Article
Biology
Mariah H. Meek, Erik A. Beever, Soraia Barbosa, Sarah W. Fitzpatrick, Nicholas K. Fletcher, Cinnamon S. Mittan-Moreau, Brendan N. Reid, Shane C. Campbell-Staton, Nancy F. Green, Jessica J. Hellmann
Summary: Adaptation to local environments is common among species and plays a crucial role in biodiversity conservation. Recent methodological advances provide tools to study local adaptation, which can help identify populations most at risk from climate change and suggest strategies for their persistence. Incorporating local adaptation into management decisions is thus important for addressing the challenges of a rapidly changing world.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Paulo Ceppi, Peer Nowack
Summary: Global warming influences Earth's cloud cover, which plays a crucial role in the uncertainty of Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS). Through analyzing how clouds respond to environmental changes, global cloud feedback is constrained to 0.43 +/- 0.35 W·m-2·K-1, indicating a robust amplifying effect of clouds on global warming. This approach is expected to provide tighter constraints on climate change projections and its various socioeconomic and ecological impacts.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Timothy M. Lenton, Chi Xu, Jesse F. Abrams, Ashish Ghadiali, Sina Loriani, Boris Sakschewski, Caroline Zimm, Kristie L. Ebi, Robert R. Dunn, Jens-Christian Svenning, Marten Scheffer
Summary: The costs of climate change are often expressed in monetary terms, but this brings up ethical concerns. This study calculates the costs in terms of the number of people excluded from the 'human climate niche', which represents the historically consistent distribution of population density with respect to temperature. It was found that current climate policies leading to 2.7 degrees C global warming by the end of the century could leave one-third of the global population outside this niche, emphasizing the urgency for decisive action to address climate change.
NATURE SUSTAINABILITY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Alexandre K. Magnan, Robert Bell, Virginie K. E. Duvat, James D. Ford, Matthias Garschagen, Marjolijn Haasnoot, Carmen Lacambra, Inigo J. Losada, Katharine J. Mach, Melinda Noblet, Devanathan Parthasaranthy, Marcello Sano, Katharine Vincent, Ariadna Anisimov, Susan Hanson, Alexandra Malmstrom, Robert J. Nicholls, Gundula Winter
Summary: The state of global coastal adaptation is currently halfway towards its full potential, with urban areas generally scoring higher than rural areas. Efforts in adaptation are unbalanced across different dimensions and strategizing for long-term pathways is limited. This assessment provides a multi-dimensional and locally grounded perspective on global coastal adaptation, highlighting the need to refine global adaptation targets and identify priorities transcending development levels.
NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Gabriele Nocchi, Jing Wang, Long Yang, Junyi Ding, Ying Gao, Richard J. A. Buggs, Nian Wang
Summary: This study investigates the population genomic structure of the Asian white birch in China and identifies the factors influencing genomic diversity, such as hybridization, demography, and adaptation. The results show clear distinctions between different species and genetic clusters within B. platyphylla. The study also provides insights into the potential role of natural selection in shaping genetic diversity and identifies environmentally associated SNPs that may indicate future threats from climate change.
Article
Environmental Sciences
M. Kloewer, M. R. Allen, D. S. Lee, S. R. Proud, L. Gallagher, A. Skowron
Summary: Aviation's contribution to global warming exceeds common perceptions, with a significant impact from a mix of climate pollutants despite a relatively low CO2 emission rate. Forecasted simulations suggest that aviation's warming contribution will continue to rise, but measures such as reducing air traffic scale or transitioning to carbon-neutral fuels can effectively mitigate its impact.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Anju Sathyanarayanan, Armin Koehl, Detlef Stammer
Summary: This study investigates mechanisms underlying salinity changes under RCP8.5 forcing conditions using MPI-ESM-MR output data. The research finds that sea surface salinity increases in the tropical and subtropical Atlantic, while a basinwide surface freshening is observed in the Pacific and Indian Oceans in future projections.
JOURNAL OF CLIMATE
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Francisco Estrada, Pierre Perron
Summary: Large cities have a significant impact on national resources and environment, exacerbating climate change through urbanization and anthropogenic waste heat. Distinguishing global and local factors in city warming is crucial to understanding and addressing climate change impacts.
ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
(2021)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Uris Lantz C. Baldos, Maksym Chepeliev, Brian Cultice, Matthew Huber, Sisi Meng, Alex C. Ruane, Shellye Suttles, Dominique van der Mensbrugghe
Summary: Climate change highlights the necessity and usefulness of the global-to-local-to-global paradigm. It has the potential to impact local communities and ecosystems, with cumulative effects feeding back to regional and global systems. Understanding these complex interactions is crucial for developing adaptive measures and effective mitigation policies.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Albert Muleke, Matthew Tom Harrison, Peter de Voil, Ian Hunt, Ke Liu, Maria Yanotti, Rowan Eisner
Summary: This study analyzed the effects of climate change and extreme climatic events on crop flowering periods and concluded that irrigation can increase average crop yields but cannot fully offset the long-term yield decline caused by the climate crisis.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Anny Cazenave, Lorena Moreira
Summary: This article provides a comprehensive overview of the recent changes in sea level, focusing on global and regional variations over interannual to decadal timescales. It also highlights the progress made in measuring sea level at the coast and presents the latest sea-level projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY A-MATHEMATICAL PHYSICAL AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Kay McMonigal, Sarah Larson, Shineng Hu, Ryan Kramer
Summary: Mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change depend on accurate climate projections for the coming decades. Changes to wind-driven ocean circulation amplify the rate of global surface warming by 17% from 1979 to 2014, in addition to the known contribution of radiative heat fluxes. Accurately simulating changes to the atmospheric circulation is key to improving near-term climate projections.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Biology
Abigail G. Keller, Elizabeth P. Dahlhoff, Ryan Bracewell, Kamalakar Chatla, Doris Bachtrog, Nathan E. Rank, Caroline M. Williams
Summary: Organisms living in mountains are facing challenges due to extreme climatic conditions and decreasing snowpack caused by anthropogenic climate change. In this study, researchers investigated genomic variation in a leaf beetle species, Chrysomela aeneicollis, in California to understand how organisms adapt to climate change. They found that both winter-associated environmental variation and geographical distance contribute to overall genomic variation. They also identified novel candidate genetic markers associated with cold tolerance. These findings suggest that variability in snowpack imposes selective gradients in mountain ecosystems.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Marvin Choquet, Felix Lenner, Arianna Cocco, Gaelle Toullec, Erwan Corre, Jean-Yves Toullec, Andreas Wallberg
Summary: This study used comparative genomics to investigate the genetic variation and adaptation potential of 20 krill species collected from different oceans. The results showed that Antarctic krill species had lower levels of genetic variation and evolutionary rates, indicating a potentially lower adaptive potential to rapid climate change. Additionally, the study identified several candidate genes associated with adaptive evolution in Antarctic krill.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Haireti Alifu, Yukiko Hirabayashi, Yukiko Imada, Hideo Shiogama
Summary: This study investigates the influence of human-induced climate change on the probability of river flood events and finds that it has increased the likelihood of flooding, particularly in Asia and South America. However, in certain regions of North/South America and Asia, the occurrence of flood events is suppressed by human-induced climate change, possibly due to reduced snowfall.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Biology
Brendan Epstein, Peter Tiffin
Summary: This study reveals that symbiosis genes in rhizobial genomes undergo high rates of horizontal transfer, along with signatures of purifying selection. Particularly, genes involved in initiating symbiosis and in mediating benefits to the host show strong patterns of horizontal transfer and purifying selection.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Jonas A. Aguirre-Liguori, Santiago Ramirez-Barahona, Brandon S. Gaut
Summary: Climate change poses a threat to biodiversity, with researchers using species distribution models to predict shifts in geographical ranges over time. However, these models may be limited in accuracy and value due to assumptions of niche conservatism and lack of consideration for evolutionary processes. By incorporating evolution into predictions of species' responses to climate change, using landscape genomic data and considering additional evolutionary processes, researchers aim to improve the accuracy and comprehensiveness of their predictions.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Angelino Carta, Lorenzo Peruzzi, Santiago Ramirez-Barahona
Summary: Existing global regionalization schemes for plants have not explicitly considered phylogenetic information, but a new phytogeographical delineation based on evolutionary relationships of vascular plants has revealed 16 phytogeographical units split into Laurasian and Gondwanan clusters. Integration of phylogenetic and geographical information has provided new insights into delineating biotas and their historical relationships, identifying three distinct biotas referred to as kingdoms: Holarctic, Holotropical, and Austral.
Review
Plant Sciences
Herve Sauquet, Santiago Ramirez-Barahona, Susana Magallon
Summary: The origin of flowering plants has been a transformative event in the history of the Earth, but the age of the group remains uncertain. Recent studies have provided conflicting estimates for the crown-group age of angiosperms. This study clarifies and distinguishes the different ages of angiosperms and argues that fossil-calibrated molecular dating estimates are mainly influenced by prior distribution. Future discoveries and novel analyses are needed for more definitive answers.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Liana T. Burghardt, Brendan Epstein, Michelle Hoge, Diana I. Trujillo, Peter Tiffin
Summary: The research examines the influence of environmental factors on the nitrogen-fixing mutualism between leguminous plants and rhizobial bacteria. It finds that host genotype, nitrogen addition, rhizobial density, and community complexity all affect selection on rhizobial strains. Rhizobial density has a stronger impact on strain frequency compared to nitrogen addition. Higher density leads to less diverse but more beneficial nodule communities, particularly in the context of more selective host genotypes.
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Amanda J. Gorton, John W. Benning, Peter Tiffin, David A. Moeller
Summary: Spatial patterns of adaptation were examined in the common ragweed using reciprocal transplant experiments. The study found evidence of local adaptation in the northern region, but maladaptation in the southern region. The results suggest that climate change has caused maladaptation, especially in the southern range, and may result in contraction of the species' range over time.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Brendan Epstein, Liana T. Burghardt, Katy D. Heath, Michael A. Grillo, Adam Kostanecki, Tuomas Hamala, Nevin D. Young, Peter Tiffin
Summary: This study investigated the coevolution between legumes and rhizobia using population genomic analysis. The results showed that there were genotype-by-genotype effects on rhizobial fitness and some rhizobial genes displayed signatures of recent positive selection. However, neither annotated host symbiosis genes nor genes responsible for this variation showed enrichment for positive or balancing selection. This suggests that stabilizing selection dominates the selection acting on symbiotic traits, and the variation in these traits is under mutation-selection balance. Furthermore, the study found that the symbiosis may not be a major driver of variation in plant growth in multistrain contexts.
Review
Genetics & Heredity
Cornille Amandine, Dieter Ebert, Eva Stukenbrock, Ricardo C. Rodriguez de la Vega, Peter Tiff, Daniel Croll, Aurelien Tellier
Summary: Coevolutionary interactions are a common driver of adaptation, but little is known about the genomic processes underlying coevolution in an ecological context. This article reviews recent advances in coevolutionary theory and genomics, and proposes a practical guide to understanding the dynamics of coevolution using an ecological genomics approach.
TRENDS IN GENETICS
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Alex B. Riley, Michael A. Grillo, Brendan Epstein, Peter Tiffin, Katy D. Heath
Summary: This study examines the population structure of Sinorhizobium meliloti, a bacterial symbiont that forms a root nodule symbiosis with the host plant Medicago truncatula. The results show distinct population structures between hosts and symbionts, indicating potential minimal local specialization.
Article
Biology
Carolina Ureta, Santiago Ramirez-Barahona, Oscar Calderon-Bustamante, Pedro Cruz-Santiago, Carlos Gay-Garcia, Didier Swingedouw, Dimitri Defrance, Angela P. Cuervo-Robayo
Summary: This study suggests that rising global temperatures and the melting of Greenland's ice sheet can have significant negative impacts on species' geographic ranges, hotspot extents, and species composition, leading to a faster collapse of global biodiversity.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Xitlali Aguirre-Dugua, Alejandro Casas, Santiago Ramirez-Barahona, Edgar Perez-Negron
Summary: This study investigated the phylogeographic structure of Crescentia alata and its relationship with past climatic changes, as well as the genetic diversity levels of homegarden populations and their association with human management. The results revealed a latitudinal pattern of phylogeographic structure with geographical barriers in the northern Pacific Ocean and the Tehuantepec Isthmus. Homegarden populations shared chloroplast haplotypes with wild populations, indicating that human management has not modified the natural phylogeographic structure of C. alata.
BOTANICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jonas A. Aguirre-Liguori, Abraham Morales-Cruz, Brandon S. Gaut, Santiago Ramirez-Barahona
Summary: Genomic data and machine learning approaches are being used to identify adaptive genetic variation and assess species vulnerability to climate change. The estimation of genetic offsets, which measure future maladaptation of populations due to climate change, is sensitive to the number of sampled populations, especially when genetic structure is high. The number of individuals sampled per population has minimal effects on the estimation of genetic offsets, and multiple future climate scenarios should be considered to evaluate estimation sensitivity.
MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Santiago Ramirez-Barahona, Angela P. Cuervo-Robayo, Susana Magallon
Summary: Digital accessible biodiversity knowledge is important for botanical research and conservation efforts. However, there are shortcomings in the data coverage, species diversity characterization, and phylogenetic representation across Mesoamerica. These issues compromise the quality of available occurrence data and hinder research on spatial phylogenetics and species dynamics. Efforts in data digitization, botanical exploration, sequencing, and biodiversity monitoring are needed to rejuvenate knowledge on the geographic distribution of vascular plants in the region.
Article
Plant Sciences
Xitlali Aguirre-Dugua, Alejandro Casas, Santiago Ramirez-Barahona, Edgar Perez-Negron
Summary: The study on Crescentia alata in Mexico and Central America revealed a latitudinal pattern of phylogeographic structure, with homegarden populations showing unaffected genetic diversity levels due to human management, serving as a genetic reservoir.
BOTANICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Connie A. Rojas, Santiago Ramirez-Barahona, Kay E. Holekamp, Kevin R. Theis
Summary: The gut microbiota of herbivores is highly species-specific, with host taxonomy playing a larger role in shaping the microbiota than host diet or sample month. Host phylogenetic relatedness is positively correlated with gut microbiota similarity, but dietary composition may have a stronger impact within closely related host species, especially within the Bovid family. These findings suggest that host phylogeny and taxonomy predominantly structure the gut microbiota, but can be further influenced by host ecology, particularly diet, among closely related species.