Forest ecosystems face an increasing pressure of insect pest outbreaks due to changes in land-use, new climatic conditions, and the arrival of new invasive alien species. Also, insect outbreaks may interact with other shifting disturbances such as fire and drought, that eventually may boost the impacts of pests on forest ecosystems. In the case of alien species, the lack of long-term data and their rapid spread challenges their study and require appropriate new management strategies to cope with them. Here we studied the case of boxwoods (Buxus sempervirens) in Southern Pyrenees under the pressure of the invasive insect box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis), fire, and drought events. We projected the future of boxwoods through the development of a spatially explicit simulation model and its implementation under different climatic and ecological scenarios. The results showed an initial boxwood decline due to C. perspectalis fast spread but a later stabilization of the population resulting from a fluctuating dynamic. Climate change is expected to reduce overall insect habitat suitability and future negative impacts on boxwoods. Furthermore, boxwood drought-induced mortality and burning will increase under new climatic conditions. Interaction between drought and insect pest conditioning regeneration after defoliation were negligible in our analyses. Boxwood decline was anticipated to be more notorious in locations under 800 m a.s.l. and in habitats where the species dominates the forest understory, while boxwood in open shrub forest types typical of higher elevations will be less endangered. Our results provide valuable information for boxwood and C. perspectalis management in a context of joint disturbance impacts and contribute to a better identification of the role of forest disturbances and their interactions.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151331 | DOI Listing |
J Pediatr (Rio J)
December 2024
Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Departamento de Pediatria, Disciplina de Alergia, Imunologia Clínica e Reumatologia, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address:
Objective: To assess the impact of climate change and air pollution on children's respiratory health.
Data Source: Narrative review of articles published in English, Portuguese, French, and Spanish in the last decade in the following databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, EMBASE, and SciELO. The keywords used in this search were: climate changes OR air pollution OR indoor pollutants OR wildfires AND human health OR children OR exposome.
Natl Sci Rev
December 2024
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, University Paris Saclay CEA CNRS, Gif sur Yvette 91191, France.
In 2023, the CO growth rate was 3.37 ± 0.11 ppm at Mauna Loa, which was 86% above that of the previous year and hit a record high since observations began in 1958, while global fossil fuel CO emissions only increased by 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Allergy Clin Immunol Pract
December 2024
Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T. H. Chan. School of Public Health, Boston, MA. Electronic address:
Climate change is a major driver of the frequency and severity of wildfires due to extended periods of drought and hotter, drier weather superimposed on the legacy of fire suppression in the Mountain West of the U.S. In recent years, increased wildfire smoke is negating the improvements in air quality made by clean energy transitions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNew Phytol
December 2024
Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Juniperus spp. are keystone shrubs in western North America and important climatic indicators in paleo-records. However, a lack of taxonomic resolution among fossil species limits our ability to track past environmental changes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZootaxa
July 2024
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade; Instituto de Biociências; Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso; Av. Fernando Corrêa da Costa; 2367; 78060-900; Cuiabá; Mato Grosso; Brazil; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia; Instituto de Biociências; Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso; Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária; Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso; Brazil.
We report data on morphological variation and behavior of the recently described watersnake Helicops boitata, previously known strictly from the holotype. Our data come from five new specimens fortuitously found in a private area near the type locality, in the Brazilian Pantanal wetlands. The expanded sample revealed polymorphism in at least two scalation features previously assumed as diagnostic of the species (i.
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