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Methane emissions from aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems play a crucial role in global warming, which is particularly affecting high-latitude ecosystems. As major contributors to methane emissions in natural environments, the microbial communities involved in methane production and oxidation deserve a special attention. Microbial diversity and activity are expected to be strongly affected by the already observed (and further predicted) temperature increase in high-latitude ecosystems, eventually resulting in disrupted feedback methane emissions. The METHANOBASE project has been designed to investigate the intricate relations between microbial diversity and methane emissions in Arctic, Subarctic and Subantarctic ecosystems, under natural (baseline) conditions and in response to simulated temperature increments. We report here a small subunit ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) analysis of lake, peatland and mineral soil ecosystems.

Project: Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) datasets - These data have been generated as part of the internationally-coordinated Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6; see also GMD Special Issue: http://www.geosci-model-dev.net/special_issue590.html). The simulation data provides a basis for climate research designed to answer fundamental science questions and serves as resource for authors of the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC-AR6). CMIP6 is a project coordinated by the Working Group on Coupled Modelling (WGCM) as part of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). Phase 6 builds on previous phases executed under the leadership of the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI) and relies on the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) and the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) along with numerous related activities for implementation. The original data is hosted and partially replicated on a federated collection of data nodes, and most of the data relied on by the IPCC is being archived for long-term preservation at the IPCC Data Distribution Centre (IPCC DDC) hosted by the German Climate Computing Center (DKRZ). The project includes simulations from about 120 global climate models and around 45 institutions and organizations worldwide. Summary: These data include the subset used by IPCC AR6 WGI authors of the datasets originally published in ESGF for 'CMIP6.HighResMIP.CNRM-CERFACS.CNRM-CM6-1-HR.control-1950' with the full Data Reference Syntax following the template 'mip_era.activity_id.institution_id.source_id.experiment_id.member_id.table_id.variable_id.grid_label.version'. The CNRM-CM6-1-HR climate model, released in 2017, includes the following components: aerosol: prescribed monthly fields computed by TACTIC_v2 scheme, atmos: Arpege 6.3 (T359; Gaussian Reduced with 181724 grid points in total distributed over 360 latitude circles (with 720 grid points per latitude circle between 32.2degN and 32.2degS reducing to 18 grid points per latitude circle at 89.6degN and 89.6degS); 91 levels; top level 78.4 km), atmosChem: OZL_v2, land: Surfex 8.0c, ocean: Nemo 3.6 (eORCA025, tripolar primarily 1/4deg; 1442 x 1050 longitude/latitude; 75 levels; top grid cell 0-1 m), seaIce: Gelato 6.1. The model was run by the CNRM (Centre National de Recherches Meteorologiques, Toulouse 31057, France), CERFACS (Centre Europeen de Recherche et de Formation Avancee en Calcul Scientifique, Toulouse 31057, France) (CNRM-CERFACS) in native nominal resolutions: aerosol: 100 km, atmos: 100 km, atmosChem: 100 km, land: 100 km, ocean: 25 km, seaIce: 25 km.

Aim Despite an increasing number of studies highlighting the impacts of climate change on boreal species, the main factors that will drive changes in species assemblages remain ambiguous. We study how species community composition would change following anthropogenic and natural disturbances. We determine the main drivers of assemblage dissimilarity for bird and beetle communities. Location Côte-Nord, Québec, Canada. Methods We quantify two climate-induced pathways based on direct and indirect effects on species occurrence under different harvest management scenarios. The direct climate effects illustrate the impact of climate variables while the indirect effects are reflected through habitat-based climate change. We develop empirical models to predict the distribution of more than 100 species over the next century. We analyze the regional and the latitudinal species assemblage dissimilarity by decomposing it into 'balanced variation in species occupancy and occurrence' and 'occupancy and occurrence gradient'. Results Both pathways increased dissimilarity in species assemblage. At the regional scale, both effects have an impact on decreasing the number of winning species. Yet, responses are much larger in magnitude under mixed climate effects (a mixture of direct and indirect effects). Regional assemblage dissimilarity reached 0.77 and 0.69 under mixed effects versus 0.09 and 0.10 under indirect effects for beetles and birds, respectively, between RCP8.5 and baseline climate scenarios when considering harvesting. Latitudinally, assemblage dissimilarity increased following the climate conditions pattern. Main conclusions The two pathways are complementary and alter biodiversity, mainly caused by species turnover. Yet, responses are much larger in magnitude under mixed climate effects. Therefore, the inclusion of climatic variables considers aspects other than just those related to forest landscapes, such as life cycles of animal species. Moreover, we expect differences in occupancy between the two studied taxa. This could indicate the potential range of change in boreal species concerning novel environmental conditions.

Les paysages arctiques se caractérisent par la présence de nombreux lacs et étangs qui possèdent des propriétés physico-chimiques et biologiques distinctes. Depuis 2018, nous étudions les communautés zooplanctoniques de plus de 22 lacs et 13 étangs d'eau douce situés au sud de l'Île Victoria à Cambridge Bay, Nunavut (69 ° N, 105 ° O). Pour chacun des lacs et étangs échantillonnés les communautés de zooplancton ont été récoltées et les spécimens ont été identifiés jusqu'à l'espèce. Au total, plus de 77 espèces différentes ont été identifiées incluant 56 rotifères, 6 copépodes, 11 cladocères, 2 crevettes arctiques, une espèce appartenant à la famille des Mysidacea et une crevette têtard. Arctic landscapes are characterized by the presence of many lakes and ponds that exhibit distinct physico-chemical and biological properties. Since 2018, we have been studying the zooplankton communities of more than 22 lakes and 13 freshwater ponds located on southern Victoria Island, Cambridge Bay, Nunavut (69°N, 105°W). For each of the lakes and ponds sampled, zooplankton communities were collected and specimens were identified to species. In total, more than 77 different species were found, including 56 rotifers, 6 copepods, 11 cladocerans, 2 fairy shrimps, a mysid and a tadpole shrimp.

This dataset includes data from two experiments.

The CARBO-ACID research cruise (EUROFLEETS+ SEA02_10) was carried out on the RV Ramón Margalef between August 2nd and August 11st, with departing from Vigo – Spain and ending in Lisbon – Portugal. The main objective of this cruise was to collect data and samples to study the potential effects of ocean acidification on carbonate marine organisms (coccolithophores, pteropods, planktonic and benthic foraminifera, and corals) along the Iberian margin. With this objective, oceanographic data and water samples, plankton, cold-water corals and sediment samples were collected during an upwelling season, along two transects coinciding with the two persistent upwelling filaments off the Iberia Margin: the Cape Finisterra and the Cape Roca. In this dataset is guiven all the acquired data recollected onboad. During the CARBO-ACID cruise we did a total of 7 stations, 4 stations along the Cape Finisterra transect (from W to E: CA3, CA2, CA7, CA8) and 3 stations at the Cape Roca (from W to E: CA6, CA5, CA4) transect (Fig). At each station we usually started with a multibeam survey, a CTD and Rosette cast. These initial operations allowed to identify the different water masses present in this area, characterize their physical properties and to recover seawater samples at specific depth levels. The seawater samples were onboard subsampled, preserved in cold conditions or with chemicals and/ or filtered for several further analysis in the shore-based laboratories: DNA, chlorophyll, fitoplankton, coccolithophores, pH, alkalinity, stable isotopic composition, trace elements concentration and Suspend Particulate Matter. Subsequently to these operations, at each station, two vertical tows with a plankton multinet (with 5 nets) were done on the top 700 m of the water column to sample the planktonic communities of the different water depths. After this, sediment samples were recovered with a box-corer to study the past oceanographic conditions, between the pre-industrial Era and the Present, with multi-proxies used in paleoceanography and sedimentology. A total of 10 box-cores were recollected and each of them was onboard sub-sampled for eDNA, enzymes and benthic foraminifera. Fifteen shipek grab samples were recollected at the Fontanelas seamount (Estremadura Spur), station CA6, to characterize the sedimentary cover and to evaluate the presence of deep cold-water corals. Preliminary results show that the stations CA7, CA8 and CA4, located close to the coast, as expected, are the most influenced by the coastal upwelling, exhibiting colder surface water, higher values of fluorescence, and more zooplankton content reflecting higher phyto-zooplankton concentrations, as typical of the upwelling waters. At station CA4 temperature was higher and fluorescence showed lower values, indicative of less phytoplankton, and interpreted as indicating a different upwelling source water from that upwelled further north. Based on the CTD data, the Cape Roca transect is more influenced by the subtropical East North Atlantic Central Water (ENACWst), while the Cape Finisterra transect is more under the influence of the subpolar branch (ENACWsp). Seafloor sediment samples showed significant differences between the stations. Along the northern transect (Cape Finisterra) the seafloor sediments show an increase in grain size from the offshore to the coast. The offshore stations CA3 and CA2 revealed finer grained sediments, CA8 were composed of coarser sand and the station CA7, the shallowest station 77 m, presented the sediment composed mainly of shell fragments and coarse grain sand. Along the southern transect (Cape Roca), the offshore station CA6 (Fontanelas seamount) has coarser sandy sediments with rock clasts and cold-water coral fragments, and the stations CA5 and CA4 with fine sand to muddy sediments. The detailed CA6 bathymetry allowed to verify the existence of small plateaus on the slope of the Fontanelas seamount, where the fossil cold-water corals fragments were found, suggesting that this area is a very interesting system deserving further study with a ROV, and to characterize the corals fields and verify if there are live corals. These recollected data and samples will allow not only to reconstruct the pH variability under different environmental conditions, but also to estimate the biogeochemical changes along the coastal ocean waters as the anthropogenic influence increases. These results will contribute to better understand and model the effects on the biota under the future expected oceans pH changes.

Production of biodiesel from yellow grease (waste cooking oil and waste animal fats) is fast emerging as a promising alternative to address the twin challenges before the biodiesel industry today-fluctuation in prices of vegetable oil and the food versus fuel debate. Yellow grease has a high percentage of free fatty acids (FFA) and proves to be an unsuitable feedstock for biodiesel production from commercially viable alkali-catalyzed production systems due to saponification problems.“Green” methodologies based on heterogeneous solid acid catalyzed reactions have the potential to simultaneously promote esterification and transesterification reactions of yellow grease to produce biodiesel without soap formation and offer easy catalyst separation without generation of toxic streams. This paper presents kinetic studies for the conversion of model yellow grease feeds to biodiesel using a heteropolyacid supported on alumina (HSiW/Al2O3) using a batch autoclave. Three model yellow grease feeds were prepared using canola oil with added FFA such as palmitic, oleic and linoleic acid. A pseudo homogeneous kinetic model for the parallel esterification and transesterification was developed. The rate constants and activation parameters for esterification and transesterification reactions for the model yellow grease feeds were determined. The rate constants for esterification are higher than the transesterification rate constants. The kinetic model was validated using the experimental biodiesel data obtained from processing a commercial yellow grease feed. The kinetic model could be used to design novel processes to convert various low-value waste oils, fats and non-food grade oils to sustainable biodiesel. Keywords: Yellow grease, Canola oil, Free fatty acids, Heteropolyacid, Kinetics for esterification and transesterification

Upwelling processes bring nutrient-rich waters from the deep ocean to the surface. Areas of upwelling are often associated with high productivity, offering great economic value in terms of fisheries. The sensitivity of spring/summer-time coastal upwelling systems to climate change has recently received a lot of attention. Several studies have suggested that their intensity may increase in the future while other authors have shown decreasing intensity in their equatorward portions. Yet, recent observations do not show robust evidence of this intensification. The Senegalo-Mauritanian upwelling system (SMUS) located at the southern edge of the north Atlantic system (12°N–20°N) and most active in winter/spring has been largely excluded from these studies. Here, the seasonal cycle of the SMUS and its response to climate change is investigated in the database of the Coupled Models Inter comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Upwelling magnitude and surface signature are characterized by several sea surface temperature and wind stress indices. We highlight the ability of the climate models to reproduce the system, as well as their biases. The simulations suggest that the intensity of the SMUS winter/spring upwelling will moderately decrease in the future, primarily because of a reduction of the wind forcing linked to a northward shift of Azores anticyclone and a more regional modulation of the low pressures found over Northwest Africa. The implications of such an upwelling reduction on the ecosystems and local communities exploiting them remains very uncertain.

In Cameroon, as in other countries of the Congo basin region, policy processes and activities related to climate change have been hitherto geared mostly towards mitigation and related questions, with limited concern about adaptation issues. However, the increasing vulnerability of Cameroon to climate variability and change makes adaptation significant to its national climate-change policy. Nonetheless, it remains a challenge to make both adaptation and mitigation occupy the same policy space in Cameroon. This paper builds partly on studies carried out in two community forest carbon initiatives in the southern rainforest of Cameroon. It also argues, supported by existing literature on adaptation and mitigation, that mitigation activities have the potential to produce adaptation outcomes; a situation which avoids duplication of efforts and waste of financial and technical resources, if synergetic options are anticipated and planned. However, whether such integrated approaches succeed and are subsequently reflected in national-level climate policy depends on how actors across different sectors and at different levels engage and carry out their roles. The paper discusses these roles and how they can support each other in pursuing integrated initiatives – a context which is vital for Cameroon.