Nature Climate Change October 2020
Volume 10 Issue 10, October 2020
Declining waterbird abundance in the tropics
Gaps in geographic coverage of species abundance data, especially in the tropics, makes determining species’ responses to climate change difficult. Writing in this issue of Nature Climate Change, Tatsuya Amano et al. analyse 1.3 million records of 390 waterbird species at 6,800 sites around the world to reveal that increasing temperature can lead to abundance declines in waterbird species at lower latitudes, highlighting the…
Image: Sergey Dereliev, www.dereliev-photography.com. Cover Design: Valentina Monaco
Comment
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Comment | 14 September 2020
Addressing power imbalances in co-production
Co-production is an increasingly popular approach to knowledge generation encouraged by donors and research funders. However, power dynamics between institutions in the Global North and South can, if not adequately managed, impede the effectiveness of co-production and pose risks for long-term sustainability.
- Katharine Vincent
- Suzanne Carter
- & Katinka Lund Wågsæther
Comment | 31 August 2020
Ice-sheet losses track high-end sea-level rise projections
Observed ice-sheet losses track the upper range of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report sea-level predictions, recently driven by ice dynamics in Antarctica and surface melting in Greenland. Ice-sheet models must account for short-term variability in the atmosphere, oceans and climate to accurately predict sea-level rise.
- Thomas Slater
- Anna E. Hogg
- & Ruth Mottram
Feature
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Feature | 25 September 2020
Documenting climate change
The impacts of climate change on people and societies are varied and nuanced, making it difficult to encapsulate in an image. Photographs of people can, however, create an emotional connection to what may otherwise be viewed as a natural problem.
- Alyssa Findlay
Advertisement Feature
A new quest to uncover what helps humans flourish
A conversation with Andrew Serazin, president of the Templeton World Charity Foundation
Research Highlights
- Alyssa Findlay
- Baird Langenbrunner
- Tegan Armarego-Marriott
- Bronwyn Wake
Research Highlight | 25 September 2020
Modelled sensitivity
Research Highlight | 25 September 2020
Power plants warm rivers
Research Highlight | 25 September 2020
Realizing niches
Research Highlight | 25 September 2020
Climate research Foote note
News & Views
- Christine May
- Gonçalo Ferraz
News & Views | 17 August 2020
Rising groundwater and sea-level rise
The response of coastal groundwater to sea-level rise is largely unknown. Groundwater modelling along the California coast — accounting for complex topography and its interaction with rivers, streams and tributaries — shows that the area at risk from rising groundwater tables extends beyond that inundated by sea-level rise alone.
News & Views | 24 August 2020
The privilege of longevity
Theory and observation suggest that populations of long-lived organisms fare worse than short-lived counterparts when submitted to increased mortality. Now, research shows that longevity affords the prospect of reducing mortality by breeding less under stress.
Review Articles
- Mathieu Ardyna
- & Kevin Robert Arrigo
Review Article | 25 September 2020
Phytoplankton dynamics in a changing Arctic Ocean
Ongoing Arctic changes are impacting phytoplankton. This Review considers recent primary productivity trends and the environmental drivers, as well as how these are changing, that drive phytoplankton diversity in the region.
Articles
- Roman Hoffmann
- Anna Dimitrova
- & Jonas Peisker
- Piers M. Forster
- Harriet I. Forster
- […]
- & Steven T. Turnock
- Jay Fuhrman
- Haewon McJeon
- […]
- & Andres F. Clarens
- Maria-Vittoria Guarino
- Louise C. Sime
- & Alistair Sellar
- Sam Anderson
- & Valentina Radić
- Dan H. Shugar
- Aaron Burr
- & Katherine Strattman
- K. M. Befus
- P. L. Barnard
- & C. I. Voss
- Thomas E. Martin
- & James C. Mouton
- Tatsuya Amano
- Tamás Székely
- & William J. Sutherland
- K. J. Feeley
- C. Bravo-Avila
- & D. Zuleta
Article | 14 September 2020
A meta-analysis of country-level studies on environmental change and migration
Using a meta-analysis approach, the authors find robust evidence that environmental factors play a role in explaining migration patterns across countries and over time, but the size of the effects depend on the economic and sociopolitical context, and the environmental factors considered.
Article | 07 August 2020
Current and future global climate impacts resulting from COVID-19
Reduced GHG and air pollutant emissions during the COVID-19 lockdowns resulted in declines in NOx emissions of up to 30%, causing short-term cooling, while ~20% SO2 emissions decline countered this for overall minimal temperature effect.
Article | 24 August 2020
Food–energy–water implications of negative emissions technologies in a +1.5 °C future
Negative emissions technologies are essential in scenarios for meeting Paris climate targets. Modelling results show that direct air capture could play an important role with less demand for land yet high energy and water use compared with BECCS and afforestation.
Article | 10 August 2020
Sea-ice-free Arctic during the Last Interglacial supports fast future loss
Arctic climate in the Last Interglacial (LIG)—a warm period 130,000–116,000 years ago—is poorly simulated by modern climate models. A model with improved sea-ice melt-pond physics reproduces LIG Arctic temperatures, suggests an ice-free Arctic during this period and predicts the same by 2035.
Article | 03 August 2020
Identification of local water resource vulnerability to rapid deglaciation in Alberta
Climate warming over Canada drives glacier retreat and threatens water resources in regions that rely on downstream meltwater. Streamflow and climate data are combined with a municipal water source database to identify Alberta communities whose water supply would be most impacted by glacier retreat.
Article | 31 August 2020
Rapid worldwide growth of glacial lakes since 1990
Warming is increasing glacial lakes, and scaling relations show a 48% increase in volume for 1990 to 2018. All measures—area, volume, number—increased, providing water storage but also representing a potential hazard with the risk of outburst floods.
Article | 17 August 2020
Increasing threat of coastal groundwater hazards from sea-level rise in California
Sea-level rise raises water tables, causing flooding from below and saltwater intrusion. A modelling study predicts that coastal California groundwater flooding will expand 50–130 m inland with 1 m of sea-level rise, with areal flooding extent strongly dependent on topography and drainage capacity.
Article | 24 August 2020
Longer-lived tropical songbirds reduce breeding activity as they buffer impacts of drought
Climate change impacts on population dynamics will depend on species’ life history strategies. In contrast to short-lived species, longer-lived tropical songbirds reduced reproduction during drought, leading to higher survival and mitigating the effect on long-term population growth.
Article | 24 August 2020
Responses of global waterbird populations to climate change vary with latitude
Gaps in geographic coverage of species abundance data, especially in the tropics, make determining species’ responses to climate change difficult. Modelling a dataset on global waterbird abundance shows abundance declines in the tropics and increases at higher latitudes when temperatures increase.
Article | 17 August 2020
Climate-driven changes in the composition of New World plant communities
Climate change is driving changes in the species composition of plant communities. Analyses of the collection records of thousands of New World plant species reveal widespread increases in the relative abundances of heat-loving species but less consistent responses to changes in precipitation.
Amendments & Corrections
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Author Correction | 14 August 2020
Author Correction: Climate change and locust outbreak in East Africa
- Abubakr A. M. Salih
- Marta Baraibar
- & Guleid Artan
Publisher Correction | 14 August 2020
Publisher Correction: Current and future global climate impacts resulting from COVID-19
- Piers M. Forster
- Harriet I. Forster
- & Steven T. Turnock
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