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Aim: Seasonality governs species composition at a given place and time. However, the effects of climate and land‐use change can vary by season, altering species composition. These changes can lead to a loss of distinct seasonal community composition, representing a novel form of biotic homogenisation. We ask if breeding and winter bird communities are becoming more similar over time. If so, is homogenisation occurring more rapidly in winter than in the breeding season, and has the presence of individual species changed between seasons? Location: Northeastern United States. Time Period: 1989–2019. Major Taxa Studied: Two hundred thirty‐eight bird species. Methods: We use data from The National Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count and the North American Breeding Bird Survey to test if winter and breeding bird communities have become more similar (homogenised). We evaluate this change using the Sørensen dissimilarity index, and its components of turnover (species replacement) and nestedness (a subset of a more species rich community) and describe the mechanism in which the seasonal winter and breeding bird communities are changing. Results: We found that winter and breeding bird communities are homogenising, driven by significant decrease in turnover and a marginal decrease nestedness. When viewing breeding and wintering communities separately, we observe different trends. Breeding communities are becoming more unique with decreasing turnover and nestedness. Winter communities are becoming more similar to each other, with decreasing turnover and nestedness. More breeding species are declining and species that are typically found in the winter and year‐round residents are the main contributors to the homogenisation between seasons. Main Conclusions: We show for the first time homogenisation between winter and breeding bird communities over time across the northeastern United States. This insight into how individual species are faring between seasons, and how they impact community structure, can be used when implementing conservation measures for maintaining ecological functioning and integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resilience, which can also be described as absorbing capacity, describes the amount of change that a system can undergo in response to disturbance and maintain a characteristic, self-sustaining regime of functions, processes, or sets of feedback loops. Rivers exhibit varying levels of resilience, but the net effect of industrialized anthropogenic alteration has been to suppress river resilience. As changing climate alters the inputs to rivers and human modification alters the morphology and connectivity of rivers, restoration increasingly considers how to enhance resilience. Characteristics that underpin river absorbing capacity include natural regimes, connectivity, physical and ecological integrity, and heterogeneity. River management emphasizing channel stabilization and homogenization has reduced river absorbing capacity. We propose that the paths to restoring rivers include defining relevant measures of absorbing capacity and understanding the scales of restoration and the sociopolitical elements of river restoration. We provide a conceptual framing for choosing measures that could be used to assess river absorbing capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Resources & Ecology is the property of Journal of Resources & Ecology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Global change is a multifaceted, unprecedented crisis hitting the life support system of our planet. Among global changes, climate change is regarded as one of the most grave threats to biodiversity because of its direct impacts on species and ecosystems integrity and because of its indirect consequences through synergistic effects with other global change factors such as biological invasions. The challenges presented to either reduce or mitigate this biodiversity crisis derived from climate change require novel synthesis and innovation in ecological and evolutionary theory. Positive species interactions within and between trophic levels can play a key role in the resilience of ecological communities. Depending on the tolerance of nurse species to different aspects of climate change, communities can be more or less resilient to those changes. This knowledge has important implications for both natural communities and agroecosystems. Further, our fundamental understanding of the role of positive interactions can also enable both effective conservation and restoration levers in space and time. This special issue includes studies addressing the role of facilitative interactions on the response of ecological systems to climate change. Key concepts examined included stress, gradients, nurse species, spatial scale, translocation, phylogenetics alongside physiochemicals, and variation in the capacity of species to buffer changes. Alpine, tundra, drylands and temperate forests were directly tested, but salient principles were relevant to all ecosystems including a contribution on soil biota and also a call to more open data and collaborative science. Together, this corpus of work highlighted the significance of facilitative interactions in mitigating many of the effects of climate change on biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, a global environmental phenomenon, is recognized as a major threat to survival of species and integrity of ecosystem world-wide. Adaptation strategies by species assemblages in an ecosystem are therefore aimed at reducing mortality, while they are expected to increase survival flexibilities of the species or group of species to a given climate variability scenario. These scenarios are known to impact directly and/or indirectly on the distribution, abundance, diversity, reproduction, growth and species composition. This paper reviews the adaptive strategies that will or are expected to enhance the survival of phytoplankton, zooplankton on and benthic communities/assemblages in the tropical and sub-tropical coastal waters, their community structure, life processes and roles in the ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sosyologca is the property of Sosyologca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The editorial discusses the critical issue of land degradation and forest management, emphasizing the threats posed to forest ecosystems and biodiversity worldwide. Various factors such as deforestation, unsustainable land use practices, and climate change contribute to the deterioration of land quality, leading to profound implications like loss of soil fertility and increased vulnerability to natural disasters. The editorial calls for a multifaceted approach to forested land management, highlighting the importance of sustainable forest management practices in restoring degraded forested lands and enhancing resiliency against climate change. The research articles included in the editorial explore topics such as species diversity in temperate conifer forests, factors influencing tree biomass and carbon stock, and the potential of prickly pear cactus for ecosystem resilience and forest restoration. Additionally, studies on ecological risk assessment, habitat degradation drivers, and host-parasite interactions in sandalwood cultivation are discussed, emphasizing the need for effective conservation strategies and sustainable forest management practices. [Extracted from the article]

Under anthropogenic pressures and climate change, most ecosystems are showing signs of reduced resilience. Unfortunately, some are more at risk of collapse and, without interventions, they may lose biodiversity, ecological integrity and ecosystem services. Here, we describe two tools that were developed under the auspices of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Red List of Ecosystems and the Nature-based Solutions Global Standard, and their capacity to first identify the ecosystems at risk of collapse in a nation and then develop solutions based on nature to improve their resilience. Nature-based solutions include, for example ecosystem-based adaptation, where solutions are developed to meet the needs of the local people while protecting nature to ensure greater resilience of the social–ecological system, not only the natural ecosystem. We discuss through a case study in the Andean high mountains and páramo social–ecological system how these approaches have been used in Colombia. We then discuss lessons learned and challenges that may reduce the capacity of a community to initiate such interventions, such as national policies and funding restrictions. We also discuss through another early case in Ecuador the importance to adapt these types of interventions to the geographical and cultural context of the social–ecological systems. This article is part of the theme issue 'Bringing nature into decision-making'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research on the significant toxic weed Oxytropis glabra, which adversely affects the grazing industry and the ecological integrity of natural grasslands in the arid and semi-arid regions of northern China, aims to delineate its potential distribution amidst changing climate conditions. This analysis involves both current conditions (1970–2000) and future projections (2050s and 2070s) under four climate scenarios using an R-optimized MaxEnt model. The results indicate that the distribution of O. glabra was primarily influenced by the temperature of the coldest quarter (bio11, ranging from −12.04 to −0.07 °C), precipitation of the coldest quarter (bio19, 0 to 15.17 mm), and precipitation of the warmest quarter (bio18, 0 to 269.50 mm). Currently, the weed predominantly occupies parts of Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Tibet. Projections indicate that, across four future climate scenarios, the area of suitable habitats for O. glabra is expected to expand and shift toward higher latitudes and elevations. The research provides valuable information and a theoretical foundation for the management of O. glabra, alongside advancing grassland ecological research and grazing practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address ongoing threats from human pressures and climate changes, water managers and users require a visual tool that provides accurate information about the health of waterbodies for decision making. However, there is a lack of less sophisticated methods, such as biotic scoring, to assess the health of rivers in West Africa. To bridge this gap, we have developed a macroinvertebrate-based scoring system for monitoring the health of rivers in the Sahelian regions. We adopted a multi-habitat sampling approach to collect macroinvertebrates using hand nets, and these specimens were identified mostly to family taxonomic level using keys. We recorded more than 75 taxa of macroinvertebrates, each assigned relative sensitivity scores to human disturbances ranging from 1 (very tolerant) to 10 (highly sensitive). The Burkina Biotic Score System (BBIOSS) and the Average Score Per Taxa (ASPT) demonstrated a strong and significant correlation with environmental variables, including anthropogenic pressures types (r = 0.6; p < 0.01) making it a robust tool for monitoring rivers. Here, our findings revealed that all taxa scored are expected to be those reported in Western African freshwater. This study has produced an effective tool that can be used or adapted to monitor other riverine ecosystems in West Africa, potentially contributing to the preservation of water and biological resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geodiversity has shaped and structured the Earth's surface at all spatio-temporal scales, not only through long-term processes but also through medium- and short-term processes. Geodiversity is, therefore, a key control and regulating variable in the overall development of landscapes and biodiversity. However, climate change and land use intensity are leading to major changes and disturbances in bio- and geodiversity. For sustainable ecosystem management, temporal, economically viable and standardized monitoring is needed to monitor and model the effects and changes in vegetation- and geodiversity. RS approaches have been used for this purpose for decades. However, to understand in detail how RS approaches capture vegetation- and geodiversity, the aim of this paper is to describe how five features of vegetation- and geodiversity are captured using RS technologies, namely: (i) trait diversity, (ii) phylogenetic/genese diversity, (iii) structural diversity, (iv) taxonomic diversity and (v) functional diversity. Trait diversity is essential for establishing the other four. Traits provide a crucial interface between in situ, close-range, aerial and space-based RS monitoring approaches. The trait approach allows complex data of different types and formats to be linked using the latest semantic data integration techniques, which will enable ecosystem integrity monitoring and modelling in the future. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Geodiversity for science and society'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utilization of groundwater has emerged as an indispensable asset in facilitating economic advancement, preserving ecological integrity, and responding to the challenges posed by climate change, especially in regions characterized by aridity and semi-aridity. The sustainable management of water resources requires an assessment of the geographical and temporal patterns of groundwater recharge. The present study employed the GIS-based WetSpass-M model to model the water balance components by utilizing hydro-meteorological and biophysical data from the Wabe catchment, which spans an area of 1840 km2 in central Ethiopia, for a long time. The objective of this study was to assess the long-term average annual and seasonal groundwater recharge for the catchment area utilizing the WetSpass-M model. The input data were collected through remote sensing data and surveys in the field. The model was employed to gain insights into the process of groundwater recharge in a particular region and to facilitate effective management, prudent utilization, and sustainable planning of water resources in the long run. Water balance components were estimated using seasonal fluctuations in evapotranspiration, surface runoff, and groundwater recharge. The Wabe catchment's summer, winter, and mean long-term yearly groundwater recharge were determined to be 125.5 mm, 78.98 mm, and 204.51 mm, respectively. The model indicates that summer seasons account for 86.5% of the mean annual precipitation, while winter seasons account for 13.5%. On the other hand, the groundwater system percolates 14.8% of the total annual rainfall (1374.26 mm). While evapotranspiration accounts for 51% of total precipitation and surface runoff accounts for 34.1%, the Wabe catchment's mean annual evapotranspiration and surface runoff values are simulated at 701.11 mm and 485.58 mm, respectively. The findings suggest the use of the WetSpass-M model to precisely calculate the water balance components within the Wabe catchment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protecting forest ecosystems is a critical action for addressing both the climate and biodiversity crises. Effective long-term management of forests requires landscape approaches, but evaluating the management actions is a key challenge. Previous research has suggested evaluation should focus on three interrelated pillars: ecosystem integrity, effective planning, and strong governance. This paper presents a framework for evaluating ecosystem integrity based on the 'Principle, Criteria, Indicator and Verifier' (PCIV) method. The key principle used is ecosystem autopoiesis – the ability of a system for self-generation and maintenance by creating its own parts. Four key criteria are applied, accompanied by a set of nine indicators. Verifiers for each indicator are suggested for which feasible data sources are likely available. The use of the three-pillar framework, including ecosystem integrity, is illustrated using three hypothetical cases representing different forest landscape contexts. Such evaluation can provide practical, consistent, repeatable, and comparable information for stakeholders and decision makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is rapidly transforming ecosystems around the world and forest ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to these shifts. The impact of rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, extreme weather events and changes in atmospheric CO2 levels is profoundly reshaping forests. These changes affect forest composition, structure, biodiversity and the services forests provide to humanity. This article explores the complex and multifaceted ways in which climate change is redrawing the blueprint of forest ecosystems. We examine how forests are responding to these challenges, the implications for biodiversity and ecosystem services and the potential consequences for global sustainability. By synthesizing current scientific understanding, this article underscores the urgent need for adaptive management strategies and climate mitigation efforts to preserve the integrity of forest ecosystems in the face of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) has been proposed as a carbon dioxide removal technology (CDR) allowing for long term storage of carbon dioxide in the ocean. By changing the carbonate speciation in seawater, OAE may potentially alter marine ecosystems with implications for the biological carbon pump. Using mesocosms in the subtropical North Atlantic, we provide first empirical insights into impacts of carbonate-based OAE on the vertical flux and attenuation of sinking particles in an oligotrophic plankton community. We enhanced total alkalinity (TA) in increments of 300 μmol kg-1, reaching up to ΔTA = 2400 μmol kg-1 compared to ambient TA. We applied a pCO2-equilibrated OAE approach, i.e. dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) was raised simultaneously with TA to maintain seawater pCO2 in equilibrium with the atmosphere, thereby keeping perturbations of seawater carbonate chemistry moderate. The vertical flux of major elements including carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and silicon, as well as their stoichiometric ratios (e.g. carbon-to-nitrogen) remained unaffected over 29 days of OAE. The particle properties controlling the flux attenuation including sinking velocities and remineralization rates also remained unaffected by OAE. However, we observed abiotic mineral precipitation at high OAE levels (ΔTA = 1800 μmol kg-1 and higher) that resulted in a substantial increase in PIC formation. The associated consumption of alkalinity reduces the efficiency of CO2 removal and emphasizes the importance of maintaining OAE within a carefully defined operating range. Our findings suggest that carbon export by oligotrophic plankton communities is insensitive to OAE perturbations using a CO2 pre-equilibrated approach. The integrity of ecosystem services is a prerequisite for large-scale application and should be further tested across a variety of nutrient-regimes and for less idealized OAE approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Managers are increasingly facing an uncertain future given changing climates and ecological trajectories. The interacting effects of climate, natural disturbance, and management actions complicate future projections, and there is a need for approaches that integrate these factors—especially for predicting future vegetation and species richness. Location: Central Sierra Nevada Mountains, USA. Methods: We used outputs from a spatially explicit landscape disturbance succession model that incorporated forest management actions, disturbance, and climate to estimate habitat and potential species richness for 202 vertebrate species and five functional groups from 2020 to 2100. We examined species richness outcomes of three forest management scenarios under three climate trajectories. We modelled broadscale drivers of landscape‐level species richness, and proximate effects of management and disturbance at each pixel. Results: Climate and forest management scenario had significant effects on potential species richness across the landscape, particularly at lower elevations; however, only management had significant effects at higher elevations. We found no effect of the interaction between climate and management scenario. The historical climate and the minimal management scenario generally resulted in higher species richness compared with other scenarios. Positive proximate effects generally included mechanical thinning and prescribed fire, as well as low and medium severity fire and beetle outbreaks. High severity fire had a consistently negative effect on species richness. We also quantified the contribution of protected areas and found that protected areas had higher species richness compared with ecologically similar unprotected lands, especially in climate futures that deviated from the historical climate. Main Conclusions: Our findings highlight that managing for biodiversity is complex, and effects of climate, disturbance, and management differ among species, functional groups, topography and scales. However, landscape disturbance succession models provide a science‐based tool for untangling broadscale drivers and proximate effects of biodiversity and managing for ecological integrity in a changing climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil infrastructure will be essential to face the interlinked existential threats of climate change and rising resource demands while ensuring a livable Anthropocene for all. However, conventional infrastructure planning largely neglects the contributions and maintenance of Earth's ecological life support systems, which provide irreplaceable services supporting human well-being. The stability and performance of these services depend on biodiversity, but conventional infrastructure practices, narrowly focused on controlling natural capital, have inadvertently degraded biodiversity while perpetuating social inequities. Here, we envision a new infrastructure paradigm wherein biodiversity and ecosystem services are a central objective of civil engineering. In particular, we reimagine infrastructure practice such that 1) ecosystem integrity and species conservation are explicit objectives from the outset of project planning; 2) infrastructure practices integrate biodiversity into diverse project portfolios along a spectrum from conventional to nature-based solutions and natural habitats; 3) ecosystem functions reinforce and enhance the performance and lifespan of infrastructure assets; and 4) civil engineering promotes environmental justice by counteracting legacies of social inequity in infrastructure development and nature conservation. This vision calls for a fundamental rethinking of the standards, practices, and mission of infrastructure development agencies and a broadening of scope for conservation science. We critically examine the legal and professional precedents for this paradigm shift, as well as the moral and economic imperatives for manifesting equitable infrastructure planning that mainstreams biodiversity and nature's benefits to people. Finally, we set an applied research agenda for supporting this vision and highlight financial, professional, and policy pathways for achieving it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyses of sedimentary DNA (sedDNA) have increased exponentially over the last decade and hold great potential to study the effects of anthropogenic stressors on lake biota over time.Herein, we synthesise the literature that has applied a sedDNA approach to track historical changes in lake biodiversity in response to anthropogenic impacts, with an emphasis on the past c. 200 years.We identified the following research themes that are of particular relevance: (1) eutrophication and climate change as key drivers of limnetic communities; (2) increasing homogenisation of limnetic communities across large spatial scales; and (3) the dynamics and effects of invasive species as traced in lake sediment archives.Altogether, this review highlights the potential of sedDNA to draw a more comprehensive picture of the response of lake biota to anthropogenic stressors, opening up new avenues in the field of paleoecology by unrevealing a hidden historical biodiversity, building new paleo‐indicators, and reflecting either taxonomic or functional attributes.Broadly, sedDNA analyses provide new perspectives that can inform ecosystem management, conservation, and restoration by offering an approach to measure ecological integrity and vulnerability, as well as ecosystem functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has an effect on ecosystems and people all around the globe and causes land degradation. A long‐term decline in biological output, loss of ecological integrity, and a fall in the economic worth of the land are all signs of "land degradation", a downbeat trend in land condition. In the red lateritic zone of the tropical area, where "climate change" and "land degradation" are related, they impact one another. On the other hand, due to the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), which slow the rate of carbon absorption, and the extent of various existing land degradation processes, which are worsened in pace and magnitude by "climate change". The world's expanding population poses a challenge to supplying the rising demand for food in recent decades. The need for additional land for farming, feed, and other forms of production is fuelled by poverty and the destruction of the environment. In tropical regions, "soil erosion" caused by "water and wind, salinization and alkalinity, acidity, losses of organic carbon, nutrient imbalance, pollution/contamination by toxic substances, and soil sealing and capping" all call for immediate action to stop the land degradation process and sustainably restore productivity for environmental security and food security for the world's expanding population. After fulfilling the requirement systematic knowledge about soil, scientific use of natural resources (water, land, minerals, vegetation, air and biodiversity) will present a healthy planet with a healthy ecological system for future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire is a key ecosystem process with more than half the world's land surface potentially subject to fire. A key aspect of fire ecology is the fire regime, with fire frequency an important component. Fire frequency appears to be increasing in some ecosystems, but decreasing in others. Such temporal and spatial variability in fire frequency highlights the importance of more effectively quantifying spatiotemporal changes in fire frequency for particular environments. We modeled changes in fire frequency over the past 40 years (1981–2020) in a 4.64 million ha area in Victoria, Australia. We quantified regional variation in the number of fires (hereafter termed fire frequency) during two 20‐year time periods (1981–2000 vs. 2001–2020), employing the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA), a standardized regionalization of Australia's terrestrial landscapes. We also quantified the climate and environmental factors influencing fire frequency in each IBRA subregion. Our empirical analyses revealed that fire frequency in Victoria was heterogeneous in both time and space. Wildfire frequency changed between 1981 and 2020, with the past 20 years (2001–2020) experiencing a substantially greater number of fires relative to the 20 years prior (1981–2000). Changes in fire frequency were not spatially uniform, with increases more pronounced in some IBRA subregions than others. Climate and topographic factors influenced the frequency of wildfires, but their effects manifested differently in different IBRA subregions. For example, fire frequency was associated with increasing rainfall deficit deviation in four IBRA subregions, but an opposite trend characterized two others. Associations between fire frequency and increasing temperature deviation also varied from negative to positive across subregions. We also found evidence of elevation, slope, and aspect effects, but these too varied between IBRA subregions. The complex spatiotemporal changes in fire frequency quantified in this study, and the complex between‐region differences in the factors associated with the number of fires, have major implications for biodiversity conservation, resource availability (e.g., timber yields), and ecosystem integrity. In ecosystems subjected to repeated fires at short intervals, new rapid detection and swift suppression technologies may be required to reduce the risks of ecosystem collapse as high‐severity wildfires increase in frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountain lakes are especially vulnerable to climate change, but are also increasingly exposed to local anthropogenic development through winter and summer tourism. In this study, we aimed to tease apart the influence of tourism from that of climate in a mountain lake located within one of the largest French ski resorts, by combining paleolimnological and present ecological data. The reconstructed long-term ecological dynamics highlighted an increase in lake biological production from the end of the Little Ice Age up to the 1950s, suggesting a historical dominance of climate control. Afterward, a major drop in pelagic production occurred at the same time as the watershed erosion increased and peaked in the 1990s, concomitant with massive digging for the ski resort expansion. The benthic invertebrates collapsed in the 1980s, concomitantly with the onset of massive salmonid stocking and recent warming. Stable isotope analyses identified benthic invertebrates as the major salmonid diet resource and suggested a possible direct impact of salmonid stocking on benthic invertebrates. However, habitat use may differ among salmonid species as suggested by the way fish DNA was preserved in surficial sediment. The high abundances of macrozooplankton further confirmed the limited reliance of salmonids on pelagic resources. The variable thermal tolerance of benthic invertebrates suggested that the recent warming may mostly affect littoral habitats. Our results indicate that winter and summer tourism may differently affect the biodiversity of mountain lakes and could collectively interfere with the ecological impacts of recent warming, making local management of primary importance to preserve their ecological integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is increasing the frequency and the severity of extreme events in river basins around the world. Efforts to build resilience to these impacts are complicated by the social–ecological interactions, cross-scale feedbacks, and diverse actor interests that influence the dynamics of change in social–ecological systems (SESs). In this study, we aimed to explore big-picture scenarios of a river basin under climate change by characterizing future change as emergent from interactions between diverse efforts to build resilience and a complex, cross-scale SES. To do so, we facilitated a transdisciplinary scenario modeling process structured by the cross-impact balances (CIB) method, a semi-quantitative method that applies systems theory to generate internally consistent narrative scenarios from a network of interacting drivers of change. Thus, we also aimed to explore the potential for the CIB method to surface diverse perspectives and drivers of change in SESs. We situated this process in the Red River Basin, a transboundary basin shared by the United States and Canada where significant natural climatic variability is worsened by climate change. The process generated 15 interacting drivers ranging from agricultural markets to ecological integrity, generating eight consistent scenarios that are robust to model uncertainty. The scenario analysis and the debrief workshop reveal important insights, including the transformative changes required to achieve desirable outcomes and the cornerstone role of Indigenous water rights. In sum, our analysis surfaced significant complexities surrounding efforts to build resilience and affirmed the potential for the CIB method to generate unique insights about the trajectory of SESs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Highlight: Davis, C. L., Walls, S. C., Barichivich, W. J., Brown, M. E., & Miller, D. A. (2022). Disentangling direct and indirect effects of extreme events on coastal wetland communities. Journal of Animal Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365‐2656.13874. Catastrophic events such as floods, hurricanes, winter storms, droughts and wildfires increasingly touch our lives either directly or indirectly. These events draw our attention to the seriousness of changes in climate not only to human well‐being but also to the integrity of ecological systems upon which we depend. Understanding the impacts of extreme events on ecological systems requires the ability to characterize the cascading effects of environmental changes on the environments in which organisms live and the altered biological interactions produced. This scientific ambition represents no small challenge for the study of animal communities, which are typically difficult to census as well as dynamic in time and space. Davis et al. (2022) in a recent study in the Journal of Animal Ecology examined the amphibian and fish communities found in depressional coastal wetlands to better understand how they respond to major rainfall and flooding events. Data from the U.S. Geological Survey's Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative provided an 8‐year record of observations as well as environmental measurements. For this study, the authors integrated techniques for assessing the dynamics of animal populations with a Bayesian implementation of structural equation modelling. Using their integrated methodological approach permitted the authors to reveal the direct and indirect effects of extreme weather events on co‐occurring amphibian and fish communities while accounting for observational uncertainty and temporal variation in population‐level processes. Their findings indicate that the most prominent effects of flooding on the amphibian community were caused by changes in the fish community that led to increased predation and resource competition. In their conclusions, the authors emphasize the importance of understanding networks of abiotic and biotic effects if we are to predict and mitigate the influence of extreme weather events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns under climate change scenarios are accelerating the depletion of soil moisture and increasing the risk of drought, disrupting the conditions that many plant species need to survive. This study aims to establish the bioclimatic characterisation, both qualitative and quantitative, of ten native Californian Pinales for the period 1980–2019, and to determine their habitat suitability by 2050. To achieve this, an exhaustive search of the Gbif database for records of ten conifer taxa was carried out. To conduct the bioclimatic characterisation of the studied taxa, we worked with the monthly values of average temperature and precipitation for the period 1980–2019 from 177 meteorological stations. Linear regressions was performed in order to compile the future evolution of California's climate. Suitable areas and optimal areas were defined at the present time (1980–2019) and its future projection (2050). We applied Boolean logic and, in this investigation, the Conditional Logic Operator (CON) was used to determine the possible species presence (one) or absence (zero) for each of the 15 variables analysed. In general, most of the conifers studied here will experience a reduction in their habitat range in California by the year 2050 due to climate change, as well as the displacement of species towards optimal areas. Furthermore, the results have highlighted the applicability of bioclimatology to future conditions under climate change. This will aid conservation managers in implementing strategic measures to ameliorate the detrimental impacts of climate change, thereby ensuring the ecological integrity and sustainability of the affected conifer species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modeling is a unique and cost-effective approach to predict the long-term impacts of climate change on infectious plant diseases and sustainability. Model predictions are hindered by a lack of evolutionary understanding of the individual and interactive impacts of climate change on plants, pathogens, and ecosystems. Climate change creates a series of intra- and inter-specific trade-offs that modulate the entire epidemiological process of infectious plant diseases. Climatic preferences of plants, pathogens, and their interactions evolve in response to change in local climatic conditions. Technological advances offer unprecedented opportunities to generate and integrate biological, ecological, and evolutionary knowledge in polytrophic models. Infectious plant diseases are a major threat to global agricultural productivity, economic development, and ecological integrity. There is widespread concern that these social and natural disasters caused by infectious plant diseases may escalate with climate change and computer modeling offers a unique opportunity to address this concern. Here, we analyze the intrinsic problems associated with current modeling strategies and highlight the need to integrate evolutionary principles into polytrophic, eco-evolutionary frameworks to improve predictions. We particularly discuss how evolutionary shifts in functional trade-offs, relative adaptability between plants and pathogens, ecosystems, and climate preferences induced by climate change may feedback to future plant disease epidemics and how technological advances can facilitate the generation and integration of this relevant knowledge for better modeling predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change leads to an increased frequency of severe weather events as well as stressful growing conditions. Together these changes may impact the resilience of ecosystems. To keep track of such effects, conservation managers monitor the "ecological integrity" or coherence of ecosystem processes, such as the cycling of carbon and water. Networked phenocams can produce near‐continuous observations of leaf function in the context of climate change, capturing declines due to disturbance or stress. Here we explore the application of phenocams to detect responses to disturbance and stress using 14 examples from the PhenoCam Network. We selected these previously published and new examples to include a variety of disturbances in the form of hurricanes, a windstorm, frost, insect defoliation, and stress due to drought. Frost and herbivory disturbances led to both reductions and extensions in the duration of the rising section of the greenness curve, while hurricanes generally led to reductions in the duration of the plateau section and entire leaf‐on period. We found that changes of at least ±20% in the duration of the rising section in the seasonal greenness curve, ±20% in the duration of the plateau section following the seasonal greenness peak, and ±10% in the duration of the entire leaf‐on period were a reliable signal of leaf functional declines due to disturbance or stress. If such declines become increasingly frequent and severe as a consequence of climate change, this could impact ecological integrity through interruptions to ecosystem processes. Comparing the duration of these periods in a given year to the average for other years with these thresholds resulted in average true detection rates of 86% and false‐positive detection rates of 11% when sampling from probability density functions of 344 broadleaf and needleleaf PhenoCam site‐years. Here we show that phenocams are powerful ecological integrity monitoring tools, which can be efficiently applied to quantify dynamic responses to disturbance or stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructed wetlands are environmental solutions that mitigate the impacts of urban effluents. It is unclear how the performance of these wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) is affected by climatic conditions. The dissipation of nutrients, suspended solids, and changes in dissolved oxygen were investigated on a monthly basis over two years (2018/2019) at six sampling points across a WWTP located in Esquel, Patagonia. It was predicted that climatic variables (rain pattern and air temperature) would affect the functioning and efficiency of the WWTP (i.e., via nutrient load mitigation and sediment retention). Rainfall and temporal patterns differed markedly between and throughout the two years, leading to a clear seasonality in the transformation of pollutants. Nitrate loads were significantly higher in 2018 than in 2019 suggesting some degree of operational failure, whereas ammonia levels in treated effluents were extremely high during both years, with marked peaks occurring during autumn 2018 and summer 2019. The WWTP was moderately successful (~36%) in reducing TSS contents during 2018 but was inefficient in 2019. Ammonia levels in receiving waters underwent dilution due to rains rather than due to adequate WWTP nutrient retention. In terms of nutrients, effluent values exceeded those established by governmental regulation during most months, but worsened during summer coinciding with low flows. This lack of predictability for the values of the treated effluent strongly jeopardizes the ecological integrity and biodiversity of the receiving stream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unprecedented rates of climate change and biodiversity loss have galvanized efforts to expand protected areas (PAs) globally. However, limited spatial overlap between the most important landscapes for mitigating climate change and those with the highest value for biodiversity may impede efforts to simultaneously address both issues through new protections. At the same time, there is a need to understand how lands with high conservation value align with existing patterns of land management, both public and private, which will inform strategies for developing new conservation areas. To address these challenges, we developed three composite indices to identify the highest conservation value lands across the conterminous United States (CONUS) and Alaska, drawing on a suite of key ecological and environmental indicators. Two indices characterize the most important conservation lands for addressing climate change (based on climate accessibility, climate stability, and total carbon storage) and biodiversity (based on species richness, ecological integrity, and ecological connectivity), while a third, combined index simultaneously addresses both conservation challenges. We found that existing PAs in the United States have relatively low overlap with the highest conservation value lands, regardless of the index used (10%–13% in CONUS, 27%–34% in Alaska), suggesting limited effectiveness of current protections but substantial opportunity for expanding conservation into high‐value, unprotected areas. In unprotected landscapes, the highest value lands for addressing climate change generally diverged from those identified as most important for protecting biodiversity (22%–38% overlap, depending on index and geography). Our combined index reconciled these spatial trade‐offs through high overlap with both the climate and biodiversity indices (66%–72%). Of the unprotected high conservation value lands identified by each of our three indices, we found ≥70% are privately managed in CONUS, while 16%–27% are privately managed in Alaska, underscoring the need to engage private landowners and land trusts in efforts to substantially increase the total footprint of conservation lands in the United States. Our findings highlight the importance of balancing climate and biodiversity objectives when identifying new lands for conservation and provide guidance on where to target new protections to simultaneously address both goals. To facilitate planning using the indices, we developed an interactive web application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River flow regime is important for ecosystem integrity and biodiversity, and is impacted by artificial water exploitation and regulation, extreme events and climate change. Environmental flows are designed to mitigate these impacts. In this work, we used catchment hydrological output simulated by the Soil & Water Assessment Tool model, evaporation rates calculated with the General Lake Model and a water resource management tool to calculate a water balance for a sub-tropical reservoir located in southeast Queensland, Australia under extreme dry conditions impacted by climate change. Two environmental flows, the 90th percentile of the daily flow duration curve (Q 90) and the 90th percentile monthly flow for each season (Q 90M), were used to assess water availability for multiple purposes including environmental releases and water supply from a subtropical water supply reservoir. Risks for the downstream river system were assessed using a flow alteration screening method by comparing a 20-year baseline period of no-dam from 1990 to 2009 with future climate change and water regulation conditions with the dam in place. A significant decrease in maximum flood peak, persistence of high-flow duration and the annual discharge from the reservoir occurred with future climate change and water demand scenarios compared with the no-dam baseline. The future changes in flow regime indicate a medium-to-high ecological risk for high flow conditions and moderate ecological risk during low flow conditions compared with the no-dam condition. An increased water demand in combination with future climate change leads to high ecological risks occurring by the end of this century under the high emission scenario of representative concentration pathway 8.5, regardless of the water regulations and environment flow management. The findings of this work indicate moderate to high inability to meet water demand under future climate-induced hydrological change. Therefore, catchment managers will need to take further actions to mitigate impacts from future climate change and population growth on water resources in this subtropical system. • Ecological risks were evaluated for environmental flow management during the Australian Millennium Drought. • Medium-to-high ecological risks were predicted for the lower Nerang River (Queensland, Australia) under future climate change conditions. • Water supply demand may not be fully satisfied under a future high emission climate scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Climate change leads to an increased frequency of severe weather events as well as stressful growing conditions. Together these changes may impact the resilience of ecosystems. To keep track of such effects, conservation managers monitor the “ecological integrity” or coherence of ecosystem processes, such as the cycling of carbon and water. Networked phenocams can produce near‐continuous observations of leaf function in the context of climate change, capturing declines due to disturbance or stress. Here we explore the application of phenocams to detect responses to disturbance and stress using 14 examples from the PhenoCam Network. We selected these previously published and new examples to include a variety of disturbances in the form of hurricanes, a windstorm, frost, insect defoliation, and stress due to drought. Frost and herbivory disturbances led to both reductions and extensions in the duration of the rising section of the greenness curve, while hurricanes generally led to reductions in the duration of the plateau section and entire leaf‐on period. We found that changes of at least ±20% in the duration of the rising section in the seasonal greenness curve, ±20% in the duration of the plateau section following the seasonal greenness peak, and ±10% in the duration of the entire leaf‐on period were a reliable signal of leaf functional declines due to disturbance or stress. If such declines become increasingly frequent and severe as a consequence of climate change, this could impact ecological integrity through interruptions to ecosystem processes. Comparing the duration of these periods in a given year to the average for other years with these thresholds resulted in average true detection rates of 86% and false‐positive detection rates of 11% when sampling from probability density functions of 344 broadleaf and needleleaf PhenoCam site‐years. Here we show that phenocams are powerful ecological integrity monitoring tools, which can be efficiently applied to quantify dynamic responses to disturbance or stress.

Under the current climate crisis, the ecological integrity of forest ecosystems is key to increasing resilience and the sustainability of water and soil resources. Most forests around the world have experienced deforestation and degradation in the past few decades; however, the rate at which these occur varies depending on many factors, including the type of trees, management, and climate. We conducted a review of the deforestation, degradation, and soil erosion of the pine-oak forest within the Rio Conchos basin in northern Mexico. Preference was given to recent studies (last 10 years) conducted within this basin. Out of 27 recent publications on oak forests in Mexico, 19 focused on this forest and half of them were in Spanish. The results show that pine trees are more affected than oak trees, also that the deforestation rate has increased with time and is greater at higher elevations, making this area vulnerable to loss of topsoil during extreme hydrological events. Studies report an annual change in cover rate between 1985 and 2016 of −1.2% for pine, oak and mix vegetation. More recently, between 2000 and 2018, the change in pine cover was calculated as −2.8% concurrent with a +3.4% increase in cover of oak and other secondary vegetation. Proposed conservation strategies vary from runoff control to increased collaboration between landowners, government agencies, and stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecological integrity of US national parks and other protected areas are under threat in the Anthropocene. For Yellowstone National Park (YNP), the impacts that global change has already had on the park's capacity to sustain its large migratory herds of wild ungulates is incompletely understood. Here we examine how two understudied components of global change, the historical increase in atmospheric CO2 and the spread of nonnative, invasive plant species, may have altered the capacity of YNP to provide forage for ungulates over the last 200‐plus years. We performed two experiments: (1) a growth chamber study that determined the growth rates of important invasive and native YNP grasses that are forages for ungulates under preindustrial (280 ppm) versus modern (410 ppm) CO2 levels and (2) a field study that compared the effect of defoliation (clipping) on the shoot growth of invasive and native mesic grassland plants under ambient CO2 conditions in 2019. The growth chamber experiment revealed that modern CO2 increased the growth rates of both invasive and native grasses, and invasive grasses grew faster regardless of CO2 conditions. The field results showed a continuum of positive to negative responses of shoot growth to defoliation, with a subgroup of invasive species responding most positively. Altogether the results indicated that the historical increase in CO2 and the spread of invasive species, some of which were planted to provide forage for ungulates in the early and mid‐1900s, have likely increased the capacity of forage production in YNP. However, rising CO2 has also resulted in regional warming and increased aridity in YNP, which will likely reduce grassland productivity. The challenge for global change biologists and park managers is to determine how competing components of global change have already affected and will increasingly affect forage dynamics and the sustainability of Yellowstone's iconic ungulate herds in the Anthropocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice requires plenty of water for its cultivation by transplanting. This poses several challenges to its cultivation due to erratic rainfall resulting in drought, flood, and other abiotic stresses of varying intensity. Dry/direct-sown rice (DSR) has emerged as a water-saving/climate-smart alternative to transplanted rice (TPR). The performance of a rice cultivar on growing by different methods of planting under varying environmental conditions varies considerably. However, the molecular basis of the observed phenotypic plasticity of rice to varying environmental conditions is still elusive. Resilience to various environmental fluctuations is important to ensure sustainable rice production in the present era of global climate change. Our observations on exclusively up-regulated genes in leaf of Nagina 22 (N 22) grown by dry/direct-sowing and subjected to drought stress at panicle initiation stage (compared to that in leaf of IR 64), and another set of genes exclusively down-regulated in leaf of N 22 (compared to that in leaf of IR 64) indicate important roles of leaf in stress resilience. A large number of genes down-regulated exclusively in root of N 22 on dry/directsowing subjected to drought stress indicates a major contribution of roots in stress tolerance. The genes for redox-homeostasis, transcription factors, stress signaling, carbohydrate metabolism, and epigenetic modifications play important roles in making N 22 better adapted to DSR conditions. More importantly, the involvement of genes in rendering genetic plasticity to N 22 under changing environmental conditions was confirmed by reversal of the method of planting. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on decoding the molecular basis of genetic plasticity of rice grown by two different methods of planting subjected to drought stress at the reproductive stage of plant growth. This might help in DSR varietal development program to enhance water-productivity, conserve natural resources, and minimize the emission of greenhouse gases, thus achieving the objectives of negativeemission agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the Anthropocene advances, there are few parts of Earth that have not been impacted by human influence. Humans have had a long-sustained interaction with grassy ecosystems, but they are becoming severely impacted by direct and indirect impacts as the Anthropocene advances. Grassy ecosystems are easy to clear and cultivate, poorly protected, and poorly defined due to legacies of colonial narratives that can describe them as deforested, wastelands, or derived. Climate change, land conversion, and the erosion of the processes that have shaped grassy ecosystems for millennia have had cascading and cumulative impacts on grassy ecosystem extent and integrity. We examine how these changes are impacting grassy ecosystems, more specifically, those that fall into ecosystem uncertain space—a climate envelope where vegetation is not at equilibrium with climate and either grassy or forest ecosystems can occur. It is within this space that climate, CO2, and disturbances (fire, herbivores) interact to determine the presence of grassy ecosystems. Changes to any of these components reduce the integrity of grassyecosystems. The loss of these ancient biodiverse ecosystems means loss of an array of ecosystem services fundamental to the lives of more than 1 billion people alongside Earth-system impacts of altered albedo, carbon, and hydrological cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this review we describe patterns and mechanisms by which habitat complexity is crucial for the functioning of shallow lakes and ponds, and for the abundance and diversity of biological communities in these ecosystems. Habitat complexity is affected by processes acting at different spatial scales, from the landscape to the ecosystem level (i.e., morphometric attributes) that generate different complexities, determining the potential for organisms to succeed and processes to occur, such as energy and nutrient transfer, and fluxes of greenhouse gases, among others. At the local scale, the three major habitats, pelagic, littoral, and benthic, are characterised by different degrees of structural complexity and a particular set of organisms and processes. Direct and indirect effects of changes in within-lake habitat complexity can either hinder or promote regime shifts in these systems. We also review several anthropogenic pressures (eutrophication, urbanisation, introduction of exotic species, and climate change) that decrease lake resilience through changes in habitat complexity and strategies for habitat complexity restoration. Overall, we emphasize the need to preserve and/or restore habitat complexity as key challenges to account for ecosystem integrity, maintenance of local/regional biodiversity, and for the provision of crucial ecosystem services (e.g., biodiversity, self-purification, and carbon sequestration). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing plant diversity is often suggested as a way of overcoming some of the challenges faced by managers of intensive pasture systems, but it is unclear how to design the most suitable plant mixtures. Using innovative design theory, we identify two conceptual shifts that foster potentially beneficial design approaches. Firstly, reframing the goal of mixture design to supporting ecological integrity, rather than delivering lists of desired outcomes, leads to flexible design approaches that support context-specific solutions that should operate within identifiable ecological limits. Secondly, embracing, rather than minimising uncertainty in performance leads to adaptive approaches that could enhance current and future benefits of diversifying pasture. These two fundamental shifts could therefore accelerate the successful redesign of intensive pastures. Managers of intensive pastoral systems face significant environmental and socioeconomic challenges, including a need to minimise adverse environmental impacts and maximise adaptation to climate change. Increasing plant biodiversity is often suggested as a mechanism to help meet these challenges, but it is unclear how best to design suitable mixtures. The most common current design approach relies on deterministic relationships of species to desired outcomes. This may limit capacity to cope with the high complexity and uncertainty associated with diverse mixtures on-farm, and therefore may not on its own fully realise the potential gains from diversifying pasture. Combining ecological theory with innovative design principles opens up complementary design approaches that could contribute to faster, more successful, transformation of pastoral systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2016, an application was prepared by the Malawian government for the Elephant Marsh on the Shire River to be granted RAMSAR status. As part of the support for that application and to help guide the resulting management plan, the eco-social holistic environmental flow assessment model DRIFT was set up for the Marsh. The aim was to predict the response of the Marsh to scenarios of changing water and sediment inflows, and to different levels of harvesting of its natural resources, in order to identify threats to and viable options for sustaining its biodiversity. The results of the DRIFT assessment provided three main points of guidance for the RAMSAR application and the subsequent development of a management plan. First, it was shown the Marsh has been fairly resilient to short-term changes in the inflows of water and sediments, having endured significant fluctuations in both in its history, and was able to recover in terms of biodiversity from extreme dry periods. Second, it was revealed that conservation efforts to protect biodiversity should concentrate on the central, eastern and southern areas, as they were less vulnerable to decreases in water flows than the other areas of the Marsh. Third, restricting access to some parts of the Marsh, in particular the core eastern, central and southern areas, could markedly improve its overall condition, increase many of its resources and improve its resilience to Climate Change. Of the access restrictions assessed, the greatest benefit to the ecological integrity of the Marsh would be achieved if all access to the central area was stopped, and if access to the eastern and southern areas was reduced to 50% of the 2014 baseline levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small hydropower plants (SHPs) play a crucial role in clean energy production, yet they also disrupted river ecosystems. To achieve a balance between energy production, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem integrity, it is essential to study how aquatic organisms respond to SHP operations. Prior researches had shown that SHP operations have the most significant impact in dewatering sections, but studies often overlook the influence of ecological flows. Therefore, our study focused on the Oujiang river basin, where SHPs are prevalent, to investigate the effects of SHP operations on riverine algae under ecological flow and conditions of intensive exploitation. We compared species composition, traits composition, and diversity indices across different river sections and used multiple linear regression models to identify the main drivers influencing algal communities. The results showed: 1) SHP operations significantly altered hydrological and physicochemical conditions in reservoir sections, leading to distinct differences in algal community composition and traits; 2) physicochemical factors had the greatest influence on diversity indices, driving the observed patterns; and 3) SHP operations indirectly affected algal communities through interspecific interactions, particularly with macroinvertebrates like Scrapers. These findings emphasize the need for stronger governance and enforcement to ensure adequate ecological flow releases by SHPs, especially under growing environmental and climate challenges. [Display omitted] • Impacts of SHPs with ecological flows on aquatic community diversity were studied. • Ecological flow mitigates SHPs impacts on dewatering sections. • SHPs may affect algal diversity by intensifying algae-macroinvertebrate interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest management is at the crossroads of economic, environmental, and social goals, often requiring strategic trade-offs. As global demands surge, it's vital to employ management strategies fostering multifunctional landscapes, enabling ecosystem integrity while procuring resources. Historically, the boreal forest in Fennoscandia has been intensively managed for timber, causing environmental shifts and conflicts with biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation policies. Application of current management practices while increasing harvests are a threat to both biodiversity and carbon stocks. To explore this issue, we quantify the cost-efficiency of two forest management regimes: rotation forestry (RF) and continuous cover forestry (CCF), considering specific forest attributes like soil type (mineral and peat soils), site type (fertility classes) and tree stand age, which have been underexplored in previous research. We simulated 45,559 forest stands for 100 years in Northern boreal forests of Finland. We proposed two straightforward cost-efficiency indices (CEI) to evaluate the performance of these management regimes, specifically focusing on their impact on economic output, biodiversity conservation (measured as a biodiversity index for six forest vertebrates, including five bird species and one mammal) and carbon stock. Our findings suggest that continuous cover forestry holds the potential to deliver more cost-efficient ecosystem services and maintain greater biodiversity compared to rotation forestry approaches. Continuous cover forestry, however, is not optimal for all at management units, which calls for alternative management options depending on the stand characteristics. The cost-efficiency indices performance of rotation forestry and continuous cover forestry depend on the characteristics of the initial stand which is largely determined by the previous management of the stand. Our results contribute to guiding forest management towards enhanced sustainability and ecological balance. The great variation in stand characteristics suggest a need for diverse management strategies to create multifunctional landscapes. Our proposed cost-efficiency indices could serve as practical tools for decision-making. • Continuous cover forestry (CCF) may offer cost-effective ecosystem services under certain conditions. • Initial stand characteristics influence cost-efficiency index (CEI) performance. • CEI shows consistent results across varied stand characteristics. • Minor differences in CEI noted between mineral and peat soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a vital element of climate change, elevated temperatures resulting fromglobal warming present new challenges to natural and agricultural sustainability, such as ecological diseasemanagement. Mitochondria regulate the energy production of cells in responding to environmental fluctuation, but studying their contribution to the thermal adaptation of species is limited. This knowledge is needed to predict future disease epidemiology for ecology conservation and food security. Spatial distributions of the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) in 405 Phytophthora infestans isolates originating from 15 locations were characterized. The contribution of MtDNA to thermal adaptation was evaluated by comparative analysis of mtDNA frequency and intrinsic growth rate, relative population differentiation in nuclear and mtDNA, and associations of mtDNA distribution with local geography climate conditions. Significant variation in frequency, intrinsic growth rate, and spatial distribution was detected in mtDNA. Population differentiation in mtDNA was significantly higher than that in the nuclear genome, and spatial distribution of mtDNA was strongly associated with local climatic conditions and geographic parameters, particularly air temperature, suggesting natural selection caused by a local temperature is the main driver of the adaptation. Dominant mtDNA grew faster than the less frequent mtDNA. Our results provide useful insights into the evolution of pathogens under global warming. Given its important role in biological functions and adaptation to local air temperature, mtDNA intervention has become an increasing necessity for future disease management. To secure ecological integrity and food production under global warming, a synergistic study on the interactive effect of changing temperature on various components of biological and ecological functions of mitochondria in an evolutionary frame is urgently needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge from ecological sciences is an important reference for landscape design as Urban Green Spaces (UGS) play a critical role in the ecological protection of cities. There is an ongoing debate among ecologists on the value of exotic vegetation to ecosystem resilience and integrity, with authors arguing that in order for ecosystems to survive in future climates, exotic species with similar conditions in their current range must be considered. Others deem biodiversity vital for ecosystem functions and services, stating that most biodiversity losses are man-induced and should be addressed through the enhancement of native communities. Through a literature review, we confronted the arguments used in this debate, with the aim of conducting a comprehensive analysis of the potential of exotic and native vegetation in different aspects of the vegetation's performance. The outcomes are important for the assessment of vegetation assemblages within UGS projects. Despite the strong arguments regarding their performative and adaptive capacity, we conclude that exotics pose significant ecological risks and have multiple negative impacts on ecosystem processes. Natives not only present high adaptive capacity, but also provide additional benefits for biodiversity, ecosystem integrity, and for people. In a broader framework, the literature demonstrates a preference for the use of native species in most situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional nature conservation has attempted to protect biodiversity, ecological integrity (i.e., composition and biomass/abundance of native species), and ecosystem services in parallel, assuming generally positive relationships among them. However, many native species are potentially weakened by and maladapted to a new, warmer climate. Such native species may not be able to offer ecosystem services at previous levels. If the relationship between ecosystem services and native species is no longer positive due to climate change, pursuing ecological integrity could be ineffective for maximizing ecosystem services. Hence, there is room to investigate future relationships among biodiversity, ecological integrity, and ecosystem services. This investigation can be done by describing the changes in ecosystem services as a function of biodiversity and ecological integrity. Herein, biodiversity and ecological integrity can be expressed by phylogenetic diversity and species intactness indices based on abundance, respectively. According to my hypothetical figure, the metrics of biodiversity and ecological integrity are potentially not positively but rather negatively related to ecosystem services. The hypothetical figure can be examined and improved using three different approaches: computer simulations (e.g., the LANDIS‐II forest simulation model), collection of actual data (e.g., measuring ecosystem services of some sites with psychrophilic and thermophilic species), and questionnaire surveys about cultural services (e.g., using digitally manipulated photographs and generative adversarial networks). Thus, we can successfully enable practitioners to understand new relationships, which will be relevant to ecosystem management under changing climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a vital element of climate change, elevated temperatures resulting from global warming present new challenges to natural and agricultural sustainability, such as ecological disease management. Mitochondria regulate the energy production of cells in responding to environmental fluctuation, but studying their contribution to the thermal adaptation of species is limited. This knowledge is needed to predict future disease epidemiology for ecology conservation and food security. Spatial distributions of the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) in 405 Phytophthora infestans isolates originating from 15 locations were characterized. The contribution of MtDNA to thermal adaptation was evaluated by comparative analysis of mtDNA frequency and intrinsic growth rate, relative population differentiation in nuclear and mtDNA, and associations of mtDNA distribution with local geography climate conditions. Significant variation in frequency, intrinsic growth rate, and spatial distribution was detected in mtDNA. Population differentiation in mtDNA was significantly higher than that in the nuclear genome, and spatial distribution of mtDNA was strongly associated with local climatic conditions and geographic parameters, particularly air temperature, suggesting natural selection caused by a local temperature is the main driver of the adaptation. Dominant mtDNA grew faster than the less frequent mtDNA. Our results provide useful insights into the evolution of pathogens under global warming. Given its important role in biological functions and adaptation to local air temperature, mtDNA intervention has become an increasing necessity for future disease management. To secure ecological integrity and food production under global warming, a synergistic study on the interactive effect of changing temperature on various components of biological and ecological functions of mitochondria in an evolutionary frame is urgently needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invasive alien species such as Bellyache bush (Jatropha gossypiifolia L.) pose immense threats to global food security, biodiversity, ecosystem integrity and provision of ecosystem services. The Bellyache bush has generally been naturalised in Africa but poses vast management challenges in the African Savannah, yet there is little knowledge of its spatial distribution and future potential invasion risk. In this study, we modelled the spatial distribution of Bellyache bush in South Africa as a function of key biophysical factors using maximum entropy (MaxEnt) and estimated its potential invasion risk into native environments because of climate change. Results show that temperature seasonality, mean annual temperature range and mean temperature of the coldest month are the key factors explaining Bellyache bush distribution in South Africa. The response of the occurrence of Bellyache bush to the temperature variables demonstrated that the suitable habitat for Bellyache bush ranged between 10° and 30 °C while the tolerance to precipitation range is very wide (400 mm – > 2500 mm/year−1). The total area suitable for Bellyache bush propagation in South Africa is ∼129 034 km2 (10% of the total land area of South Africa) in the current and will increase because of climate change to ∼510 914 km2 (40% of the total land area of South Africa). Our results suggest that we can estimate the spatial distribution and Bellyache bush invasion risk areas in South Africa. This implies that policies and management strategies for further Bellyache bush invasions in South Africa can now informatively be targeted to high priority areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying sites with refugial capacity can inform conservation efforts to assess the degradation status of global ecosystems (Keith et al., 2013), and it can guide landscape conservation planning (e.g., Moilanen, 2007). Although climate-change impacts are of mounting concern (e.g., Araújo et al., 2006; Scholze et al., 2006; Halsch et al., 2021), climate change is only one of many anthropogenic stressors contributing to biodiversity declines (Morris et al., 2020). Environmental stability is a key concept often applied when describing refugia for species and ecosystem persistence or resistance to change (Keppel et al., 2015, Morelli et al., 2020) under current and future climate change (McCullough et al., 2016). Keywords: amenazas; biodiversidad; cambio climático; cambio global; gestión y planificación estratégica; paisajes; sur de California; biodiversity; climate change; global change; landscapes; Southern California; strategic planning and management; threats; ; ; ; ; ; ; EN amenazas biodiversidad cambio climático cambio global gestión y planificación estratégica paisajes sur de California biodiversity climate change global change landscapes Southern California strategic planning and management threats 1 11 11 03/02/22 20220201 NES 220201 INTRODUCTION The specter of biodiversity loss due to human activities is widely recognized and well described in natural systems (Maxwell et al., 2016). [Extracted from the article]