects on community composition were species specific. Generally, the proportion of green algae was higher under high light intensity, whereas the cyanobacterium performed better under low light conditions. In addition to that, the diatom and the cryptophyte performed better with high nutrient supply while the green algae as well as the cyanobacterium performed better at low nutrient conditions. This shows that light intensity, light variability, and nutrient supply interactively affect communities. Furthermore, the responses are highly species and pigment specific, thus to clarify the effects of climate change a deeper understanding of the effects of light variability and species interactions within communities is important.
Abstract
Climate change may force organisms to adapt genetically or plastically to new environmental conditions. Invasive species show remarkable potential for rapid adaptation. The ovoviviparous New Zealand mud snail (NZMS), Potamopyrgus antipodarum, has successfully established across Europe with two clonally reproducing mitochondrial lineages since its arrival in the first half of the 19th century. Its remarkable variation in shell morphology was shown to be fitness relevant. We investigated the effects of temperature on shell morphology across 11 populations from Germany and the Iberian Peninsula in a common garden across three temperatures. We analyzed size and shape using geometric morphometrics. For both, we compared reaction norms and estimated heritabilities. For size, the interaction of temperature and haplotype explained about 50% of the total variance. We also observed more genotype by environment interactions indicating a higher degree of population differentiation than in shape. Across the three temperatures, size followed the expectations of the temperature‐size rule, with individuals growing larger in cold environments. Changes in shape may have compensated for changes in size affecting space for brooding embryos. Heritability estimates were relatively high. As indicated by the very low coefficients of variation for clonal repeatability (CVA), they can probably not be compared in absolute terms. However, they showed some sensitivity to temperature, in haplotype t more so than in z, which was only found in Portugal. The low CVA values indicate that genetic variation among European populations is still restricted with a low potential to react to selection. A considerable fraction of the genetic variation was due to differences between the clonal lineages. The NZMS has apparently not been long enough in Europe to accumulate significant genetic variation relevant for morphological adaptation. As temperature is obviously not the sole factor influencing shell morphology, their interaction will probably not be a factor limiting population persistence under a warming climate in Europe.
Many of the world’s most biodiverse regions are found in the poorest and second most populous continent of Africa; a continent facing exceptional challenges. Africa is projected to quadruple its population by 2100 and experience increasingly severe climate change and environmental conflict—all of which will ravage biodiversity. Here we assess conservation threats facing Africa and consider how these threats will be affected by human population growth, economic expansion, and climate change. We then evaluate the current capacity and infrastructure available to conserve the continent’s biodiversity. We consider four key questions essential for the future of African conservation: (1) how to build societal support for conservation efforts within Africa; (2) how to build Africa’s education, research, and management capacity; (3) how to finance conservation efforts; and (4) is conservation through development the appropriate approach for Africa? While the challenges are great, ways forward are clear, and we present ideas on how progress can be made. Given Africa’s current modest capacity to address its biodiversity crisis, additional international funding is required, but estimates of the cost of conserving Africa’s biodiversity are within reach. The will to act must build on the sympathy for conservation that is evident in Africa, but this will require building the education capacity within the continent. Considering Africa’s rapidly growing population and the associated huge economic needs, options other than conservation through development need to be more effectively explored. Despite the gravity of the situation, we believe that concerted effort in the coming decades can successfully curb the loss of biodiversity in Africa.
Introduction: At the cellular level, acute temperature changes alter ionic conductances, ion channel kinetics, and the activity of entire neuronal circuits. This can result in severe consequences for neural function, animal behavior and survival. In poikilothermic animals, and particularly in aquatic species whose core temperature equals the surrounding water temperature, neurons experience rather rapid and wide-ranging temperature fluctuations. Recent work on pattern generating neural circuits in the crustacean stomatogastric nervous system have demonstrated that neuronal circuits can exhibit an intrinsic robustness to temperature fluctuations. However, considering the increased warming of the oceans and recurring heatwaves due to climate change, the question arises whether this intrinsic robustness can acclimate to changing environmental conditions, and whether it differs between species and ocean habitats.
Methods: We address these questions using the pyloric pattern generating circuits in the stomatogastric nervous system of two crab species, Hemigrapsus sanguineus and Carcinus maenas that have seen a worldwide expansion in recent decades.
Results and discussion: Consistent with their history as invasive species, we find that pyloric activity showed a broad temperature robustness (>30°C). Moreover, the temperature-robust range was dependent on habitat temperature in both species. Warm-acclimating animals shifted the critical temperature at which circuit activity breaks down to higher temperatures. This came at the cost of robustness against cold stimuli in H. sanguineus, but not in C. maenas. Comparing the temperature responses of C. maenas from a cold latitude (the North Sea) to those from a warm latitude (Spain) demonstrated that similar shifts in robustness occurred in natural environments. Our results thus demonstrate that neuronal temperature robustness correlates with, and responds to, environmental temperature conditions, potentially preparing animals for changing ecological conditions and shifting habitats.