Introduction: Outdoor recreation and tourism providers, education programs, and outdoor recreation facilities are experiencing the effects of climate change and severe weather firsthand. This research assessed the impact that climate change was having on these operations in 2023.
Methods: Respondents from 127 outdoor organizations completed an online survey assessing the impacts of climate change and severe weather. Any outdoor operation that owed a duty of care to clients who they take outdoors or host at their facilities was invited to participate. This included outdoor tourism and recreation providers, outdoor education programs (both school and expedition based), groups involved in conservation work, and facilities such as parks, ski areas, and other outdoor recreation facilities. Respondents were from Canada's far north to Mexico, with 14% from further international locations.
Results: Climate change is having moderate to serious impacts on outdoor operations. Extreme heat and air quality were of primary concern, with storm event flooding, wildfires, snowpack, and changes in the ranges of disease-carrying insects top concerns. Fewer than half the operations have established criteria to aid in decision making, yet most had to revise operational plans in 2023 due to extreme weather.
Conclusions: There was pervasive uncertainty regarding decisions involving extreme heat and air quality, particularly the short-term health impacts on clients and the long-term health impacts on workers. There was uncertainty regarding trusted sources for guidance and the many overlapping or contradictory jurisdictional recommendations. Practical direction is required for operations and decision makers, as is further research specific to this sector's needs.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10806032241296526 | DOI Listing |
Arch Environ Contam Toxicol
January 2025
Center for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, 62901, USA.
Aquatic systems are impacted by temperature fluctuations which can alter the toxicity of pesticides. Increased temperatures related to climate change have elevated pest activity, resulting in an escalation of pesticide use. One such pesticide class, pyrethroids, has replaced the use of several banned pesticides due to its low mammalian toxicity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Health Res
January 2025
Health Sciences Institute, University for International Integration of the Afro-Brazilian Lusophony, Redenção, Ceará, Brazil.
Climate change poses a significant threat to human health. Long-term climate effects on childhood asthma hospitalizations depend on the population's geographic region. These effects in tropical drylands are not well understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Ecol
January 2025
Department of Environmental Toxicology, University of California Davis, Davis, California, USA.
Characterising patterns of genetic diversity including evidence of local adaptation is relevant for predicting and managing species recovering from overexploitation in the face of climate change. Red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) is a species of conservation concern due to recent declines from overharvesting, disease and climate change, resulting in the closure of commercial and recreational fisheries. Using whole-genome resequencing data from 23 populations spanning their entire range (southern Oregon, USA, to Baja California, MEX) we investigated patterns of population connectivity and genotype-environment associations that would reveal local adaptation across the mosaic of coastal environments that define the California Current System (CCS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Ecol
January 2025
Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
Identifying populations at highest risk from climate change is a critical component of conservation efforts. However, vulnerability assessments are usually applied at the species level, even though intraspecific variation in exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity play a crucial role in determining vulnerability. Genomic data can inform intraspecific vulnerability by identifying signatures of local adaptation that reflect population-level variation in sensitivity and adaptive capacity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Bot
January 2025
Pacific Biosciences Research Center, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA.
Premise: The ability of plants to adapt or acclimate to climate change is inherently linked to their interactions with symbiotic microbes, notably fungi. However, it is unclear whether fungal symbionts from different climates have different impacts on the outcome of plant-fungal interactions, especially under environmental stress.
Methods: We tested three provenances of fungal inoculum (originating from dry, moderate or wet environments) with one host plant genotype exposed to three soil moisture regimes (low, moderate and high).
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