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Most of the world’s mountain glaciers have been retreating for more than a century in response to climate change. Glacier retreat is evident on all continents, and the rate of retreat has accelerated during recent decades. Accurate, spatially explicit information on the position of glacier margins over time is useful for analyzing patterns of glacier retreat and measuring reductions in glacier surface area. This information is also essential for evaluating how mountain ecosystems are evolving due to climate warming and the attendant glacier retreat. Here, we present a non-comprehensive spatially explicit dataset showing multiple positions of glacier fronts since the Little Ice Age (LIA) maxima, including many data from the pre-satellite era. The dataset is based on multiple historical archival records including topographical maps; repeated photographs, paintings, and aerial or satellite images with a supplement of geochronology; and own field data. We provide ESRI shapefiles showing 728 past positions of 94 glacier fronts from all continents, except Antarctica, covering the period between the Little Ice Age maxima and the present. On average, the time series span the past 190 years. From 2 to 46 past positions per glacier are depicted (on average: 7.8).

Research on the human dimensions of climate change (HDCC) in the Canadian Arctic has expanded so rapidly over the past decade that we do not have a clear grasp of the current state of knowledge or research gaps. This lack of clarity has implications for duplication of climate policy and research, and it has been identified as a problem by communities, scientists, policy makers, and northern organizations. Our review of current knowledge about the HDCC in Nunavut, Nunavik, and Nunatsiavut indicates that the effects of climate change on subsistence harvesting and other land-based activities and the determinants of vulnerability and adaptation to such changes are well understood. However, the effects of climate change on health are less known. In the nascent research on this topic, studies on food security and personal safety dominate, and little peer-reviewed scholarship focuses on the business and economic sector. Published research shows a strong bias toward case studies in smaller communities, especially communities in Nunavut. Such studies have focused primarily on negative impacts of climate change, present-day vulnerabilities, and adaptive capacity, but studies proposing opportunities for adaptation intervention are beginning to emerge. While documenting the serious risks posed by climate change, they also highlight the adaptability of northern populations and the effects of economic-political stresses on vulnerability to changing climate. We note the absence of studies that examine how Northerners can benefit from new opportunities that may arise from climate change, or assess how the interaction of future climatic and socio-economic changes (specifically, resource development and enhanced shipping) will affect their experience of and response to climate change, or discuss the broader determinants of vulnerability and adaptation.

It has long been established that mature forests are mosaics of patches in different development phases but it has seldom explicitly been taken into account in ecological studies. We demonstrate here that these development phases, which are related to the population dynamics of trees, play an important role in the distribution of fauna based on observations on frugivorous birds. In an area close to the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, we studied the abundance of large forest bird species in relation to forest development phases, with a methodology that seems promising for ecological diagnosis and prognosis in forest management planning. Fine-scale forest mapping and bird counts were carried out in two block-transects of 40 m x 3000 m. Tree sampling in a sub-transect was used to generate population characteristics of trees, Large bird species preferred mature or senescent forest patches, whereas relatively young, growing forest patches were avoided. Important large tree species such as Manilkara zapota, Thouinia paucidentata, Guaiacum sanctum and Esenbeckia pentaphylla, characteristic of older forest patches, showed skewed size distributions indicating stress or overexploitation. The population of M. zapota, a key fruiting species that accounted for 26.5% of the total woody biomass, was most heavily affected by stress. A future collapse in the population of M. zapota, a decrease of the total area of older forest, and a decline in the abundance of large birds is likely if stress on the system continues at this level. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The influence of compost on the growth of bean plants irrigated with As-contaminated waters and its influence on the mobility of As in the soils and the uptake of As (as NaAs(III)O2) by plant components was studied at various compost application rates (3·10(4) and 6·10(4) kg ha(-1)) and at three As concentrations (1, 2 and 3 mg kg(-1)). The biomass and As and P concentrations of the roots, shoots and beans were determined at harvest time, as well as the chlorophyll content of the leaves and nonspecific and specifically bound As in the soil. The bean plants exposed to As showed typical phytotoxicity symptoms; no plants however died over the study. The biomass of the bean plants increased with the increasing amounts of compost added to the soil, attributed to the phytonutritive capacity of compost. Biomass decreased with increasing As concentrations, however, the reduction in the biomass was significantly lower with the addition of compost, indicating that the As phytotoxicity was alleviated by the compost. For the same As concentration, the As content of the roots, shoots and beans decreased with increasing compost added compared to the Control. This is due to partial immobilization of the As by the organic functional groups on the compost, either directly or through cation bridging. Most of the As adsorbed by the bean plants accumulated in the roots, while a scant allocation of As occurred in the beans. Hence, the addition of compost to soils could be used as an effective means to limit As accumulation in crops from As-contaminated waters.

Abstract. The assessment of wind conditions in complex terrain requires the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations incorporating an accurate parameterization of forest canopy effects and variable thermal stability effects. This study aims to investigate how incorporating the presence of trees can improve flow predictions. A three-dimensional steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations model is set up using OpenFOAM to simulate the flow over a complex terrain site comprising two parallel ridges located near Perdigão, Portugal. A 7.5 km × 7.5 km terrain of the Perdigao site is constructed from elevation data centered around a 100 m met-mast located on the northeast ridge. A 30-min averaged stationary period corresponding to near-neutral conditions on a single met-mast tower is simulated. The impact of incorporating different source terms is studied such as forest canopy, Coriolis forces as well as also buoyancy forces. The prediction capability of the models is analyzed for different groups of towers on the South-West ridge, inside the valley, and on the North-East ridge based on the flow topology. The inclusion of a canopy model is shown to improve predictions close to the ground for most of the towers, while reducing prediction accuracy on top of the ridges, illustrating the need to represent terrain heterogeneity.

In this study, an agroforestry ecosystem project (AEP) is developed for confronting the conflict between agricultural development and forest protection. A fuzzy stochastic programming with Laplace scenario analysis (FSL) is proposed for planning water resources in an AEP issue under uncertainties. FSL can not only deal with spatial and temporal variations of hydrologic elements and meteorological conditions; but also handle uncertainties that are expressed in terms of probability, possibility distributions and fuzzy sets; meanwhile, policy scenario analysis with Laplace’s criterion (PSL) is introduced to handle probability of each scenario occurrence under the supposition of no data available. The developed FSL can be applied to an AEP issue in Xixian county, located in north of China. The result of ecological effects, water allocation patterns, pollution mitigation schemes and system benefits under various scenarios are obtained, which can support policymakers adjusting current strategy to improve regional ecological function with cost-effective and sustainable manners. Meanwhile, it can support generating a robust water plan for regional sustainability in an AEP issue under uncertainties.

Abstract Chemical contamination has impaired ecosystems, reducing biodiversity and the provisioning of functions and services. This has spurred a movement to restore contaminated ecosystems and develop and implement national and international regulations that require it. Nevertheless, ecological restoration remains a young and rapidly growing discipline and its intersection with toxicology is even more nascent and underdeveloped. Consequently, we provide guidance to scientists and practitioners on when, where, and how to restore contaminated ecosystems. Although restoration has many benefits, it also can be expensive, and in many cases systems can recover without human intervention. Hence, the first question we address is: “When should we restore contaminated ecosystems?” Second, we provide suggestions on what to restore—biodiversity, functions, services, all 3, or something else—and where to restore given expected changes to habitats driven by global climate change. Finally, we provide guidance on how to restore contaminated ecosystems. To do this, we analyze critical aspects of the literature dealing with the ecology of restoring contaminated ecosystems. Additionally, we review approaches for translating the science of restoration to on-the-ground actions, which includes discussions of market incentives and the finances of restoration, stakeholder outreach and governance models for ecosystem restoration, and working with contractors to implement restoration plans. By explicitly considering the mechanisms and strategies that maximize the success of the restoration of contaminated sites, we hope that our synthesis serves to increase and improve collaborations between restoration ecologists and ecotoxicologists and set a roadmap for the restoration of contaminated ecosystems. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2016;12:273–283. © 2015 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of SETAC Key Points We merge insights from ecological and economic theory and on-the-ground restoration activities to provide guidance on what endpoints should be targeted for restoration in contaminated ecosystems and when, where, and how to restore ecosystems degraded by contaminants. We encourage practitioners to consider restoration as early as possible (i.e., before injury or before remediation) and to restore both structural and functional endpoints. We also promote consideration of broader landscape and seascape contexts and new ideas and approaches that can overcome the scientific and financial limitations of restoration. We urge more reciprocal transfer of knowledge among theorist and practitioners and academics, industry, government, tribal organizations, NGOs and the public to improve the science of restoration.