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The ongoing effects of climate change have exacerbated two significant challenges to global populations: the transmission of foodborne pathogens and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through the food chain. Using the latest available scientific information this review explores how climate-related factors such as rainfall, floods, storms, hurricanes, cyclones, dust, temperature and humidity impact the spread of the foodborne pathogens Salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter, Vibrio, Listeria, and Staphylococcus aureus. We explore the complex dynamics between environmental changes and the heightened risk of foodborne diseases, analysing the contribution of wildlife, insects and contaminated environments in the proliferation of AMR and climate change. This review paper combines a thorough analysis of current literature with a discussion on findings from a wide variety of studies to provide a comprehensive overview of how climatic factors contribute to the survival, persistence and transmission of bacterial pathogens in the food chain. In addition, we discuss the necessity for effective mitigation strategies and policies. By providing insights into the interrelationships between climate change and food safety, this review hopes to inform future research and policy development to promote safer and more sustainable food systems and further integration within the One Health approach.

This research explores the effects of High Tide alerts on hotel prices in Venice, a city that is vulnerable to the impacts of extreme climate events due to its fragile ecosystem and a long history of floods in the city center. By analyzing and combining price data from Booking.com with publicly available information on tides and weather, this study uses regression discontinuity design to test for changes in hotel prices when tide levels reach a critical threshold. The results offer insights into the sensitivity of hotel prices to weather alerts and provide valuable information on the potential impact of climate change on Venice's tourism-driven economy, with implications for the cost–benefit analysis of activating protective barriers for lagoon protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Significance] The proposal of a carbonate factory and its classification study are of great significance for promoting the development of carbonate sedimentology. However, the current classification scheme is not sufficient to cover all carbonate sediments, so it is urgent to clarify different carbonate factories at the level of mechanism and process. [Progress] The carbon used by traditional carbonate factories mainly comes from atmospheric and oceanic inorganic carbon pools, whereas certain marine and continental carbonate factories mainly fix carbon from exogenous carbon pools, so the two are fundamentally different. The latter is often highly significant for tracing deep water environments and climate events. [Conclusions and prospects] As an example, this study takes hydrocarbon seep carbonate, and formally puts forward the concept of a cold seep carbonate factory. In addition, its sedimentary characteristics, biological composition and biogeochemical processes are summarized, and an example is discussed to address its geological significance. The type of carbonate factory based on an exogenous carbon pool deserves much attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Late Pleistocene to the Holocene is a time interval that covers the climate transition from a cold to a warm interglacial regime. In the Baltic region, many studies have focused on estimating environmental responses to climatic forcing using palynological and stratigraphic proxies of glacial and periglacial settings. Herein we describe the mixed lacustrine-aeolian succession of the Zervynos-2 section (south-eastern Lithuania), located in the north-eastern part of the European Sand Belt. The succession and the sedimentation styles were characterized by granulometric parameters, structural features, dolomite/calcite ratio, and paleobotanical macro-remains. Our analyses revealed that the Zervynos-2 paleolake formed on the sandur (outwash) plain during the final stage of the Pleistocene. The onset of lake sedimentation was caused by sudden submergence of a sandbody-constrained paleovalley. Carbonate ratios and macro-remains from the lower gyttja material showed the presence of substantial millennial-scale oscillations, which suggests a delayed response to the isotopically derived paleotemperatures. The transition to the fast sand sedimentation started approximately in the Middle Holocene and is interpreted here as being caused by warming and drying of the climate in the Baltic region. The upper Holocene portion of the section represents the transition to exclusively aeolian sedimentation with lower accumulation rates that are likely related to a long-term cooling trend. The obtained results support the conjecture that there is a direct but delayed positive correlation between dolomite and calcite ratios in lake sediments and the climatic signal in the Greenland GISP2 record.

Climate change forecasts indicate that the frequency and intensity of extreme climate events will increase in the future; these changes will have important effects on ecosystem stability and function. An important arid region of the world, Central Asia has ecosystems that are extremely vulnerable to extreme weather events. However, few studies have investigated the resistance and resilience of this region's ecosystems to extreme weather events. In this study, first, the extreme drought/wet threshold was calculated based on the 113-year (1901–2013) standardized precipitation–evapotranspiration index (SPEI); second, moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) remote sensing data were applied to calculate ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE) and quantify ecosystem resistance and resilience after different extreme climate events; and finally, differences in the changes of various ecosystem types before and after climate events were assessed. The results showed the following: (1) The average SPEI was 0.073, and the thresholds of extreme wetness and drought were 0.91 and −0.67, respectively. Central Asia experienced extreme wet periods in 2002 and 2003 and a drought period in 2008. (2) Suitable wetness levels can increase the resistance of an ecosystem; however, continuous wetness reduces ecosystem resistance, as does drought. Wet areas had strong resilience after wet events, and arid areas had strong resilience after drought events. (3) During both wet and drought years, the transition between shrubland and grassland caused changes in ecosystem resistance and resilience. These findings are important for understanding the impact of future climate change on ecosystem stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a quantitative framework to optimise embedded footing performance subjected to extreme historical climate events with respect to the uncertainties associated with site-specific soil and climatic parameters. The proposed framework is developed based on partially saturated soil mechanics principles in conjunction with a multi-objective optimisation algorithm called Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) to develop a robust optimised design procedure. The proposed method was applied to two semi-arid climate sites, Riverside and Victorville, both situated in California, United States. The results show that the proposed method generally improves the embedded footing design compared to conventional methods in terms of cost and performance. Based on the findings, under the extreme climate conditions, the proposed method estimates the average soil degree of saturation within the footing influence zone between 52% and 95%, with a mean value of 63.1% for the Victorville site, and 57% and 90% with a mean value of 81.6% for the site in Riverside. It is also found that the optimal design from the proposed method shows a lower total construction cost, 44% and 19%, for the Victorville and Riverside sites, respectively, compared to the ones designed by the conventional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: What are the main findings? The abundance of most of fish stocks in the Beibu Gulf continued to decline over the last 15 years. What is the implication of the main finding? Environmental variations caused by climate events can episodically enhance the abundance of certain fish stocks. Warming may be the reason of northward shifts in distribution of most fishes. Improving prediction of ecological responses to climate variability requires understanding how local fish population dynamics are impacted by climate events. The present study was conducted in the Beibu Gulf of the northwestern South China Sea where the fisheries are characterized by high ecological and commercial value. We evaluated the relationship between major commercial fish population dynamics (abundance and distribution) and climate periods, using survey data from 2006–2020. The analysis using random forest and GAM models show that climate events are not the best predictors for the variations of fish abundance, because abundance of most fish stocks decreases significantly with the year, and the increasing fishing pressure over time can better explain the overall downward trend in fishery stocks. However, environmental variables that correlate significantly with interannual variation in ONI may impact fish abundance in short terms. Our research suggests that climate events leading to higher surface seawater salinity in winter favors pelagic fishes by improving habitat availability, and higher near-surface chlorophyll-α concentration during La Niña events provides better food condition for overwintering fish. In addition, there is no clear evidence that climatic events have a significant impact on gravity center of fish distribution, whereas climate change has caused most fishes to move to cooler coastal waters in the north. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Populations are subjected to climatic uncertainties, the predictions of which are major challenges for the scientific community. This study analyzes indigenous climate event prediction and adaptation based on indigenous knowledge in North Benin. A sample of 80 holders of indigenous knowledge of prediction of climate events was selected using snowball sampling in the district of Gogonou. Data were collected during semi-structured interviews with the indigenous knowledge holders. Data included the profile of the knowledge holders, climate events and their prediction signs, and the planned responses in the face of climate events. Data were analyzed using discourse analysis and descriptive statistics. The results showed that the holders of indigenous knowledge of prediction of climate events are agropastoralists and some of their wives. They are over 60 years old and rooted in traditional religion. Climate events predicted were floods, pockets of drought, early cessation of rains, and invasion of fields by caterpillars. These climate events are predicted from animal, vegetable, and nature behaviors. The responses developed in the face of climate events are mainly the relocation of fields to firm land, the use of drought-tolerant varieties, the relocation of planting periods, and the planning of the suspension of children's schooling for spreading and planting operations. These findings demonstrate the necessity for policymakers to consider the value of indigenous knowledge to reduce the e􀀀ects of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning (ML) and in particular deep learning (DL) methods push state-of-the-art solutions for many hard problems, for example, image classification, speech recognition, or time series forecasting. In the domain of climate science, ML and DL are known to be effective for identifying causally linked modes of climate variability as key to understand the climate system and to improve the predictive skills of forecast systems. To attribute climate events in a data-driven way, we need sufficient training data, which is often limited for real-world measurements. The data science community provides standard data sets for many applications. As a new data set, we introduce a consistent and comprehensive collection of climate indices typically used to describe Earth System dynamics. Therefore, we use 1000-year control simulations from Earth System Models. The data set is provided as an open-source framework that can be extended and customized to individual needs. It allows users to develop new ML methodologies and to compare results to existing methods and models as benchmark. For example, we use the data set to predict rainfall in the African Sahel region and El Niño Southern Oscillation with various ML models. Our aim is to build a bridge between the data science community and researchers and practitioners from the domain of climate science to jointly improve our understanding of the climate system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Late Pleistocene to the Holocene is a time interval that covers the climate transition from a cold to a warm interglacial regime. In the Baltic region, many studies have focused on estimating environmental responses to climatic forcing using palynological and stratigraphic proxies of glacial and periglacial settings. Herein we describe the mixed lacustrine-aeolian succession of the Zervynos-2 section (south-eastern Lithuania), located in the north-eastern part of the European Sand Belt. The succession and the sedimentation styles were characterized by granulometric parameters, structural features, dolomite/calcite ratio, and paleobotanical macro-remains. Our analyses revealed that the Zervynos-2 paleolake formed on the sandur (outwash) plain during the final stage of the Pleistocene. The onset of lake sedimentation was caused by sudden submergence of a sandbody-constrained paleovalley. Carbonate ratios and macro-remains from the lower gyttja material showed the presence of substantial millennial-scale oscillations, which suggests a delayed response to the isotopically derived paleotemperatures. The transition to the fast sand sedimentation started approximately in the Middle Holocene and is interpreted here as being caused by warming and drying of the climate in the Baltic region. The upper Holocene portion of the section represents the transition to exclusively aeolian sedimentation with lower accumulation rates that are likely related to a long-term cooling trend. The obtained results support the conjecture that there is a direct but delayed positive correlation between dolomite and calcite ratios in lake sediments and the climatic signal in the Greenland GISP2 record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning (ML) and in particular deep learning (DL) methods push state-of-the-art solutions for many hard problems, for example, image classification, speech recognition, or time series forecasting. In the domain of climate science, ML and DL are known to be effective for identifying causally linked modes of climate variability as key to understand the climate system and to improve the predictive skills of forecast systems. To attribute climate events in a data-driven way, we need sufficient training data, which is often limited for real-world measurements. The data science community provides standard data sets for many applications. As a new data set, we introduce a consistent and comprehensive collection of climate indices typically used to describe Earth System dynamics. Therefore, we use 1000-year control simulations from Earth System Models. The data set is provided as an open-source framework that can be extended and customized to individual needs. It allows users to develop new ML methodologies and to compare results to existing methods and models as benchmark. For example, we use the data set to predict rainfall in the African Sahel region and El Niño Southern Oscillation with various ML models. Our aim is to build a bridge between the data science community and researchers and practitioners from the domain of climate science to jointly improve our understanding of the climate system.

Climate change forecasts indicate that the frequency and intensity of extreme climate events will increase in the future; these changes will have important effects on ecosystem stability and function. An important arid region of the world, Central Asia has ecosystems that are extremely vulnerable to extreme weather events. However, few studies have investigated the resistance and resilience of this region’s ecosystems to extreme weather events. In this study, first, the extreme drought/wet threshold was calculated based on the 113-year (1901–2013) standardized precipitation–evapotranspiration index (SPEI); second, moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) remote sensing data were applied to calculate ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE) and quantify ecosystem resistance and resilience after different extreme climate events; and finally, differences in the changes of various ecosystem types before and after climate events were assessed. The results showed the following: (1) The average SPEI was 0.073, and the thresholds of extreme wetness and drought were 0.91 and −0.67, respectively. Central Asia experienced extreme wet periods in 2002 and 2003 and a drought period in 2008. (2) Suitable wetness levels can increase the resistance of an ecosystem; however, continuous wetness reduces ecosystem resistance, as does drought. Wet areas had strong resilience after wet events, and arid areas had strong resilience after drought events. (3) During both wet and drought years, the transition between shrubland and grassland caused changes in ecosystem resistance and resilience. These findings are important for understanding the impact of future climate change on ecosystem stability.

Improving prediction of ecological responses to climate variability requires understanding how local fish population dynamics are impacted by climate events. The present study was conducted in the Beibu Gulf of the northwestern South China Sea where the fisheries are characterized by high ecological and commercial value. We evaluated the relationship between major commercial fish population dynamics (abundance and distribution) and climate periods, using survey data from 2006–2020. The analysis using random forest and GAM models show that climate events are not the best predictors for the variations of fish abundance, because abundance of most fish stocks decreases significantly with the year, and the increasing fishing pressure over time can better explain the overall downward trend in fishery stocks. However, environmental variables that correlate significantly with interannual variation in ONI may impact fish abundance in short terms. Our research suggests that climate events leading to higher surface seawater salinity in winter favors pelagic fishes by improving habitat availability, and higher near-surface chlorophyll-α concentration during La Niña events provides better food condition for overwintering fish. In addition, there is no clear evidence that climatic events have a significant impact on gravity center of fish distribution, whereas climate change has caused most fishes to move to cooler coastal waters in the north.

The study examines the relationship between sudden- and gradual-onset climate events and migration, hypothesizing that this relationship is mediated by the adaptive capacity of affected individuals. We use survey data from regions of Cambodia, Nicaragua, Peru, Uganda, and Vietnam that were affected by both types of events with representative samples of non-migrant residents and referral samples of migrants. Although some patterns are country-specific, the general findings indicate that less educated and lower-income people are less likely to migrate after exposure to sudden-onset climate events compared to their counterparts with higher levels of education and economic resources. These results caution against sweeping predictions that future climate-related events will be accompanied by widespread migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban informal settlements have, over the years, been centres of conflicting development debates, yet, for people with low socio-economic status, these are areas of opportunities. However, the "peripheral" nature of these locations has far-reaching implications on how people in these areas participate in decision-making processes that affect them. Lately, the effects of climate-related events have also added another layer of socio-economic, political, and environmental challenge to the dynamics of life in the marginal areas of the urban setting. The purpose of this paper is to critically examine how people in marginal informal settlements of Lilongwe City respond to climate-related events and interact with the wider ecosystem of development stakeholders. The major thesis of the paper is that while critical policymakers ignore these peripheral voices in the provision of basic services, an enhanced support to these informal settlements can prove positive if efforts are harnessed to mitigate the effects of climate-related events and urban marginality and amplify marginal voices to change social policies for the good of all. This paper uses the case of Lilongwe City where three informal settlements of Mtandire, Kaliyeka, and Kawale form part of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Aim Our study evaluated the effects of extreme weather events and environmental conditions on the trophic groups of copepods (herbivores and omnivores) in the upper Paraná River floodplain. Methods The zooplankton were collected and Copepods and Rotifers were analyzed in nine environments of the upper Paraná River floodplain during 2000 and 2010, during which time the La Niña (drought) and El Niño (flood) climatic events occurred, respectively. Results The results suggest that in periods of extreme drought productivity-related variables act as determining forces on abundance of copepod trophic groups due to the contraction of aquatic ecosystems. Although the abundance of trophic groups is associated with system productivity, the responses between them differ, since herbivore abundance was associated with chlorophyll-a and total phosphorus and omnivores with rotifer abundance. In extreme flood (El Niño), no significant relationship was found between environmental variables and any trophic group. Conclusions In general, it is believed that in periods of extreme drought the variables associated with productivity act as determining forces on the abundance of trophic groups of copepods due to the contraction of aquatic ecosystems. According to the results found, it is suggested that other works be carried out with a greater number of extreme events to corroborate our results and, and also to extrapolate to other aquatic communities.

Rivers are critical ecosystems for protecting and harboring high biodiversity. Tropical rivers particularly are unique for facing extreme climatic events under the current accelerated disruption from human activities. The Bobos-Nautla river basin is exposed to climatic events and disturbances from anthropogenic impacts that stress aquatic organisms. We assessed the health condition of this river system using a non-conventional biomonitor, Corydalus sp., with a set of early-warning biomarkers including lipid peroxidation levels (LPO) and antioxidant activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and the neurotransmitter acetylcholinesterase (AChE) considering their spatial and temporal variations. Biomarkers and water quality parameters were analyzed, and the integrated biomarker response (IBR) was assessed as a stress index. Biomarkers showed no significant spatial differences; however, a high-stress period during the rainy season was detected, evidenced by the highest LPO levels; this period is related to the leaching of allochthonous materials from agricultural and urban zones. The peak IBR value during the rainy season confirmed the seasonality of biomarkers. A slight increase in IBR was recorded in lowlands, seemingly associated with agricultural land and human settlements. A principal component analysis showed nutrient enrichment during the rainy season and depletion during the cold-dry season, together with a peak activity of antioxidant enzymes. These results highlight the importance of climatic events such as the rainy season on the health condition of Corydalus sp., which is highly sensitive to the complex mixtures of pollutants that enter the waterbody during extreme climatic events, promoting oxidative stress. Our results also showed the ability of Corydalus sp. to recover and return to a basal level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs the event study method on the daily closing prices of 385 listed firms in Turkey from December 2020 to December 2022 to examine the market reactions to two significant climate-related events: the Glasgow Climate Pact (GCP) and the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan (SSIP). The GCP event triggered predominantly adverse market reactions, with significant and negative abnormal returns observed before and after the event and an adverse event day return. Conversely, the SSIP event generated a mixed market response, characterized by significant negative abnormal returns before the event and significant positive abnormal returns after the event. Additionally, the energy sector firms have been vulnerable to the SSIP, given their declining returns, while other sectors experienced significant positive returns. The cross-sectional regression analysis highlights the impact of firm-level characteristics on abnormal returns. For the GCP event, firm leverage, firm size, book-to-market ratio, and past returns exhibit significant associations with abnormal returns during different periods. Similarly, for the SSIP event, firm size, book-to-market ratio, past returns, and past volatility demonstrate significant relationships with abnormal returns. The findings suggest that firms should align their strategies with climate goals and capitalize on emerging clean energy and sustainability opportunities to maintain share prices. Investors must carefully evaluate climate-related events’ impact and consider firm-level characteristics when making investment decisions. This study contributes to understanding market reactions to climate events and provides insights for firms and investors in navigating the evolving landscape of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last glacial–interglacial transition, there were multiple intense climatic events such as the Bølling–Allerød warming and Younger Dryas cooling. These events show abrupt and rapid climatic changes. In this study, the climate events and cycles during this interval are examined through wavelet analysis of Arctic and Antarctic ice-core 18O and tropical marine 14C records. The results show that periods of ~1383–1402, ~1029–1043, ~726–736, ~441–497 and ~202–247 years are dominant in the Arctic region, whereas periods of ~1480, ~765, ~518, ~311, and ~207 years are prominent in the Antarctic TALDICE. In addition, cycles of ~1019, ~515, and ~209 years are distinct in the tropical region. Among these variations, the de Vries cycle of ~202–209 years, correlated with variations in solar activity, was detected globally. In particular, this cycle shows a strong signal in the Antarctic between about 13,000 and 10,500 yr before present (BP). In contrast, the Eddy cycle of ~1019–1043 years was prominent in Greenland and the tropical region, but was not detected in the Antarctic TALDICE records. Instead, these records showed that the Heinrich cycle of ~1480 year was very strong and significant throughout the last glacial–interglacial interval.

This study applied an untargeted–targeted (UT) fingerprinting approach, based on comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOF MS), to assess the effects of rainfall and temperature (both seasonal and elevational) on the tea metabolome. By this strategy, the same compound found in multiple samples need only to be identified once, since chromatograms and mass spectral features are aligned in the data analysis process. Primary and specialized metabolites of leaves from two Chinese provinces, Yunnan (pu′erh) and Fujian (oolong), and a farm in South Carolina (USA, black tea) were studied. UT fingerprinting provided insight into plant metabolism activation/inhibition, taste and trigeminal sensations, and antioxidant properties, not easily attained by other analytical approaches. For example, pu′erh and oolong contained higher relative amounts of amino acids, organic acids, and sugars. Conversely, black tea contained less of all targeted compounds except fructose and glucose, which were more similar to oolong tea. Findings revealed compounds statistically different between spring (pre-monsoon) and summer (monsoon) in pu′erh and oolong teas as well as compounds that exhibited the greatest variability due to seasonal and elevational differences. The UT fingerprinting approach offered unique insights into how differences in growing conditions and commercial processing affect the nutritional benefits and sensory characteristics of tea beverages.

Using a Climate Resilience Screening Index (CRSI) that was developed to represent resilience to acute weather events at multiple scales for the United States, nine regions of the United States are compared for resilience for these types of natural hazards. The comparison examines the domains, indicators, and metrics of CRSI addressing environmental, economic, and societal aspects of resilience to acute climate events at county scales. The index was applied at the county scale and aggregated to represent select regions of the United States. Comparisons showed higher levels of resilience in the Northeast and West, including Alaska, (>4.0) while counties in the South Atlantic and South-Central regions exhibited lower resilience (0.60), and above national median scores for society, built environment and natural environment domains which enhances their resilience scores. South Atlantic and South-Central regions of the US are characterized by higher risk scores (>0.31) accompanied by lower levels of governance (

Abstract: Saroma Lake is the southernmost lagoon exhibiting seasonal sea ice coverage in the Northern hemisphere and one of the most important aquaculture areas for Japanese scallops (Mizuhopecten yessoensis). Under conditions of adequate food and appropriate temperature, scallops grow well from the time of ice melting in April to harvesting starting in July. However, over the past decade, Saroma Lake frequently has not been completely covered by ice in winter, and the production of Japanese scallops has shown significant changes. Therefore, this study integrated data from satellite remote sensing, buoys, and in situ observations with climatic events [the winter East Asian Monsoon (EAM) and El Niño/La Niña–Southern Oscillation events] to investigate the impact of ice coverage variations on scallop growth in Saroma Lake between 2007 and 2015. Daily ice conditions were detected using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer false colour images and an unsupervised classification method. The results indicated that EAM strongly influenced the ice coverage variation in Saroma Lake through their effects on temperature during winter. Ice coverage variations show a strong correlation with water temperature and spring phytoplankton blooms, which are the two most important environmental factors for scallop growth. In addition, extreme climate events could cause water temperature anomalies (as in 2015) which are unfavourable for scallop growth. Monitoring ice conditions should be considered when developing plans and management strategies for scallop aquaculture in Saroma Lake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scarcity of well-dated, highly temporally resolved, paleoclimate records since the last glacial maximum (LGM) in Northeast China limits our understanding of past climatic variations and the prediction of future hydrological changes in the context of anthropogenic global warming. A high-resolution n -alkane record covering the past ∼25 kyr was retrieved from Lake Tuofengling, a hydrologically closed crater lake in the central Great Khingan Mountains. The sediments contained a suite of mid- and long-chain n -alkanes with a strong odd-to even-carbon number predominance. The relative proportion of mid-to long-chain n -alkane homologues (P aq) was proposed to evaluate the input of submerged/floating plants into lake sediments relative to that from emergent/terrestrial plants, which could be a useful indicator of lake level in lacustrine settings. The P aq proxy demonstrated that lake level increased stably from the shallowest level during the LGM to a maximum depth at 7.5–3.0 cal ka BP, with a minor decreasing trend during the late Holocene. The asynchronous changes in effective moisture in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) region since the LGM might be directly or indirectly mediated by the shift in the rainfall belt, the position and intensity of the Western Pacific Subtropical High and Okhotsk High at different timescales. Our study provides new insights into climatic evolution in Northeast China, where the main climate pattern may not always be similar to the typical EASM pattern. • Changes in lake level reconstructed using Paq ratio since LGM. • Younger Dryas was characterized by relatively humid conditions in Northeast China. • Pacific Ocean was the main regulator of hydroclimatic pattern in the EASM region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of the entire Neogene climate in Europeis a useful tool for climate researchers, synthesizingpresent day knowledge on a variety of past warmer climatemodes thus facilitating the debate regarding possiblefuture climate scenarios in the Old Continent. This workcentres on the European scenario, debating possible futureprojections and describing the Miocene and Plioceneclimate in the Old Continent. With present evidences ofa global warming scenario, it is highly important that welook at past climatic events in order to better predict futureclimate changes impact in biodiversity. The review presentedhere synthesizes the literature regarding climate,faunal and floral evolution for the European Neogene, andaims to help palaeoclimatic researchers and climatologiststo characterize some of the boundary conditions for modellingpossible analogous of IPPC climate scenarios. If thefuture climate projections come to be true, it is shown thatthe Pliocene, and particularly the Mid Piacenzian WarmPeriod, should be considered as the best analogue for theimpact of a warming climate in Europe.

Due to ongoing and projected climate change as well as increasing anthropogenic disturbances, the tropical deciduous forest has been experiencing a decline in its biomass and productivity. To mitigate this adverse effect, many tropical countries have adopted forest co-management engaging local communities. However, the effects of co-management on the resistance and resilience of forest ecosystems to extreme climatic events have rarely been tested. The present study investigates the effects of co-management on resistance and resilience to extreme climatic events in two major tropical deciduous forest protected areas of Bangladesh, namely Madhupur National Park (MNP) and Bhawal National Park (BNP), through remotely sensed satellite data. We used the Google Earth Engine platform to access the Landsat images from 1990 to 2020 for a comprehensive assessment of the forest cover condition under two major management regimes (i.e., traditional and co-management). We find that co-management slows down the rate of forest destruction, where the rate of forest destruction was 108 ha year−1 in MNP and 121 ha year−1 in BNP during the year 1990–2008 under traditional forest management system. Under the co-management regime, forest cover increased by 19 ha year−1 and 41 ha year−1 from 2009 to 2020 respectively in MNP and BNP. Our study finds a highly significant correlation between rainfall (p < 0.001) and forest health, although co-management had poor impacts on forest resistance and resilience in case of extreme climatic events, such as drought and heavy rainfall. We find, no significant impacts of co-management on resistance and resilience to drought in MNP, and on resistance and resilience to heavy rainfall in MNP and BNP. In BNP, the impacts of co-management on resistance (p < 0.05) and resilience (p < 0.01) of forest to drought were highly significant. Forest co-management although have the potentials to reduce the deforestation rate by mitigating anthropogenic disturbances, its capacity to tackle the adverse impact of climate change was limited in our study. An adaptive co-management model, therefore, is crucial for mainstreaming the adverse effect of climate change on the tropical deciduous forest to harness the maximum potential of community participation in forest resources management. • The effect of the co-management on forest resistance and resilience to extreme climatic events in two protected areas of Bangladesh were investigated. • Forest cover increased by 19 ha year−1 in MNP and 41 ha year−1 in BNP from 2009 to 2020 under the co-management. • We find a highly significant (p < 0.001) correlation between rainfall and forest health, although co-management had limited impacts on forest resistance and resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Extreme climatic events (ECEs) are predicted to become more frequent as the climate changes. A rapidly increasing number of studies - though few on animals - suggest that the biological consequences of ECEs can be severe. 2. However, ecological research on the impacts of ECEs has been limited by a lack of cohesiveness and structure. ECEs are often poorly defined and have often been confusingly equated with climatic variability, making comparison between studies difficult. In addition, a focus on short-term studies has provided us with little information on the long-term implications of ECEs, and the descriptive and anecdotal nature of many studies has meant it is still unclear what the key research questions are. 3. Synthesizing the current state of work is essential to identify ways to make progress. We conduct a synthesis of the literature and discuss conceptual and practical challenges faced by research on ECEs. 4. We consider three steps to advance research. First, we discuss the importance of choosing an ECE definition and identify the pros and cons of 'climatological' and 'biological' definitions of ECEs. Secondly, we advocate research beyond short-term descriptive studies to address questions concerning the long-term implications of ECEs, focussing on selective pressures and phenotypically plastic responses and how they might differ from responses to a changing climatic mean. Finally, we encourage a greater focus on multi-event studies that help us understand the implications of changing patterns of ECEs, through the combined use of modelling, experimental and observational field studies. 5. This study aims to open a discussion on the definitions, questions and methods currently used to study ECEs, which will lead to a more cohesive approach to future ECE research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyclic deposit systems, which exhibit mass-transport deposits at the base and channel-levee deposits toward the top, are identified in Pleistocene sequences of the deep-water Qiongdongnan Basin at depths between 1000 and 1500 m. Based on 3D seismic data, seismic amplitude, coherence, time thickness, waveform classification, and stratal slices, we show the vertical evolution of the cyclic deposit system. Channel-levee deposits display the sequence from the erosional channel systems to the leveed channel systems. Erosional channel systems have a stronger ability to incise the slope and contain erosional channels, un-developed levees, smooth lateral margins, crevasse splays, and slides. Leveed channel systems, which are less deeply incised than erosional channel systems, contain leveed channels, developed levees and overbank deposits. Kinematic indicators suggest that cyclic deposit systems are sourced from shelf edge/upper slope systems in central Vietnam, where mountainous rivers deliver high amounts of terrigenous clastics. The proper order of the cyclic deposit system, pollen cycles from Site 1144, and the maximum δ 13 C values (δ 13 Cmax) at 1.6, 1.0 and 0.5 Ma from Site 1143 suggest a new model for the systematic deep-water sequences that may be related to the different stages of Pleistocene relative sea-level changes on the long eccentricity cycle time-scale. The start time point of three cyclic deposit systems is inferred respectively corresponding to three climate events at 1.6, 0.9 and 0.4 Ma during the Pleistocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate events pose major challenges to food production and the livelihoods of rural inhabitants in northern Laos, where upland rice using swidden production is an important crop. The onset of the rainy season in this area is one such climate event, and it has occurred earlier and with less regularity in recent years. Not all households are able to cope with these changes. This study examines the ability of local farmers to cope with rice insufficiency. This investigation also clarifies household strategies in dealing with the climate event. We randomly interviewed 63 of 95 household heads, and performed a paired sample t test to examine the significance of differences in three household groups between the 2010 normal climate and the 2011 climate event. The groups were categorized according to rice self-sufficiency in 2011: groups I are households with rice self-sufficiency, group II are those facing a rice shortage of up to 3 months, and group III are those with insufficient rice for over 3 months. We also conducted a one-way ANOVA to examine the significance of differences in livelihood strategies among the three groups. We found that the household labor force was the most important factor in enhancing the villagers' ability to deal with the climate event and that the level of impact of that event shaped their coping strategies. Households with substantial labor force had more options for coping strategies than those with smaller ones. The villagers faced different levels of impact and adopted different coping strategies accordingly. Non-timber forest product collection was the principle livelihood strategy in response to non-climate factors such as education, access to health services, provision of equipment and clothing, and overcoming the impact of the climate event. Households heavily affected by the early rainy season onset tended to engage in intensive activities such as off-farm activity and outside work, rather than their major livelihood activities in the village (upland crop and livestock production). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide an overview of selected recent operational applications of satellite remote sensing and marine Geographic Information Systems (GIS) procedures to the practice of sustainable aquaculture in southern Hokkaido, Japan, focusing mainly on kelp and scallop aquaculture. We also developed a suitable aquaculture site-selection model (SASSM) for suspension culture of Gagome (a kelp species) in the same region. Models for Japanese kelp and Gagome showed that the distributions of the most suitable areas for both species overlapped. Competition between kelps was especially marked along the coastline between Hakodate and Esan. In addition, we examined the impact of oceanographic environmental changes and atmospheric events on scallop and kelp aquaculture sites, demonstrating that variations in the coastal Oyashio Current and the Tsugaru Warm Current significantly influenced the growth and harvesting seasons of scallops and kelps in Funka Bay and other sections of southern Hokkaido. Because a strong El Niño event occurred in 2010, January of that year was extremely cold. The proportion of suitable areas for both scallops and kelps during their respective growing seasons contracted in 2010. Thus, shifts in oceanographic and atmospheric conditions should be incorporated into sustainability management planning for coastal scallop and kelp aquaculture in southern Hokkaido. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of the entire Neogene climate in Europe is a useful tool for climate researchers, synthesizing present day knowledge on a variety of past warmer climate modes thus facilitating the debate regarding possible future climate scenarios in the Old Continent. This work centres on the European scenario, debating possible future projections and describing the Miocene and Pliocene climate in the Old Continent. With present evidences of a global warming scenario, it is highly important that we look at past climatic events in order to better predict future climate changes impact in biodiversity. The review presented here synthesizes the literature regarding climate, faunal and floral evolution for the European Neogene, and aims to help palaeoclimatic researchers and climatologists to characterize some of the boundary conditions for modelling possible analogous of IPPC climate scenarios. If the future climate projections come to be true, it is shown that the Pliocene, and particularly the Mid Piacenzian Warm Period, should be considered as the best analogue for the impact of a warming climate in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Was the spread of agropastoralism from the Fertile Crescent throughout Europe influenced by extreme climate events, or was it independent of climate? We here generate idealized climate events using palaeoclimate records. In a mathematical model of regional sociocultural development, these events disturb the subsistence base of simulated forager and farmer societies. We evaluate the regional simulated transition timings and durations against a published large set of radiocarbon dates for western Eurasia; the model is able to realistically hindcast much of the inhomogeneous space-time evolution of regional Neolithic transitions. Our study shows that the consideration of climate events improves the simulation of typical lags between cultural complexes, but that the overall difference to a model without climate events is not significant. Climate events may not have been as important for early sociocultural dynamics as endogenous factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Teleconnection is a linkage between two climate events that occur in widely separated regions of the globe on a monthly or longer timescale. In the past, statistical methods have been used to discover teleconnections. However, because of the overwhelming volume and high resolution of datasets acquired by modern data acquisition systems, these methods are not sufficient. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to finding teleconnections in global climate datasets using data mining technologies. We present experiments on real datasets and find some interesting teleconnections, including well-known ones such as ENSO. The experiments indicate that our method is usable and efficient.

Tephras are important for the NZ-INTIMATE project because they link all three records comprising the composite inter-regional stratotype developed for the New Zealand climate event stratigraphy (NZ-CES). Here we firstly report new calendar ages for 24 widespread marker tephras erupted since 30,000 calendar (cal.) years ago in New Zealand to help facilitate their use as chronostratigraphic dating tools for the NZ-CES and for other palaeoenvironmental and geological applications. The selected tephras comprise 12 rhyolitic tephras from Taupo, nine rhyolitic tephras from Okataina, one peralkaline rhyolitic tephra from Tuhua, and one andesitic tephra each from Tongariro and Egmont/Taranaki volcanic centres. Age models for the tephras were obtained using three methods: (i) 14C-based wiggle-match dating of wood from trees killed by volcanic eruptions (these dates published previously); (ii) flexible depositional modelling of a high-resolution 14C-dated age–depth sequence at Kaipo bog using two Bayesian-based modelling programs, Bacon and OxCal's P_Sequence function, and the IntCal09 data set (with SH offset correction −44 ± 17 yr); and (iii) calibration of 14C ages using OxCal's Tau_Boundary function and the SHCal04 and IntCal09 data sets. Our preferred dates or calibrated ages for the 24 tephras are as follows (youngest to oldest, all mid-point or mean ages of 95% probability ranges): Kaharoa AD 1314 ± 12; Taupo (Unit Y) AD 232 ± 10; Mapara (Unit X) 2059 ± 118 cal. yr BP; Whakaipo (Unit V) 2800 ± 60 cal. yr BP; Waimihia (Unit S) 3401 ± 108 cal. yr BP; Stent (Unit Q) 4322 ± 112 cal. yr BP; Unit K 5111 ± 210 cal. yr BP; Whakatane 5526 ± 145 cal. yr BP; Tuhua 6577 ± 547 cal. yr BP; Mamaku 7940 ± 257 cal. yr BP; Rotoma 9423 ± 120 cal. yr BP; Opepe (Unit E) 9991 ± 160 cal. yr BP; Poronui (Unit C) 11,170 ± 115 cal. yr BP; Karapiti (Unit B) 11,460 ± 172 cal. yr BP; Okupata 11,767 ± 192 cal. yr BP; Konini (bed b) 11,880 ± 183 cal. yr BP; Waiohau 14,009 ± 155 cal. yr BP; Rotorua 15,635 ± 412 cal. yr BP; Rerewhakaaitu 17,496 ± 462 cal. yr BP; Okareka 21,858 ± 290 cal. yr BP; Te Rere 25,171 ± 964 cal. yr BP; Kawakawa/Oruanui 25,358 ± 162 cal. yr BP; Poihipi 28,446 ± 670 cal. yr BP; and Okaia 28,621 ± 1428 cal. yr BP. Secondly, we have re-dated the start and end of the Lateglacial cool episode (climate event NZce-3 in the NZ-CES), previously referred to as the Lateglacial climate reversal, as defined at Kaipo bog in eastern North Island, New Zealand, using both Bacon and OxCal P_Sequence modelling with the IntCal09 data set. The ca 1200-yr-long cool episode, indicated by a lithostratigraphic change in the Kaipo peat sequence to grey mud with lowered carbon content, and a high-resolution pollen-derived cooling signal, began 13,739 ± 125 cal. yr BP and ended 12,550 ± 140 cal. yr BP (mid-point ages of the 95% highest posterior density regions, Bacon modelling). The OxCal modelling, generating almost identical ages, confirmed these ages. The Lateglacial cool episode (ca 13.8–12.6 cal. ka BP) thus overlaps a large part of the entire Antarctic Cold Reversal chronozone (ca 14.1–12.4 cal. ka BP or ca 14.6–12.8 cal. ka BP), and an early part of the Greenland Stadial-1 (Younger Dryas) chronozone (ca 12.9–11.7 cal. ka BP). The timing of the Lateglacial cool episode at Kaipo is broadly consistent with the latitudinal patterns in the Antarctic Cold Reversal signal suggested for the New Zealand archipelago from marine and terrestrial records, and with records from southern South America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We present pollen records from three sites in south Westland, New Zealand, that document past vegetation and inferred climate change between approximately 30,000 and 15,000 cal. yr BP. Detailed radiocarbon dating of the enclosing sediments at one of those sites, Galway tarn, provides a more robust chronology for the structure and timing of climate-induced vegetation change than has previously been possible in this region. The Kawakawa/Oruanui tephra, a key isochronous marker, affords a precise stratigraphic link across all three pollen records, while other tie points are provided by key pollen-stratigraphic changes which appear to be synchronous across all three sites. Collectively, the records show three episodes in which grassland, interpreted as indicating mostly cold subalpine to alpine conditions, was prevalent in lowland south Westland, separated by phases dominated by subalpine shrubs and montane-lowland trees, indicating milder interstadial conditions. Dating, expressed as a Bayesian-estimated single ‘best’ age followed in parentheses by younger/older bounds of the 95% confidence modelled age range, indicates that a cold stadial episode, whose onset was marked by replacement of woodland by grassland, occurred between 28,730 (29,390–28,500) and 25,470 (26,090–25,270) cal. yr BP (years before AD, 1950), prior to the deposition of the Kawakawa/Oruanui tephra. Milder interstadial conditions prevailed between 25,470 (26,090–25,270) and 24,400 (24,840–24,120) cal. yr BP and between 22,630 (22,930–22,340) and 21,980 (22,210–21,580) cal. yr BP, separated by a return to cold stadial conditions between 24,400 and 22,630 cal. yr BP. A final episode of grass-dominated vegetation, indicating cold stadial conditions, occurred from 21,980 (22,210–21,580) to 18,490 (18,670–17,950) cal. yr BP. The decline in grass pollen, indicating progressive climate amelioration, was well advanced by 17,370 (17,730–17,110) cal. yr BP, indicating that the onset of the termination in south Westland occurred sometime between ca 18,490 and ca 17,370 cal. yr BP. A similar general pattern of stadials and interstadials is seen, to varying degrees of resolution but generally with lesser chronological control, in many other paleoclimate proxy records from the New Zealand region. This highly resolved chronology of vegetation changes from southwestern New Zealand contributes to the examination of past climate variations in the southwest Pacific region. The stadial and interstadial episodes defined by south Westland pollen records represent notable climate variability during the latter part of the Last Glaciation. Similar climatic patterns recorded farther afield, for example from Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, imply that climate variations during the latter part of the Last Glaciation and the transition to the Holocene interglacial were inter-regionally extensive in the Southern Hemisphere and thus important to understand in detail and to place into a global context. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A major challenge in forecasting the ecological consequences of climate change is understanding the relative importance of changes to mean conditions vs. changes to discrete climatic events, such as storms, frosts, or droughts. Here we show that the first major storm of the growing season strongly influences the population dynamics of three rare and endangered annual plant species in a coastal California (USA) ecosystem. In a field experiment we used moisture barriers and water addition to manipulate the timing and temperature associated with first major rains of the season. The three focal species showed two- to fivefold variation in per capita population growth rates between the different storm treatments, comparable to variation found in a prior experiment imposing eightfold differences in season-long pi~ecipitation. Variation in germination was a major demographic driver of how two of three species responded to the first rains. For one of these species,the timing of the storm was the most critical determinant of its germination, while the other showed enhanced germination with colder storm temperatures. The role of temperature was further supported by laboratory trials showing enhanced germination in cooler treatments. Our work suggests that, because of species-specific cues for demographic transitions such as germination, changes to discrete climate events may be as, if not more, important than changes to season-long variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A pollen study at Survilly (2235m asl, 06° 49′ 12″ E, 45° 59′ 24″ N), a small peatbog located on the Anterne mountain (Upper-Arve Valley, French north-western Alps) highlights the local role of human activities in Holocene vegetation dynamics of the currently treeless subalpine belt and the consecutive resumption of erosion. As early as 8890 cal. years BP (±122), Pinus cembra grew close to the site. Grasslands without shrubs were established at around 4624±86 cal. years BP. Due to human activities, spruces extended little after 3600 cal. BP. The intense grazing that resulted in the current alpine meadows goes back to 1436 cal. years BP (±81). After 4624 cal. BP three clay layers show that from this period, the erosion became as active as during the first steps of the colonization of the vegetation prior to 10,050 cal. BP. During peat growth only a millimetre of clay at the end of the 9400–9050 cal. BP climatic event was recorded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mail survey of community water systems (CWS) managers in South Carolina and in Pennsylvania''s Susquehanna River Basin addresses perceptions of climate vulnerabilities. Managers report the nature of vulnerabilities to 10 weather and climate events. More detailed analysis of droughts, lightning strikes, and floods shows that the most significant concerns reflect financial and technological challenges. Neither water system size nor water source is a consistent indicator of perceived vulnerability. Regarding droughts, the expected severity of impacts relates significantly to experience with prior droughts, expectations of financial problems, and difficulty meeting water quality requirements. In order for vulnerability analysis to better inform adaptation processes, further research is needed into the management challenges resulting from the interaction of diverse climate events, technological systems, and public expectations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Progress in Chinese loess research made in recent 15 years was introduced in this paper, including mainly distribution and paleoenvironment significance of Chinese loess, new development of loess formation age, red-brown paleosol types and environmental change, loess-paleosol sequence and climate cycles, monsoon strength change during last interglacial and last glacial periods in the Loess Plateau, climate events, and source areas of loess and material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pollen flora of the Yushe Basin is dominated by Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae, Ulmus and Pinaceae. Carya, Carpinus and Juglans/Pterocarya are represented by lower values, but, being thermophilic, are of ecological significance in the pollen flora. Repeated appearances of the thermophiles along a continuous pollen sequence provide a good opportunity to produce a climate index curve for calibration of some significant temperature variations between 3.2 and 2.0 Ma.Pollen analysis of the Yushe Basin reveals several important Pliocene climate features. There is a temperature-declining trend with cyclic oscillations between about 3.2 and 2.0 Ma. A warm phase is recorded at about 3.05 Ma and a cooling event, at about 2.5 Ma that can be correlated with the marine record. The lengths of oscillations are estimated to be about 40–60 ka, which probably implies some astronomical influence(s) on the ancient climate of North China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• A multiproxy-approach is key to understanding regional demography. • Demography and mobility changed throughout the Mesolithic. • Possibly triggered by environmental and climate events. • The Middle Mesolithic is characterized by increased mobility and a population shift. • The Late Mesolithic testifies a reduction in population and mobility. This paper explores the impact of environmental, e.g. sea level rise, and climatic events, e.g. abrupt cooling events, on Mesolithic populations (ca. 11,350 to 6600 cal BP) living in the western Scheldt basin of Belgium and Northern France. The Mesolithic in this study-area has been extensively studied during the last few decades, leading to an extensive database of radiocarbon dates (n = 418), sites (n = 157) and excavated loci (n = 145). A multi-proxy analysis of this database reveals important changes both chronologically and geographically, which are interpreted in terms of population dynamics and changing mobility and land-use. The results suggest a population peak and high residential mobility in the Early Mesolithic, followed by a population shift and increased intra-basin mobility in the Middle Mesolithic, possibly triggered by the rapid inundation of the North Sea basin. The situation during the Late Mesolithic remains less clear but a possible reduction in the mobility seems likely. Currently there is little evidence supporting a causal link between these diachronic changes in human behavior and the 9.3 and 8.2 ka cooling events. Most of the observed changes seem more in response to long-term climatic and environmental changes during the Early and Middle Holocene, hinting at considerable resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scarcity of research in NE China on lake ecosystem responses to large-scale climate oscillations since the last deglaciation limits our abilities for informing conservation practices and policies in the context of recent global warming. Here, a high-resolution, sedimentary diatom record covering the past ∼17,500 years was retrieved from Lake Moon, a small, hydrologically closed crater lake in the remote central part of the Great Khingan Mountain Range in NE China. We compare diatom changes with geochemical data from the same core, and with regional palynological and dust deposition records, to better understand the influences of long-term environmental and climatic variability on aquatic ecosystems in this climatically sensitive region. Several abrupt and pronounced shifts in dominance among diatom taxa corresponded to marked fluctuations in the climate regime since the last deglaciation. During the close of the Last Glacial Period, a series of short-lived diatom shifts that were indicative of an increase in nutrients, signaled the transition from the cold period of the Heinrich event 1 (∼17,500–∼14,700 cal yr BP) to the warmer Bølling - Allerød interstadial period (∼14,700–∼12,900 cal yr BP). The onset of the cold Younger Dryas period was marked by a brief rise to dominance of benthic taxa (∼12,900–∼11,800 cal yr BP), followed by a pronounced lake ecosystem shift to a new trophic state at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (∼11,800–∼9900 cal yr BP), evidenced by an abrupt rise to dominance of several eutrophic diatom indicators (e.g. Cyclostephanos dubius , Aulacoseira ambigua and Stephanodiscus parvus). This nearly complete compositional turnover was indicative of an increase in phosphorus supply to the lake with the onset of a warmer and moister climate and an increased frequency of strong dust storms. During the mid-Holocene (∼6000 cal yr BP), a striking increase in the relative abundance of Discostella pseudostelligera and Asterionella formosa , at the expense of previously dominant eutrophic indicators, signified another lake ecosystem change from well-mixed, turbid and phosphorus-rich conditions to a lower nutrient state with longer open-water periods and increased thermal stability. The turnover to oligotrophic diatom taxa was likely in response to variations in seasonal temperature, precipitation and dust deposition. The diatom shifts of Lake Moon during the past ∼17,500 years were directly or indirectly mediated by climate change that affected thermal stratification, productivity, lake level and trophic state. Our results indicate that climate change had an overarching control on aquatic ecosystem changes in the mountain regions of NE China since the last deglaciation. • A continuous diatom record tracking aquatic ecosystem dynamics in NE China since the last deglaciation. • Significant ecological reorganizations corresponded to the Heinrich 1 event, the Bølling - Allerød interstadial and the Younger Dryas. • Aquatic ecosystem during the Holocene responded to seasonal variations in temperature, precipitation and dust deposition. • Climate change and its mediating effects on landscape processes had an overarching control on aquatic ecosystem changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the high-resolution palynological data derived from two cores taken from Mogan Lake in the Gölbaşı Basin of the Ankara region in central Anatolia (Turkey) are presented. The results provide the palaeobotanical, palaeoclimatological and palaeoenvironmental records of the last ca. 3100 years for the region which is characterised by rich natural resources and a long human occupation history. The major climatic events and the archaeological-historical periods, which are well established in previous works, along with textual sources, are related to vegetation history inferred from the palynological investigation in the study area. Five main vegetation phases are distinguished and interpreted. Our findings demonstrate that the phases of limited woody vegetation cover are chiefly coupled to several dry climate periods, with some exceptions. Steppe vegetation in an open landscape accompanied by more cultural indicators and lesser arboreal elements is inferred during the Near-East Aridification Phase at the LBA–Iron Age transition (c. 1200–850 BCE), Roman Warm Period before 700 CE, Medieval Warm Period at about 1020 CE, the 1500s and twentieth century. Only during the three dry episodes in the 1600s, 1800s and at the start of Modern Warming Period (in the twentieth century) partial arboreal recovery is deduced, and land-cover patterns are related to both natural and human-induced factors. The most extensive pine-dominated forest cover coincides mainly with the three wet climatic episodes, in Galatians times of the Hellenistic Period at c. 2080 BP, the 700s CE of the middle Byzantine era, the Seljuqs Dynasty and the earlier Ottoman Periods (c. 1165–1432/1435 CE). The former episode is represented by remarkable signs of human interference, while the others have marks of sporadically less cultivated landscape. It is concluded that a combination of various factors can be taken into account as the drivers of vegetation changes in the Ankara region, but climate appears to have been the primary agent in shaping the land-cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study applied an untargeted–targeted (UT) fingerprinting approach, based on comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOF MS), to assess the effects of rainfall and temperature (both seasonal and elevational) on the tea metabolome. By this strategy, the same compound found in multiple samples need only to be identified once, since chromatograms and mass spectral features are aligned in the data analysis process. Primary and specialized metabolites of leaves from two Chinese provinces, Yunnan (pu′erh) and Fujian (oolong), and a farm in South Carolina (USA, black tea) were studied. UT fingerprinting provided insight into plant metabolism activation/inhibition, taste and trigeminal sensations, and antioxidant properties, not easily attained by other analytical approaches. For example, pu′erh and oolong contained higher relative amounts of amino acids, organic acids, and sugars. Conversely, black tea contained less of all targeted compounds except fructose and glucose, which were more similar to oolong tea. Findings revealed compounds statistically different between spring (pre-monsoon) and summer (monsoon) in pu′erh and oolong teas as well as compounds that exhibited the greatest variability due to seasonal and elevational differences. The UT fingerprinting approach offered unique insights into how differences in growing conditions and commercial processing affect the nutritional benefits and sensory characteristics of tea beverages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we try to understand pesticide input decisions among Vietnamese rice producers by examining the production risk effects of pesticide use, applying both a lottery game and a more traditional production function approach. Production function estimates show that excessive pesticide use makes production riskier. This result is supported by the lottery approach, which signals that more risk averse farmers use less pesticide, implying that pesticide is a risk-increasing input. We also show, that higher uncertainty regarding drought relative to pest is likely driving the increasing risk effect of pesticides. Therefore, we claim that the relative importance of multiple uncertainties on pest and water is relevant to determine the risk property of pesticide. • The excessive use of pesticide has generated concerns on health and environment. • Risk effects of pesticide is determined by an interaction of multiple uncertainties. • Lottery and production approaches suggest that pesticide use is a risk-increasing input. • Results show that pest damage may not be independent of rainfall. • Risk-decreasing management instruments may exacerbate pesticide overusing problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mariculture is playing an important role in food safety, acting as strong complement to marine fishery. As a typical capital intensive and high-risk sector, mariculture mutual insurance is important for ensuring the stability and sustainability of mariculture due to the inertia of private insurance, it is necessary to examine factors for low household participation in marine fishery mutual insurance to promote the healthy development of marine insurance. Based on the field surveyed data of mariculture shrimp producers in Zhejiang Province, this study aims to examine the determinants underlying households' participation in mariculture mutual insurance. Based on logistic model, we find out that climate risks, environmental risks and technical risks have seriously hindered the development of food security and fisheries in Zhejiang Province. In addition, farmers' insurance involvement mainly depends on the individual characteristics of the farmers: whether used to go out to work, perception of burden level of premium and insurance awareness; family characteristics of fish farmers: total household income, and unpaid loan; and production characteristics: professional level, mariculture area and whether sea waters registration. Meanwhile, external factors, including organizations available for insurance participation, impact of national insurance subsidies, policy support and disasters on the aquaculture area. Corresponding risk management measures are urgently needed for the sustainable development of mariculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a Climate Resilience Screening Index (CRSI) that was developed to represent resilience to acute weather events at multiple scales for the United States, nine regions of the United States are compared for resilience for these types of natural hazards. The comparison examines the domains, indicators and metrics of CRSI addressing environmental, economic and societal aspects of resilience to acute climate events. The index uses indicators and metrics that assess ecosystem, economic, governance and social services at county scales. The index was applied at the county scale and aggregated to represent select regions of the United States. Comparisons showed higher levels of resilience in the Northeast and West while counties in the Southeast and South-Central regions exhibited lower resilience to acute climate events.