• Energy Research
• basic medicine close
• 15. Life on land close
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Sustainable nitrogen (N) management in agriculture is one of the most important issues affecting the environmental performance of modern agriculture. It is actually well perceived that coordinated efforts and holistic approaches are required to regulate N use by farmers. The purpose of this study was to provide an initial examination of stakeholders’ views in Japan regarding N use in agriculture and challenges to increase its sustainability. The analysis was based on a questionnaire study of five types of stakeholders (farmers, advisors, researchers, suppliers, policy makers). By means of multivariate analysis techniques it was revealed that consensus was lacking either in the acknowledgment of the causes and effects of unsustainable N management or in the challenges that need to be addressed. N losses from farms and the effects of N use were perceived but not conceived equally by all stakeholders. Organic farming and mandatory measures were the most controversial challenges, while those involving awareness, training and advisory were the most popular. This study cannot provide safe conclusions that can be generalized in the Japanese context, but it indicates domains where further research is required and orientations for future policy design towards more sustainable N use.

AbstractKelp forests are declining in many regions globally with climatic perturbations causing shifts to alternate communities and significant ecological and economic loss. Range edge populations are often at most risk and are often only sustained through localised areas of upwelling or on deeper reefs. Here we document the loss of kelp forests (Ecklonia radiata) from the Sultanate of Oman, the only confirmed northern hemisphere population of this species. Contemporary surveys failed to find any kelp in its only known historical northern hemisphere location, Sadah on the Dhofar coast. Genetic analyses of historical herbarium specimens from Oman confirmed the species to be E. radiata and revealed the lost population contained a common CO1 haplotype found across South Africa, Australia and New Zealand suggesting it once established through rapid colonisation throughout its range. However, the Omani population also contained a haplotype that is found nowhere else in the extant southern hemisphere distribution of E. radiata. The loss of the Oman population could be due to significant increases in the Arabian Sea temperature over the past 40 years punctuated by suppression of coastal upwelling. Climate-mediated warming is threatening the persistence of temperate species and precipitating loss of unique genetic diversity at lower latitudes.

We used population reconstruction techniques to assess for the first time the population dynamics of a seagrass, Cymodocea nodosa, exposed to long-term elevated CO2 near three volcanic seeps and compare them with reference sites away from the seeps. Under high CO2, the density of shoots and of individuals (apical shoots), and the vertical and horizontal elongation and production rates, were higher. Nitrogen effects on rhizome elongation and production rates and on biomass, were stronger than CO2 as these were highest at the location where the availability of nitrogen was highest. At the seep where the availability of CO2 was highest and nitrogen lowest, density of shoots and individuals were highest, probably due to CO2 effects on shoot differentiation and induced reproductive output, respectively. In all three seeps there was higher short- and long-term recruitment and growth rates around zero, indicating that elevated CO2 increases the turnover of C. nodosa shoots.

L'huile de palme est un produit très important. Il est ajouté à de nombreux produits et est un biocarburant. Cependant, les palmiers à huile (OP) sont soumis à des maladies fongiques dont la flétrissure du fusarium et la pourriture du ganoderme sont les plus importantes. Les considérations sur la façon dont le changement climatique (CC) affecte les plantes économiques tropicales sont limitées et pour les PO sont encore moins nombreuses. La marge d'adaptation aux températures plus élevées et à l'humidité changeante est réduite dans l'OP TROPICALE. Les terres deviendront de plus en plus impropres à la culture de l'OP et les plantes seront stressées, ce qui permettra l'entrée de maladies fongiques. Les nouvelles terres seront de plus en plus adaptées lorsque les conditions environnementales sont moins sévères que sous les tropiques. De nouvelles maladies peuvent menacer la culture. Enfin, l'effet des conséquences majeures de la CC sur les maladies fongiques OP est considéré ici en vue d'établir des hypothèses clés. El aceite de palma es un producto muy importante. Se añade a numerosos productos y es un biocombustible. Sin embargo, las palmas de aceite (OP) están sujetas a enfermedades fúngicas de las cuales el marchitamiento por Fusarium y la podredumbre por Ganoderma son las más importantes. Las consideraciones sobre cómo el cambio climático (CC) afecta a las plantas económicas tropicales son limitadas y para los PO son aún menores. El margen para adaptarse a temperaturas más altas y humedad cambiante se reduce en la OPERACIÓN TROPICAL. La tierra se volverá cada vez más inadecuada para el cultivo de OP y las plantas se estresarán permitiendo el ingreso de enfermedades fúngicas. Las nuevas tierras serán cada vez más adecuadas cuando las condiciones ambientales sean menos severas que en los trópicos. Las nuevas enfermedades pueden amenazar el cultivo. Finalmente, el efecto de las principales consecuencias del CC en las enfermedades fúngicas OP se considera en el presente documento con el fin de establecer hipótesis clave. Palm oil is a very important commodity. It is added to numerous products and is a biofuel. However, oil palms (OP) are subjected to fungal diseases of which Fusarium wilt and Ganoderma rots are the most important. Considerations of how climate change (CC) affects tropical economic plants are limited and for OP are even fewer. The margin for adapting to higher temperatures and changing humidity is reduced in tropical OP. Land will become increasingly unsuitable for growing OP and the plants will become stressed allowing ingress of fungal diseases. New land will be increasingly suitable where the environmental conditions are less severe than in the tropics. Novel diseases may threaten the crop. Finally, the effect of the major consequences of CC on OP fungal diseases is considered herein with a view to establishing key hypotheses. زيت النخيل هو سلعة مهمة جدا. يضاف إلى العديد من المنتجات وهو وقود حيوي. ومع ذلك، تتعرض أشجار النخيل الزيتية (OP) لأمراض فطرية أهمها ذبول المغزلي وتعفن الغانوديرما. إن اعتبارات كيفية تأثير تغير المناخ (CC) على النباتات الاقتصادية الاستوائية محدودة وحتى بالنسبة للعمليات التشغيلية أقل. يتم تقليل هامش التكيف مع درجات الحرارة المرتفعة والرطوبة المتغيرة في المناطق الاستوائية. ستصبح الأراضي غير مناسبة بشكل متزايد لزراعة النباتات القابلة للزراعة وستصبح النباتات مرهقة مما يسمح بدخول الأمراض الفطرية. ستكون الأراضي الجديدة مناسبة بشكل متزايد حيث تكون الظروف البيئية أقل قسوة مما هي عليه في المناطق الاستوائية. قد تهدد الأمراض الجديدة المحصول. أخيرًا، يتم النظر في تأثير العواقب الرئيسية لـ CC على الأمراض الفطرية OP هنا بهدف وضع فرضيات رئيسية.

AbstractClimate change is a major threat to global biodiversity that will produce a range of new selection pressures. Understanding species responses to climate change requires an interdisciplinary perspective, combining ecological, molecular and environmental approaches. We propose an applied integrated framework to identify populations under threat from climate change based on their extent of exposure, inherent sensitivity due to adaptive and neutral genetic variation and range shift potential. We consider intraspecific vulnerability and population‐level responses, an important but often neglected conservation research priority. We demonstrate how this framework can be applied to vertebrates with limited dispersal abilities using empirical data for the bat Plecotus austriacus. We use ecological niche modelling and environmental dissimilarity analysis to locate areas at high risk of exposure to future changes. Combining outlier tests with genotype–environment association analysis, we identify potential climate‐adaptive SNPs in our genomic data set and differences in the frequency of adaptive and neutral variation between populations. We assess landscape connectivity and show that changing environmental suitability may limit the future movement of individuals, thus affecting both the ability of populations to shift their distribution to climatically suitable areas and the probability of evolutionary rescue through the spread of adaptive genetic variation among populations. Therefore, a better understanding of movement ecology and landscape connectivity is needed for predicting population persistence under climate change. Our study highlights the importance of incorporating genomic data to determine sensitivity, adaptive potential and range shift potential, instead of relying solely on exposure to guide species vulnerability assessments and conservation planning.

Future climate change scenarios predict threatening outcomes to biodiversity. Available empirical data concerning biological response of freshwater fish to climate change remains scarce. In this study, we investigated the physiological and biochemical responses of two Iberian freshwater fish species (Squalius carolitertii and the endangered S. torgalensis), inhabiting different climatic conditions, to projected future scenarios of warming (+3°C) and acidification (ΔpH=-0.4). Herein, metabolic enzyme activities of glycolytic (citrate synthase - CS, lactate dehydrogenase - LDH) and antioxidant (glutathione S-transferase, catalase and superoxide dismutase) pathways, as well as the heat shock response (HSR) and lipid peroxidation were determined. Our results show that, under current water pH, warming causes differential interspecific changes on LDH activity, increasing and decreasing its activity in S. carolitertii and in S. torgalensis, respectively. Furthermore, the synergistic effect of warming and acidification caused an increase in LDH activity of S. torgalensis, comparing with the warming condition. As for CS activity, acidification significantly decreased its activity in S. carolitertii whereas in S. torgalensis no significant effect was observed. These results suggest that S. carolitertii is more vulnerable to climate change, possibly as the result of its evolutionary acclimatization to milder climatic condition, while S. torgalensis evolved in the warmer Mediterranean climate. However, significant changes in HSR were observed under the combined warming and acidification (S. carolitertii) or under acidification (S. torgalensis). Our results underlie the importance of conducting experimental studies and address species endpoint responses under projected climate change scenarios to improve conservation strategies, and to safeguard endangered freshwater fish.