Search

Efforts to protect tropical ecosystems aim at implementing biological corridors across the national territory of Costa Rica. However, potential near-future climate change challenges the effectiveness of such conservation measures. For this purpose, we developed near-future climate change scenarios at high spatial resolution using open-access global data from the Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS). These projections resulted from downscaling (to a 1km2 national grid) and quantile-mapping bias-correction of the Essential Climate Variables Global Circulation Model (ECV_GCM) ensemble mean from the CDS using a moderate Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5). Projections were evaluated with limited local station data and applied to generate future ecosystem indicators (Holdridge Life Zones, HLZs). We show significantly increasing temperatures of 2.6°C with a spatial variability of ± 0.4°C for Costa Rica until 2040 with local differences (higher temperatures projected for the southern Costa Rican Caribbean). The future mean annual precipitation showed slightly wetter conditions (120 ± 43 mm/year) and most prominently in the Costa Rican Caribbean and south Pacific, but no significant drying in the north of Costa Rica by 2040. The bias-corrected climate data were aggregated to decadal and 30-year average (1971–2040) life zone ecosystem indicators that could potentially show ecosystem shifts. Changes in the life zones are most likely due to warmer temperatures and to a lesser extent caused by projected wetter conditions. Shifts are more likely to occur at higher elevations with a potential loss of the sub-tropical rainforest ecosystem. The projections support diminishing tropical dry forests and slightly increasing tropical rain and wet forests in the biological corridors of the driest and wettest regions, respectively. A countrywide spatial uniformity of dominating tropical moist forests (increase from 24% to 49%) at the expense of other HLZs was projected by 2040.

The Holdridge life zone (HLZ) method is applied to map potential vegetation types in Turkey. The HLZ map is compared to a map of actual vegetation in order to assess the degradation status of vegetation in Turkey. Data required to identify HLZ classes are provided by the General Directorate of Meteorology, while the current vegetation status is estimated with data provided by the General Directorate of Forestry. After weather data are cleaned and missing values are replaced, the HLZ type is estimated for each station, and then thematic maps are created using the ArcGIS software. The study reveals that there are 12 HLZ types in Turkey. The three dominant types are as follows: cool temperate steppe, warm temperate dry forest, and cool temperate moist forest. In regions where physical geographical controls change in short distances, the biodiversity is greater, and linked to this, the HLZ diversity also appears to be greater. Comparing the identified life zones to the actual vegetation, in some areas, remarkable mismatches can be found. Although, in some regions, the life zone type is consistent with the land cover type, in some narrow areas, the potential vegetation does not reflect features of the current vegetation cover. Considering limitations and capabilities of the assessment approach used in this study, we think that the incompatibility between actual and modelled vegetation types in the eastern region of Turkey is caused by the intensive landscape use. The goal of this research is to support future bioclimatic studies and land use management strategies.

Many ecological studies show that diversity of vegetation is generally sensitive to hydrometeorological variables such as temperature, precipitation, and evaporation. Furthermore, it is also known that there have been changes in the precipitation regimes due to climate change and/or land use (such as urbanization). This study investigates the temporal diversity of the precipitation along with the Holdridge life zones (HLZ) using the biodiversity indices of true Hill numbers and Renyi entropy. The results show that there are no statistically significant changes in the “biodiversity” with respect to the HLZ. However, it was found that, although the biodiversity has remained more or less stable through 45 years, the HLZ classes have widened toward much warmer and drier vegetation cover. One can propose that the water regime of the rivers of the country has also changed due to the early melting of snow and an increase in evapotranspiration as a result of warming. Furthermore, using the Gini-Simpson diversity index for daily rainfall types recorded in a spatially homogeneous manner over Turkey, one can show that there are no significant changes in rainfall diversity in the coastal regions, but significant changes are observed in the internal and relatively high-altitude areas of the country.

Growing evidence suggests that climate classification facilitates the identification of zones that either agree or disagree with processes explaining soil organic carbon (SOC) persistence. Already forty years ago, Post et al. (1982) posited that the strict temperature and precipitation-based classification defining the Holdridge Life Zones (HLZ) provides a descriptive tool to guide our understanding of the heterogeneous distribution of global SOC stocks. Here we argue that this classification has the potential for describing SOC persistence by linking top-down and bottom-up approaches from different scales, which allows selection of individual regional relevancies necessary to manage and track the fate of our largest terrestrial carbon (C) reservoir. © 2021 The Authors. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH

The persistence of drought events largely determines the severity of socioeconomic and ecological impacts, unfortunately the performance of current weather forecasting models (WFM) to simulate such events is subject to great uncertainties. This study is investigating time-domain characteristics of drought persistence over Turkey by applying the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) method to the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI). The existence of long-range power-law correlation in PDSI fluctuations is demonstrated for time scales ranging from monthly to decadal. Understanding of such statistical patterns in PDSI values can definitely be a step forward in drought predictability. From a climatological point of view, it is found that the areas with high level DFA scaling exponent (generalized Hurst) indicate the areas of higher sensitivity to droughts and associated risks. Furthermore, the characteristics of the persistence of the PDSI in climate zones have also been examined by applying the Holdridge Life Zones (HLZ) classification. HLZ classification over Turkey leads to two climate-zones: cool-temperate and warm-temperate. In addition, when topography is taken in account, montane (cool-temperate) and lower-montane (warm-temperate) climate zones can be treated as two different zones. It has been observed that the predictable index (PI) of the PDSI derived from the DFA Hurst exponent is relatively high in the cool-temperate and montane climate zones compared to others. In fact, very different PI values were also obtained in a few HLZ climate classes within the same climate zone and with same vegetation index (i.e. steppe, dry-forest, warm-forest etc.).

Rapid climate change is impacting biodiversity, ecosystem function, and human well-being. Though the magnitude and trajectory of climate change are becoming clearer, our understanding of how these changes reshape terrestrial life zones-distinct biogeographic units characterized by biotemperature, precipitation, and aridity representing broad-scale ecosystem types-is limited. To address this gap, we used high-resolution historical climatologies and climate projections to determine the global distribution of historical (1901-1920), contemporary (1979-2013), and future (2061-2080) life zones. Comparing the historical and contemporary distributions shows that changes from one life zone to another during the 20 century impacted 27 million km (18.3% of land), with consequences for social and ecological systems. Such changes took place in all biomes, most notably in Boreal Forests, Temperate Coniferous Forests, and Tropical Coniferous Forests. Comparing the contemporary and future life zone distributions shows the pace of life zone changes accelerating rapidly in the 21 century. By 2070, such changes impact an additional 62 million km (42.6% of land) under 'business-as-usual' (RCP8.5) emissions scenarios. Accelerated rates of change are observed in hundreds of ecoregions across all biomes except Tropical Coniferous Forests. While only 30 ecoregions (3.5%) had over half of their areas change to a different life zone during the 20 century, by 2070 this number is projected to climb to 111 ecoregions (13.1%) under RCP4.5 and 281 ecoregions (33.2%) under RCP8.5. We identified weak correlations between life zone change and threatened vertebrate richness, levels of vertebrate endemism, cropland extent, and human population densities within ecoregions, illustrating the ubiquitous risks of life zone changes to diverse social-ecological systems. The accelerated pace of life zone changes will increasingly challenge adaptive conservation and sustainable development strategies that incorrectly assume current ecological patterns and livelihood provisioning systems will persist.

Spatially and seasonally distributed information on transpiration (T) fluxes is limited in the tropics. Here, we applied a coupled isotope mass balance model to separate water fluxes of T and evapotranspiration (ET) from precipitation (P). The mean annual T was estimated at a resolution of 100 m for Costa Rica (51,100 km2) and a partitioning of monthly T and evaporation (E) for the 2370-km2 San Carlos catchment. The dominant flux in the forest ecosystems was T with a mean annual T of 1086 mm that ranged from 700 mm in Tropical Montane Very Humid Forest to 1400 mm in Subtropical and Tropical Low Montane Rainforests. We estimated an average 85% of ET was T, which is concurrent with expectations for forested tropical regions, but varied according to model parameterization and data sources. A model comparison exercise showed a range of mean annual T estimates from 988 to 1465 mm and a range of T/P from 0.35 to 0.5 with temperature and relative humidity exhibiting the highest impact on the model results. Across Costa Rica, we estimated an average loss of precipitation by T of 38% (1085 mm), whereas interception (I) constitutes 10% (230 mm) and direct evaporation (E) only 7% (192 mm). Similarly, the results at the catchment scale indicated that monthly T contributes 76% (85-mm monthly average) to total ET and E corresponds to 24% (24-mm monthly average). The T rates exhibited an opposite seasonality to rainfall with highest T over the drier months from December to April with a peak in March (101–144 mm) and the minimum T in September (53–71 mm). Around 17% (79–130 mm) of precipitation over the catchment area is lost to T, both E (10–35 mm) and I (15–38 mm) correspond to 5%. Despite the inherent uncertainties of the data assumptions and simplifications, including data interpolation errors, the coupled isotope mass balance model showed in comparison to other global products reasonable water partitioning for different ecosystems in Costa Rica and the San Carlos catchment area. These results can help to evaluate the impact of land cover conversion on the hydrological cycle in Costa Rica, and the simple isotope-based model could be transferred to different biomes of the tropics. Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Costa Rica Universidad Técnica de Braunschweig, Alemania Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica Universidad de Aberdeen, Reino Unido Escuela de Química

E imprescindivel que se tenha conhecimento das condicoes climaticas de uma regiao para execucao de diversas atividades. Entre as classificacoes climaticas mais conhecidas, a de Koppen e a mais usual. Porem, Leslie R. Holdridge elaborou um sistema de classificacao no qual sao determinadas zonas de vida, as quais representam associacoes ecologicas semelhantes. O objetivo da presente pesquisa foi classificar o clima dos municipios de Goias e o Distrito Federal segundo Holdridge, comparando-os com o mapa de vegetacao do referido estado elaborado pelo IBGE e com o mapa da classificacao climatica de Koppen. Mediante uma base de dados elaborada por Alvares et al. (2013), foram extrapolados valores de precipitacao e temperatura para os 246 municipios de Goias e o Distrito Federal. Aliado ao calculo da biotemperatura e relacao de evapotranspiracao potencial, juntamente com o estabelecimento da regiao latitudinal e piso altitudinal local, foram determinadas as zonas de vida. Os resultados mostraram duas zonas de vida para a area de estudo: floresta umida tropical premontana (99,4% do territorio), correlacionada 96,88% com o clima Aw; e floresta seca/floresta umida tropical basal, correlacionada 100% com o clima Aw. A biotemperatura foi a variavel que diferiu para dois municipios localizados no extremo norte do estado, possibilitando o surgimento da zona de vida floresta seca/floresta umida tropical basal, que correspondeu a 0,6% do territorio. O emprego do sistema de classificacao climatica de Holdridge foi adequado para classificar o clima de Goias e do Distrito Federal pois correspondeu com a classificacao de Koppen e com a vegetacao. Palavras-chave: climatologia, biotemperatura, cerrado, vegetacao. A B S T R A C T It is essential to have knowledge of the climatic conditions of a region to carry out various activities. Among the best-known climatic classifications, Koppen's climate classification is the most usual. However, Leslie R. Holdridge has developed a classification system in which are determined the life zones, which represent similar ecological associations. The aim of this research was to classify the climate of the municipalities of Goias and the Federal District according to Holdridge, comparing them with the vegetation map of the state prepared by the IBGE and with the climate classification map of Koppen. Using a database developed by Alvares et al. (2013), precipitation and temperature values were extrapolated to the 246 municipalities of Goias and the Federal District. Ally with the calculation of biotemperature and relation of potential evapotranspiration, jointly with the establishment of the latitudinal region and local altitudinal levels, the life zones were determined. The results showed two life zones for the study area: tropical premontane moist forest (99.4% of the territory) correlated 96.88% with the Aw climate; and tropical dry forest/moist forest correlated 100% with the Aw climate. Biotemperature was the variable that differed for two municipalities located in the extreme north of the state, which allowed the appearing of the tropical dry forest/moist forest life zone that corresponded to 0.6% of the territory. The use of the Holdridge climate classification system was adequate to classify the Goias and the Federal District climate because it corresponded to the classification of Koppen and to the vegetation. Key-words: climatology, biotemperature, cerrado, vegetation.

openaire: EC/H2020/819202/EU//SOS.aquaterra Funding Information: M.K. received financial support from the Academy of Finland projects WASCO (grant 305471), WATVUL (grant 317320), and TREFORM (grant 339834); the Academy of Finland SRC project ?Winland?; the Emil Aaltonen Foundation project ?eat-less-water?; and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement 819202). M.H. and M.T. received financial support from Maa- ja Vesitekniikan Tuki Ry. M.H. was also supported by the Aalto University Engineering doctoral program. We appreciate the help of Johannes Piipponen with livestock production data. M.K. D.V. and M.H. designed the research with support from all co-authors. M.K. and D.V. compiled the Holdridge life zone mapping. M.H. and M.K. performed the spatial analyses with support from D.V. M.K. led the writing of the manuscript with contributions from all co-authors. We declare no competing financial interests. Funding Information: M.K. received financial support from the Academy of Finland projects WASCO (grant 305471 ), WATVUL (grant 317320 ), and TREFORM (grant 339834 ); the Academy of Finland SRC project “Winland”; the Emil Aaltonen Foundation project “eat-less-water”; and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement 819202 ). M.H. and M.T. received financial support from Maa- ja Vesitekniikan Tuki Ry . M.H. was also supported by the Aalto University Engineering doctoral program. We appreciate the help of Johannes Piipponen with livestock production data. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors Food production on our planet is dominantly based on agricultural practices developed during stable Holocene climatic conditions. Although it is widely accepted that climate change perturbs these conditions, no systematic understanding exists on where and how the major risks for entering unprecedented conditions may occur. Here, we address this gap by introducing the concept of safe climatic space (SCS), which incorporates the decisive climatic factors of agricultural production: precipitation, temperature, and aridity. We show that a rapid and unhalted growth of greenhouse gas emissions (SSP5–8.5) could force 31% of the global food crop and 34% of livestock production beyond the SCS by 2081–2100. The most vulnerable areas are South and Southeast Asia and Africa's Sudano-Sahelian Zone, which have low resilience to cope with these changes. Our results underpin the importance of committing to a low-emissions scenario (SSP1–2.6), whereupon the extent of food production facing unprecedented conditions would be a fraction.

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and a combination of the Regional Spectral Model (RSM) and the Japanese Meteorological Agency Non-Hydrostatic Model (NHM) were used to dynamically downscale selected CMIP5 global climate models to provide 2-km projections with hourly model output for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Two 20-year time slices were downscaled for historical (1986-2005) and future (2041-2060) periods following RCP8.5. Projected changes to mean and extreme temperature and precipitation were quantified for Holdridge life zones within Puerto Rico and for the U.S. Virgin Islands. The evaluation reveals a persistent cold bias for all islands in the U.S. Caribbean, a dry bias across Puerto Rico, and a wet bias on the windward side of mountains within the U.S. Virgin Islands. Despite these biases, model simulations show a robust drying pattern for all islands that is generally larger for Puerto Rico (25% annual rainfall reduction for some life zones) than the U.S. Virgin Islands (12% island average). The largest precipitation reductions are found during the more convectively active afternoon and evening hours. Within Puerto Rico, the model uncertainty increases for the wetter life zones, especially for precipitation. Across the life zones, both models project unprecedented maximum and minimum temperatures that may exceed 200 days annually above the historical baseline with only small changes to the frequency of extreme rainfall. By contrast, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, there is no consensus on the location of the largest drying relative to the windward and leeward side of the islands. However, the models project the largest increases in maximum temperature on the southern side of St. Croix and in higher elevations of St. Thomas and St. John.

Efforts to protect tropical ecosystems aim at implementing biological corridors across the national territory of Costa Rica. However, potential near-future climate change challenges the effectiveness of such conservation measures. For this purpose, we developed near-future climate change scenarios at high spatial resolution using open-access global data from the Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS). These projections resulted from downscaling (to a 1km2 national grid) and quantile-mapping bias-correction of the Essential Climate Variables Global Circulation Model (ECV_GCM) ensemble mean from the CDS using a moderate Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5). Projections were evaluated with limited local station data and applied to generate future ecosystem indicators (Holdridge Life Zones, HLZs). We show significantly increasing temperatures of 2.6°C with a spatial variability of ± 0.4°C for Costa Rica until 2040 with local differences (higher temperatures projected for the southern Costa Rican Caribbean). The future mean annual precipitation showed slightly wetter conditions (120 ± 43 mm/year) and most prominently in the Costa Rican Caribbean and south Pacific, but no significant drying in the north of Costa Rica by 2040. The bias-corrected climate data were aggregated to decadal and 30-year average (1971–2040) life zone ecosystem indicators that could potentially show ecosystem shifts. Changes in the life zones are most likely due to warmer temperatures and to a lesser extent caused by projected wetter conditions. Shifts are more likely to occur at higher elevations with a potential loss of the sub-tropical rainforest ecosystem. The projections support diminishing tropical dry forests and slightly increasing tropical rain and wet forests in the biological corridors of the driest and wettest regions, respectively. A countrywide spatial uniformity of dominating tropical moist forests (increase from 24% to 49%) at the expense of other HLZs was projected by 2040. Universidad de Costa Rica/[217-B8-276]/UCR/Costa Rica Universidad de Costa Rica/[ED-3319]/UCR/Costa Rica Universidad de Costa Rica/[217-C0-603]/UCR/Costa Rica UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Básicas::Centro de Investigaciones Geofísicas (CIGEFI) UCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ciencias Sociales::Facultad de Ciencias Sociales::Escuela de Geografía

In this paper, we present a methodology to analyze the stochastic component of daily solar radiation at the earth's surface in the photosynthetically active spectral band. Extraterrestrial solar spectral irradiance from the SOLID project and in situ observed PAR from the FLUXNET data set are used to calculate daily time series of the clearness and clear-sky indices for 28 FLUXNET sites around the world for 1978–2014. We found that the shape of the probability distribution functions of the clearness and clear-sky indices exhibit a spatial pattern related to the Köppen climate classification and the Holdridge life zones. According to the Köppen classification, oceanic, humid continental, and Mediterranean climates show bimodal distributions; semi-arid, temperate, subtropical, and desert climates show unimodal distributions with high dispersion; and tropical climates show unimodal distributions with low dispersion. Moreover, according to the Holdridge triangle, sites with bimodal distributions are concentrated in moist and wet forest life zones located in boreal and cool temperate regions and sub-humid and humid provinces. Unimodal distributions with high dispersion are concentrated in the moist forest life zone in subtropical and tropical regions and humid province; and unimodal distributions with low dispersion are concentrated in dry forest, very dry forest, and thorn woodland in tropical and subtropical regions between arid and subhumid humidity provinces.

Climate-change impacts to Department of Defense (DoD) installations will challenge military mission and natural resource stewardship efforts by increasing vulnerability to flooding, drought, altered fire regimes, and invasive species. We developed biome classifications based on current climate for the coterminous United States using the Holdridge Life Zone system to assess potential change on DoD lands. We validated classifications using comparisons to existing ecoregional classifications, the distribution of major forest types, and tree species in eastern North America. We projected future life zones for mid- and late-century time periods under three greenhouse gas emission scenarios (low-B1, moderate-A1B, and high-A2) using an ensemble of global climate models. To assess installation vulnerability (n = 529), we analyzed biome shifts using spatial cluster analysis to characterize interregional variation, and identified representative installations for subsequent landscape-level analyses. Although mean annual temperatures are expected to increase, installations located in the Northeast, Lake States, and western Great Plains are likely to experience the largest proportional increases in temperature. Accordingly, forest and grassland communities at these installations managed to support a wide range of training, and environmental objectives may be adversely affected by altered disturbance regimes, heat, and moisture stress. However, precipitation is projected to increase in the Northeast and Lake States mitigating some effects of increased temperatures on biological communities. Given the uncertain response to climate change in different ecoregions, additional environmental and stewardship attributes are needed within a decision-support framework to understand vulnerabilities and provide appropriate responses. U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center's Environmental Quality and Installation Research Program This project was funded by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center's Environmental Quality and Installation Research Program. Public domain – authored by a U.S. government employee

O clima é a síntese de elementos meteorológicos observados durante um longo período de tempo e possui estreita relação com a vegetação. A classificação climática de Holdridge define zonas de vida representativas para as diferentes regiões da Terra, que refletem a conjuntura destes elementos meteorológicos. Este trabalho objetivou a classificação do estado do Rio Grande do Sul segundo este sistema, visando comparar com a classificação climática de Köppen, bem como as fitogeografias do estado. Com base em uma série histórica não contínua mínima de 25 anos, de 1950 a 1990, de dados pluviométricos e de temperatura, associados às variáveis de latitude e altitude, foi possível calcular e determinar as zonas de vida individualmente para os 496 municípios do estado. Oito zonas de vida foram encontradas, das quais se destacaram: floresta úmida temperada basal (74,0%); floresta muito úmida/floresta úmida temperada basal (13,8%); e floresta úmida/floresta muito úmida temperada basal (8,0%). A relação entre Holdridge e Köppen apresentou correspondência acima de 90% em sete das oito zonas de vida encontradas (87,5% do território do estado), predominantemente com o tipo climático Cfa (clima temperado, com chuva o ano todo e verão quente). Regiões de Estepe e Savana-estépica obtiveram 100% de correspondência com as zonas de vida floresta muito úmida temperada basal e com as respectivas transições com floresta úmida temperada basal. O sistema de zonas de vida de Holdridge mostrou-se uma importante ferramenta para o zoneamento agrossilvicultural do estado, uma vez que houve uma interação satisfatória quando comparado com o sistema de classificação climática de Köppen e com algumas fitogeografias.

One of the possible consequences of projected global warming is the progressive enlargement of drylands. This study investigates to what extent population and land-use (forests, pastures, and croplands) are likely to be in areas turning arid in the 21st century. The first part of the study focuses on the climatological enlargement of arid areas at global, macro-regional, and high-resolution (0.44°) scales. To do so we analysed a large ensemble of CORDEX climate simulations, combined three indicators (FAO-UNEP aridity index, Koppen-Geiger climate classification, and Holdridge life zones), and quantified the areas turning from climatologically not arid into climatologically arid (and vice-versa) from recent past (1981–2010) to four projected global warming levels (GWLs) from 1.5°C to 4°C. In the second part, we used population and land-use projections to analyze their exposure to progressive shifts to drier or wetter climate. Both types of projections follow five socio-economic scenarios (SSPs from SSP1 to SSP5). We present results for the viable combinations between SSPs and GWLs. Depending on GWL, the projected drying patterns show regional differences but, overall, the negative consequences of climate change are clear. Already at 1.5°C warming, approximately 2 million km2 (1.4% of global land) are likely to become arid; at 2°C this area corresponds to 2.6 million km2 (2.7%), at 3°C to 5.2 million km2 (3.5%), and at 4°C to 6.8 million km2 (4.5%), an area that can be ranked the seventh largest country in the World. Such drying is particular strong over South America and southern Europe. In the worst-case scenario (SSP3, regional rivalry, at 4°C), approximately 500 million people will live in areas shifting towards arid climate. Forest areas are likely to be more affected in South America, pastures in Africa, and croplands in the Northern Hemisphere. For land-use, the worst-case scenarios are SSP3 and SSP5 (fossil-fuel based future): at GWL 4°C, about 0.5 million km2 of forests and 1.2 million km2 of both pastures and croplands are likely to be in areas shifting to arid climate.

Holdridge life zones are based on the relationships among precipitation, temperature, altitude levels and latitude, and they are useful in ecological applications, particularly in tropical areas. This study aimed to perform a climate classification of the Amazonas State cities according to Holdridge’s life zones and compare it with Köppen classification and original vegetation cover of the state. The comparisons were made using confusion matrices elaborated with spatial analysis tools. The results indicate biotemperatures ranging from 22.9 °C to 26.5 °C, increasing from West to East of the state. Five Holdridge life zones were found, tropical moist forest and tropical moist forest / wet forest, occupying about 85% of the state area. Three life zones corresponded 100% with the climate classification Af according to Köppen, and the other life zones reached correspondences of more than 75% with the same climate type. All life zones were found to be in open ombrophilous, dense ombrophilous and campinarana vegetation. In this way, Holdridge life zone system proved to be an important tool for climate classification in the state, corresponding to vegetation maps and to the Köppen climate classification. As zonas de vida de Holdridge são baseadas nas relações entre precipitação, temperatura, pisos altitudinais e latitude, sendo úteis em aplicações ecológicas, particularmente em áreas tropicais. O objetivo do presente estudo foi realizar a classificação do clima dos municípios do estado do Amazonas de acordo com as zonas de vida de Holdridge e compará-lo com a classificação de Köppen e de cobertura de vegetação original do estado. Os resultados indicaram biotemperaturas variando de 22,9 a 26,5 °C, se distribuindo de maneira crescente no sentido oeste-leste do estado. Foram encontradas cinco zonas de vida de Holdridge, sendo floresta úmida tropical basal e floresta úmida/floresta muito úmida tropical basal as mais relevantes, ocupando cerca de 85% da área do estado. Três zonas de vida apresentam 100% de correspondência com classificação Af de Köppen, sendo que as demais zonas de vida obtiveram correspondências superiores a 75% com o mesmo tipo climático. Verificou-se que todas as zonas de vida se enquadraram nas vegetações ombrófila aberta, ombrófila densa e campinarana. Dessa maneira, o sistema de zonas de vida de Holdridge demonstrou-se satisfatório para a classificação do clima no estado, apresentando boa correspondência com o mapa de vegetação e classificação de Köppen.

The tropics are a region encircling the equator, delineated to the north by the Tropic of Cancer (23°26′14.0″N) and to the south by the Tropic of Capricorn (23°26′14.0″S). While we often think of the tropics as consistently warm and wet throughout the year, in reality, the tropics maintain a myriad of climates. Of the 116 Holdridge life zones (a global bioclimatic classification scheme), the tropics contain more life zones than the sum of all the planet's other geographic regions combined ( Holdridge, 1967 ). In addition to high climatic diversity, the tropics support a wide range of parent materials, landforms, geomorphic characteristics, and soil ages, and maintain all 12 soil types of the USDA soil taxonomy system ( Palm et al., 2007 ; Porder et al., 2007 ; Quesada et al., 2010 ; Richter and Babbar, 1991 ; Sanchez, 1977 ; Soil Survey Staff, 2006 ; Townsend et al., 2008 ). Accordingly, there is no single representative tropical ecosystem. Given the diversity of tropical biomes, this chapter will focus specifically on tropical forested ecosystems and their responses to warming because of their global importance, potential sensitivity to change, and the fact that an improved understanding of how these ecosystems may respond to warmer climate conditions is of significant importance to ecology and society. Furthermore, while generally considering all tropical forest types, emphasis in this chapter is on the humid tropics for which we have most data.

Ecological zonation is a fundamental tool for territorial and ecosystem management. The Holdridge model is a system of ecological zoning based on the identification of bioclimatic units (life zones) that employs the variables of biotemperature, precipitation, potential evapotranspiration (EVP), EVP/P ratio, latitude, and altitude. Argentina displays high environmental variability. However, despite the completion of several comprehensive zonations of intrinsic scientific value, the country lacks an ecological zonation with objectively and precisely delimited units that may be repeated through time. The objective of this study was to identify and map the Holdridge life zones present in Argentina. Available climatic data were integrated at 1 km spatial resolution. The applied model revealed high environmental heterogeneity, with a total of 83 life zones. Of this total, 72 corresponded to life zones in the original triangular model of 120 life zones described by Holdridge, and 11 were new life zones, extending the original model to a total of 131. The model recognized five latitudinal regions, from boreal to tropical, and seven altitudinal belts, from basal to nival. Northwest Argentina contained the highest concentration of life zones. The life zones with the most geographic extent are Warm Temperate Dry Forest (15 percent of the nation) and Subtropical Dry Forest (9 percent), while Warm Temperate Alpine Wet Tundra and Subtropical Alpine Wet Tundra covered less than 0.1 percent. A wide range of biotemperatures, precipitation levels, and elevations, and their diverse combinations, explains why so many life zones are present. Several factors influence climatic systems operating in Argentina, including its geographic location and north-south latitudinal extension (from about 21° to 55° S); the presence and characteristics of different portions of the Cordillera de los Andes (which reach elevations of up to 7000 m above sea level) in the west; the eastern lowlands; and the circumpolar oceanic current and related currents in the southern Pacific and southern Atlantic Oceans. Application of the Holdridge system to Argentina resulted in an objective, detailed, and precise country bioclimatic zonation that highlights its environmental heterogeneity, which supports natural ecosystems, cultivated species, agriculture, forestry, and livestock production. This assessment can serve as a useful tool for evaluating the spatial evolution of climate change, land management and other sociocultural aspects, biodiversity conservation, and other objectives.

As zonas de vida de Holdridge são baseadas nas relações entre precipitação, temperatura, pisos altitudinais e latitude, sendo úteis em aplicações ecológicas, particularmente em áreas tropicais. Objetivou-se com o presente estudo realizar a classificação do clima dos municípios do estado do Amazonas de acordo com as zonas de vida de Holdridge e compará-lo com a classificação de Köppen e de cobertura de vegetação original do estado. As comparações foram realizadas por meio de matrizes de confusão elaboradas com ferramentas de análise espacial. Os resultados indicaram biotemperaturas variando de 22,9 °C a 26,5 °C, se distribuindo de maneira crescente no sentido oeste para leste do estado. Foram encontradas cinco zonas de vida de Holdridge, sendo floresta úmida tropical basal e floresta úmida/floresta muito úmida tropical basal as mais relevantes, ocupando cerca de 85% da área do estado. Três zonas de vida corresponderam em 100% com a classificação climática Af conforme Köppen, sendo que as demais zonas de vida atingiram correspondências superiores a 75% com o mesmo tipo climático. Verificou-se que todas as zonas de vida se enquadraram nas vegetações ombrófila aberta, ombrófila densa e campinarana. Dessa maneira, o sistema de zonas de vida de Holdridge demonstrou-se uma ferramenta importante para a classificação do clima no estado, tendo correspondência com os mapas de vegetação e a classificação climática de Köppen.

The tropics have long been a focal point of interest in ecology and evolutionary biology - but where actually are the tropics? Classically, the tropics have been defined as all areas lying between 23.4° North and South as these zones receive direct overhead solar radiation at some point during the year. However, a suite of different environmental and climatic characteristics have also been employed to classify regions as tropical or not. The aims of this paper are to 1) briefly review some of the different criteria commonly used to define the tropics, 2) map the extent and distribution of tropical land areas according to these different criteria, and 3) asses the concordance between these criteria and a sample of recent “tropical” studies. More specifically, we review eight criteria that are frequently used (implicitly or explicitly) to define the tropics. We then map the location and extent of land areas that are “definitely tropical” (i.e., the core tropics) and areas that are “tropical by most definitions”. Finally, we examine how the different classifications apply to tropical research through an analysis of the study locations of >200 recent tropical biology articles. Depending on the definition, the extent of the terrestrial tropics ranges from 23 million to 66 million km2 – a nearly threefold difference. Likewise, the classification of many areas as being tropical vs. non-tropical depends on the specific criterion employed. Of the tropical studies reviewed here, only 44% were based on data collected from the core tropics, and 12% of tropical studies were based on data collected from sites outside of the geographic tropics but with tropical climates. Many different criteria are used to classify areas as tropical vs. non-tropical, leading to inconsistencies when estimating the extent of tropical areas and variation in the classification of ecosystems and species as being tropical vs. non-tropical.

Lombok Island is categorized as a small island with an area o f 4738.7 km 2 which makes it susceptible to climate change. Climate change is thought to have reduced the ability of forest biophysical and can cause damage to the ecosystem or a shifting of forest ecosystems. The purpose of this study is to identify the ecosystem changes in Lombok Island based on historical climate data and also to identify the vegetation domination based on ground truth result. Research study area covers the entire area of Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara. Data analysis was performed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze the spatial distribution of ecosystem zones. Spatial data processing was performed by interpolation method to estimate values at unknown locations or adjacent points. Ecosystem types in this study were determined by Holdridge Life Zones which are generated from historical climate data from 1975 to 2012 and described by the time series map of 1975, 1995, and 2012. The result indicates that ecosystem change occurred in Lombok Island which has shown in time series map of ecosystem zone. There were only five life zones in 2012 which were tropical moist forest, tropical dry forest, tropical very dry forest, subtropical wet forest and subtropical moist forest. The tropical dry forest was seen to dominate the area of Lombok Island in 2012. The ground truth result shown that the vegetation domination matches each ecosystem zone in the recent time.

We provide new cost estimates for carbon sequestration through afforestation in the U.S. We extend existing studies of carbon sequestration costs in several important ways, while ensuring the transparency of our approach. Our costs estimates have five distinguishing features: (1) we estimate costs for each county in the contiguous U.S., (2) we include afforestation of rangeland, in addition to cropland and pasture, (3) our opportunity cost estimates account for capitalized returns to future development (including associated option values) in addition to returns to agricultural production, (4) we develop a new set of forest establishment costs for each county, and (5) we incorporate data on Holdridge life zones to limit afforestation in locations where temperature and moisture availability prohibit forest growth. We find that at a carbon price of $50/ton, approximately 200 million tons of carbon would be sequestered annually through afforestation. At a price of $100/ton, an additional 100 million tons of carbon would be sequestered each year. Our estimates closely match those in earlier econometric studies for relatively low carbon prices, but diverge at higher carbon prices. Our results indicate a smaller, but still important, role for forest-based carbon sequestration in offsetting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

The purpose of this study was to examine the population structure of Neoleucinodes elegantalis (Guenée) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) in relation to host plant association and ecological Holdridge zones. Adult collections were made in cultivated and wild Solanaceae species in 13 departments of Colombia. Sequencing of 658 bp of the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome Oxidase 1 on 103 individuals produced 25 haplotypes. Haplotypes Hl, H2, H4, and H7 were the most frequent and were geographically separated by the Andean mountains. We obtained an FST = 0.57 (P < 0.0001), where most of the genetic differentiation (42.64%) was between individuals within each department. Pairwise FST analysis produced higher genetic values between geographically separated departments than between closely related sites. H2 and H7 apparently behave as generalist populations, as they were found in different habitats and different hosts. The most divergent populations of N. elegantalis were found in southern Colombia, at a location were Solanun quitoense might have originated. Host plant association and environmental factors such as Holdridge life zones are playing an important role in the differentiation of N.elegantalis. Population structuring in N.elegantalis indicates that integrated pest management strategies used to control this species should consider the genetic differentiation of the species at different locations in Colombia.

Ecological models have predicted shifts in forest biomes, yet there have been very few studies that have looked at the implications on carbon stocks due to these shifts. Carbon is closely correlated to biomass and constitutes an important characteristic of the forest ecosystem. It has implications for conservation and land use practices, especially for climate change mitigation strategies currently under discussion, such as REDD+. This study couples the Holdridge Life Zone (HLZ) classification with the ECHAM5 model, to evaluate the impacts of climate change using the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2, A1B and B1 for the Central American region. We utilize methodologies which combine biophysical variables with model output to assess the impacts on carbon stocks for two time periods, 2000 and 2100, . Results show that overall, the tropical category of the HLZ classification gains area as a result of one type of HLZ shifting to another forest type. In many cases the shifts result in some categories of HLZ being lost in their entirety. Elevation-associated life zones are particularly vulnerable to future climatic changes. A strong point of our approach is that differences between disaggregate regional and aggregate country levels can be compared. We suggest that a critical focus of conservation and management efforts should be concentrated on where vulnerable biomes are at most risk (biomes that shift and/or reduce fall under the vulnerable category).

Rarely considered in environmental assessment methods, potential land use impacts on a series of ecosystem services must be accounted for in widely used decision-making tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA). The main goal of this study is to provide an operational life cycle impact assessment characterization method that addresses land use impacts at a global scale by developing spatially differentiated characterization factors (CFs) and assessing the extent of their spatial variability using different regionalization levels. The proposed method follows the recommendations of previous work and falls within the framework and principles for land use impact assessment established by the United Nations Environment Programme/Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Life Cycle Initiative. Based on the spatial approach suggested by Saad et al. (Int J Life Cycle Assess 16: 198–211, 2011), the intended impact pathways that are modeled pertain to impacts on ecosystem services damage potential and focus on three major ecosystem services: (1) erosion regulation potential, (2) freshwater regulation potential, and (3) water purification potential. Spatially-differentiated CFs were calculated for each biogeographic region of all three regionalization scale (Holdridge life regions, Holdridge life zones, and terrestrial biomes) along with a nonspatial world average level. In addition, seven land use types were assessed considering both land occupation and land transformation interventions. A comprehensive analysis of the results indicates that, when compared to all resolution schemes, the world generic averaged CF can deviate for various ecosystem types. In the case of groundwater recharge potential impacts, this range varied up to factors of 7, 4.7, and 3 when using the Holdridge life zones, the Holdridge regions, and the terrestrial biomes regionalization levels, respectively. This validates the importance of introducing a regionalized assessment and highlights how a finer scale increases the level of detail and consequently the discriminating power across several biogeographic regions, which could not have been captured using a coarser scale. In practice, the implementation of such regionalized CFs suggests that an LCA practitioner must identify the ecosystem in which land occupation or transformation activities occur in addition to the traditional inventory data required—namely, the land use activity and the inventory flow. The variability of CFs across all three regionalization levels provides an indication of the uncertainty linked to nonspatial CFs. Among other assumptions and value choices made throughout the study, the use of ecological borders over political boundaries was deemed more relevant to the interpretation of environmental issues related to specific functional ecosystem behaviors.

El presente listado taxonómico y de distribución de tricópteros inmaduros corresponde al material biológico depositado en la Colección Zoológica de la Universidad del Tolima- CZUT-Ma. Se registraron 14 de las 15 familias y 35 de los 45 géneros reportados para Colombia. Las familias más abundantes fueron Hydropsychidae, Hydroptilidae, Leptoceridae, y los géneros, Smicridea, Leptonema y Hydroptila. Con relación a la distribución altitudinal, los géneros con los mayores rangos de distribución fueron Neotrichia, Leucotrichia y Smicridea, recolectados desde los 244 m hasta los 3.533 m. Con el fin de establecer las relaciones entre los géneros de Trichoptera y las zonas de vida, se hizo un análisis de correspondencia cuyos resultados permitieron identificar que la mayor riqueza específica de este grupo faunístico en el departamento del Tolima se concentró en las zonas de vida correspondientes a bosque seco tropical, bosque húmedo premontano y bosque húmedo montano bajo. This taxonomic list of the Trichoptera larvae references data from the Zoological Voucher Collection at Universidad del Tolima, Colombia (Colección Zoológica de la Universidad del Tolima – CZUT-Ma). This collection includes 14 families and 35 genera of Trichoptera (out of the 15 families and 45 genera currently registered in Colombia). The most abundant families were Hydropsychidae, Hydroptilidae and Leptoceridae. The most abundant genera were Smicridea, Leptonema and Hydroptila. Regarding altitudinal distribution of the taxa found in the collection, Neotrichia, Leucotrichia and Smicridea exhibited the widest distribution, since they were found from 244m to 3533m. Results from a correspondence analysis performed on the taxa vs Holdridge life zones data, revealed that the highest species richness of the order Trichoptera in Tolima (Colombia) concentrated in the tropical dry forest, wet pre-mountain forest and lower wet mountain forest zones.

The spatial pattern and mean-center shift of major terrestrial ecosystems, termed Holdridge Life Zones (HLZ), during the periods from 1961 to 1990 (T1), from 2010 to 2039 (T2), from 2040 to 2069 (T3) and from 2070 to 2099 (T4) were analyzed by combining the zonal patterns of climatic change in China and the climatic change scenarios of HadCM2 and HadCM3. The results showed that nival area would decrease rapidly with temperature increase in the future. HadCM2 and HadCM3 predicted that the nival areas might disappear in 552 years and 204 years, respectively. Using both HadCM2 and HadCM3, the five HLZ types with the largest areal extent are nival zone, cool temperate moist forest, warm temperate moist forest, subtropical moist forest and boreal wet forest, which collectively account for more than 50% of China's land mass. Among these five HLZ types, nival zone, warm temperate moist forest and boreal wet forest would decrease continuously, whereas subtropical moist forest and cool temperate forest would increase continuously during the four periods. HLZ diversity and patch connectivity would increase continuously in the 21st century. The shift distances of mean centers of HLZ types simulated using HadCM3 were markedly greater than those simulated using HadCM2, in general. The results from both HadCM2 and HadCM3 showed that boreal wet forest, subtropical moist forest, tropical dry forest, warm temperate moist forest and subtropical wet forest had bigger shift ranges, indicating that these HLZ types are more sensitive to the climatic change scenarios of HadCM2 and HadCM3.

The proposed Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC) is an ambitious effort to stem the erosion of biodiversity in one of the world's biologically richest regions. The intent is to connect large existing parks and reserves with new protected areas by means of an extensive network of biological corridors within Mesoamerica/Central America to create an environment which provides better prospects for the long-term survival of native species while also addressing the region's socioeconomic needs. While the forest types in northern Central America generally receive some dry season rainfall, in the proposed protected regions, however, it is unclear whether current rainfall has been altered by regional land-use change. Based upon climatological rainfall records at 266 stations in Guatemala and adjacent areas, dry season rainfall in March is markedly lower in deforested areas than in forested areas of the same life zone for each of the widespread life zones. In general, dry season deforested habitats have higher daytime temperatures, are less cloudy, have lower estimated soil moisture and lower values of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) than do forested habitats in the same life zone. The result is hotter and drier air over deforested regions, with lower values of cloud formation and precipitation. Rainfall is predicted from the correlation of raingauge measurements and observed cloud cover; moreover, March rainfall deficiencies > 25 mm are found for several Holdridge life zones. The data suggest that deforestation is locally intensifying the dry season, increasing the risk of fire, especially for the long corridor connecting regions. In addition, forest regeneration in some parts of the MBC may not result in second-growth forest that is characteristic of that life zone but rather in forest regeneration more typical of drier conditions. The extent to which this would influence the conservation utility of any given corridor depends upon the ecological requirements of the organisms concerned.