Complex and nonlinear climate-driven changes in freshwater insect communities over 42 years

The ongoing biodiversity crisis becomes evident in the widely observed decline in abundance and diversity of species, profound changes in community structure, and shifts in species’ phenology. Insects are among the most affected groups, with documented decreases in abundance up to 76% in the last 25–30 years in some terrestrial ecosystems. Identifying the underlying drivers is a major obstacle as most ecosystems are affected by multiple stressors simultaneously and in situ measurements of environmental variables are often missing. In our study, we investigated a headwater stream belonging to the most common stream type in Germany located in a nature reserve with no major anthropogenic impacts except climate change. We used the most comprehensive quantitative long-term data set on aquatic insects available, which includes weekly measurements of species-level insect abundance, daily water temperature and stream discharge as well as measurements of additional physicochemical variables for a 42-year period (1969–2010). Overall, water temperature increased by 1.88 °C and discharge patterns changed significantly. These changes were accompanied by an 81.6% decline in insect abundance, but an increase in richness (+8.5%), Shannon diversity (+22.7%), evenness (+22.4%), and interannual turnover (+34%). Moreover, the community's trophic structure and phenology changed: the duration of emergence increased by 15.2 days, whereas the peak of emergence moved 13.4 days earlier. Additionally, we observed short-term fluctuations (<5 years) in almost all metrics as well as complex and nonlinear responses of the community toward climate change that would have been missed by simply using snapshot data or shorter time series. Our results indicate that climate change has already altered biotic communities severely even in protected areas, where no other interacting stressors (pollution, habitat fragmentation, etc.) are present. This is a striking example of the scientific value of comprehensive long-term data in capturing the complex responses of communities toward climate change.     

Locating Co-presence in Media Messages about Global Warming

This paper responds to recent calls for alternative approaches to the analysis of environmental communication that uncover overlooked voices in the discussion of environmental issues. Borrowing core principles from critical rhetoric, it suggests a way to categorize media messages according to how human–nature relationships are constructed in media discourse. The paper illustrates how, in presenting contrasting and often oppositional constructions of human–nature relationships, the media messages examined articulate three recurrent (but not equal) discourses on global warming. These discourses include (1) nature-as-out-of-reach discourse, (2) nature-as-antagonist discourse, and (3) nature-as-co-present discourse. By juxtaposing these discourses, the paper shows how environmental communication scholars can engage in critical realism and political advocacy to illuminate latent public discourse that holds the potential to champion marginalized voices of nature and accentuate the interconnectedness of humans and the environment.     

全球环境变化对土壤有机碳库影响的研究进展

全球环境变化对土壤生态系统有机碳库的影响是当前研究的热点。本文综述了大气CO2浓度升高、温度上升、氮沉降等环境因素变化对土壤有机碳输入与土壤呼吸可能的影响,介绍了关于全球环境变化对土壤有机碳库影响的研究手段及其存在的问题,并就今后研究土壤有机碳对全球变化的响应提出了几点建议。     

Ammonium and nitrate tolerance in lichens

Since lichens lack roots and take up water, solutes and gases over the entire thallus surface, these organisms respond more sensitively to changes in atmospheric purity than vascular plants. After centuries where effects of sulphur dioxide and acidity were in the focus of research on atmospheric chemistry and lichens, recently the globally increased levels of ammonia and nitrate increasingly affect lichen vegetation and gave rise to intense research on the tolerance of lichens to nitrogen pollution. The present paper discusses the main findings on the uptake of ammonia and nitrate in the lichen symbiosis and to the tolerance of lichens to eutrophication. Ammonia and nitrate are both efficiently taken up under ambient conditions. The tolerance to high nitrogen levels depends, among others, on the capability of the photobiont to provide sufficient amounts of carbon skeletons for ammonia assimilation. Lowly productive lichens are apparently predisposed to be sensitive to excess nitrogen.     

Effect of outdoor temperature, heat primes and anchoring on belief in global warming

It is generally acknowledged that global warming is occurring, yet estimates of future climate change vary widely. Given this uncertainty, when asked about climate change, it is likely that people’s judgments may be affected by heuristics and accessible schemas. Three studies evaluated this proposition. Study 1 revealed a significant positive correlation between the outdoor temperature and beliefs in global warming. Study 2 showed that people were more likely to believe in global warming when they had first been primed with heat-related cognitions. Study 3 demonstrated that people were more likely to believe in global warming and more willing to pay to reduce global warming when they had first been exposed to a high vs. a low anchor for future increases in temperature. Together, results reveal that beliefs about global warming (and willingness to take actions to reduce global warming) are influenced by heuristics and accessible schemas. Several practical implications are discussed.     

Depth profile of ²³⁶U/²³⁸U in soil samples in La Palma, Canary Islands

The vertical distribution of the ²³⁶U/²³⁸U isotopic ratio was investigated in soil samples from three different locations on La Palma (one of the seven Canary Islands, Spain). Additionally the ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu atomic ratio, as it is a well establish tool for the source identification, was determined. The radiochemical procedure consisted of a U separation step by extraction chromatography using UTEVA^® Resin (Eichrom Technologies, Inc.). Afterwards Pu was separated from Th and Np by anion exchange using Dowex 1x2 (Dow Chemical Co.). Furthermore a new chemical procedure with tandem columns to separate Pu and U from the matrix was tested. For the determination of the uranium and plutonium isotopes by alpha spectrometry thin sources were prepared by microprecipitation techniques. Additionally these fractions separated from the soil samples were measured by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) to get information on the isotopic ratios ²³⁶U/²³⁸U, ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu and ²³⁶U/²³⁹Pu, respectively. The ²³⁶U concentrations [atoms/g] in each surface layer (∼2 cm) were surprisingly high compared to deeper layers where values around two orders of magnitude smaller were found. Since the isotopic ratio ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu indicated a global fallout signature we assume the same origin as the probable source for ²³⁶U. Our measured ²³⁶U/²³⁹Pu value of around 0.2 is within the expected range for this contamination source.     

Global Urban Growth and the Geography of Water Availability,Quality, and Delivery

Globally, urban growth will add 1.5 billion people to cities by 2030, making the difficult task of urban water provisions even more challenging. In this article, we develop a conceptual framework of urban water provision as composed of three axes: water availability, water quality, and water delivery. For each axis, we calculate quantitative proxy measures for all cities with more than 50,000 residents, and then briefly discuss the strategies cities are using in response if they are deficient on one of the axes. We show that 523 million people are in cities where water availability may be an issue, 890 million people are in cities where water quality may be an issue, and 1.3 billion people are in cities where water delivery may be an issue. Tapping into groundwater is a widespread response, regardless of the management challenge, with many cities unsustainably using this resource. The strategies used by cities deficient on the water delivery axis are different than for cities deficient on the water quantity or water quality axis, as lack of financial resources pushes cities toward a different and potentially less effective set of strategies.     

Paying for International Environmental Public Goods

Supply of international environmental public goods must meet certain conditions to be socially efficient, and several reasons explain why they are currently undersupplied. Diagnosis of the public goods failure associated with particular ecosystem services is critical to the development of the appropriate international response. There are two categories of international environmental public goods that are most likely to be undersupplied. One has an additive supply technology and the other has a weakest link supply technology. The degree to which the collective response should be targeted depends on the importance of supply from any one country. In principle, the solution for the undersupply lies in payments designed to compensate local providers for the additional costs they incur in meeting global demand. Targeted support may take the form of direct investment in supply (the Global Environment Facility model) or of payments for the benefits of supply (the Payments for Ecosystem Services model).     

南京低碳经济定量研究

城市化和工业化产生的碳排放是当今中国影响气候变化的重要因素,经济增长和碳排放之间的关系是当今研究的热点问题.本文研究南京市低碳经济发展的现状、阶段及演化特点,发现30年来,南京市低碳经济发展呈现波动反复的特点,扩张负脱钩3次,较高能源消费的经济增长形式-扩张连接4次,经济发展实现与能源消费较好脱钩的弱负脱钩1次,强脱钩4次,其余为弱脱钩.基于内生经济增长模型Moon-Sonn,建立了南京经济增长预测模型,并探讨了不同发展模式下南京未来50年低碳经济水平及碳排放量演化规律,预测了不同低碳经济水平下南京碳排放量和峰值出现的时间.研究结果显示,按现行经济模式,南京2050-2060年碳总量增加速度逐步减缓,约在2058年左右实现碳总量的负增长.50年内南京市预计为扩张负脱钩和扩张连接,难以实现稳定的离水平低碳经济增长模式;设定最优能源强度参数的模式下,南京迅速实现稳定强脱钩的低碳经济,碳释放量EKC曲线呈现倒U型,2015年左右即达到峰值.综合各种因素,南京近几年将延续模式l的增长模式,在2020年左右实现向模式2转变,其碳释放量约于2028年前后出现峰值.     

近49年中国夏季制冷度日数的变化

利用全国531个气象站1960~2008年逐日平均气温资料,分析了近49 a来我国夏季制冷度日数的变化趋势,并以浙江省为例分析了制冷度日数与夏季空调降温电力负荷的关系。主要结论如下：我国日平均温度等于或高于26℃的日数（1971~2000年平均）大于10 d,夏季有制冷需求的站点主要分布在新疆、四川盆地和太行山 巫山 雪峰山一线以东地区,以及云南干热河谷地区。1960~2008年我国黄河以北地区夏季有制冷需求的站点6~9月平均气温从20世纪90年代中期开始呈现出较明显的上升趋势,使得制冷日数和度日数都相应增加;黄河以南、南岭以北地区近49 a来6~9月平均气温线性趋势不明显,制冷度日数变化不大;南岭以南地区6~9月气温持续上升,夏季制冷度日数的增加最为显著。以浙江省为例的分析显示,制冷度日数与夏季空调降温电力负荷有很好的线性相关关系,可以用来预测降温耗电量。