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Distributed photovoltaic (DPV) is a promising solution to climate change. However, the widespread adoption of DPV faces challenges, such as high upfront costs, regulatory barriers, and market uncertainty. Addressing these barriers requires coordinating the interests of stakeholders in the promotion of DPV. Therefore, this paper constructs a three-party evolutionary game model in a social network with the government, investment companies and residents as the main subjects and examines the influence of different subjects' behavioral strategies on the promotion of DPV under the social learning mechanism. The results show that: (1) In the game equilibrium, both the government and residents hold a positive attitude towards the promotion of DPV; (2) Companies will obtain most of the subsidies through market power and information differences, resulting in the increase of government subsidies that do not always benefit residents; (3) The increase of energy consumption and pollution prevention costs can promote companies' investment in DPV; (4) The increase of environmental protection taxes to a certain extent helps companies to take responsibility for promoting DPV, reducing the pressure on the government to promote it and increasing residents' income. This study provides insights into the sustainable development of DPV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global food security basically depends on potential yields of staple grain crops worldwide, especially under climate change. However, most scholars use various models of production function in which climatic factors are often considered to estimate crop yield mostly at local or regional level. Therefore, in this paper: Potential yields of rice, wheat, maize and soybean worldwide by 2030 are projected creatively using Auto-regressive Integrated Moving Average and Trend Regressed (ARIMA-TR) model in which actual yields in recent two years are used for testing the reliability of projection and Gray System (GS) model for validating the test; Especially individual impacts of climate change on the productions of rice, wheat, maize and soybean worldwide since 1961 are analyzed by using unary regression model in which global mean temperature and land precipitation are independent variable while the yield of crop being dependent one, respectively. Results show that: by 2030, the ratio between average and top yields of world rice is projected to be 50.6% increasing, while those of world wheat, world maize and world soybean are projected to be 38.0% increasing, 14.7% decreasing and 72.5% increasing, respectively. Since 1961 global warming has exerted a negative impact on average yield of world rice less than on its top, a positive effect on average yield of world wheat while a negative impact on its top, a positive effect on average yield of world maize less than on its top, and a positive influence on average yield of world soybean while a negative one on its top, which might be slightly mitigated by 'Carbon Peak' target. The fluctuation of global rainfall contributes to the productions of these crops much less than global warming during same period. Our findings indicate that: to improve global production of four staple grain crops by 2030, the priorities of input should be given to either rice or wheat in both high and low yield countries, whereas to maize in high yield countries and to soybean in low yield countries. These insights highlight some difference from previous studies, and provide academia with innovative comprehension and policy-decision makers with supportive information on sustainable production of these four staple grain crops for global food security under climate change in the future., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Cai et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Climate change-induced pan-financial market and the contagion of systemic financial risks are becoming important issues in the financial sector. The paper measures the temperature difference in terms of the degree and direction of deviation of the actual temperature relative to the average temperature of the same historical period. Based on the high-dimensional time-series variable LASSO-VAR-DY framework, we construct a pan-financial market volatility correlation network consisting of 112 Chinese listed companies in banking, insurance, securities, real estate, traditional energy, and new energy, use eigenvector centrality to measure the systematic risk of each firm, and then empirically test the effect of temperature difference on systematic risk under pan-financial market scenario. The results of the study show that (ⅰ) There is a significant difference among the systemic risk of financial sectors such as banking, insurance, and securities in the financial market pan-financial market scenario and the systemic risk when the financial market pan-financial market is not taken into account;(ⅱ) Higher temperature significantly exacerbates systemic financial risk, while colder temperature significantly mitigates systemic risk, but both have an asymmetric effect on systemic risk, and there is sectoral heterogeneity.(ⅲ) From the dynamic evolutionary characteristics, there are significant differences in the response of systemic financial risk to positive and negative temperature shocks;(iv) The results of the systemic risk variance decomposition indicate that the temperature change contributes more to the variance of systemic risk in the banking and securities sectors in pan-financial market;(ⅴ) The contagion source of financial systemic risk shows an obvious path of leaping and changing characteristics, and the contagion source of systemic risk (source of impact) shows the evolution law of "bank → real estate → new energy → temperature difference," which means that the temperature difference has become the contagion source of systemic financial risk. This study provides a reference for preventing and resolving systemic risks under pan-financial market scenario and provides a basis for improving the current macroprudential regulatory framework., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Jia, Du. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is an ecologically sensitive, cost-effective, and locally adaptive climate adaptation strategy to strengthen the climate resilience of vulnerable communities. While many studies on EbA have been conducted in rural and mountainous regions or within the natural sciences realm, there is a lack of comprehensive research that assesses how urban EbA measures have been incorporated into existing policies and plans in Global South, including in Nepal. Ecosystem-based adaptation is in the early stages of its establishment as a fundamental component to address climate adaptation and sustainable development in urban environments. Accordingly, effective integration strategies, challenges, potential focal areas, and entry points have yet to be extensively studied. To address the literature gap, this paper analyses the types of EbA interventions and the extent of urban EbA integration within Nepal's climate, urban, and sectoral policies and plans. Direct content analysis and a qualitative scoring system were used to evaluate the plan components and assess the level of EbA integration. The findings indicate that the policies and plans recognise the importance of conserving, enhancing, and managing ecosystems for climate change adaptation, and EbA measures are mainly included in action-oriented sections. However, the results also reveal inadequate EbA integration, particularly in the information base, vision and objectives, and implementation aspects. The implementation component notably lacks comprehensive provisions for budget allocation, responsible authorities, definite timelines, and clear roadmaps. The breakdown of EbA integration in the policies and plans suggests that climate and urban plans substantially integrate urban EbA measures, but discrepancies exist with climate and urban policies and sectoral policies and plans. These findings collectively emphasise a pressing need to enhance the recognition and integration of urban EbA measures within policy frameworks with a view towards strengthening climate resilience and mitigating climate-related hazards in urban environments., Competing Interests: The author has declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Tshering Ongmu Sherpa. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Exploring the complex relationship between population change and surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect has important practical significance for the ecological transformation development of shrinking cities in the context of the prevalence of urban shrinkage and the global climate change. This paper compares the population change and SUHI effect between population shrinking region (Northeast Region, NR) and population growing region (Yangtze River Delta, YRD) in China, and explores their differences in driving mechanisms, using GIS spatial analysis and Geodetector model. Our results indicated that there are significant differences in population changes and SUHI intensity between these two regions. About 72.22% of the cities in the NR were shrinking, while their SUHI intensities increased by an average of 1.69°C. On the contrary, the urban population in the YRD shows a linear growth trend, while their SUHI intensities decreased by 0.11°C on average. The results of bivariate Moran's I index also indicated that the spatial correlation between the urban population changes and the SUHI intensity changes are not significant in the above regions. Furthermore, there are significant differences in the primary drivers of SUHI variations between these two regions. In the NR, underlying surface changes, including the changes of green coverage and built-up areas, are the most important driving factors. However, atmospheric environment changes, such as carbon dioxide emission and sulfur dioxide emission, are the key drivers in the YRD. Northam's theory of three-stage urbanization and environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis are powerful to explain these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrails are line-shaped clouds formed in the exhaust of aircraft engines that significantly contribute to global warming. This paper confidently proposes integrating advanced image segmentation techniques to identify and monitor aircraft contrails to address the challenges associated with climate change. We propose the SegX-Net architecture, a highly efficient and lightweight model that combines the DeepLabV3+, upgraded, and ResNet-101 architectures to achieve superior segmentation accuracy. We evaluated the performance of our model on a comprehensive dataset from Google research and rigorously measured its efficacy with metrics such as IoU, F1 score, Sensitivity and Dice Coefficient. Our results demonstrate that our enhancements have significantly improved the efficacy of the SegX-Net model, with an outstanding IoU score of 98.86% and an impressive F1 score of 99.47%. These results unequivocally demonstrate the potential of image segmentation methods to effectively address and mitigate the impact of air conflict on global warming. Using our proposed SegX-Net architecture, stakeholders in the aviation industry can confidently monitor and mitigate the impact of aircraft shrinkage on the environment, significantly contributing to the global fight against climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Without fundamentally altering how humans generate and utilise energy, there is no effective strategy to safeguard the environment. The motivation behind this study was to analyse the effectiveness of renewable energy in addressing climate change, as it is one of the most pressing global issues. This study involved the analysis of panel data covering 138 nations over a 27 year period, from 1995 to 2021, making it the latest addition to the existing literature. We examined the extent of the impact of renewable energy on carbon dioxide over time using panel, linear, and non-linear regression approaches. The results of our analysis, revealed that the majority of countries with the exception of Canada, exhibited a downward trend, underscoring the potential of increasing renewable energy consumption as an effective method to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and combat climate change. Furthermore, to reduce emissions and combat climate change, it is advisable for nations with the highest carbon dioxide emissions to adopt and successfully transition to renewable energy sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What impact did the Roman Climate Optimum (RCO) and the Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA) have on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire? Our article presents an agent-based modelling (ABM) approach developed to evaluate the impact of climate change on the profitability of vineyards, olive groves, and grain farms in Southern Gaul, which were the main source of wealth in the roman period. This ABM simulates an agroecosystem model which processes potential agricultural yield values from paleoclimatic data. The model calculates the revenues made by agricultural exploitations from the sale of crops whose annual volumes vary according to climate and market prices. The potential profits made by the different agricultural exploitations are calculated by deducting from the income the operating and transportation costs. We conclude that the warm and wet climate of the Roman period may have had an extremely beneficial effect on the profitability of wine and olive farms between the 2nd century BCE and the 3rd century CE, but a more modest effect on grain production. Subsequently, there is a significant decrease in the potential profitability of farms during the Late Antique Little Ice Age (4th-7th century CE). Comparing the results of our model with archaeological data enables us to discuss the impact of these climatic fluctuations on the agricultural and economic growth, and then their subsequent recession in Southern Gaul from the beginning to the end of antiquity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Climate Change (CC) emanating from anthropocentric human activities is a great threat to the quality of human life and well-being worldwide. The translation of CC research evidence can play a critical role in promoting the formulation of climate-sensitive policies to equip public health systems for CC-associated disaster preparedness, response, and management. This scoping review seeks to explore knowledge translation approaches for promoting, the uptake, and use of CC research evidence in public health policy and practice. Methods: This scoping review will be conducted according to the guidelines of Arksey and O'Malley. A search strategy will be developed for published articles in PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus databases and for grey literature in the World Health Organization, Planetary Health Alliance, and the University of the Western Cape repositories. Discussion: The proposed scoping review will gather existing evidence on the relationship between knowledge translation, CC research, and public health decision-making. This will provide insights into research and practice gaps, and recommendations will be made to ensure effective knowledge translation for CC related decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global biodiversity is negatively affected by anthropogenic climate change. As species distributions shift due to increasing temperatures and precipitation fluctuations, many species face the risk of extinction. In this study, we explore the expected trend for plant species distributions in Central America and southern Mexico under two alternative Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) portraying moderate (RCP4.5) and severe (RCP8.5) increases in greenhouse gas emissions, combined with two species dispersal assumptions (limited and unlimited), for the 2061–2080 climate forecast. Using an ensemble approach employing three techniques to generate species distribution models, we classified 1924 plant species from the region's (sub)tropical forests according to IUCN Red List categories. To infer the spatial and taxonomic distribution of species' vulnerability under each scenario, we calculated the proportion of species in a threat category (Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered) at a pixel resolution of 30 arc seconds and by family. Our results show a high proportion (58–67%) of threatened species among the four experimental scenarios, with the highest proportion under RCP8.5 and limited dispersal. Threatened species were concentrated in montane areas and avoided lowland areas where conditions are likely to be increasingly inhospitable. Annual precipitation and diurnal temperature range were the main drivers of species' relative vulnerability. Our approach identifies strategic montane areas and taxa of conservation concern that merit urgent inclusion in management plans to improve climatic resilience in the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot. Such information is necessary to develop policies that prioritize vulnerable elements and mitigate threats to biodiversity under climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many habitat-specialist organisms occur in distinct, patchy habitat, yet do not occupy all patches, and an important question is why apparently suitable habitat remains unoccupied. We examined factors influencing patch occupancy in near-threatened, little-known Diademed Plovers (Phegornis mitchellii), arguably the bird most specialized to life in High Andean peatlands. Andean peatlands are well-suited to occupancy modelling because they are discrete patches of humid habitat within a matrix of high-altitude steppe. We hypothesized that Diademed Plovers occupy preferably larger and more humid peatlands, and avoid peatlands used for grazing by llamas and vicuñas, which may trample vegetation and nests. From December 2021 to February 2022 (breeding season), we conducted plover occupancy surveys (2–4) on 40 peatlands at Lagunas de Vilama, a landscape of arid steppe and wetlands above 4,500 m in NW Argentina. We measured peatland size, grazing pressure, topographic and remotely-sensed variables that correlate with humidity, and incorporated these as covariates in occupancy models. Occupancy models showed that more than 50% of the studied peatlands were used by Diademed Plovers and most showed signs of reproduction, highlighting the importance of the Vilama Wetlands for Diademed Plover conservation. Within peatlands, Diademed Plovers were most often associated with headwaters. The top ranked occupancy model included constant detection, random spatial effects, and a single occupancy covariate: mean NDWI (Normalized Difference Water Index, an index correlated with water content and humidity) over the previous three years. Contrary to our prediction, Diademed Plovers preferred less water-saturated peatlands (lower NDWI), possibly to avoid nest flooding. This may be especially important in wet years, like the year when we conducted our surveys. Neither peatland size nor grazing by llamas and vicuñas affected peatland use by Diademed Plovers, suggesting that llama grazing at current levels may be compatible with plover conservation. For organisms that specialize on humid habitats, such as peatlands, factors affecting occupancy may vary temporally with variation in climate, and we recommend follow-up surveys across multi-year timescales to untangle the impact of climate on animals' use of humid habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change has caused a series of environmental problems, green technology innovation is necessitating strategic responses, but the impact of low-carbon city pilot policy on urban green technology innovation is unclear. Based on panel data from 285 Chinese cities during 2005–2022, this study employs the Difference in Difference method to examine the impact of low-carbon city policy on urban green technology innovation. The results show that (1) The low-carbon city pilot policy promotes urban green technology innovation. (2) The low-carbon city pilot policy promotes urban green technology innovation through government green input and public engagement. (3) New infrastructure enhances the impact of low-carbon city pilot policy on quantity of green technology innovation. (4) Compared with the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the low-carbon city policy has a greater influence on urban green technology innovation in the Yellow River Basin.The findings provide policy insights for the construction of low-carbon pilot cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lake ice is an important socio-economic resource that is threatened by climate change. The cover and duration of lake ice are expected to decline as air temperatures warm in the coming decades, disrupting a previously reliable source of income for many activities dependent on lake ice. The economic consequences of climate-induced lake ice loss remain unexplored, creating a significant research gap. The purpose of this study was to quantify the monetary spending associated with lake ice and how climate change may impact that value. Using a series of General Circulation Models (GCMs), greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, and models for lake ice cover, we predicted changes in lake ice by the end of the 21st century for the Northern Hemisphere. We also synthesized examples of spending associated with lake ice activities and discussed the potential implications expected with declining ice cover. We found that lake ice will decrease in area by 44,000–177,000 km2 and shorten in duration by 13–43 days by 2100. Using 31 examples of revenue from lake ice, we found that lake ice generates spending of over USD 2.04 billion to local communities and economies. We also found that countries predicted to experience the greatest ice loss by the end of the century are those that currently have the largest GDP, highest greenhouse gas emissions, and are most dependent on freshwater withdrawal. Our findings confirm predicted losses in lake ice that are expected because of climate change and quantify some of the potential consequences for local communities. Here we highlight lake ice as another casualty of human-caused climate change that will have profound socio-economic implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate adaptation corridors are widely recognized as important for promoting biodiversity resilience under climate change. Central America is part of the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot, but there have been no regional-scale analyses of potential climate adaptation corridors in Central America. We identified 2375 potential corridors throughout Central America that link lowland protected areas (≤ 500 m) with intact, high-elevation forests (≥ 1500 m) that represent potential climate change refugia. Whereas we found potential corridors in all Central American countries, potential corridors in Panama, Belize, and Honduras were most protected (medians = 64%, 49%, and 47%, respectively) and potential corridors in El Salvador were least protected (median = 10%). We also developed a corridor priority index based on the ecological characteristics and protected status of potential corridors and their associated start and end points. Compared to low- and medium-priority corridors, high-priority corridors (n = 160; top 7% of all corridors) were generally more protected, forested, and distributed across wider elevational gradients and more Key Biodiversity Areas, but also generally linked larger lowland protected areas to target areas that were larger, more protected, and spanned wider elevational gradients. For example, based on median values, high-priority corridors were 9% more protected and overlapped with 2–3 more Key Biodiversity Areas than low- and medium-priority corridors. Although high-elevation targets spanned considerably wider elevational gradients than lowland protected areas (medians = 695 vs. 142 m, respectively) and thus may be more likely to support refugia, they were considerably smaller than lowland protected areas (medians = 11 vs. 50 km2 respectively) and mostly unprotected (median = 4% protection). This initial, regional assessment can help prioritize locations for finer-scale research, conservation, and restoration activities in support of climate adaptation corridors throughout Central America and highlights the need for greater conservation of potential high-elevation refugia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political polarization of Americans' support for climate policies often impedes the adoption of new, urgently needed climate solutions. However, recent polls suggest that younger conservatives favor adopting pro-climate policies to a greater degree than older conservatives, resulting in less political polarization among younger Americans relative to older Americans. To better understand these patterns, we analyzed Americans' support for various climate policies from 1982–2020, across 16 waves of historical, nationally representative survey data from the American National Election Studies (total N = 29,467). Regression models consistently show that, since 2012, younger Americans have been less politically polarized than older Americans on support for climate policies. Before 2012 and on non-climate policy topics, we did not find consistent statistical evidence for political polarization varying with age. These findings can inform policy debates about climate change and offer hope to environmentalists and policymakers who seek to build broad consensus for climate action at the policy level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can exposure to extreme weather change political opinion and preferences about climate change? There is a growing literature on both the effects of extreme weather events and the factors explaining attitudes toward global warming, though there remains no clear consensus about whether being exposed to extreme weather influences public opinion about climate change. We contribute to this literature by studying the impact of a variety of extreme weather events associated with climate variability, including severe storms, floods, fires, and hurricanes, on attitudes toward climate change. Specifically, we use a three-wave panel survey and a dynamic difference-in-differences design to analyze public opinion data at the individual level in the US. We find that exposure to only one extreme weather type—fires—has a small but significant effect on acknowledging the existence of climate change and supporting the need for action. However, that impact quickly vanishes, and other types of extreme weather do not appear to have any effect on opinion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To quantitatively analyze the impact of climate variability and human activities on grassland productivity of China's Qilian Mountain National Park, this study used Carnegic-Ames-Stanford Approach model (CASA) and Integrated Vegetation model improved by the Comprehensive and Sequential Classification System (CSCS) to assess the trends of grassland NPP from 2000 to 2015, the residual trend analysis method was used to quantify the impact of human activities and climate change on the grassland based on the NPP changes. The actual grassland NPP accumulation mainly occurred in June, July and August (autumn); the actual NPP showed a fluctuating upward trend with an average increase of 2.2 g C·m-2 a-1, while the potential NPP increase of 1.6 g C·m-2 a-1 and human-induced NPP decreased of 0.5 g C·m-2 a-1. The annual temperature showed a fluctuating upward trend with an average increase of 0.1°C 10a-1, but annual precipitation showed a fluctuating upward trend with an average annual increase of 1.3 mm a-1 from 2000 to 2015. The area and NPP of grassland degradation caused by climate variability was significantly greater than that caused by human activities and mainly distributed in the northwest and central regions, but area and NPP of grassland restored caused by human activities was significantly greater than that caused by climate variability and mainly distributed in the southeast regions. In conclusion, grassland in Qilian Mountain National Park showed a trend of degradation based on distribution area, but showed a trend of restoration based on actual NPP. Climate variability was the main cause of grassland degradation in the northwestern region of study area, and restoration of grassland in the eastern region was the result of the combined effects of human activities and climate variability. Under global climate change, the establishment of Qilian Mountain National Park was of great significance to the grassland's protection and the grasslands ecological restoration that have been affected by humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An understanding of species-environmental relationships is invaluable for effective conservation and management under anthropogenic climate change, especially for biodiversity hotspots such as riparian habitats. Species distribution models (SDMs) assess present species-environmental relationships which can project potential suitable environments through space and time. An understanding of environmental factors associated with distributions can guide conservation management strategies under a changing climate. We generated 260 ensemble SDMs for five species of Thamnophis gartersnakes (n = 347)—an important riparian predator guild—in a semiarid and biogeographically diverse region under impact from climate change (Arizona, United States). We modeled present species-environmental relationships and projected changes to suitable environment under 12 future climate scenarios per species, including the most and least optimistic greenhouse gas emission pathways, through 2100. We found that Thamnophis likely advanced northward since the turn of the 20th century and overwinter temperature and seasonal precipitation best explained present distributions. Future ranges of suitable environment for Thamnophis are projected to decrease by ca. -37.1% on average. We found that species already threatened with extinction or those with warm trailing-edge populations likely face the greatest loss of suitable environment, including near or complete loss of suitable environment. Future climate scenarios suggest an upward advance of suitable environment around montane areas for some low to mid-elevation species, which may create pressures to ascend. The most suitable environmental areas projected here can be used to identify potential safe zones to prioritize conservation refuges, including applicable critical habitat designations. By bounding the climate pathway extremes to, we reduce SDM uncertainties and provide valuable information to help conservation practitioners mitigate climate-induced threats to species. Implementing informed conservation actions is paramount for sustaining biodiversity in important aridland riparian systems as the climate warms and dries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genomic regions related to tropical adaptability are of paramount importance for animal breeding nowadays, especially in the context of global climate change. Moreover, understanding the genomic architecture of these regions may be very relevant for aiding breeding programs in choosing the best selection scheme for tropical adaptation and/or implementing a crossbreeding scheme. The composite MONTANA TROPICAL® population was developed by crossing cattle of four different biological types to improve production in harsh environments. Pedigree and genotype data (51962 SNPs) from 3215 MONTANA TROPICAL® cattle were used to i) characterize the population structure; ii) identify signatures of selection with complementary approaches, i.e. Integrated Haplotype Score (iHS) and Runs of Homozygosity (ROH); and iii) understand genes and traits related to each selected region. The population structure based on principal components had a weak relationship with the genetic contribution of the different biological types. Clustering analyses (ADMIXTURE) showed different clusters according to the number of generations within the composite population. Considering results of both selection signatures approaches, we identified only one consensus region on chromosome 20 (35399405–40329703 bp). Genes in this region are related to immune function, regulation of epithelial cell differentiation, and cell response to ionizing radiation. This region harbors the slick locus which is related to slick hair and epidermis anatomy, both of which are related to heat stress adaptation. Also, QTLs in this region were related to feed intake, milk yield, mastitis, reproduction, and slick hair coat. The signatures of selection detected here arose in a few generations after crossbreeding between contrasting breeds. Therefore, it shows how important this genomic region may be for these animals to thrive in tropical conditions. Further investigations on sequencing this region can identify candidate genes for animal breeding and/or gene editing to tackle the challenges of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and rapid population ageing pose challenges for communities and public policies. This systematic review aims to gather data from studies that present health indicators establishing the connection between climate change and the physical and mental health of the older population (≥ 65 years), who experience a heightened vulnerability to the impacts of climate change when compared to other age cohorts. This review was conducted according to the PICO strategy and following Cochrane and PRISMA guidelines. Three databases (PubMed, Scopus and Greenfile) were searched for articles from 2015 to 2022. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria,nineteen studies were included. The findings indicated that various climate change phenomena are associated with an elevated risk of mortality and morbidity outcomes in older adults. These included cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, and mental diseases, along with physical injuries. Notably, the impact of climate change was influenced by gender, socioeconomic status, education level, and age—vulnerability factors. Climate change directly affected the health of older adults through ambient temperature variability, extreme and abnormal temperatures, strong winds, sea temperature variability, extreme El Niño-southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions and droughts, and indirectly by air pollution resulting from wildfires. This review presents further evidence confirming that climate change significantly impacts the health and well-being of older adults. It highlights the urgency for implementing effective strategies to facilitate adaptation and mitigation, enhancing the overall quality of life for all individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Setaria italica (S. italica, Linnaeus, 1753) is a drought-resistant, barren-tolerant, and widely adapted C-4 crop that plays a vital role in maintaining agricultural and economic stability in arid and barren regions of the world. However, the potential habitat of S. italica under current and future climate scenarios remains to be explored. Predicting the potential global geographic distribution of S. italica and clarifying its ecological requirements can help promote sustainable agriculture, which is crucial for addressing the global food crisis. In this study, we predicted the potential global geographic distribution of S. italica based on 3,154 global distribution records using the Maxent model and ArcGIS software. We assessed the constraints on its potential distribution based on the contribution of environmental factors variables. The predictive accuracy of the Maxent model was evaluated using AUC values, TSS values, and Kappa statistics, respectively. The results showed that the Maxent model had a high prediction accuracy, and the simulation results were also reliable; the total suitable habitats of S. italica is 5.54×107 km2, which mainly included the United States (North America), Brazil (South America), Australia (Oceania), China, India (Asia), and the Russian Federation (Europe). The most suitable habitat of S. italica was 0.52×107 km2, accounting for 9.44% of the total areas, mainly in the United States, India, the Russian Federation, and China. Soil and precipitation (driest monthly precipitation, hottest seasonal precipitation) are the most critical factors limiting the potential distribution of S. italica. Compared with the modern potential distribution, we predict that the four future climate change scenarios will result in varying reductions in the possible geographic ranges of S. italica. Overall, climate change may significantly affect the global distribution of S. italica, altering its worldwide production and trade patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kale is a nutrient-dense leafy vegetable associated with wide-ranging health benefits. It is tolerant of drought and temperature fluctuations, and could thus serve an increasingly important role in providing a safe and nutritious food supply during the climate crisis, while kale's ease of cultivation and ability to be grown in a wide range of soils make it a good fit for urban agriculture. In this pilot study we explored potential differences between kale grown at urban versus rural farms. We planted kale seedlings (Darkibor variety) at three urban and four rural farms in and around Baltimore City, Maryland, instructed farmers to cultivate them using their usual growing practices, harvested the kale from fields and points of distribution, and analyzed it for concentrations of carotenoids, vitamins C and K1, ten nutritional elements, and eight non-essential metals. Although sample sizes for some analyses were in some cases too small to produce statistically significant results, we identified potentially meaningful differences in concentrations of several components between urban and rural kale samples. Compared to urban samples, mean concentrations of carotenoids and vitamins were 22–38% higher in rural field samples. By contrast, mean concentrations for eight nutritional elements were higher in urban field samples by as much as 413% for iron. Compared to rural field samples, mean concentrations of nine non-essential metals were higher in urban samples, although lead and cadmium concentrations for all samples were below public health guidelines. Some urban-rural differences were more pronounced than those identified in prior research. For six elements, variance within urban and rural farms was greater than variance between urban and rural farms, suggesting urbanicity may not be the primary driver of some observed differences. For some nutrients, mean concentrations were higher than upper ranges reported in prior estimates, suggesting kale may have the potential to be more nutrient-dense than previously estimated. The nutritive and metals composition of this important crop, and the factors that influence it, merit continued investigation given its growing popularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the world faces an existential threat of climate change, and every government across the globe is trying to come up with strategies to tackle the severity of climate change in every way possible. To this end, the use of clean energy rather than fossil fuel energy sources is critical, as it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pave the way for carbon neutrality. This study examines the impact of the energy cleanability gap on four different climate vulnerabilities, such as ecosystem, food, health, and housing vulnerabilities, considering 47 European and non-European high-income countries. The study considers samples from 2002 to 2019. This study precedes the empirical analysis in the context of a quadratic relationship between the energy cleanability gap and climate vulnerability. The study uses system-generalized methods of the moment as the main technique, while panel quantile regression is a robustness analysis. Fixed effect and random effect models have also been incorporated. The study finds that the energy cleanability gap and all four climate vulnerabilities demonstrate a U-shaped relationship in both European and non-European countries, implying that when the energy cleanability gap increases, climate vulnerability decreases, but after reaching a certain threshold, it starts to increase. Development expenditure is found to be negatively affecting food and health vulnerabilities in European nations, while it increases food vulnerability and decreases health vulnerability in non-European nations. Regarding industrialization's impact on climate vulnerabilities, the study finds opposite effects for the European and non-European economies. On the other hand, for both groups, trade openness decreases climate vulnerabilities. Based on these results, the study recommends speeding up the energy transition process from fossil fuel energy resources towards clean energy resources to obtain carbon neutrality in both European and non-European groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the topographic basis for microclimatic variation remains fundamental to predicting the site level effects of warming air temperatures. Quantifying diurnal fluctuation and seasonal extremes in relation to topography offers insight into the potential relationship between site level conditions and changes in regional climate. The present study investigated an annual understory temperature regime for 50 sites distributed across a topographically diverse area (>12 km2) comprised of mixed evergreen-deciduous woodland vegetation typical of California coastal ranges. We investigated the effect of topography and tree cover on site-to-site variation in near-surface temperatures using a combination of multiple linear regression and multivariate techniques. Sites in topographically depressed areas (e.g., valley bottoms) exhibited larger seasonal and diurnal variation. Elevation (at 10 m resolution) was found to be the primary driver of daily and seasonal variations, in addition to hillslope position, canopy cover and northness. The elevation effect on seasonal mean temperatures was inverted, reflecting large-scale cold-air pooling in the study region, with elevated minimum and mean temperature at higher elevations. Additionally, several of our sites showed considerable buffering (dampened diurnal and seasonal temperature fluctuations) compared to average regional conditions measured at an on-site weather station. Results from this study help inform efforts to extrapolate temperature records across large landscapes and have the potential to improve our ecological understanding of fine-scale seasonal climate variation in coastal range environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beliefs and attitudes form the core of public opinion about climate change. Network analysis can reveal the structural configuration of these beliefs and attitudes. In this research, we utilize a belief system framework to identify key psychological elements, track change in the density of these belief systems over time and across political groups, and analyze the structural heterogeneity of belief systems within and between political groups in the United States. Drawing on fifteen waves of nationally representative survey data from 2010 to 2021 (N = 16,742), our findings indicate that worry about climate change is the most central psychological element. Interestingly, we find that among politically unaffiliated individuals, the connections between psychological elements have strengthened over time, implying an increase in the consistency of belief systems within this group. Despite the political polarization in beliefs about climate change between Republicans and Democrats, our findings reveal that the ways these two groups organize and structure climate change beliefs systems are not markedly different compared to those of other groups. These findings provide theoretical and practical insights for climate change experts and communicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change challenges countries around the world, and news media are key to the public's awareness and perception of it. But how are news media approaching climate change across countries? With the problem of climate change and its solution being global, it is key to determine whether differences in climate change news reports exist and what they are across countries. This study employs supervised machine learning to uncover topical and terminological differences between newspaper articles on climate change. An original dataset of climate change articles is presented, originating from 7 newspapers and 3 countries across the world, and published in English during 26 Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). Three aspects are used to discriminate between articles, being (1) countries, (2) political orientations, and (3) COP meetings. Our results reveal differences with regard to how newspaper articles approach climate change globally. Specifically, climate change-related terminology of left-oriented newspapers is more prevalent compared to their right-oriented counterparts. Also, over the years, newspapers' climate change-related terminology has evolved to convey a greater sense of urgency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ongoing climate change substantially alters snowfall patterns with severe but diverging consequences for global ski areas. A global assessment as well as the investigation of potential implications for mountain ecosystems is currently lacking. We quantify future trends in natural snow cover days under different climate change scenarios until 2100 in seven major global skiing regions and discuss implications for mountainous biodiversity by analysing how natural snow cover days relate to regional human population density. Within all major skiing regions, snow cover days are projected to decrease substantially under every assessed climate change scenario. Thirteen percent of all current ski areas are projected to completely lose natural annual snow cover and one fifth will experience a reduction of more than 50% by 2071–2100 relative to historic baselines. Future skiable areas will concentrate in less populated areas, towards continental regions and inner parts of the mountain ranges. As skiable areas will be located at greater distances to highly populated areas in the future, we expect an expansion of infrastructure and increasing intervening actions (i.e., artificial snowmaking, slope grooming) to prolong snow duration. Our results are concerning for both the recreational and economic value of skiing as well as for mountain biodiversity since vulnerable high-altitude species might be threatened by space reductions with ski area expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are considered the 21st Century's major health and development challenges. Both pose a disproportionate burden on low- and middle-income countries that are unprepared to cope with their synergistic effects. These two challenges pose risks for achieving many of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and are both impacted by globalization through different pathways. While there are important insights on how climate change and or globalization impact NCDs in the general literature, comprehensive research that explores the influence of climate change and or globalization on NCDs is limited, particularly in the context of Africa. This review documents the pathways through which climate change and or globalization influence NCDs in Africa. We conducted a comprehensive literature search in eight electronic databases—Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Global Health Library, Science Direct, Medline, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. A total of 13864 studies were identified. Studies that were identified from more than one of the databases were automatically removed as duplicates (n = 9649). Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a total of 27 studies were eventually included in the final review. We found that the impacts of climate change and or globalization on NCDs act through three potential pathways: reduction in food production and nutrition, urbanization and transformation of food systems. Our review contributes to the existing literature by providing insights into the impact of climate change and or globalization on human health. We believe that our findings will help enlighten policy makers working on these pathways to facilitate the development of effective policy and public health interventions to mitigate the effects of climate change and globalization on the rising burden of NCDs and goal 3 of the SDG, in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palynological analysis of surface soil and sub-surface sediments from the outwash plain of Hamtah Glacier, Lahaul-Spiti, India, has brought out the vegetation and climatic changes in the area during the last 1580 years. The arboreal and non-arboreal pollen ratio (AP/NAP) has been used to demarcate the different vegetation and climatic zones, complemented by the frequencies of the broad-leaved taxa. Lower values of thermophilous, broad-leaved arboreal taxa, indicate that the region experienced cold-arid conditions between 1580 and 1330 yr BP (AD 370–620); which can be related to the Dark Ages Cold Period (DACP). Thereafter, between 1330 and 950 yr BP (AD 620–1000), a rejuvenation of the broad-leaved elements reflects the initiation of a comparatively warm and moist phase, marking the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA) in the region. The warm-moist phase was, however, short-lived, and from 950 yr BP to the Present (AD 1000 onwards), the region saw a return to cold-arid conditions, as evidenced by a sharp fall in the AP/NAP ratio. This cold-arid phase was, nevertheless, punctuated by a warm-moist period during 790 to 680 yr BP (AD 1160–1270), which marks the terminal phase of the MCA. After the termination of the MCA, the Little Ice Age (LIA) is well-marked in the area. The culmination of the long cold-arid regime is characterized by warmer conditions over the last 160 years, which is the manifestation of the Current Warm Period (CWP). Magnetic susceptibility (χlf) and sediment geochemistry (Weathering Index of Parker) were also attempted to have a multi-proxy approach, and show a general compatibility with the palynological data. The palaeoclimatic evidences suggest shorter warm periods and extended colder phases during the last 1580 years; in this high-altitude, cold-desert, Trans Himalayan region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]