[MCN] This week's climate post is more comprehensive, touches on a wider range of concerns

Mon Nov 23 10:04:48 EST 2020

Michael Mann : “If we continue to burn fossil fuels ... we are going to ... 
get worse and worse droughts, and heat waves, and super storms, and floods, and wildfires.”
<<https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/climate-change-is-making-wildfires-more-extreme-heres-how>>

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Drought disrupts Big-Game Migration Corridors Across Western US
Public News Service

"Drought disrupts that green wave, and makes it more difficult for animals to surf," Kauffman explained. "They still try, they do their best given the drought ..

<<https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2020-11-19/endangered-species-and-wildlife/new-maps-document-big-game-migration-corridors-across-western-u-s/a72170-1>>

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UN Shipping Agency Greenlights A Decade Of Rising Greenhouse Gas Emissions <https://news.google.com/articles/CBMicGh0dHBzOi8vY2xlYW50ZWNobmljYS5jb20vMjAyMC8xMS8yMC91bi1zaGlwcGluZy1hZ2VuY3ktZ3JlZW5saWdodHMtYS1kZWNhZGUtb2YtcmlzaW5nLWdyZWVuaG91c2UtZ2FzLWVtaXNzaW9ucy_SAXRodHRwczovL2NsZWFudGVjaG5pY2EuY29tLzIwMjAvMTEvMjAvdW4tc2hpcHBpbmctYWdlbmN5LWdyZWVubGlnaHRzLWEtZGVjYWRlLW9mLXJpc2luZy1ncmVlbmhvdXNlLWdhcy1lbWlzc2lvbnMvYW1wLw?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen>

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“We don’t need to guard [ i.e., defend/protect ourselves ]  against depression, against anger, against despair when it comes to climate change.”

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/07/we_are_not_alarmed_enough_about_climate_change.html <http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/07/we_are_not_alarmed_enough_about_climate_change.html>

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The Fed is concerned about climate change, are you? <https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/the-fed-is-concerned-about-climate-change-are-you-2020-11-21&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoTMzA2MjE3MDM2MzM2NDQ5Njg4NzIaOGEyODFlNzQ3ZjE3MjM2ZDpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AFQjCNHL2Pl8U6V3wE3C5TXQz4O6fqjPuA>
Nasdaq
In this landmark addition, the Fed stressed the potential for climate change to ... of risks for some assets which could hit the overall financial system. ... to measure the genuine climate impact of a company is to focus on its capital”.

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Deep Frozen Arctic Microbes Are Waking Up <https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/deep-frozen-arctic-microbes-are-waking-up/&ct=ga&cd=CAEYCCoSNjM2Mjg4NTI2NDg2MTk0NzEzMhplZTE2Yjc5YWEzZWYwNmRmOmNvbTplbjpVUw&usg=AFQjCNE22e0MrHRYAbDHWWCMMTQq1IX1zw>
Scientific American
As the global climate continues to warm, many questions remain about the ... A potential example, the emerging Orthopoxvirus species Alaskapox ...
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p. 153 DEIS Custer-Gallatin National Forest

“Plan direction, which emphasizes ecological integrity and resilience, will be critical to minimizing the undesirable effects of … increasing and interacting stressors. Nevertheless, managers and the public should expect climate change to drive profound and often surprising changes on ecosystem structure, function and composition in the coming decades.”

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More People Will Die of Extreme Heat Than of Infectious Diseases
<<https://science.thewire.in/environment/more-people-will-die-of-extreme-heat-than-of-infectious-diseases/>>

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40 Percent of World's Plants at Risk of Extinction, New Report Finds <https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEDZe-bGMmCbFiAVHFUMl27kqMwgEKioIACIQVtxBmyfa_mqpa0goyYax6CoUCAoiEFbcQZsn2v5qqWtIKMmGsegw-uHVBg?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen>
A grim new assessment of the world's flora and fungi has found that two-fifths of its species are at risk of extinction as humans encroach on the natural world, ...
EcoWatch <https://news.google.com/publications/CAAiEFbcQZsn2v5qqWtIKMmGsegqFAgKIhBW3EGbJ9r-aqlrSCjJhrHo?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen>

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Basic and Applied Ecology <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14391791> Available online 29 April 2020
open access
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2020.04.003 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2020.04.003>

In Press, Journal Pre-proof <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/aip/14391791>

A first assessment of the impact of the extreme 2018 summer drought on Central European forests
BernhardSchuldt <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179120300414#!> et al

Keywords
Climate change  Drought stress  Hotter drought  Recovery  Temperate forests  Tree mortality

Abstract

In 2018, Central Europe experienced one of the most severe and long-lasting summer drought and heat waves ever recorded. Before 2018, the 2003 millennial drought was often invoked as the example of a “hotter drought”, and was classified as the most severe event in Europe for the last 500 years. First insights now confirm that the 2018 drought event was climatically more extreme and had a greater impact on forest ecosystems of Austria, Germany and Switzerland than the 2003 drought. Across this region, mean growing season air temperature from April to October was more than 3.3°C above the long-term average, and 1.2°C warmer than in 2003. Here, we present a first impact assessment of the severe 2018 summer drought and heatwave on Central European forests. In response to the 2018 event, most ecologically and economically important tree species in temperate forests of Austria, Germany and Switzerland showed severe signs of drought stress. These symptoms included exceptional low foliar water potentials crossing the threshold for xylem hydraulic failure in many species and observations of widespread leaf discoloration and premature leaf shedding. As a result of the extreme drought stress, the 2018 event caused unprecedented drought-induced tree mortality in many species throughout the region. Moreover, unexpectedly strong drought-legacy effects were detected in 2019. This implies that the physiological recovery of trees was impaired after the 2018 drought event, leaving them highly vulnerable to secondary drought impacts such as insect or fungal pathogen attacks. As a consequence, mortality of trees triggered by the 2018 events is likely to continue for several years. Our assessment indicates that many common temperate European forest tree species are more vulnerable to extreme summer drought and heat waves than previously thought. As drought and heat events are likely to occur more frequently with the progression of climate change, temperate European forests might approach the point for a substantial ecological and economic transition. 

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Wildlife diseases poised to spread northwards as climate changes: study <https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-wildlife-disease/wildlife-diseases-poised-to-spread-northwards-as-climate-changes-study-idUSKBN27Z2UP&ct=ga&cd=CAEYASoSNjM2Mjg4NTI2NDg2MTk0NzEzMhplZTE2Yjc5YWEzZWYwNmRmOmNvbTplbjpVUw&usg=AFQjCNFPzJd6STmbPiy1oKZnJ51KL2LUUQ>
Reuters
ANCHORAGE (Reuters) - As the world's climate warms, parasite-carried wildlife diseases will move north, with animals in cold far-north and ...

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News Release 17-Nov-2020 <https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/uoa-hig111720.php>
Holes in Greenland ice sheet are larger than previously thought, study finds <https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/uoa-hig111720.php>
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS <https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/uoa-hig111720.php>
 <https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/uoa-hig111720.php>
Expedition finds that holes in the Greenland ice sheet, called moulins, are much larger than previously thought. <https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/uoa-hig111720.php>
JOURNAL <https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/uoa-hig111720.php>
Geophysical Research Letters <https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/uoa-hig111720.php>
 <https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/uoa-hig111720.php>
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/uoa-hig111720.php <https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/uoa-hig111720.php>

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PNAS first published November 9, 2020
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2012454117 <https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2012454117>

Selection on phenotypic plasticity favors thermal canalization
Erik I. Svensson, Miguel Gomez-Llano, and John T. Waller

Significance
Organisms are increasingly challenged by increasing temperatures due to climate change. In insects, body temperatures are strongly affected by ambient temperatures, and insects are therefore expected to suffer increasingly from heat stress, potentially reducing survival and reproductive success leading to elevated extinction risks. We investigated how ambient temperature affected fitness in two insect species in the temperate zone. Male and female survivorship benefitted more from low temperatures than did reproductive success, which increased with higher temperatures, revealing a thermal conflict between fitness components. Male body temperature plasticity reduced survival, and natural and sexual selection operated on such thermal plasticity. Our results reveal the negative consequences of thermal plasticity and show that these insects have limited ability to buffer heat stress.

Abstract

Climate change affects organisms worldwide with profound ecological and evolutionary consequences, often increasing population extinction risk. Climatic factors can increase the strength, variability, or direction of natural selection on phenotypic traits, potentially driving adaptive evolution. Phenotypic plasticity in relation to temperature can allow organisms to maintain fitness in response to increasing temperatures, thereby “buying time” for subsequent genetic adaptation and promoting evolutionary rescue. Although many studies have shown that organisms respond plastically to increasing temperatures, it is unclear if such thermal plasticity is adaptive. Moreover, we know little about how natural and sexual selection operate on thermal reaction norms, reflecting such plasticity. Here, we investigate how natural and sexual selection shape phenotypic plasticity in two congeneric and phenotypically similar sympatric insect species. We show that the thermal optima for longevity and mating success differ, suggesting temperature-dependent trade-offs between survival and reproduction in both sexes. Males in these species have similar thermal reaction norm slopes but have diverged in baseline body temperature (intercepts), being higher for the more northern species. Natural selection favored reduced thermal reaction norm slopes at high ambient temperatures, suggesting that the current level of thermal plasticity is maladaptive in the context of anthropogenic climate change and that selection now promotes thermal canalization and robustness. Our results show that ectothermic animals also at high latitudes can suffer from overheating and challenge the common view of phenotypic plasticity as being beneficial in harsh and novel environments.

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Extreme heat and paediatric emergency department visits in Southwestern Ontario <https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://academic.oup.com/pch/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pch/pxaa096/5983300&ct=ga&cd=CAEYdyoTOTg0NzcwMzc1NzE5MzUxNzk0NDIaYWJkMGVmMWVmZTRkNWE4NTpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AFQjCNGCqkX-_2csG1_weqq8ZV7fzrCXFA>
Oxford Academic Journals - Oxford University Press

Extreme heat, defined as the 99th percentile of the maximum temperature distribution, occurred at 33.1°C and was associated with an overall 22% increase in emergency department visits, compared to the reference temperature of 21°C. This association was mostly found between the second and fifth day after the exposure, suggesting a slightly delayed effect.

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"Environmental psychologist Susi Moser, also talks about the importance of acknowledging our underlying fears and distress about climate change as an important coping strategy. Moser (2012) calls it ‘the bravest thing’ – getting real, accepting reality without illusions, and accepting that better tomorrows may not come.”

https://www.isthishowyoufeel.com/blog/how-do-people-cope-with-feelings-about-climate-change-so-that-they-stay-engaged-and-take-action <https://www.isthishowyoufeel.com/blog/how-do-people-cope-with-feelings-about-climate-change-so-that-they-stay-engaged-and-take-action>

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Kate Marvel, physicist, climate scientist

”Someday I must tell my son what I have done. My comfortable, safe life is in large part a product of the internal combustion engine. Fossil fuels power the trains that take us to the beach, the factories that make his plastic bucket and spade, the lights I switch off when I kiss him good night. We can make small adjustments: recycling, buying reusable bottles for our water and ice coffee, foregoing the occasional plastic bag. But these small things, even multiplied by a large population, are still small in the end.

"I cannot deny my son or myself the ease of modern life, and I have no wish to isolate him from friends and family by insisting on radical changes. A carbon-free life seems a solitary one: no travel to see grandparents, awkward refusals of invitations, precious time with friends replaced by gardening, canning, mending, building, working. I search for political solutions, an advocacy muted by the cowardice of my personal choices. In the end, I am responsible for the gases that are changing the climate and, in raising my son in comfort and convenience, am passing on that responsibility and guilt to him."

https://onbeing.org/blog/kate-marvel-we-should-never-have-called-it-earth/ <https://onbeing.org/blog/kate-marvel-we-should-never-have-called-it-earth/>

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“We don’t need to guard [ i.e., defend/protect ourselves ]  against depression, against anger, against despair when it comes to climate change.”

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/07/we_are_not_alarmed_enough_about_climate_change.html <http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/07/we_are_not_alarmed_enough_about_climate_change.html>

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