Climate hazards: Lessons from recent events in the United States

Three recent cases of climate extremes are studied to identify human impacts and response strategies and to identify common characteristics that may help illuminate the nature of climate hazards. The 1980 heat wave in the central United States, 1981 cold wave in Boston, Massachusetts, and recent flooding and lake level rise in northern Utah, illustrate several important aspects of climate hazards that separate them from the more traditional set of catastrophic events (e.g. tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes) usually dealt with by hazards research and management. Among those characteristics are an emphasis on health impacts rather than physical damage, accumulative effects rather than short shocks, a tendency for impacts to accrue to certain socio-economic classes, and relatively slow onset. The management and research implications of these hazard characteristics are explored.     

SWOT analysis of renewable energy sector in Mazowieckie Voivodeship (Poland): current progress,prospects and policy implications

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Renewable energy (RE) plays an increasingly important role in the economy of almost every country in the world. In order to examine the state of...     

A view from the countryside

Guest Editorial

A view from the countryside     

In vitro studies of the submerged angiospermRuppia maritima: Auxin and cytokinin effects on plant growth and development

Axenic tissue cultures ofRuppia maritima L. were established and propagated clonally in vitro from terminal rhizome segments collected from Tampa Bay, Florida, USA. Cultures were maintained in a base medium consisting of synthetic seawater supplemented with half-strength Murashige and Skoog salts and 1% sucrose at pH 5.6. The effects of five cytokins [6-furfurylaminopurine (kinetin), 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), 2-isopentyladenine (2iP), 6-(4-hydroxy-3-methyl-but-2-enylamino) purine (zeatin), andn-phenyl-n-1,2,3-thidiazol-5yl urea (thidiazuron)] and one auxin [napthalene acetic acid (NAA)] on explant growth and development were investigated. Cytokinin additions resulted in a 3- to 4-fold increase in nodal production, branching, and biomass ofR. maritima after 12 wk in culture. Cultures responded in a dose-dependent manner to 2iP but exhibited broad dose-response curves to kinetin, BAP, zeatin, and thidiazuron. NAA addition resulted in increased leaf and internodal lengths, but reduced the number of leaves per node and the rhizome biomass. The addition of NAA almost completely suppressed root growth in media without cytokinins and had an antagonistic effect on nodal production and branching in cytokinin-supplemented media.