tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/adaptation-356/articlesAdaptation – The Conversation2024-03-27T12:37:29Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2232682024-03-27T12:37:29Z2024-03-27T12:37:29ZHorses lived in the Americas for millions of years – new research helps paleontologists understand the fossils we’ve found and those that are missing from the record<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574775/original/file-20240211-26-t88v8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=63%2C121%2C4179%2C2650&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People have collected fossil horses throughout North America for centuries.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Florida Museum/Mary Warrick</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people assume that horses first came to the Americas when Spanish explorers brought them here about 500 years ago. In fact, recent research has <a href="https://theconversation.com/archaeology-and-genomics-together-with-indigenous-knowledge-revise-the-human-horse-story-in-the-american-west-202222">confirmed a European origin</a> for horses associated with humans in the American Southwest and Great Plains.</p>
<p>But those weren’t the first horses in North America. The family Equidae, which includes domesticated varieties of horses and donkeys along with zebras and their kin, is actually native to the Americas. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1105458">fossil record reveals</a> horse origins here more than 50 million years ago, as well as their extinction throughout the Americas during the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584586/original/file-20240326-30-4szthv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="family tree showing horse evolution diversifying over time" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584586/original/file-20240326-30-4szthv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584586/original/file-20240326-30-4szthv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584586/original/file-20240326-30-4szthv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584586/original/file-20240326-30-4szthv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584586/original/file-20240326-30-4szthv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584586/original/file-20240326-30-4szthv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584586/original/file-20240326-30-4szthv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Phylogeny, geographic distribution, diet and body sizes of the family Equidae over the past 55 million years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1105458">From 'Fossil horses–evidence for evolution.' Science. MacFadden, 2005. Reprinted with permission from AAAS.</a></span>
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<p>We are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xhm6ez4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">paleontologists</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oZ8oBigAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">who focus our research</a> on various types of fossils, including ancient horses. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2023.35">Our most recent work</a> used computer statistics to analyze gaps in the fossil record to infer more about which horse species really did and didn’t live in one ancient habitat in Florida.</p>
<h2>Horses evolved as ecosystems changed</h2>
<p>People have collected fossil horses throughout North America for centuries. Because horse fossils are abundant and widespread across the continent, scientists often point to the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/earth-and-environmental-science/palaeontology-and-life-history/fossil-horses-systematics-paleobiology-and-evolution-family-equidae?format=PB">long span of the horse family</a> as evidence of long-term evolutionary change.</p>
<p>Paleontologists like us, who study extinct mammals, almost never find complete skeletons. Instead, we focus on durable fossil teeth, which help us understand ancient diets, and fossil limbs, which help clarify how these animals moved.</p>
<p>Horses are eating machines. In the wild today, they primarily feed on grasses that don’t provide much nutrition, and thus they need to consume large quantities to survive. The large teeth of modern horses and their ancestors are adapted primarily for grazing on gritty grasses. They replaced smaller teeth of more primitive horses adapted to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-0182(01)00359-5">browsing on soft leafy vegetation</a>.</p>
<p>We know what horses ate millions of years ago by studying distinctive microscopic scratches, pits and other wear patterns on their teeth that were created <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.11.004">as the ancient horses chewed plant foods</a>. And analyses of carbon preserved in fossil teeth show that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(94)90099-X">coexisting horse species ate different plants</a>; some browsed on leaves from bushes and trees, some grazed on grasses, and yet others were mixed feeders.</p>
<p>The change in tooth shape tracks the change in dominant vegetation types in North America, from tropical forests that then gave way to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-040809-152402">great expansion of open prairie grasslands</a>. As the climate and flora changed over millions of years, horses shifted from being largely forest-dwelling browsers to largely open-country grazers. Their teeth and feeding patterns adapted to the environment.</p>
<p>Another adaptation is visible on horses’ feet. Modern horses have one hoofed toe on each foot. Many extinct fossil horses – the ancient ancestors of today’s horses – had three toes per foot. The single toe on each elongated foot is good for rapid and sustained running to evade predators and for long-distance seasonal migrations. The more ancient three-toed feet provided <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/308179a0">stability on unstable or wet ground</a>. The adaptation from three toes to one was likely in response to changing habitats.</p>
<p>But even as the environment changed, one distinct species didn’t completely replace another overnight. The fossil record in North America documents periods millions of years ago when multiple horse species coexisted on the ancient landscapes. Species were of different sizes and had teeth equipped for munching different plants, so they weren’t competing directly for the same foods. Different habitats within these ancient ecosystems likely had some species more adapted to forests and others more adapted to grasslands.</p>
<h2>Understanding Florida’s fossil record</h2>
<p>Paleontologists have been collecting horse fossils in Florida for over 125 years. The Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida, where we work, has more than 70,000 fossil horse specimens from more than a thousand locations across the state.</p>
<p>One of our more <a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/sites/montbrook/">prolific fossil sites, Montbrook</a>, provides a glimpse of a 5.8 million-year-old ancient stream bed. It preserved more than 30 extinct mammals, including rhinos, elephants and carnivores, as well as hundreds of bones and teeth of fossil horses.</p>
<p>Although six horse species are known elsewhere in Florida, we have only found four so far at Montbrook. This smaller number of horse species perplexed us, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2023.35">so we decided to investigate</a>. Did the two “missing” horse species truly not live at Montbrook, or have scientists simply not discovered their fossil remains yet?</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584451/original/file-20240326-26-8hew8y.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Representative fossil horse teeth of Florida" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584451/original/file-20240326-26-8hew8y.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584451/original/file-20240326-26-8hew8y.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584451/original/file-20240326-26-8hew8y.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584451/original/file-20240326-26-8hew8y.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584451/original/file-20240326-26-8hew8y.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584451/original/file-20240326-26-8hew8y.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584451/original/file-20240326-26-8hew8y.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Each of the six fossil horse species (A-F) found in Florida have distinct teeth. Scale bar = 1 centimeter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2023.35">Killingsworth & MacFadden, Paleobiology, 2024</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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<p>We designed a theoretical model that compares Montbrook, with only four horse species, to other fossil sites in Florida that contain all six. Using a statistical technique that scientists call “<a href="https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/stor-i-student-sites/jack-trainer/bootstrapping-in-statistics/">bootstrapping</a>,” our computer essentially simulated continued fossil collecting over time. We generated 1,000 theoretical fossil collection events based on the fossil species counts from the sites where all six are present, to predict the probability of collecting the species that are currently missing at Montbrook.</p>
<p>Results from our simulation show that the two missing horse species at Montbrook were absent for different reasons. One of the horses is likely to be truly absent; the other may still be discovered with further excavation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576220/original/file-20240216-26-vkk8pe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="About a dozen people focused on digging in soil a few feet below the surface of surrounding landscape." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576220/original/file-20240216-26-vkk8pe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576220/original/file-20240216-26-vkk8pe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576220/original/file-20240216-26-vkk8pe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576220/original/file-20240216-26-vkk8pe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576220/original/file-20240216-26-vkk8pe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576220/original/file-20240216-26-vkk8pe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576220/original/file-20240216-26-vkk8pe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Excavations are ongoing at the Montbrook fossil site in Florida.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Florida Museum/Jeff Gage</span></span>
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<h2>Probing ‘gaps’ in the fossil record</h2>
<p>Knowing a species is absent is just as important as knowing when one is present at a fossil site. Absences may be indicators of underlying ecological and biological drivers changing population dynamics. Coupled with other types of analyses, researchers can apply this kind of predictive modeling across many fossil species and ancient landscapes.</p>
<p>Ever since <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Darwin/Evolution-by-natural-selection-the-London-years-1836-42">Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution</a>, scientists have known that the fossil record is incomplete, resulting in gaps in our knowledge of the ancient past and evolutionary change. Paleontologists are challenged to explain these gaps, including which species were or were not present at particular fossil sites.</p>
<p>Gaps can result from certain materials, such as teeth and shells, which are often more durable than porous bone, fossilizing better than others. Likewise, different chemical conditions during fossilization, and even the amount of time spent collecting fossils at a particular site, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104537">can contribute to the lack of knowledge</a>.</p>
<p>Fortunately, fossil horse teeth preserve quite well and are commonly found. As new discoveries are made, such as those from our ongoing excavations in Florida, they’ll help clarify and narrow gaps in the fossil record.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223268/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce J. MacFadden receives funding from the US National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Killingsworth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Horse fossils are abundant and widespread across North America. Scientists often use their long history to illustrate how species evolve in response to a changing environment.Stephanie Killingsworth, Ph.D. Student in Geological Sciences, University of FloridaBruce J. MacFadden, Distinguished Professor and Director of Thompson Earth Systems Institute (TESI), University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2250882024-03-12T19:15:29Z2024-03-12T19:15:29ZPacific Islanders have long drawn wisdom from the Earth, the sky and the waves. Research shows the science is behind them<p>One afternoon last year, we sat in a village hall in Fiji chatting to residents about traditional ways of forecasting tropical cyclones. One man mentioned a black-winged storm bird known as “manumanunicagi” that glides above the land only when a cyclone is forming out to sea. As the conversation continued, residents named at least 11 bird species, the odd behaviour of which signalled imminent changes in the weather. </p>
<p>As we were leaving later that evening, an elder took us aside. He was pleased we had taken their beliefs seriously and said many older Pacific people won’t talk about traditional knowledge for fear of ridicule.</p>
<p>This reflects the dominance of science-based understandings in adapting to climate change and its threats to ways of life. Our <a href="https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wcc.882">new research</a> suggests this attitude should change. </p>
<p>We reviewed evidence on traditional knowledge in the Pacific for coping with climate change, and found much of it was scientifically plausible. This indicates such knowledge should play a significant role in sustaining Pacific Island communities in future.</p>
<h2>A proven, robust system</h2>
<p>Our research was co-authored with 26 others, most Pacific Islanders with long-standing research interests in traditional knowledge.</p>
<p>People have inhabited the Pacific Islands for 3,000 years or <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Archaeology-of-Pacific-Oceania-Inhabiting-a-Sea-of-Islands/Carson/p/book/9781032486376">more</a> and have experienced many climate-driven challenges to their livelihoods and survival. They have coped not by luck but by design – through robust systems of traditional knowledge built by diverse groups of people over time.</p>
<p>The main short-term climate-related threats to island livelihoods in the Pacific are tropical cyclones which can damage food crops, pollute fresh water and destroy infrastructure. Prolonged droughts – common during El Niño events in the southwest Pacific – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03112-1">also cause</a> widespread damage.</p>
<p>Traditional knowledge in the Pacific explains the causes and manifestations of natural phenomena, and identifies the best ways to respond. It is commonly communicated orally between generations. </p>
<p>Here, we describe such knowledge relating to animals, plants, water and sky – and show how these beliefs make scientific sense.</p>
<p>It’s important to note, however, that traditional knowledge has its own intrinsic value. Scientific explanations are not required to validate it.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/secrets-in-the-canopy-scientists-discover-8-striking-new-bee-species-in-the-pacific-222599">Secrets in the canopy: scientists discover 8 striking new bee species in the Pacific</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Reading the ocean and sky</h2>
<p>Residents of Fiji’s Druadrua Island interpret breaking waves to predict a cyclone as long as one month before it hits. In Vanuatu’s Torres Islands, 13 phrases exist to describe the state of the tide, including anomalies that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4461.2004.tb02856.x">herald uncommon events</a>.</p>
<p>These observations make scientific sense. Distant storms can drive ocean swells onto coasts long before the winds and rain arrive, changing the usual patterns of waves.</p>
<p>In Samoa, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/25148486211047739">ten types of wind</a> are recognised in traditional lore. Winds that blow from the east (matā ‘upolu) indicate the imminent arrival of heavy rain, possibly a tropical cyclone. The south wind (tuā'oloa) is most feared. It will cease to blow, it is said, only when its appetite for death is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-009-9722-z">sated</a>.</p>
<p>Many Pacific Island communities believe a cloudless, dark blue sky signals the arrival of a tropical cyclone. Other signs include unusually rapid cloud movements and the appearance of “short rainbows”. </p>
<p>These beliefs are supported by science. Rainbows are sometimes “shortened” or partly obscured by a distant rain shower. And Western science has <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-0-387-71543-8">long recognised</a> changes in clouds and winds can signal the development of cyclones.</p>
<p>In Vanuatu, a halo around a moon signals <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/wcas-d-13-00053.1">imminent rainfall</a>. Again, this belief is scientifically sound. According to Western science, high thin cirrus clouds signal nearby storms. The clouds contain ice crystals through which moonlight is filtered, creating a halo effect.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teaching-our-children-from-books-not-the-sea-how-climate-change-is-eroding-human-rights-in-vanuatu-192016">'Teaching our children from books, not the sea': how climate change is eroding human rights in Vanuatu</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>The wisdom of animals and plants</h2>
<p>As mentioned above, birds are are said to herald weather changes across the Pacific.</p>
<p>In Tonga, when the frigate bird flies across the land – unusual behaviour for an ocean species – it signals a tropical cyclone is developing. This traditional knowledge is captured in the logo of the <a href="https://met.gov.to">Tonga Meteorological Service</a>. Birds are similarly interpreted in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17477891.2015.1046156">Fiji</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486211047739">northern Vanuatu</a>.</p>
<p>This belief stacks up scientifically. One <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.10.079">study</a> in North America, for example, showed golden-winged warblers dodged tornadoes by detecting shifts in infrasound. Another <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-41481-x">study</a>, which included data on frigate birds in the Pacific, found seabirds appeared to circumvent cyclones, probably by sensing wind strength and direction.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="plantain tree in field" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581159/original/file-20240312-18-84kk3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581159/original/file-20240312-18-84kk3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581159/original/file-20240312-18-84kk3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581159/original/file-20240312-18-84kk3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581159/original/file-20240312-18-84kk3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581159/original/file-20240312-18-84kk3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581159/original/file-20240312-18-84kk3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When the central shoot of the plantain is curled, people know a cyclone is developing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Patrick Nunn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Traditional knowledge about insect behaviour in the Pacific Islands is also used to predict wet weather.</p>
<p>Bees, wasps and hornets usually build nests in tree branches. When nests are built close to the ground, Pacific Islanders know the forthcoming wet season will be wetter than normal, probably due to more tropical cyclones. This type of nest-building may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17477891.2015.1046156">prompt</a> residents to make appropriate preparations such as storing food.</p>
<p>Studies suggest insect behaviour can predict changes in weather. For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crvi.2009.10.007">a study</a> of wasp nesting in French Guiana found their ability to quickly move nests to more sheltered locations may help them survive wet years.</p>
<p>Across the Pacific, common signs of impending wet weather are found in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-020-01613-w">behaviours</a> of <a href="https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-08100-210207">some plants</a>. The central shoot of the plantain, for example, will be conspicuously curled instead of straight.</p>
<p>This can be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eru327">explained</a> scientifically by a process in which plant leaves close to protect their reproductive organs from extreme weather.</p>
<h2>Planning for a warmer future</h2>
<p>Since colonisation imposed Western worldviews around the world, traditional knowledge has been sidelined. This is true of the Pacific Islands, where in some places, traditional knowledge is all but <a href="https://theconversation.com/teaching-our-children-from-books-not-the-sea-how-climate-change-is-eroding-human-rights-in-vanuatu-192016">forgotten</a>. </p>
<p>But both Western and traditional knowledges have their pros and cons. Science-based knowledge, for example, is generic and often can’t realistically be applied <a href="https://theconversation.com/pacific-islands-must-stop-relying-on-foreign-aid-to-adapt-to-climate-change-because-the-money-wont-last-132095">at local scales</a>. </p>
<p>As climate change impacts worsen, optimal planning for island peoples should combine both approaches. This will require open-mindedness and a respect for diverse sources of knowledge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225088/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick D. Nunn receives funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) via the Australia Pacific Climate Partnership (APCP), the Australian Research Council, and the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roselyn Kumar receives funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) via the Australia Pacific Climate Partnership (APCP)</span></em></p>We reviewed evidence on traditional knowledge in the Pacific for coping with climate change, and found much of it was scientifically plausible.Patrick D. Nunn, Professor of Geography, School of Law and Society, University of the Sunshine CoastRoselyn Kumar, Adjunct Research Fellow in Geography and Social Sciences, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2227432024-02-21T19:12:19Z2024-02-21T19:12:19ZHard to kill: here’s why eucalypts are survival experts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576420/original/file-20240219-24-nbwq6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2094%2C1551&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flickr.com/photos/88123769@N02/8065560838">Bernard Spragg/Flickr</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>They can recover from fire. Grow back from a bare stump. Shrug aside bark loss that would kill a lesser tree. Endure drought and floods. </p>
<p>Eucalypts are not interested in dying. They’re survivors. The world’s 800-plus species are almost all found in Australia, a continent with old, degraded soils and frequent fires and droughts. </p>
<p>In the fossil record, they first appear about 34 million years ago. As the Australian continent dried out, eucalypts <a href="https://www.science.org.au/curious/earth-environment/story-our-eucalypts">gradually emerged</a> as the dominant trees in all but the most arid and tropical areas. </p>
<p>But what is it about eucalypts that makes them survivors? It’s a combination. Leathery leaves. Fire-resistant bark. Dormant buds under bark, waiting for fire. Mallee roots (lignotubers) at ground level to let them regrow. Roots which put out special chemicals to unlock scarce nutrients. And gumnuts which use fire to germinate and get a head-start on any rivals. </p>
<p>In a difficult place to survive, they thrive. Here’s how they do it. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-reveals-how-forests-reduce-their-own-bushfire-risk-if-theyre-left-alone-201868">New research reveals how forests reduce their own bushfire risk, if they're left alone</a>
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<h2>Leaves</h2>
<p>Many gum species have leaves which hang vertically. These adaptations are about water. Water in Australia is often scarce, and it makes sense for trees to hold onto it when they have it. Vertical leaves means less direct sun, which means less evaporation. Their dry, leathery leaves also keep the water inside. It also improves their tolerance to bushfire. </p>
<h2>Bark</h2>
<p>Stringybark, ironbark, candlebark – the bark of eucalypts is used to identify them. But it’s also one of their great adaptations. The bark is often an excellent insulator against hot, dry summers as well as a <a href="https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-environment/2021/11/eucalyptus-and-the-ancient-kingdom-of-fire/">protective barrier</a> against fire. </p>
<p>Stringy bark is so fibrous that despite singeing and looking black on the surface, it <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/interactive/2023/tree-flammability/index.html">often doesn’t burn</a>, meaning buds beneath it are protected from damage.</p>
<h2>Buds</h2>
<p>Underneath the bark of a normal-looking eucalypt lie <a href="https://www.treenet.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2010-fire-trees-and-climate-change-g.-m.-moore.pdf">thousands of dormant buds</a>. These invisible “epicormic” buds are a remarkable adaptation, letting the tree rapidly regrow after bushfires, severe insect and animal grazing, storms, droughts or floods. </p>
<p>You can spot epicormic shoots sprouting up and down the trunks of gum trees after a fire, making them look like “toothbrush trees”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Eucalyptus Epicormic Buds" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576427/original/file-20240219-16-2svnqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576427/original/file-20240219-16-2svnqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576427/original/file-20240219-16-2svnqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576427/original/file-20240219-16-2svnqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576427/original/file-20240219-16-2svnqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576427/original/file-20240219-16-2svnqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576427/original/file-20240219-16-2svnqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Epicormic Shoots emerge from Eucalyptus buds hidden under the bark after a bush fire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usforestservice/49836705293">Forest Service/Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Epicormic shoots <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03071375.2015.1066559">can grow</a> 27cm in a single day, or up to 6 metres in a year. When epicormic buds touch soil, they can sometimes develop as roots. This allows fallen trees or even large branches to re-establish and anchor after storms and floods. </p>
<p>You can sometimes see hundreds of woody spines on the trunks of old dead trees. These are a pointy reminder of how many undeveloped epicormic buds lurk under the bark.</p>
<h2>Mallee roots (lignotubers)</h2>
<p>As remarkable as epicormic buds are, they’re not the recovery mechanism of last resort. That job falls to the bulge at the bottom of many eucalypt trunks, which we often call “mallee roots”. </p>
<p>These are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03071375.2015.1066559">lignotubers</a>, remarkable adaptations possessed by most eucalypts. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Base of Eucalyptus Tree" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576423/original/file-20240219-30-66bvoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576423/original/file-20240219-30-66bvoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576423/original/file-20240219-30-66bvoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576423/original/file-20240219-30-66bvoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576423/original/file-20240219-30-66bvoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576423/original/file-20240219-30-66bvoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576423/original/file-20240219-30-66bvoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Lignotubers growing at the base of eucalyptus tree.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/eucalyptus-gum-tree-colorful-small-trunk-765407536">Anitham Raju Yaragorla/ShutterStock</a></span>
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<p>To appreciate the complexity and biological beauty of a lignotuber, imagine the trunk of a eucalypt with all its epicormic buds scrunched into a ball at the base of the trunk. The buds have direct access to a large root system able to supply water, nutrients and carbohydrates. </p>
<p>This is a gum tree’s emergency reboot option. Even when the tree above is falling apart, the lignotuber can rapidly regrow the tree at a rate of 6 metres or more in a year. </p>
<h2>Roots</h2>
<p>The roots of species such as river red gums drive deep into the soil along water courses, searching for subterranean water supplies as a backup in case the river dries up. </p>
<p>For other species, the solution to limited water is to send roots far and wide, often many times further than the tree’s height. In many species, the lignotuber and roots are buried under an insulating layer of soil. This acts as protection against fire. </p>
<p>That’s not all. Many eucalypt species produce “exudates” from their roots – chemicals which leach into the soil and free any locked-up nutrients in poor soils. </p>
<p>Still other exudates seep out to help feed mycorrhizal fungi in the soil. The gum trees do this as part of a wonderful symbiosis, allowing both tree and fungus to thrive. The gum gives sugar, the fungi give water and nutrients. </p>
<p>This underground exchange <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/root-exudate">greatly improves soil quality</a> and lets other species grow in difficult conditions. </p>
<h2>Gumnuts</h2>
<p>Gumnuts – woody fruits of eucalypts – are familiar to many of us from May Gibbs’ famous Snugglepot and Cuddlepie stories. </p>
<p>These capsules protect the tiny seeds inside from desiccation and fire. After a fire, eucalyptus fruit may be damaged or dry out. This frees the fine seeds, which sprinkle over the soil like pepper over dinner. </p>
<p>Some eucalypts rely not on lignotubers or epicormic buds but on the seeds <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/australians-love-a-home-among-gum-trees-but-can-eucalyptus-forests-recover-from-the-fires/2020/01/17/413d25fa-36b7-11ea-a1ff-c48c1d59a4a1_story.html">contained and protected</a> in those woody gumnuts. The seeds fall to the ground and germinate when conditions are right renewing the forest. </p>
<h2>Survivors – but not immortal</h2>
<p>In the years ahead, we’ll see natural disasters occurring more often and with greater ferocity as the climate changes. And in the aftermath, we will also see the spectacular and rapid responses of eucalypts – one of the world’s great families of survivors. </p>
<p>But we will also see dead forests. Gum trees do perish, despite their abilities to regenerate. Some species such as mountain ash are <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-just-victorias-iconic-mountain-ash-trees-at-risk-its-every-species-in-their-community-214582">not coping</a> with pressures such as logging and climate change, while thin-barked snow gums are <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/recurring-fires-are-threatening-the-iconic-snow-gum">struggling to cope</a> with new fire regimes. Every living thing has limits. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-the-australian-bush-is-recovering-from-bushfires-but-it-may-never-be-the-same-131390">Yes, the Australian bush is recovering from bushfires – but it may never be the same</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222743/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From sacrificial bark to fire-germinating gumnuts to stealthy buds the eucalyptus has evolved an arsenal of protective measures.Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2217262024-02-06T19:08:09Z2024-02-06T19:08:09ZWhy Heartstopper is Gen Z’s defining publishing phenomenon<p>When Volume 5 of Heartstopper, Alice Oseman’s graphic novel series (turned Netflix adaptation, turned cultural juggernaut) was published in December last year, the book was declared an <a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/alice-oseman/heartstopper-volume-5-instant-number-one-bestseller-the-graphic-novel-series-now-on-netflix">instant number-one bestseller</a>. In Australia alone, it sold 12,300 copies <a href="https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2023/12/15/244785/heartstopper-the-secret-top-christmas-charts-in-aus-aotearoa-nz/">in its first week</a>.</p>
<p>To every generation a publishing phenomenon is born – and for Generation Z, it’s Heartstopper, which Oseman started writing aged 22 (she’s still just 29).</p>
<p>The rise of Heartstopper reads like a history of the last ten years in publishing tools and platforms. Oseman started self-publishing the comics on microblogging site <a href="https://aliceoseman.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a> and webtoon platform <a href="https://tapas.io/aliceoseman">Tapas</a> in 2016, building up a loyal following and clocking millions of views. </p>
<p>Crowdfunding for the first print run <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/news/oseman-crowdfunds-lgbt-comic-two-hours-816316">met the funding goal within two hours</a>. Hachette Children’s Group picked up <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/hcg-publish-oseman-s-online-graphic-novel-869686">world rights</a> for the series, publishing Volume One in 2019. </p>
<p>To date, five graphic novels, two novellas, a yearbook and a colouring book have been <a href="https://aliceoseman.com/heartstopper/graphic-novels/">published</a>. The graphic novels have also been adapted into a <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/heartstopper/s01">successful Netflix series</a>, with scripts written by Oseman herself. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573605/original/file-20240205-27-dkiq4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Heartstopper author Alice Oseman has written the scripts for the Netflix series.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marcus Laing/Netflix</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Heartstopper follows the sweet friends-to-lovers arc of Charlie and Nick, whom we first meet in Year 10 and Year 11. It depicts the giddying highs and dizzying lows of being young, queer and in love. </p>
<p>Through Charlie, Nick and other well-drawn characters, Alice Oseman beautifully portrays the inner workings of a healthy relationship, modelling open communication, help-seeking, allyship and active consent. The books also touch on rarely discussed topics like male eating disorders.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/big-beautiful-females-and-familiar-dystopias-new-graphic-nonfiction-interrogates-21st-century-life-182224">Big beautiful females and familiar dystopias: new graphic nonfiction interrogates 21st-century life</a>
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<hr>
<h2>Queer joy</h2>
<p>Queer joy is <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/queer-joy">defined by Oxfam</a> as a positive feeling we get from encountering signs of progress in gender equality and gender diversity. In the Heartstopper series, the narrative engine runs on themes of love, identity, first times, self-discovery, friendship and allyship. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573385/original/file-20240205-29-ylsmw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573385/original/file-20240205-29-ylsmw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573385/original/file-20240205-29-ylsmw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573385/original/file-20240205-29-ylsmw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573385/original/file-20240205-29-ylsmw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573385/original/file-20240205-29-ylsmw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573385/original/file-20240205-29-ylsmw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
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<p>When we meet Charlie in Volume 1, he’s been out at his school as gay for a while. He mentions past bullying and there are moments of homophobia, but largely Charlie is accepted at school. Charlie’s friend Elle has transitioned their gender and has been enrolled into the girls’ school across the road. There’s never any suggestion this has been met with resistance or nastiness.</p>
<p>Of course, not everything comes easily to Charlie and Nick. The shadow side of the themes of love, connection and community includes <a href="https://theconversation.com/treating-a-childs-mental-illness-sometimes-means-getting-the-whole-family-involved-169729">mental ill-health</a>, body dysmorphia, <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-half-of-australians-will-experience-trauma-most-before-they-turn-17-we-need-to-talk-about-it-159801">trauma</a>, family conflict and <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-questions-your-childs-school-should-be-able-to-answer-about-bullying-222255">bullying</a>. </p>
<p>Nick’s brother, David, takes every opportunity to shame Nick for being gay, while Nick’s father is an absent parent. Meanwhile, trauma from Charlie’s past, including bullying and his <a href="https://theconversation.com/toxic-masculinity-what-does-it-mean-where-did-it-come-from-and-is-the-term-useful-or-harmful-189298">toxic</a>, closeted ex Ben’s coercive behaviour, has had some heavy impacts. </p>
<p>Charlie confesses to Nick that he used to <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-teens-doing-well-but-some-still-at-high-risk-of-suicide-and-self-harm-83303">self-harm</a>, and Nick observes some worrying behaviour in Charlie in terms of food avoidance and anxiety. Nick talks to his mother who tells him, “Love can’t cure a mental illness”, and gives some practical advice: listen, talk, ask him what he needs, stand by him, but don’t try to take it on by yourself. </p>
<p>Nick encourages Charlie to seek help. After some reluctance, Charlie talks to his parents. He is diagnosed with <a href="https://theconversation.com/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-is-more-common-than-you-think-but-it-can-take-9-years-for-an-ocd-diagnosis-196651">obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)</a> and anorexia and is admitted to a residential treatment program. As <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-male-character-on-heartstopper-has-an-eating-disorder-thats-more-common-than-you-might-think-211912">assistant professor of psychology Vivienne Lewis has noted</a>, eating disorders in boys and men are underrepresented in media and little understood in the community, so Alice Oseman is breaking important ground here.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heartstopper-depicts-queer-joy-heres-why-that-can-bring-about-complicated-feelings-for-those-in-the-lgbtiq-community-183729">Heartstopper depicts queer joy - here's why that can bring about complicated feelings for those in the LGBTIQ community</a>
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<h2>‘Felt gaps’: the magic of comics</h2>
<p>Comics have a tumultuous history, especially for children. In 1953, in his book <a href="https://archive.org/details/fredricwerthamseductionoftheinnocent19542ndprinting">Seduction of the Innocent</a>, Frederic Wertham argued comics inhibit literacy, and called them “death on reading”. But the opposite seems to be true. </p>
<p>Comics and graphic novels are, for some kids at least, the gateway to a passion for books. For already engaged readers, it’s a way to diversify their reading and develop their visual literacy. English teacher <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.039375598684308">Matt McCabe</a> points out that while comics can be read and understood comparatively quickly, they can be “studied multiple times from different angles”, making them suited to readers of all abilities. </p>
<p>Reading comics calls on a heightened awareness of the senses to make sense of the unfolding world within. Some of the magic of comics occurs in the gutter: the space between panels. The comics medium is also known for its disjuncture of word and image. These “felt gaps” prompt the reader to harness their imagination and life experience. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573389/original/file-20240205-21-oc7yd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The space between panels in comics prompts the reader to harness their imagination and life experience.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hachette Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Because comics can show and tell two things at once, they are particularly good at representing the way identities are formed in relation to society and culture. There’s a scene in Volume 1 where Nick turns to Google to ask, “Am I gay?” Google searches like these have become a rite of passage for young Gen Zs, <a href="https://youthsense.com.au/youth-insights/why-australian-gen-z-lgbtqia-numbers-are-skyrocketing/">who are much more likely than older generations to identify as queer</a>. </p>
<p>An examination of Google trends from 2004 to 2023 highlights a steep rise in queries about sexuality, with <a href="https://www.culturalcurrents.institute/insights/lgbtq-identity">such searches surging over 1,300%</a>. Alice Oseman uses jagged panels and fragmentation to show Nick’s worldview exploding as he comes to terms with this new information about himself, in the fractured environment of a Google search response page.</p>
<h2>Heartstopper Volume 5</h2>
<p>By Heartstopper Volume 5, Nick is out to family and friends and Charlie is home and in therapy, but generally well. Charlie and Nick are in an established relationship, thinking about taking things to the next level. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573384/original/file-20240205-23-clsmrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p>They are surrounded by a supportive and diverse group of friends, including a trans girl, another gay boy who is not interested in coming out, Charlie’s asexual sister, and a lesbian couple, reflecting a spectrum of LGBTQ+ experiences many kids would encounter in their own social milieu. </p>
<p>There is a subplot of two male teachers falling in love. One of these teachers encourages Charlie to consider running for Head Boy. (We’ll have to read Volume 6 to find out if he’s successful!) </p>
<p>Heartstopper Volume 5 focuses a lot on Nick who, as a final-year student, needs to make a decision about university. Initially he assumes he’ll go to the closest one, to stay near Charlie. Two friends, also facing this decision, accompany Nick on a road trip to visit campuses elsewhere, and gently encourage him to explore other options. </p>
<p>Alice Oseman handles with delicacy the fact that as high-school sweethearts, their paths may take them in different directions – and that only through supporting each other to grow will they both thrive. </p>
<p>Another important plot point involves discussions about sexual readiness, with both boys talking to each other and their friends about recognising when you might be ready for sex. The conversations demonstrate nuances of active consent and communication, and stand in stark contrast to Ben’s entitlement and aggression in Volume 1. A conversation in class shows not all young people are ready for sex –and that’s normalised too.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/big-w-has-withdrawn-welcome-to-sex-from-its-stores-to-protect-staff-but-teen-sex-education-can-keep-young-people-safe-209979">Big W has withdrawn Welcome to Sex from its stores to protect staff – but teen sex education can keep young people safe</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Normalising queer love</h2>
<p>In Heartstopper, the representations of mental illness, trans identities and queer love are destigmatising and normalising. Charlie’s queer and quirky friendship group reminds me of the young people who trail in and out of my house on a regular basis. (My oldest daughter ran the queer club at her school, my middle child is non-binary.) </p>
<p>The depiction of Charlie’s OCD and anorexia as a result of past trauma is carefully optimistic, showing a fairly linear pathway from help-seeking to effective treatment. Oseman acknowledges, through Nick, that isn’t always the case: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Staying in a hospital was a big risk. It probably isn’t helpful for everyone. But it was for him. He could actually focus on his mental health without worrying about school and what everyone thought.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Oseman uses the comic form to alleviate the intensity, avoiding details about self-harm and restrictive eating, and never showing anything graphic. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573386/original/file-20240205-19-omrnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The representations of queer love in Heartstopper are destigmatising and normalising.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The message when it comes to mental health is that it takes a village to treat mental illness (siblings, parents, friends, clinicians, teachers).</p>
<p>Some readers, especially those of us who grew up in earlier decades, might feel sad or angry when they compare their school experiences to what’s shown in Heartstopper. Some who experienced the bullying but not the friendships in high school may struggle to believe kids can be this kind to each other. </p>
<p>For me, though, this is the queer joy of reading Heartstopper. In its focus on the love and community that surrounds Charlie and Nick, the Heartstopper graphic novels create a space for the reader, who becomes an intimate confidante – another member of Charlie and Nick’s tight-knit friendship group.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221726/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Penni Russon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Heartstopper is a celebration of ‘queer joy’ that uses the imaginative intimacy of graphic novels to invite the reader into its tight-knit world.Penni Russon, Senior Lecturer, School of Communication, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2216722024-01-24T17:39:06Z2024-01-24T17:39:06ZThe palm tree that lives beneath the rainforest floor<p>In the heart of western Borneo’s vibrant jungles, the edible fruits of the underground palm are well-known to the local people who snack on them. But this botanical marvel has remained unnoticed by the scientific community for so long because it flowers and bears fruit underground. </p>
<p>At first glance, <em>Pinanga subterranea</em>, a rare palm tree, it looks like a small plant or seedling. Compared to a typical palm tree, <em>Pinanga subterranea</em> looks more modest and dainty, making it well-suited for smaller spaces or dense forests. </p>
<p>Its bright red fruits stay almost completely hidden by the soil. So how does this underground superstar survive beneath the forest floor? </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Many people think of plants as nice-looking greens. Essential for clean air, yes, but simple organisms. A step change in research is shaking up the way scientists think about plants: they are far more complex and more like us than you might imagine. This blossoming field of science is too delightful to do it justice in one or two stories.</em> </p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/plant-curious-137238?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=PlantCurious2023&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of a series, Plant Curious</a>, exploring scientific studies that challenge the way you view plantlife.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Plants grow by using their roots to absorb water and nutrients from the soil. They also need sunlight to make their own food through a process called photosynthesis. </p>
<p>Typically, the stems and leaves are above ground, reaching up towards the light. Palm trees usually develop their flowers and fruits above ground for pollination and seed dispersal.</p>
<p>However, <em>Pinanga subterranea</em> challenges this norm by flowering and fruiting underground, showcasing an extraordinary survival strategy that challenges what we already know about how plants usually make and distribute their seeds.</p>
<h2>Secrets of survival</h2>
<p>There are three possible reasons this palm grows flowers underground, as highlighted in 2023 by the research team <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ppp3.10393">Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,</a> with partners from Indonesia and Malaysia who outlined this discovery. First, its stem demonstrates saxophone growth, bending down and then back up. </p>
<p>Second, the leaves form a funnel, and when organic litter piles up, roots sneak in. They suggest that the litter collects faster than the stem grows, so it stays underground. </p>
<p>Third, its flower clusters are short and below the leaves, usually developing completely underground. </p>
<p>Little is known about how exactly pollination happens in this underground palm. Pollination by flying insects such as bees is difficult, yet this palm still has a fruit and seed set that’s close to the soil surface, suggesting efficient pollination. Insects, especially beetles that move deep down through the undergrowth, might carry pollen for <em>Pinanga subterranea</em>. </p>
<p>Another potential pathway is the process of self-pollination of a flower by pollen from the same flower. Alternatively, wild boars living in the Borneo forest have been seen to unearth the red berries so they might play a crucial role too.</p>
<h2>A master of mutation</h2>
<p>One thing is certain though. Plants adapt by making changes in their genes, through what’s known as epigenetics. These changes help plants survive stress and adapt. While some changes are temporary, others can last longer and affect how plants grow and develop. Some might even be passed on to future plant generations, helping them to <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2019.00246/full">adapt and evolve</a>.</p>
<p>Over time, climate change has seriously affected both the environment and the plants and crops we grow. Different environmental stresses caused by climate change, like extreme temperatures, drought and heavy rain, can make it harder for plants to grow well, affecting their quality. Pressures like these can lead to epigenetic changes.</p>
<p>For example, peanut flowers produce above-ground blossoms, but the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-69943-7">fruits mature underground</a>. This adaptation likely offers greater protection, as the underground environment provides a safer and more stable space for seed development, contributing to the plant’s overall survival and reproductive success. </p>
<p>A small Australian underground orchid has also adapted to develop both fruit and <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ppp3.45">flowers underground</a>. With the help of fungi, this orchid survives and reproduces in a safer and more stable underground environment. </p>
<p>Through epigenetic adaptations, some plants, including <em>Pinanga subterranea</em>, can adjust to changes without altering the core instructions or DNA. It’s like a tree’s survival manual. </p>
<p>Epimutations are changes that happen more often than regular changes in instructions (genetic mutations). <em>Pinanga subterranea</em>‘s underground flowering showcases nature’s adaptability. </p>
<p>By using its epigenetic toolbox to master survival in a changing climate, this palm has evolved smart ways to adapt to tough conditions in Borneo’s tropical landscape. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 30,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chungui Lu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A recently discovered palm tree has an unusual survival strategy - it flowers and fruits beneath the groundChungui Lu, Professor of Sustainable Agriculture, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2201422023-12-20T13:38:01Z2023-12-20T13:38:01ZWhy the COP28 climate summit mattered, and what to watch for in 2024<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566693/original/file-20231219-17-i3ffem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C9%2C2038%2C1352&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, had front-row seats at COP28's final session. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/unfccc/53394837161/in/album-72177720313353788/">Kiara Worth/UN Climate Change via Flickr,</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Reading down the lengthy <a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cma2023_L17_adv.pdf">final agreement of the COP28</a> United Nations climate conference held in December 2023, you’ll go a long way before finding a strong, active verb. The lengthy recitation of climate impacts “notes with concern” and occasionally with “significant concern” <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2023">glaring gaps</a> in countries’ current policies. But while countries volunteered pledges to act, they were less keen to have those pledges framed as binding agreements in the final text.</p>
<p>Reactions to COP28’s conclusion have been understandably mixed. Going into the talks, the world was <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-what-is-the-global-stocktake-and-could-it-accelerate-climate-action/">more on track</a> to avert catastrophic warming than it would have been without the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement">2015 Paris Agreement</a>, but a long way from where it needs to be.</p>
<p>Even <a href="https://www.iea.org/news/iea-assessment-of-the-evolving-pledges-at-cop28">if all the pledges made at COP28 are implemented</a>, the world will still exceed the Paris goal of keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) compared to preindustrial temperatures.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566601/original/file-20231219-27-qde9s6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart shows if all COP28 pledges were met, the world would be closer to the goal of keeping emissions under 1.5 C but not on track." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566601/original/file-20231219-27-qde9s6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566601/original/file-20231219-27-qde9s6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566601/original/file-20231219-27-qde9s6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566601/original/file-20231219-27-qde9s6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566601/original/file-20231219-27-qde9s6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566601/original/file-20231219-27-qde9s6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566601/original/file-20231219-27-qde9s6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Climate Action Tracker assessment of countries’ pledges at COP28 to reduce emissions shows progress toward the 2030 goal, but a large gap.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://climateactiontracker.org/publications/cop28-initiatives-create-buzz-will-only-reduce-emissions-if-followed-through/">Copyright Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Politically, the agreement may have been the best that nations could reach at this time of <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/age-great-power-distraction-kimmage-notte">rising geopolitical tensions</a> and under the leadership of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is a country of contradictions – a petrostate with renewable energy ambitions, keen to emerge onto the global stage as a green champion, but also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/30/the-new-scramble-for-africa-how-a-uae-sheikh-quietly-made-carbon-deals-for-forests-bigger-than-uk">accused of colonization tactics</a> in Africa.</p>
<p>Most headlines have focused on the COP28 agreement’s mention of fossil fuels for the first time. The convoluted language called for countries to “<a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cma2023_L17_adv.pdf">contribute” to</a> “transitioning away from fossil fuels,” not the phaseout supported by a majority of countries. With an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/05/record-number-of-fossil-fuel-lobbyists-get-access-to-cop28-climate-talks">unprecedented number of energy industry lobbyists</a> on hand, the consensus was described by the most vulnerable countries as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-cop28-failed-the-worlds-small-islands-219938">litany of loopholes</a>.</p>
<p>The final agreement was, in large parts, written in a way to secure the future of the natural gas industry. It portrayed natural gas as a necessary bridge fuel while renewable energy expands, an argument that was <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2023">disproved by the International Energy Agency</a> before COP28. The agreement also furthered the expectation of continued heavy subsidies for carbon capture and storage, which many energy analysts and economists have dismissed as <a href="https://apnews.com/article/carbon-capture-removal-cop28-fossil-fuels-oil-gas-2bc53c6a8df6d337c1afcabad56377e8">unscalable at a reasonable cost</a>.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the UAE blasted through some of the old shibboleths of climate negotiation. It broke the polarity of climate finance – the Global South waiting for the Global North to fulfill its promises of public finance – by <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2023/12/10/what-is-alterra-the-uaes-30-billion-green-investment-fund/">focusing on private investment</a> and putting tens of billions of dollars of its sovereign wealth into play. It was not able to persuade others to match its generosity, but there will be more pressure in 2024.</p>
<p>So, what should we look for in the coming months?</p>
<h2>1. Turning new energy pledges into action</h2>
<p>COP28 included <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/af71fc48-b89f-4920-a35b-2867b7adcc0c">significant commitments toward an energy transition</a> away from fossil fuels, including pledges to triple <a href="https://www.cop28.com/en/global-renewables-and-energy-efficiency-pledge">renewable energy capacity, increase energy efficiency</a> and cut <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/2/at-cop28-oil-companies-pledge-to-lower-methane-emissions">methane emissions</a>.</p>
<p>Now it’s up to countries and companies to show progress. That will depend on investments and overcoming supply bottlenecks, as well as new policies and, in the case of methane, <a href="https://www.piie.com/publications/policy-briefs/how-international-agreement-methane-emissions-can-pave-way-enhanced">standards for imports and exports</a>.</p>
<p>The new <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/report/global-cooling-pledge">Global Cooling Pledge</a> to reduce emissions from cooling by 68% while increasing access to cooling technology is increasingly critical. <a href="https://www.iea.org/energy-system/buildings/space-cooling">Demand for cooling is driving up energy demand</a> across the globe, particularly in populous countries hard hit by extreme heat, such as India. Developing technologies that help the billions of people most at risk and improve cold supply chains for food and medicine will require more investment and greater priority from governments.</p>
<p>Watch for <a href="https://www.climateresilience.org/">more cities to appoint heat czars</a> to spearhead efforts to protect populations from extreme heat, <a href="https://time.com/6336537/america-tree-equity-urban-climate-solution/">adoption of tree equity plans</a> to increase shade and cooling, and more investment in cooling technologies.</p>
<h2>2. Deploying innovations in finance</h2>
<p>COP28 saw significant innovation in finance, including the UAE’s announcement of the Alterra Fund – a <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2023/12/10/what-is-alterra-the-uaes-30-billion-green-investment-fund/">$30 billion commitment</a> to mobilize private investment in developing countries.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.iosco.org/news/pdf/IOSCONEWS717.pdf">International Organization of Securities Commissions</a> sent a strong statement in support of <a href="https://www.ifrs.org/groups/international-sustainability-standards-board/">corporate sustainability disclosure standards</a> and welcomed <a href="https://icvcm.org/icvcm-and-vcmi-join-forces-to-operationalize-a-high-integrity-market-to-accelerate-global-climate-action/">corporate integrity standards in the voluntary carbon markets</a>. Look for more countries to add rules around <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/net-zero-coalition">“net-zero emissions” pledges</a>.</p>
<h2>3. Putting trade to work for the climate</h2>
<p>Linked to finance and investment is trade, which <a href="https://www.thebanker.com/How-trade-and-trade-finance-can-assist-the-transition-to-net-zero-1701941013">COP28 welcomed</a> to the main stage for the first time.</p>
<p>There are two things to look for in 2024. First, look for the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to align their advice to governments on effective carbon pricing.</p>
<p>Second, while trade and climate negotiators traditionally move in different circles, they will <a href="https://earth.org/free-trade-agreement/">need to work together</a> to ensure the trade system supports climate action. For example, making sure green products and services are not made more expensive than their polluting alternatives.</p>
<h2>4. Fixing the carbon markets</h2>
<p>2023 was a year of pushback on the voluntary carbon markets, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/18/revealed-forest-carbon-offsets-biggest-provider-worthless-verra-aoe">investigations questioned their effectiveness</a>. COP28’s failure to advance agreements on carbon markets under <a href="https://www.undp.org/energy/blog/what-article-6-paris-agreement-and-why-it-important">Article 6 of the Paris Agreement</a> means they will be a focus in 2024.</p>
<p>In this case, <a href="https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2023/12/13/cop28-article-6-failure-avoids-a-worse-outcome/">no deal was better than a bad deal</a>, but the delay means countries that plan to use carbon markets to meet their net-zero targets are left with uncertainty.</p>
<h2>5. Getting more adaptation funding where it’s needed</h2>
<p>An agreement on a global goal on adaptation, a collective commitment to build resilience and adaptive capacity across the world, was finally reached, but negotiators left the <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-what-would-an-ambitious-global-goal-on-adaptation-look-like-at-cop28/">details to be filled in over the next two years</a>.</p>
<p>To get adaptation funding flowing to where it is most needed, top-down discussions will need to start, including <a href="https://www.wri.org/initiatives/locally-led-adaptation/principles-locally-led-adaptation">locally led efforts</a>. Look for adaptation to become a much bigger part of countries’ second-generation climate plans to be submitted to the U.N. before COP30.</p>
<h2>6. Turning new food and ag pledges into action</h2>
<p>A majority of the world’s countries, 159, signed the <a href="https://www.cop28.com/en/food-and-agriculture">UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action</a>. They agreed to include food systems, which contribute a significant percentage of global emissions and which are fundamental to adaptation and resilience, in the next generation of climate plans to be submitted to the U.N.</p>
<p>The pledge was thin on details, however, so how each country turns words into actions will be crucial in 2024.</p>
<h2>The next big climate milestones</h2>
<p>In late 2024, COP29 will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan – another oil-producing nation. The focus will be on finance. But the <a href="https://unfccc.int/news/cop28-agreement-signals-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-fossil-fuel-era">next big milestone is in 2025</a>, when governments must submit their future pledges and plans for reducing emissions.</p>
<p>COP30 is to be held in Belen in the Brazilian state of Para – the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-amazon-land-grab-how-brazils-government-is-clearing-the-way-for-deforestation-173416">frontline of Amazon protection</a>. This will bring a focus on nature-based solutions, but from the perspective of the Global South. President Lula da Silva, who is also the host of the G20 in 2024, wants to see change in the international trade and finance system to reflect shifts in the global economy.</p>
<p>COP28 set forth important initiatives but balked at binding commitments. As countries work on their next generation of plans to try to get the world on track to limit global warming, they will have to consider the whole of their economies and cover all greenhouse gases. The world can’t afford to balk twice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220142/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Kyte is affiliated with VCMI - Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative, and Climate Resilience for All CRA</span></em></p>The UN climate conference brought some progress. A former UN official who has been involved in international climate policy for years explains what has to happen now for that progress to pay off.Rachel Kyte, Visiting Professor of Practice, Blavatnik School of Government, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2196962023-12-14T14:14:42Z2023-12-14T14:14:42ZCOP28 agreement on adapting to climate change kicks the real challenge down the road<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565771/original/file-20231214-21-xfed00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3456%2C2302&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/banda-aceh-indonesia-april-1-2022-2141864731">Ariful Azmi Usman/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>COP28 concluded late on Wednesday morning to a mixed reaction. The Dubai agreement extracted a promise from nearly 200 countries to transition away from fossil fuels, but it leaves many questions unanswered when it comes to keeping global average temperatures from warming by more than 1.5°C. The world is rapidly running out of time to limit temperatures to this level – <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">a crucial threshold</a> for many communities living in low-lying islands and delicate ecosystems such as coral reefs.</p>
<p>The last year was the <a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/record-warm-november-consolidates-2023-warmest-year">hottest on record</a>, with catastrophic floods in Libya, extreme heat in south Asia, Europe, China and the US, and droughts across east Africa which were all made <a href="https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/2023/">more likely</a> as a result of climate change.</p>
<p>Even if the world keeps to 1.5°C, countries will still need to adapt to the effects of a harsher climate. If temperatures exceed 1.5°C, this will be even harder. At COP28, countries agreed the first targets to guide the <a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cma2023_L18_adv.pdf">global effort to adapt</a>. </p>
<p>So, do they go far enough to address the growing scale of climate impacts?</p>
<h2>Adaptation is essential</h2>
<p>I am a researcher writing a book about the hard choices the world must make to adapt to climate change. For 12 years I have been working on adaptation planning and finance, attending the UN negotiations and <a href="https://unfccc.int/topics/adaptation-and-resilience/workstreams/glasgow-sharm-el-sheikh-WP-GGGA">researching</a> how to make adaptation <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/risk-disaster-reduction/research-projects/2023/nov/accountable-adaptation">more ambitious and inclusive</a>.</p>
<p>Every fraction of a degree of warming avoided by cutting emissions will give communities more breathing space to adapt. Adaptation involves making changes to accommodate the hotter climate and lessen its effects. </p>
<p>Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa struggling to grow food due to changes in rainfall can adapt with improved forms of irrigation and new crop varieties to maintain a similar level of productivity. Coastal communities can build seawalls to protect them from storm surges or plant mangrove forests to prevent the land eroding as fast. Bangladesh has developed early warning systems and invested in cyclone shelters.</p>
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<img alt="People and livestock crowd in a room with barred windows." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565772/original/file-20231214-21-29bvc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565772/original/file-20231214-21-29bvc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565772/original/file-20231214-21-29bvc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565772/original/file-20231214-21-29bvc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565772/original/file-20231214-21-29bvc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565772/original/file-20231214-21-29bvc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565772/original/file-20231214-21-29bvc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Bangladesh will face more intense storms in a hotter future.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/coxs-bazar-bangladesh-may-14-2023-2306045157">SK Hasan Ali/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The global framework for adaptation’s targets set out what countries must do and where the most progress needs to be made for goals like reducing climate-induced water scarcity. Even to get this agreement was a success given <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14693062.2018.1485546">the technical and political challenges</a> in measuring something like adaptation, which covers so many different things, from giving farmers in Asia better information on rainfall to increasing shade and cool spaces in cities.</p>
<p>We have limited ways to understand if the world is on track for many of these areas and the agreement contains a two-year work programme to develop indicators. We have more information on the systems and plans needed. For example, <a href="https://www.undrr.org/reports/global-status-MHEWS-2023#">101 countries</a> have multi-hazard early warning systems in place – the goal aims for this to be all countries by 2027.</p>
<p>The framework will guide investment and shape the implementation of adaptation measures for the next decade. It will allow the global community to check if this process is on track, and to change course if it is not.</p>
<h2>Will the goal meet the scale of the challenge?</h2>
<p>A key sticking point for developing countries across the negotiations in Dubai was securing enough money from developed countries (the largest historical emitters and so the biggest culprits of climate chaos) to actually implement these necessary actions. </p>
<p>Developed countries have failed to deliver the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-glasgow-climate-pact/cop26-outcomes-finance-for-climate-adaptation">US$40 billion (£31 billion) to US$50 billion a year</a> promised as part of a doubling of money for adaptation agreed in 2021. This is part of the overall finance target of US$100 billion a year – agreed for both mitigation (cutting emissions) and adaptation back in 2009. </p>
<p>The latest <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/adaptation-gap-report-2023">UN report</a> on adaptation showed that only US$21 billion was delivered in 2021, while financial needs for adaptation are 10-18 times higher than the amount of public finance available. </p>
<p>The agreement on adaptation in Dubai talks generally of the need for more finance, but makes few commitments. This is not enough, but detailed work on <a href="https://unfccc.int/NCQG">the next financial deal</a> is scheduled at COP29. The agreement next year will aim to set <a href="https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-11/untangling-finance-goal.pdf">a new target for mobilising money</a> to reduce emissions and adapt – the target will replace the US$100 billion a year that runs until 2025.</p>
<p>Research shows that progress on adaptation has been <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_TechnicalSummary.pdf">slow</a>, fragmented and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01170-y">uneven across the world</a>. Between <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/summary-for-policymakers/">3.3 and 3.6 billion people</a> live in places that are expected to be highly vulnerable to climate change. In Africa, tens of thousands of people will die from <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_TechnicalSummary.pdf">extreme heat</a> unless radical measures are taken to adapt. Between <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_TechnicalSummary.pdf">800 million and 3 billion people</a> will not have enough water at 2°C global warming – and up to 4 billion at 4°C. We also have very little evidence that funded adaptation measures are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01170-y">working</a>.</p>
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<img alt="A car park with large solar panel shades." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565774/original/file-20231214-19-imxjgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565774/original/file-20231214-19-imxjgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565774/original/file-20231214-19-imxjgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565774/original/file-20231214-19-imxjgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565774/original/file-20231214-19-imxjgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565774/original/file-20231214-19-imxjgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565774/original/file-20231214-19-imxjgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adaptation measures can also cut emissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-solar-panels-installed-over-2158166313">Bilanol/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The agreement in Dubai signals that the adaptation effort is off track and highlights areas for action such as water, food, healthcare and infrastructure. Critically, it offers little detail yet to check on global progress – we will need to wait one year for a new financial target and another two years for indicators that can assess progress in adapting lives and livelihoods.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17565529.2023.2204070">Frameworks can create incentives</a> for action, and it is vital the new global framework creates pressure for ambition and finance. But countries will need to wait to agree the detail on the money and the targets that will give it the teeth it needs.</p>
<p>While COP28 yielded incremental progress, the world waits for a leap forward in the pace and scale of climate adaptation.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susannah Fisher receives funding from a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship (grant number MR/W008572/1).</span></em></p>Even with rapid reductions in emissions, we will still need to adapt to a harsher climate.Susannah Fisher, Principal Research Fellow, Department of Geography, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2179792023-11-29T13:40:14Z2023-11-29T13:40:14ZWhy the Fed should treat climate change’s $150B economic toll like other national crises it’s helped fight<p>Climate disasters are now costing the United States <a href="https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/">US$150 billion per year</a>, and the economic harm is rising.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/07/homes/homeowners-insurance-climate-real-estate/index.html">real estate market</a> has been disrupted as home insurance rates skyrocket along with rising wildfire and flood risks in the warming climate. <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-food-prices-inflation-3-percent-study/">Food prices</a> have gone up with disruptions in agriculture. <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-health-care-costs-of-extreme-heat/">Health care costs</a> have increased as heat takes a toll. Marginalized and already vulnerable communities that are least financially equipped to recover are <a href="https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/chapter/31/#key-message-1">being hit the hardest</a>.</p>
<p>Despite this growing source of economic volatility, the Federal Reserve – the U.S. central bank that is charged with maintaining economic stability – is <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-the-fed-and-ecb-parted-ways-on-climate-change-the-politics-of-divergence-in-the-global-central-banking-community/">not considering the instability of climate change</a> in its monetary policy. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, Fed <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/powell20230110a.htm">Chair Jerome Powell declared</a> unequivocally: “We are not, and we will not become, a climate policymaker.”</p>
<p>Powell’s rationale is that to maintain the Fed’s independence from politics and political cycles, it should use <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/the-fed-explained.htm">its tools</a> narrowly to focus on its core <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/rptcongress/98frgpra.pdf">mission of economic stability</a>. That includes price stability, meaning keeping inflation low and maximizing employment. In Powell’s view, the Fed should stay away from social and environmental concerns that are not tightly linked to its statutory goals. </p>
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<img alt="Powell, in a suit and tie, sits at a large desk in hearing room with papers in front of him and a name tag. He's looking up over the top of his glasses at the camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561174/original/file-20231122-23-cihbmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561174/original/file-20231122-23-cihbmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561174/original/file-20231122-23-cihbmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561174/original/file-20231122-23-cihbmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561174/original/file-20231122-23-cihbmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561174/original/file-20231122-23-cihbmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561174/original/file-20231122-23-cihbmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before the House Committee on Financial Services on June 21, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/federal-reserve-chairman-jerome-powell-testifies-before-the-news-photo/1500340373">Win McNamee/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, it is getting <a href="https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2023/html/ecb.sp230110%7E21c89bef1b.en.html">increasingly difficult for central banks</a> to ensure stability if they do not integrate climate instability into their monetary policies.</p>
<p>As researchers with expertise in <a href="https://cssh.northeastern.edu/faculty/jennie-stephens/">climate justice</a> and <a href="https://www.tcd.ie/research/profiles/?profile=sokolm">central banks</a>, we recently <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2023.2268589">published a paper</a> reviewing the monetary policy tools available to central banks around the world that could help slow climate change and reduce climate vulnerabilities.</p>
<p>With the new U.S. <a href="https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/">National Climate Assessment</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-022-03319-w">other research</a> making clear that U.S. policies and actions are <a href="https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/usa/#">insufficient to minimize climate instability</a> and manage the growing economic costs, we believe it’s time to <a href="https://www.climate-transparency.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ODI_role-of-central-banks-in-tackling-climate-change.pdf">reconsider the role of central banks</a> in <a href="https://unfccc.int/news/new-analysis-of-national-climate-plans-insufficient-progress-made-cop28-must-set-stage-for-immediate">responding to the climate crisis</a>.</p>
<h2>Rethinking interest rates</h2>
<p>One thing central banks could do is set lower interest rates for renewable energy development. The <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-16/boj-takes-careful-first-step-on-green-loans-stands-pat-on-rates?sref=Hjm5biAW">Bank of Japan has used this strategy</a>. </p>
<p>The Fed’s aggressive increases in interest rates in response to rising inflation have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0375-2">slowed the transformation</a> toward a more sustainable society by <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/fed-programs-have-kept-finance-flowing-to-fossil-fuels-11637317801">supporting fossil fuels</a> and making <a href="https://time.com/6281021/renewable-energy-interest-rates/">investments in renewable energy</a> infrastructure more expensive. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/why-us-offshore-wind-industry-is-doldrums-2023-10-31/">Offshore wind</a> power has been particularly hard hit, with multiple multibillion-dollar projects canceled as higher interest rates raised the projects’ costs.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The foundation of an offshore wind turbine tower without the top yet, and a construction crane and another tower in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561173/original/file-20231122-19-krtne0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561173/original/file-20231122-19-krtne0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561173/original/file-20231122-19-krtne0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561173/original/file-20231122-19-krtne0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561173/original/file-20231122-19-krtne0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561173/original/file-20231122-19-krtne0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561173/original/file-20231122-19-krtne0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Offshore wind turbines are under construction off Massachusetts, but high interest rates raised the cost of projects so much that some companies have put plans on hold.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/OffshoreWindsJobs/582b66f7df9a43488d3bf7a71e84b914/photo">AP Photo/Charles Krupa</a></span>
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<p>One way to introduce differentiated rates would be to create a special <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/funding-credit-liquidity-and-loan-facilities.htm">lending facility</a> under which commercial banks could borrow money from the central bank at preferential interest rates if used for renewable energy deployment or other climate-friendly investments. Whether the Fed already has authorization to do that depends on interpretation of its current mandate. </p>
<p>While the U.S. Federal Reserve has not done it before, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-29/china-central-bank-extends-use-of-tools-to-promote-green-lending">China’s central bank</a> has <a href="https://greencentralbanking.com/central-banks/peoples-bank-of-china/">used similar tools</a> to incentivize renewable energy, and the Bank of Japan’s lending facility offers <a href="https://greencentralbanking.com/2022/08/02/japan-green-lending-scheme-sayuri-shirai/">zero-interest loans</a> for green investments. </p>
<h2>Nudging banks to rethink investments</h2>
<p>Despite the Fed’s proclaimed efforts not to pick winners and losers, its monetary policies have taken steps that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/business/economy/federal-reserve-powe.html">favor established industries and companies</a>, including the fossil fuel industry.</p>
<p>For example, the Fed <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/fed-response-to-covid19/">supported the financial sector unconditionally</a> during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep credit available to limit economic harm. Its massive <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/files/monetary20200409a2.pdf">purchases of corporate bonds</a> resulted in <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/federal-reserve-takes-flak-for-buying-fossil-fuel-company-bonds-59677632">subsidies to the fossil fuel sector</a>.</p>
<p>Our analysis suggests two ways to help manage climate change now: The Fed can reinterpret its current statutory duties and start viewing climate action as a critical part of its role in maintaining economic stability within its existing mandate, <a href="https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/climate/our_approach/html/index.en.html">as the European Central Bank has done</a>, or the mandate of the Fed can be changed by Congress to explicitly include “green” transformation objectives, similar to the <a href="https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/facilitating-the-transition-to-net-zero-and-institutional-change-in-the-bank-of-england-perceptions-of-the-environmental-mandate-and-its-policy-implications-within-the-british-state/">U.K.’s mandate for the Bank of England</a>.</p>
<p>Either of these options could empower the Fed <a href="https://neweconomics.org/2022/09/green-credit-guidance">to address climate change</a> and support the government, businesses, banks, households and communities in financing climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two maps showing extreme heat days rising almost everywhere and extreme precipitation increasingly common, particularly in the Eastern U.S." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561093/original/file-20231122-27-9qvpx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561093/original/file-20231122-27-9qvpx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561093/original/file-20231122-27-9qvpx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561093/original/file-20231122-27-9qvpx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561093/original/file-20231122-27-9qvpx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561093/original/file-20231122-27-9qvpx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561093/original/file-20231122-27-9qvpx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Rising temperatures exacerbate climate risks, including droughts, wildfires and extreme storms. Global temperatures have already warmed by more than 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) compared to preindustrial times. The projected changes with 2 C (3.6 F) of warming, which the world is on pace to exceed this century, are relative to the 1991-2020 average.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/">Fifth National Climate Assessment</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The Fed could also discourage banks and investors from investing in assets that ultimately harm the economy – for instance, by <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/addressing-climate-related-financial-risk-bank-capital-requirements/">setting collateral requirements</a> for banks that would reduce the <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/publication/greening-collateral-frameworks/">attractiveness of holding carbon-intensive assets</a>. The European Central Bank recently announced that it would tilt purchases of <a href="https://www.allianz.com/en/economic_research/publications/specials_fmo/2023_06_27_Green-monetary-policy.html">corporate bonds toward “green” assets</a>. </p>
<p>The Fed has recently taken steps to push <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/bcreg20231024b.htm">large financial institutions to monitor climate-related risks</a> in their portfolios, <a href="https://bankingjournal.aba.com/2023/05/senators-criticize-fed-for-engaging-in-climate-activism/">drawing the ire of Republicans</a>, who claimed the bank had no authority to consider climate change. Whether this risk management approach will pressure banks to change their lending patterns is not yet clear.</p>
<p>The Fed and other central banks could go further and <a href="https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/supervising-the-transition/">mandate energy transition planning</a> with an eye toward economic stability. The European Union developed a <a href="https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/climate/green_transition/html/index.en.html">whole new sustainable finance framework</a> designed to <a href="https://finance.ec.europa.eu/sustainable-finance/tools-and-standards/eu-taxonomy-sustainable-activities_en">discourage investment</a> in economic activities that do not support an energy transition along the lines of the <a href="https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en">European Green Deal</a>, which aims to turn Europe into a climate-neutral continent with no one left behind. The European Central Bank is obligated to support EU economic policies, including the green transition. </p>
<h2>The Fed has used creative tools before</h2>
<p>Many times in its 110-year history, the Fed has <a href="http://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4516824">provided financial support to the U.S. government</a> during major crises, such as wars and recessions, by offering direct lines of credit or by directly purchasing Treasury bonds. During the pandemic, it took extraordinary steps to keep U.S. businesses running.</p>
<p>Now that the U.S. is facing rising costs from the climate crisis, we believe the Fed should treat climate change with the same urgency and importance. </p>
<p>In our analysis of the tools available to central banks, we took a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-022-00186-6">climate justice</a> perspective, looking beyond greenhouse gas emission reductions to incorporate social justice and economic equity. Instead of focusing on supporting corporate interests and the financial sector in the short term to stabilize markets, we believe central banks could <a href="https://www.boeckler.de/pdf/v_2022_10_22_sokol.pdf">prioritize longer-term stability</a> by funneling investments toward vulnerable communities and people.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/36190/">Bank of England</a>, the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/WP88-DiLeo-et-al.pdf">European Central Bank</a> and other central banks are already implementing some <a href="https://greencentralbanking.com/scorecard/">pro-climate measures</a>. At the Fed, Powell seems more concerned with political backlash than the economic damage to the U.S. economy outlined in the latest climate assessment.</p>
<p>We believe it is past time that the Fed consider climate destabilization as a major economic crisis and use more of the tools in the central bank toolbox to tackle it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217979/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennie C. Stephens is affiliated with the Climate Social Science Network and is a Radcliffe-Salata Climate Justice Fellow at Harvard University for the 2023-2024 academic year. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Sokol received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant No. 683197.</span></em></p>Fed Chair Jerome Powell bristles at talk of managing climate change, but the damage it is doing the US economy is hard to ignore, as the latest National Climate Assessment shows.Jennie C. Stephens, Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy, Northeastern UniversityMartin Sokol, Associate Professor of Economic Geography, Trinity College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2177192023-11-27T12:16:09Z2023-11-27T12:16:09ZThe Legend of Zelda film: past adaptations have gotten Link’s character wrong<p><a href="https://zelda.nintendo.com/">The Legend of Zelda</a> (first produced in 1986) is one of the most beloved videogames around the world, so when Nintendo <a href="https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/release/en/2023/231108.html">announced</a> the development of a live-action movie a couple of weeks ago, it inspired a lot of speculation (and fear) about how they might pull off a film. </p>
<p>Despite being haunted by the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108255/?ref_=ttco_ov">infamous adaptation</a> made 30 years ago, the recent <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/sg/smbmovie/index.html">The Super Mario Bros. Movie</a> was a global family hit. However, for some fans – myself included – it failed to deliver a compelling story about its central characters, which are some of the most iconic in videogame history. If <a href="https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/release/en/2023/231108.html">Nintendo’s aim</a> is to put smiles on every fan’s face, then adapting The Legend of Zelda will be a real challenge.</p>
<p>Set in a fantasy medieval world, the game series follows Link, an Hylian elf-like hero, and Zelda, princess of the kingdom of Hyrule. The stories differ from game to game, but often involve Link’s quest to rescue Zelda, defeat Ganon (the main antagonist of the series) and save Hyrule. They also tend to feature stories around the Triforce, a divine artefact formed by three equilateral triangles, each of which represent a virtue (power, wisdom and courage). The triangles can grant a wish to players who possess them all.</p>
<p>There is not a magic formula for a good adaptation and the process is made more complicated by such a vast, narrative-rich source material. Like many other fans, I would like to see a film that echoes what I felt when playing the games and preserves its DNA.</p>
<h2>Losing Link</h2>
<p>The original game was first released in 1986 and since then, another 19 games have followed (excluding spin-offs, remakes and re-releases). The latest instalment, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, has become <a href="https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2023/230803_2e.pdf">one of the most lucrative</a>. </p>
<p>From the vibrant landscapes and welcoming inhabitants of Hyrule to the daunting puzzles in dungeons and caves, feelings and emotions are the essence of Zelda’s storytelling. Recent titles have provided an expanded view of the settings, underpinned by open worlds offering a vast array of side quests, locations, monsters and non-playable characters. </p>
<p>A major part of getting the adaptation “right” will be in how the film chooses to portray Link.</p>
<p>Link is an archetype of a hero. He is brave, pure and communicates non-verbally in the games. His muteness is one of his most recognisable traits and one which helps anyone to identify with the character during the gameplay. </p>
<p>Although we barely know anything about his past, Link is somehow given depth by the players’ actions, who decide if they want to spend hours talking and helping villagers in side quests or embody an introvert hero who simply sticks to the main plan. This approach used in the games is not easily transferable to other media and, unsurprisingly, previous adaptations diverted from this path.</p>
<p>Earlier official adaptations of the game series were deemed non-canonical and distanced themselves from the source material in different aspects and degrees.</p>
<p>Many Zelda games have their own manga adaptations, which follow the original game storylines and add depth and provide backstories to the main characters. In the manga, Link talks, expresses emotions with facial expressions and is given a more rounded personality. We also learn about his past, providing more context about how the hero came to be. </p>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0832330/">animated series</a> was released in 1989, alongside <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096707/">Super Mario Bros. Super Show!</a>, and lasted only 13 episodes due to the negative reception. In this adaptation, Link has brown hair and eyes (in contrast to his blonde hair and blue eyes in the games) and is chatty and immature. </p>
<p>While protecting the kingdom and the Triforce of Wisdom from Ganon, he is truly invested in flirting with Zelda, who – far from being a damsel in distress – rejects all his attempts to get a kiss. This diverts from the games, which have never depicted Zelda as Link’s love interest.</p>
<h2>In Hollywood’s hands</h2>
<p>In 2015, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-SEB-86552">The Wall Street Journal reported</a> that Netflix was preparing a live-action series based on The Legend of Zelda, which was described as “Game of Thrones for a family audience”. This was eventually <a href="https://time.com/3747342/nintendo-ceo-satoru-iwata/">denied</a> by Nintendo. </p>
<p>Game of Thrones is notoriously dark, bloody and highly sexual, it’s hard to imagine what it looks like re-imagined as family entertainment. The Zelda series does feature more complex stories, which sometimes get quite dark (such as <a href="https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Wii-U-games/The-Legend-of-Zelda-Twilight-Princess-HD-1082222.html">Twilight Princess</a> and <a href="https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-64/The-Legend-of-Zelda-Majora-s-Mask-269525.html">Majora’s Mask</a>). </p>
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<p>However, it’s difficult to imagine Nintendo moving away from light, family fun – it’s what they do best. Players will also expect them to produce a film with a PG rating. They tried a flirty Link before and it didn’t quite work – here’s hoping they leave that iteration alone. </p>
<p>Nothing has yet been said about the plot of the film adaptation, but Nintendo has confirmed that it will be directed by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1226871/">Wes Ball</a> (The Maze Runner trilogy). It will be produced by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/nov/23/pushing-buttons-nintendo-shigeru-miyamoto-super-mario-zelda-video-games">Shigeru Miyamoto</a> – co-creator of the game series and one of the most influential and acclaimed game designers of all time – and Avi Arad, chairman of Arad Productions Inc. The company has been involved in a long list of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0338101">videogame, anime and comic adaptations</a>. Miyamoto has <a href="https://twitter.com/Nintendo/status/1722011980129779795">also said</a> that he has been working on the theatrical adaptation for many years.</p>
<p>It seems to be in safe hands and hopefully Nintendo has learnt from past failures. The least we can hope for is that with Miyamoto on board the legendary world of Zelda will be able to inspire similar feelings in viewers as the games have for nearly 40 years. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>José Blázquez received funding from Arts Council England. </span></em></p>Nintendo doesn’t have the best track record of turning their games into successful screen iterations.José Blázquez, Senior lecturer, Bournemouth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2152222023-11-21T13:27:15Z2023-11-21T13:27:15ZClimate change is already forcing lizards, insects and other species to evolve – and most can’t keep up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558259/original/file-20231108-29-upppm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C2%2C1615%2C1069&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Temperature sensitivity makes western fence lizards vulnerable to climate change.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/blmoregon/47961427128">Greg Shine/BLM</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Climate change is threatening the survival of plants and animals around the globe as temperatures rise and habitats change.</p>
<p>Some species have been able to meet the challenge with rapid evolutionary adaptation and other changes in behavior or physiology. Dark-colored dragonflies are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2101458118">getting paler</a> in order to reduce the amount of heat they absorb from the sun. Mustard plants are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.1051">flowering earlier</a> to take advantage of earlier snowmelt. Lizards are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0625">becoming more cold-tolerant</a> to handle the extreme variability of our new climate.</p>
<p>However, scientific studies show that climate change is occurring much faster than species are changing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tiny, royal blue fish with gold stripes looks into the camera. The downward slant of its mouth and shadow at the top of its eye give it an annoyed look." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558243/original/file-20231108-23-xs3oy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C5599%2C3724&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558243/original/file-20231108-23-xs3oy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558243/original/file-20231108-23-xs3oy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558243/original/file-20231108-23-xs3oy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558243/original/file-20231108-23-xs3oy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558243/original/file-20231108-23-xs3oy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558243/original/file-20231108-23-xs3oy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zebrafish have evolved to thrive in water a degree or so warmer than normal, but they struggle to survive at higher temperatures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/brachydanio-rerio-royalty-free-image/154930602?adppopup=true">isoft/E+ Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What is evolutionary adaptation?</h2>
<p>The word “adaptation” is used in many ways by climate scientists, but it has a very specific meaning to biologists: It refers to genetic changes that are passed on from one generation to the next and improve a species’ ability to survive in its environment.</p>
<p>These genetic modifications make evolutionary adaptation different from “acclimation” or “acclimatization,” which involve advantages that are not passed on to offspring. For example, when people move to high-altitude cities, they <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2013-092840">start producing more red blood cells</a> as they acclimate to the low oxygen.</p>
<p>All over the world, plants and animals have adapted to many different warm and dry habitats, prompting scientists to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2018.0176">question</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1520-9">whether</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14881">species</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1406314111">might</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13862">also</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1063656">adapt</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0608379104">to</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14072">our</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba9287">rapidly</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj7484">changing</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf3343">climate</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2628">too</a>.</p>
<p>Thus far, the answer <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.852">seems to be no</a> for most species.</p>
<h2>Evolving, fast and slow</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10924-4">recent study</a> of the populations of 19 bird and mammal species, including owls and deer, shows one potential barrier to adaptation. </p>
<p>In animals that take several years to reach breeding age, the climate has already shifted by the time their offspring are born. Genes that gave the parents an advantage – like hatching at exactly the right time or growing to the best size – are no longer as beneficial for the offspring.</p>
<p>Populations of these slow-maturing animals are adapting to climate change, but not enough during each generation to thrive in the changing conditions. In fact, the rate of evolution is so mismatched to the rate of global warming that the study’s authors estimate that nearly 70% of the local populations they studied are already vulnerable to climate-driven extinction over the coming decades.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A dragonfly with dark bands on its wings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558246/original/file-20231108-27-yipcvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558246/original/file-20231108-27-yipcvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558246/original/file-20231108-27-yipcvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558246/original/file-20231108-27-yipcvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558246/original/file-20231108-27-yipcvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558246/original/file-20231108-27-yipcvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558246/original/file-20231108-27-yipcvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black bands on dragonflies heat up their bodies. Research shows some dragonflies have evolved smaller black bands as the climate warms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael P. Moore</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558248/original/file-20231108-27-nr1728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A heat map clearly shows that the dark bands on the wings absorb more heat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558248/original/file-20231108-27-nr1728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558248/original/file-20231108-27-nr1728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558248/original/file-20231108-27-nr1728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558248/original/file-20231108-27-nr1728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558248/original/file-20231108-27-nr1728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558248/original/file-20231108-27-nr1728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558248/original/file-20231108-27-nr1728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this heat map of the same dragonfly, white areas are the warmest and purple areas are cooler. The dark bands on the wings stand out.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael P. Moore</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Small-bodied animals, such as many fish, insects and plankton, typically mature quickly. Yet, recent research on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2011419117">small fish</a> and a type of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2011.0542">fast-maturing plankton called a copepod</a> revealed another hurdle for rapid genetic adaptation to climate change.</p>
<p>Many species possess genes that permit them to live in environments that are 1 to 2 degrees Celsius (about 2 to 4 Fahrenheit) warmer than today, but new genetic mutations must arise to enable survival if climates reach 4 to 5 C (about 7 to 9 F) warmer, as is possible in some regions, particularly if greenhouse gas emissions continue at a high rate.</p>
<p>To test species’ resilience, scientists warmed populations of these fast-maturing species over many generations to observe their genetic changes. They found that both the copepods and the small fish were able to adapt to the first couple degrees of warming, but populations soon went extinct above that. This was because genetic mutations that increased their ability to live in hotter conditions occurred at a slower rate than the temperatures rose.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558242/original/file-20231108-29-dkylc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A tiny nearly translucent oval creature with a tail and egg sacks trailing behind it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558242/original/file-20231108-29-dkylc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558242/original/file-20231108-29-dkylc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558242/original/file-20231108-29-dkylc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558242/original/file-20231108-29-dkylc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558242/original/file-20231108-29-dkylc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558242/original/file-20231108-29-dkylc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558242/original/file-20231108-29-dkylc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A live copepod with egg sacs at 10 times magnification. These ocean creatures produce new generations quickly, allowing for speedier evolution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/copepod-micrograph-royalty-free-image/170025374?adppopup=true">NNehring/E+ Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cold-blooded species, such as lizards, frogs and fish, are especially vulnerable to climate change because they have a limited capacity to regulate their own body temperatures. Their ability to evolve in response to climate change is expected to be critical for their survival.</p>
<p>However, rapid adaptation to climate change often comes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02984069">at a cost</a>: Populations get smaller due to the deaths of individuals that cannot tolerate new, hotter temperatures. Therefore, even if species do evolve to survive with climate change, their smaller populations may still go extinct due to problems such as inbreeding, harmful new mutations or plain old bad luck, such as a disease epidemic.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1184695">In a now-classic study</a>, researchers studying lizards in Mexico discovered that the high death rates of just the heat-sensitive individuals – representing only a subset of the entire population – caused 12% of all lizard populations in Mexico to go extinct between 1975 and 2009. Even with some heat-tolerant adult lizards surviving in each population under the warmer conditions, the researchers estimated climate change would kill so many heat-sensitive adults within each population that 54% of all populations would go extinct by 2080.</p>
<h2>Evolutionary adaptation isn’t species’ only option</h2>
<p>Another way species adjust to rising temperatures is acclimation, sometimes called “phenotypic plasticity.” For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1157174">great tits in the U.K.</a> – small birds that are common in yards and forests – lay their eggs earlier in warmer years so that their nestlings hatch right as the winter weather ends, no matter when that happens.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A small bird with a yellow body and black head with white cheeks sits on a branch." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558258/original/file-20231108-21-3e6t6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558258/original/file-20231108-21-3e6t6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558258/original/file-20231108-21-3e6t6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558258/original/file-20231108-21-3e6t6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558258/original/file-20231108-21-3e6t6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558258/original/file-20231108-21-3e6t6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558258/original/file-20231108-21-3e6t6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A great tit – <em>Parus major</em>. In the U.K., these common birds have been laying their eggs earlier in warm years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hedera_baltica/49433487712/in">Hedera.Baltica via Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32953-2">recent analysis</a> of more than 100 beetle, grasshopper and other insect species all over the world found that acclimation may not help those species enough. The study’s authors found that the species they reviewed gained an average of only 0.1 C (about 0.2 F) greater heat tolerance when acclimating to 1 C (about 2 F) warmer air temperatures during their development. Thus, the rate of global warming seems to be outstripping species’ abilities to acclimate, too.</p>
<p>Plants and animals could also escape the impacts of global warming by migrating to cooler habitats. A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1198-2">global analysis</a> of more than 12,000 different plants and animal species recently showed that many species are migrating toward the poles fast enough to keep pace with rising temperatures, and many <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13762">tropical species are moving upslope</a> to higher elevations as well.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, migration has its limits. Research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1804224115">tropical birds that already live high in the mountains could be doomed</a> because there is no room for them to migrate any farther upward. Tropical species, therefore, may be on what the authors call an “escalator to extinction.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A yellow-and-black moth sits on a yellow flower in an alpine field with snow-covered mountains in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558253/original/file-20231108-21-ad3ofx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558253/original/file-20231108-21-ad3ofx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=789&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558253/original/file-20231108-21-ad3ofx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=789&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558253/original/file-20231108-21-ad3ofx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=789&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558253/original/file-20231108-21-ad3ofx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558253/original/file-20231108-21-ad3ofx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558253/original/file-20231108-21-ad3ofx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police car moths living at high elevations have little room to migrate to escape increasing heat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael P. Moore</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>High-latitude and high-elevation habitats also present numerous challenges for species to overcome besides temperature. Our own research across 800 species of insects all over the Earth shows that butterflies, bees and other flying insects are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01794-2">especially hindered from migrating to higher elevations</a> because there is not enough oxygen for them to survive. </p>
<h2>Many species lack obvious climate strategies</h2>
<p>Overall, evolutionary adaptation appears to help lessen the impacts of global warming, but the evidence thus far shows that it is insufficient to overcome current rates of climate change. Acclimation and migration provide faster solutions, but research shows that those may not be enough, either.</p>
<p>Of course, not all evolution is driven by warming temperatures. Plant and animal species appear to be also gradually adapting to other kinds of environments, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14191">human-created ones like cities</a>. But the fast pace of global warming makes it <a href="https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/chapter/8#fig-8-2">one of the major threats</a> that species must respond to immediately.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/chapter/8#fig-8-2">evidence indicates</a> that humanity cannot simply assume that plants and animals will be able to save themselves from climate change. To protect these species, humans will have to stop the activities that are fueling climate change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215222/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From dark dragonflies becoming paler to plants flowering earlier, some species are slowly evolving with the climate. Evolutionary biologists explain why few will evolve fast enough.Michael P. Moore, Assistant Professor of Biology, University of Colorado DenverJames T. Stroud, Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolution, Georgia Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2125312023-11-20T18:59:57Z2023-11-20T18:59:57ZDenial is over. Climate change is happening. But why do we still act like it’s not?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559024/original/file-20231113-25-3i07wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=81%2C90%2C5241%2C3098&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Climate-fuelled disaster is now front-page news, as record-breaking floods, fires, droughts and storms keep arriving. </p>
<p>The damage done by climate change is systemic and pervasive, resonating through our communities, economies and environments. It manifests in many ways, from empty spaces in supermarket shelves to houses left unlivable after floods, anxious communities, collapsing ecosystems and emergency services stretched to capacity. </p>
<p>Climate researchers initially assumed that if you gave people the right information, we would act on it. Burning fossil fuels comes with severe consequences – so let’s phase out fossil fuels. But they found out very quickly this was not the case. </p>
<p>For many people, it triggered <a href="https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28186/chapter-abstract/213097621?redirectedFrom=fulltext">cognitive dissonance</a>, where they knew climate change was happening but <a href="https://psychology.org.au/community/advocacy-social-issues/environment-climate-change-psychology/resources-for-psychologists-and-others-advocating/public-understanding-of-climate-change#:%7E:text=People%20often%20experience%20cognitive%20dissonance,driving%2C%20flying%2C%20etc">acted like it wasn’t</a>. After all, many people still smoke, even though they know it is bad for their health. And many of us still fly to Italy – even though we know how many extra tonnes of carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere. </p>
<p>But why is it so easy to understand but not act?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559013/original/file-20231113-16-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="man smoking" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559013/original/file-20231113-16-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559013/original/file-20231113-16-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559013/original/file-20231113-16-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559013/original/file-20231113-16-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559013/original/file-20231113-16-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559013/original/file-20231113-16-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559013/original/file-20231113-16-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Smokers now know full well the damage cigarettes do.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Change seems hard, doing nothing is easy</h2>
<p>It’s because of public and private narratives we have grown up with. Our expectations of life are geared towards wanting comfort and stability.</p>
<p>This means not everyone has developed the ways of thinking needed to deal with the impacts (such as natural hazards) we are now facing. Sudden changes caused by these – such as the loss of a home – are almost invariably shocking and can create a sense of disbelief. How could this be? When do we get back to normal? Surely it won’t happen again?</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://vuir.vu.edu.au/32103/1/19-Young-2014-Problem-Solution-Framework.pdf">research on systemic risks</a> such as climate change adaptation suggests this disconnect is common. Because we expect and hope for stable normality, we find it hard to truly believe the changes we are seeing will continue. </p>
<p><iframe id="Hp4wy" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Hp4wy/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>There’s also a divide between who benefits and who pays. Your family trip to Iceland pays off for you in shared memories and good times. The damage in terms of emissions is spread across the globe. Often the damage done has less impact on the people who have done most to cause it, compounding inequality and eroding the ability of those most at risk to respond. </p>
<p>Adapting to the climate and working to reduce further heating can be an uncomfortable and at times painful process where we have to embrace and acknowledge <a href="https://theconversation.com/understanding-grief-can-help-us-adapt-to-climate-change-37518">our grief for the changing world</a>. We’re often taught to avoid potentially dangerous or painful things – especially if they are unfamiliar. But now, doing what we’ve always done is not safe. </p>
<p>Then there are the limitations of individual action. No matter how committed you are to cutting your own climate impact, it makes very little difference if others aren’t doing the same.</p>
<p>Action needs to be collaborative and sustained over the longer term, favouring public good over individual vested interests and short term gains. The politicisation of action in Australia’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-wars-carbon-taxes-and-toppled-leaders-the-30-year-history-of-australias-climate-response-in-brief-169545">climate wars</a> has <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2016/10/04/the-politics-of-climate/">polarised opinion</a> and eroded trust in the research. It has also left some people feeling that their actions are too small to matter. </p>
<p>All of this means we can find it surprisingly easy to detach our own daily actions – driving to work, holidays in Queensland, watching Netflix – from the broader goals of getting emissions down to zero as soon as possible. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tourists-flock-to-the-mediterranean-as-if-the-climate-crisis-isnt-happening-this-years-heat-and-fire-will-force-change-210282">Tourists flock to the Mediterranean as if the climate crisis isn't happening. This year's heat and fire will force change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>So how can we avoid climate hypocrisy?</h2>
<p>Many of us understand the risks of climate change full well, but we do not accept the responsibility. That, in turn, means we may feel okay not to act. Or we may understand and accept the risk, but not have the resources or ability to act.</p>
<p>We know that presenting climate change as a problem without a solution or using fear tactics <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1075547008329201">disengages and demotivates us</a>. It can also feed anxiety, which undermines action. </p>
<p>So the first step to overcoming climate inaction is to identify where you can act directly, such as switching your second car to an e-bike, investing in solar panels, working on local re-vegetation projects or making climate-friendly consumer choices.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559211/original/file-20231114-17-ew2xgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="family planting tree, silhouette" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559211/original/file-20231114-17-ew2xgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559211/original/file-20231114-17-ew2xgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559211/original/file-20231114-17-ew2xgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559211/original/file-20231114-17-ew2xgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559211/original/file-20231114-17-ew2xgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559211/original/file-20231114-17-ew2xgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559211/original/file-20231114-17-ew2xgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Action helps make more action.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Where you have influence, apply this through voting, education or advocacy. Humble actions matter because they accumulate to create change. </p>
<p>This isn’t to say you should give up holidays. It is about making informed choices. Ending the burning of fossil fuels will take time and our choices will change as we transition away from this. </p>
<p>But doing something is always better than nothing. Active responses can help reduce climate anxiety and they are also the panacea for avoiding climate hypocrisy. And while large-scale policy responses are necessary, individual action and pressure can help speed up the shift. </p>
<p>Climate change isn’t just a problem for scientists, engineers and governments. We need both large-scale and small-scale action. As the costs of climate change escalate, we can no longer afford to know about climate change but not act. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-minds-handle-risk-strangely-and-thats-partly-why-we-delayed-climate-action-so-long-213761">Our minds handle risk strangely – and that's partly why we delayed climate action so long</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Celeste Young has funding from the National Center for Climate Change Adaption Research Facility, The Bush Fire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Center, Victorian Center for Climate Change Adaptation and Department of The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) (formerly DEWLP). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger Jones has provided technical advice on fire climate regimes to the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (Formerly the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning).
</span></em></p>Climate denial is passe. But why do so many of us know the climate crisis is upon us – and live like it isn’t?Celeste Young, Collaborative Research Fellow, Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities (ISILC), Victoria UniversityRoger Jones, Professorial Research Fellow, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2150352023-11-13T13:33:33Z2023-11-13T13:33:33ZClimate change is altering animal brains and behavior − a neuroscientist explains how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558492/original/file-20231108-17-uomc0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1998%2C1501&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Animal nervous systems may lose their adaptive edge with climate change.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/melting-brain-royalty-free-image/1279693246">PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Human-driven climate change is increasingly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0104">shaping the Earth’s living environments</a>. Rising temperatures, rapid shifts in rainfall and seasonality, and ocean acidification are presenting altered environments to many animal species. How do animals adjust to these new, often extreme, conditions?</p>
<p>Animal nervous systems play a central role in both enabling and limiting how they respond to changing climates. Two of my main research interests as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qFFX_9KiimwC&hl=en">biologist and neuroscientist</a> involve understanding how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271250">animals accommodate</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2017.06.004">temperature extremes</a> and identifying the forces that shape the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blx150">structure and function of</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-022-00873-5">animal nervous systems</a>, especially brains. The intersection of these interests led me to explore the effects of climate on nervous systems and how animals will likely respond to rapidly shifting environments.</p>
<p>All major functions of the nervous system – sense detection, mental processing and behavior direction – are critical. They allow animals to navigate their environments in ways that enable their survival and reproduction. Climate change will likely affect these functions, often for the worse.</p>
<h2>Shifting sensory environments</h2>
<p>Changing temperatures shift the energy balance of ecosystems – from plants that produce energy from sunlight to the animals that consume plants and other animals – subsequently altering the sensory worlds that animals experience. It is likely that climate change will challenge all of their senses, from sight and taste to smell and touch. </p>
<p>Animals like mammals perceive temperature in part with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02732">special receptor proteins</a> in their nervous systems that respond to heat and cold, discriminating between moderate and extreme temperatures. These receptor proteins help animals <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07001">seek appropriate habitats</a> and may play a critical role in how animals respond to changing temperatures.</p>
<p>Climate change disrupts the environmental cues animals rely on to solve problems like selecting a habitat, finding food and choosing mates. Some animals, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2017.04.010">mosquitoes</a> that transmit <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.584846">parasites and pathogens</a>, rely on temperature gradients to orient themselves to their environment. Temperature shifts are altering where and when mosquitoes search for hosts, leading to changes in disease transmission.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aYH-KYdgXag?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Climate change is pushing more and more mosquitoes to take humans as their preferred hosts.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How climate change affects the chemical signals animals use to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12128">communicate with each other</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/EN13055">harm competitors</a> can be especially complex because chemical compounds are highly sensitive to temperature.</p>
<p>Formerly reliable sources of information like seasonal changes in daylight can lose its utility as they become uncoupled. This could cause a breakdown in the link between day length and <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/1773/37034">plant flowering and fruiting</a>, and interruptions to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-physiol-021909-135837">animal behavior</a> like hibernation and migration when day length no longer predicts resource availability.</p>
<h2>Changing brains and cognition</h2>
<p>Rising temperatures may disrupt how animal brains develop and function, with potentially negative effects on their ability to effectively adapt to their new environments. </p>
<p>Researchers have documented how temperature extremes can alter individual neurons at the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jez.b.22736">genetic and</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0400773101">structural levels</a>, as well as how the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-016-0993-2">brain is organized</a> as a whole.</p>
<p>In marine environments, researchers have found that climate-induced changes of water chemistry like ocean acidification can affect animals’ general cognitive performance and sensory abilities, such as odor tracking in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2195">reef fish</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12678">sharks</a>.</p>
<h2>Behavior disruptions</h2>
<p>Animals may respond to climate adversity by shifting locations, from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12439">changing the microhabitats</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13309">they use</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1316145111">altering their</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-016-0504-0">geographic ranges</a>. </p>
<p>Activity can also shift to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-005-0030-4">different periods of the day</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1768">or to</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.3354/cr00713">new seasons</a>. These behavioral responses can have major implications for the environmental stimuli animals will be exposed to.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Green snake slithering out of a nest after eating a bird" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shifting climates are driving some snake species into forested habitats, and the subsequent increased predation on nesting birds may push above sustainable levels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/green-pit-viper-trimeresurus-full-up-after-ate-royalty-free-image/1148122650">Rapeepong Puttakumwong/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, fish in warming seas have shifted to cooler, deeper waters that have dramatically different <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0396">light intensity and color range</a> than their visual systems are used to. Furthermore, because not all species will shift their behaviors in the same way, species that do move to a new habitat, time of day or season will <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2015.05.031">confront new ones</a>, including food plants and prey animals, competitors and predators, and pathogens. </p>
<p>Behavioral shifts driven by climate change will restructure ecosystems worldwide, with complex and unpredictable outcomes.</p>
<h2>Plasticity and evolution</h2>
<p>Animal brains are remarkably flexible, developed to match <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-022-00873-5">individual environmental experience</a>. They’re even substantially <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-2236(00)01558-7">capable of changing</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2004.6.2/fgage">in adulthood</a>. </p>
<p>But studies comparing species have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-016-1353-4">seen strong</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1159/000006666">environmental effects</a> on brain evolution. Animal nervous systems evolve to match the sensory environments of each species’ activity space. These patterns suggest that new climate regimes will eventually shape nervous systems by forcing them to evolve. </p>
<p>When genetics have strong effects on brain development, nervous systems that are finely adapted to the local environment may lose their adaptive edge with climate change. This may pave the way for new adaptive solutions. As the range and significance of sensory stimuli and seasonal cues shift, natural selection will favor those with new sensory or cognitive abilities.</p>
<p>Some parts of the nervous system are constrained by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.14188">genetic adaptations</a> while others are more plastic and responsive to environmental conditions. A greater understanding of how animal nervous systems adapt to rapidly changing environments will help predict how all species will be affected by climate change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean O'Donnell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rapidly changing temperatures and sensory environments are challenging the nervous systems of many species. Animals will be forced to evolve to survive.Sean O'Donnell, Professor of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science and Biology, Drexel UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2136182023-11-07T17:24:43Z2023-11-07T17:24:43ZOvercoming the climate crisis with trade-based strategies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557599/original/file-20231105-27-uw7cz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C2048%2C1358&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A container ships docked in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island in 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Corey Seeman/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Global warming is making <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_SYR_LongerReport.pdf">weather patterns more extreme</a> and <a href="https://www.elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2022/103/article-A001-en.xml">increasing inequalities</a> across regions. However, economic growth is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-trade-regulations-may-be-opening-up-a-new-era-of-sustainable-growth-in-the-global-south-182070">still possible</a>, with economies showing a range of responses to the impacts of global heating.</p>
<p>Recently, Martina Bozzola, Fabio Santeramo and I joined together to understand whether the climate crisis is creating new trading patterns. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23008221">Our research</a> concludes that international trade may serve as an adaptation strategy to climate change.</p>
<p>Production shifts induced by the changing climate may favour both the domestic and international markets depending on how interconnections across the globe facilitate the movement of goods. Taking into account conditions such as the geographical distance or the size of economies, the value of the exchange in goods between two trading partners is as large as their climatic conditions differ. Specifically, for an increase of 1 degree Celsius in the gap between the mean temperatures of two countries, the trade between them is expected to grow by 38% on average.</p>
<p>For example, between 1996 and 2015, the agricultural and food-related trade between India and Indonesia amounted to an average of 215 million dollars each year for the period. Indonesia is about 2 degrees Celsius warmer than India, and the effect of having a 1 degree Celsius larger difference in temperatures between the two countries would generate an average trade increase between them quantifiable in 82 million dollars per year.</p>
<h2>Changes in temperatures leading to new shipping routes</h2>
<p>The greater the temperature difference across countries, the tighter their commercial relationships get. In absolute terms, trade tends to increase more substantially for routes in the northern hemisphere, particularly when the European Union and the United States are involved: the intra-EU shipping routes are expected to increase annually by more than 1 billion dollars each. The monetary gain in the EU-US route is also relevant, rising from 611 to 893 million dollars more per year depending on the EU trading partner. While less marked, an increase in trade values is expected between countries in the southern hemisphere, including Latin America (for example, a rise of 552 million dollars between Argentina and Brazil) and Oceania (an increase of 573 million dollars between Australia and New Zealand).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Top 20 trade routes most affected by increase in the difference between countries' temperatures" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Top 20 trade routes most affected by increase in the difference between countries’ temperatures. Figures are in million dollars; the reference year is 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The difference in the magnitude of trade effects between Northern and Southern countries is likely due to the variation in both the countries’ climates and state of economic development. Most of northern countries are developed economies, whereas most of southern ones are developing or emerging. Northern (developed) countries tend to have a colder climate and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/twec.13256">higher trade values with respect to the southern</a> (developing) countries. Under the same increase in temperature differences, a higher level of economic development may explain the larger gains in monetary terms. </p>
<p>It should be kept in mind, however, that the strength of seasonality varies significantly across the globe, with seasons being more homogenous around the equator. Differences in temperatures tend to increase the value of agricultural and food products traded between lower-latitude countries, such as China, and higher-latitude countries, such as the EU. According to the data from Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/food-farming-fisheries/farming/documents/agrifood-china_en.pdf">China is both a top origin and a top destination for the EU</a>. On average, China is 6 degrees Celsius colder than the EU trading partners for the period between 1996 and 2015. Consistent with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23008221">our results</a>, such a difference would increase trade between the EU and China. Similar to other central Asian countries that traditionally suffered from a temperature penalty, China would benefit of an improved agricultural productivity with warmer temperatures.</p>
<h2>Strategies to survive in a warmer environment</h2>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/joeg/article-abstract/21/4/487/6384781">Climate change has a range of impacts across space</a>, with some countries experiencing losses or gains more than others. Overall, changes in climatic conditions and increasing differences in the temperatures of countries contributes to change the economic geography and shape sectoral specialisations. </p>
<p>Countries shifting their specialisation is a form of adaptation that depends, among other, on their ability to trade with partners in other regions of the world. Developing trading partners with different specialisations would result in a potentially beneficial adaptation strategy to climate change.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213618/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>As global warming accelerates, a new study indicates that new trading patterns could develop as an adaptation strategy.Emilia Lamonaca, AXA Research Fellow, Università di FoggiaFabio Gaetano Santeramo, Associate Professor, Università di FoggiaMartina Bozzola, Associate professor, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2143872023-10-17T19:07:10Z2023-10-17T19:07:10ZThe smarter the magpie, the better they can handle our noisy cities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551368/original/file-20231002-23-n4hzko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C38%2C5145%2C3841&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Blackburn</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cities are hard for wildlife. Many animal species avoid the cars, buildings, smog and fragmented habitats of urban environments. Then there’s the noise pollution, a serious issue for humans and animals alike, according to the <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789289002295">World Health Organization</a>. </p>
<p>Human-made (anthropogenic) noise can be very bad for animals. Busy cities can make it harder for animals to reproduce, communicate and behave naturally. </p>
<p>But magpies have generally found our cities to their liking. There is enough food about – and they can usually out-compete other urban bird species. </p>
<p>Even within magpie populations, there are differences in how individuals cope with noise. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16975">Our new research</a> has found the magpies that perform better on an associative learning task are better able to maintain their normal anti-predator behaviours in noise. That is, the smarter the magpie, the better they are likely to do in our cities. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554172/original/file-20231017-29-2dvugw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Perth, Western Australia, seen from Kings Park. Freeways and a city skyline and a park." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554172/original/file-20231017-29-2dvugw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554172/original/file-20231017-29-2dvugw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554172/original/file-20231017-29-2dvugw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554172/original/file-20231017-29-2dvugw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554172/original/file-20231017-29-2dvugw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554172/original/file-20231017-29-2dvugw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554172/original/file-20231017-29-2dvugw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Cities like Perth offer grass, open space – and a lot of noisy machines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>What does noise do to a magpie?</h2>
<p>While magpies are often thought of as similar to crows, they’re not corvids at all and not related to Eurasian magpies. Their closest relatives are actually butcherbirds. </p>
<p>To date, most research on the damage done by human-made noise has examined what it means for a species or population. There’s been little work done on how <a href="https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/30/6/1501/5526711">individuals respond differently to noise</a>. What we do know suggests factors such as the sex, age, body condition and prior experience with noise can change how animals cope with noise. </p>
<p>But what about cognition? Animals from the same species can have very different cognitive abilities – the ways an animal perceive, store and respond to information from their environment. </p>
<p>So would smarter animals be more able to change their behaviour to survive better in the urban jungle? </p>
<p>To find out, we observed all behaviours shown in timed 20-minute periods by 75 wild magpies in Perth (to a total of 333 observation periods). We also played magpie alarm calls with and without the noise of planes in the background to 24 magpies to see how plane noise affected their anti-predator response. </p>
<p>These wild magpies live in Perth, Western Australia and have been studied consistently since 2013. Most birds have coloured rings or bands on their legs so we can easily identify them. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551365/original/file-20231002-21-cmbxg0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="two magpies standing on the ground close to each other in a city park" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551365/original/file-20231002-21-cmbxg0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551365/original/file-20231002-21-cmbxg0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551365/original/file-20231002-21-cmbxg0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551365/original/file-20231002-21-cmbxg0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551365/original/file-20231002-21-cmbxg0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551365/original/file-20231002-21-cmbxg0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551365/original/file-20231002-21-cmbxg0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Urban parks offer good foraging for magpies – if they can put up with our noise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Blackburn</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>Individual identification meant we could test the intelligence of 52 of these magpies to see whether performing better on associative-learning tests would change how birds respond to and cope with anthropogenic noise. </p>
<p>The first thing we found was, yes, magpies find our noise difficult to handle. Our observations revealed loud man-made noises such as traffic, airplanes, or leafblowers forced magpies to spend more time vigilant and alert to threats, to sing less, and to forage less efficiently. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-hyper-manicured-public-spaces-hurt-urban-wildlife-109449">How hyper-manicured public spaces hurt urban wildlife</a>
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</em>
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<p>That’s likely because these magpies saw anthropogenic noise as dangerous or threatening stimuli, or as a distraction. That forces them to spend more time alert, with less time for other important behaviours. </p>
<p>But there are other potential causes too. Noise from a bustling restaurant strip may drown out small sounds magpies use as cues, such as the rustle of beetles burrowing under leaf litter. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554171/original/file-20231017-23-ctm3no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="magpie bending its head and pulling out a worm from grass" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554171/original/file-20231017-23-ctm3no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554171/original/file-20231017-23-ctm3no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554171/original/file-20231017-23-ctm3no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554171/original/file-20231017-23-ctm3no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554171/original/file-20231017-23-ctm3no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554171/original/file-20231017-23-ctm3no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554171/original/file-20231017-23-ctm3no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Magpies have broadly adapted well to life in Australia’s cities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>We also found human-made noise made it harder for our birds to respond to a magpie alarm call, used to warn others of predators. When we played an alarm call in isolation, about 37% of birds sought cover. When we added the noise of a plane flying overhead to the alarm, only 8% of birds fled. This suggests birds couldn’t properly hear and respond to this cue of danger. </p>
<p>Our magpies also spent much more time on alert after an alarm call played alone compared to an alarm call played with human-made noise. This suggests their normal anti-predator response doesn’t work as well against a backdrop of our noise. </p>
<h2>Why would intelligence help magpies deal with noise?</h2>
<p>Researchers in the United Kingdom <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.633947/full">working on animal cognition</a> suggest better cognition on a species level may help animals cope with new environments or environmental stress. Other researchers argue cognition is what makes it possible to <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0408145102">adapt to and succeed</a> in urban environments. </p>
<p>To test this, we gave magpies a learning task to measure their intelligence and cognition. Could they associate a colour cue with a food reward? How long did it take them to learn that, say, dark blue meant a snack? </p>
<p>This test is a measurement of how quickly they learn. It’s thought to be involved in how successful an animal is in foraging, social interactions and responding to predators. </p>
<p>We found smarter birds reacted more similarly to a standalone alarm call as they did to one with a noisy plane in the background. By contrast, less intelligent birds responded significantly less to alarm calls with plane noise compared to an alarm call alone. </p>
<p>For a magpie, that could be the difference between life or death. If you’re clever enough to shut out the background noise of the plane so you can better hear a warning, you stand a better chance of surviving, say, a dog rushing you at a park. </p>
<p>Birds with better associative learning may also be better in other aspects of intelligence too. In fact, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25503">previous research</a> on this species found birds that performed better in one cognitive task also performed better in other cognitive tasks. </p>
<p>As researchers learn more about animal intelligence, we’ll find out more about how associative learning helps animals adapt – and why these abilities are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352154616301942">so strongly conserved</a> in evolution. </p>
<p>Our study reveals intelligence matters for individual animals as they grapple with how to adapt to and cope with human-induced stressors.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/toxic-cities-urban-wildlife-affected-by-exposure-to-pollutants-127590">Toxic cities: Urban wildlife affected by exposure to pollutants</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214387/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grace Blackburn receives funding from an ARC Discovery Grant, a Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment, and the University of Western Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Ridley receives funding from the Australian Research Council Discovery Research Projects funding scheme</span></em></p>In every Australian city, you’re likely to come across a warbling magpie. How do they cope with the onslaught of noise? It turns out, the smarter ones cope better.Grace Blackburn, PhD Candidate, The University of Western AustraliaAmanda Ridley, Associate professor, behavioural ecology, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2144322023-10-02T09:31:11Z2023-10-02T09:31:11ZGreat Expectations: new theatrical adaptation sets Dickens novel in partition-era Bengal<p>We set eyes on Pip, the protagonist of Charles Dickens’s 1861 novel Great Expectations, for the first time in the churchyard where his parents and brothers are buried. The vision of the boy in front of the ruins of his family is one of rude survivalism. It’s a trait that will see Pip through the misadventures ahead – but the sorrow of surviving on these terms is unmistakable. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.royalexchange.co.uk/event/great-expectations-2023/">Tanika Gupta’s adaptation of Great Expectations</a>, currently showing at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, opens with “Pipli” buzzing around, doing cartwheels, at ease in his world. Gupta’s version is set in Bengal in 1899, where alarming rumours of an imminent partition of the province have spread.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for Great Expectations at the Royal Exchange Theatre.</span></figcaption>
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<p>It is disorienting at first to see the adult actor (Esh Alladi) impersonating a child. His effervescence seems unlike Pip – or any other Dickensian waif – but we learn that Pipli is drawn to the banks of the river because the ashes of his parents rest there. </p>
<p>As in the novel, an escaped convict (Dickens’s Magwitch) then pounces on the boy, demanding that he fetch him food and a file to unshackle himself.</p>
<p>In this adaptation, Magwitch is an Indian man of African descent, renamed Malik (Andrew French). This is perhaps a nod to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-30391686">Malik Ambar</a> (1548-1626), an Ethiopian slave who rose to power and whose military prowess in the southern peninsula of India was dreaded by the Mughals. </p>
<p>Dickens brought the upper classes to their knees in his novels, exposing the entanglements of gentility and criminality. In Gupta’s version, race enters the mix. The play addresses not only the virulence of British racism toward natives, but the ingrained colourism and phobia of the caste Hindu toward their darker-skinned compatriots – in particular Africans. </p>
<h2>Pip and Magwitch</h2>
<p>In the Dickens novel, Pip refuses to treat his terrifying encounter with Magwitch as anything other than a “chance occurrence”. </p>
<p>Ironically, it is this encounter which makes Pip a gentleman. Magwitch – who reinvents himself in the penal colony of Australia, where he is transported to – becomes the anonymous benefactor whose colonial labour finances Pip’s education. </p>
<p>Similarly, Malik funnels the fortune he has made in Assam into Pipli’s prospects – and Malik too is denied rehabilitation in the system whose equitable distribution of wealth he aids. </p>
<p>Shocked to see Magwitch/Malik reappear in his London lodgings years later, Pip/Pipli tells him stiffly that he does not wish to renew their accidental acquaintance.</p>
<p>Dickens’s Pip does not treat his entry into Satis House – the estate of Miss Havisham – as the random event it is. He chooses to believe that it is the heiress’s benign scheme to uplift him to high society. </p>
<p>Miss Havisham wreaks havoc, choreographing Pip’s unrequited love for her adopted daughter Estella, and Estella’s cruelty in return. Divested at last of his delusions of kinship with rich folk, Pip describes himself as a “chance boy,” picked to gratify a whim. </p>
<p>Gupta unsparingly portrays the interplay of self-regard and self-loathing in Pipli as he comes of age. The play shines new light on the individualism and elitism shaping Pipli’s deferred outrage at Miss Havisham’s (Catherine Russell) brutality and his withheld affection for his real benefactor.</p>
<h2>MacCaulay’s Minute</h2>
<p>“You will never become truly English,” Miss Havisham taunts Pipli. She jeers that the colonial education he covets is designed to knock the “Indian” out of a native. </p>
<p>In Gupta’s play, the backdrop to Pipli’s soul-searching is the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Partition-of-Bengal">first partition of Bengal</a> into East and West Bengal (1905). This division was engineered by the British viceroy in India, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lord-Curzon">Lord Curzon</a>. Despite its annulment in 1911, it had a violent climax in the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple">partitioning of the subcontinent in 1947</a>. </p>
<p>Nationalist resistance against this partition, supposedly carried out for administrative convenience and uniform material development of the region, mobilised a mass movement demanding self-rule and self-sufficiency. </p>
<p>Pipli’s lawyer, Jaggers (Stephen Fewell), tells him bluntly that he will amount to nothing more than an interpreter. This echoes politician Thomas Babington Macaulay’s <a href="https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.150518/page/n5/mode/2up">Minute Upon Indian Education</a> (1835), which shaped British educational policy. It was designed to create “a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect”.</p>
<p>The Macaulay Minute ushered a colonial modernity no longer reliant on the indigenous literature and culture and bred mimic men fully compliant with British rule. </p>
<p>Malik, sustained by his dream of vengeance against the British, imagines that his “boy” Pipli, “with his education, will teach them”. It is left to Pipli to realise that his English education is a poison as well as a cure.</p>
<h2>The language issue</h2>
<p>The treatment of language in decolonising Dickens’s Great Expectations is a missed opportunity. In the absence of any Bangla, the choice of context – the partition, which powerfully mobilised Bengali identity – seems random. Furthermore, little attention is paid to differences between Bengali Hindus and Muslims when it came to their respective reckonings of Curzon’s division. </p>
<p>The “Indian” characters speak English with an accent, while the native languages are spoken in crisp received pronunciation. This is clever, but reinforces once again the power of English to stand in as both global language and local vernacular.</p>
<p>Adaptations of classics can imply a warped power structure, the latecomer writing back to a precursor from the erstwhile ruling classes. It also implies a shift in power, whereby the adaptation reinvents an old staple, drawing attention to the necessity of timely tune-ups. Tanika Gupta’s Great Expectations succeeds in giving itself – and its famous namesake – what Pip calls “a chance in life.”</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ankhi Mukherjee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This adaptation is set in Bengal in 1899, where rumours that the British Empire’s plans for partition have spread.Ankhi Mukherjee, Professor of English and World Literatures, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2136492023-09-15T05:24:10Z2023-09-15T05:24:10ZWe are poised to pass 1.5°C of global warming – world leaders offer 4 ways to manage this dangerous time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548474/original/file-20230915-19-ddk85m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=72%2C18%2C3977%2C3017&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pasadena-california-usa-12-1-2022-2245301895">Marcus E Jones, Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For three decades, the goal of international climate negotiations has been to avoid “dangerous” warming above 1.5°C. With warming to date standing at around 1.2°C, we haven’t quite reached the zone we labelled dangerous and pledged to avoid.</p>
<p>But recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/global-warming-to-bring-record-hot-year-by-2028-probably-our-first-above-1-5-c-limit-205758">scientific assessments</a> suggest we’re on the brink of passing that milestone. Within this decade, global annual temperatures will likely exceed 1.5°C above the pre-industrial average <a href="https://library.wmo.int/records/item/66224-wmo-global-annual-to-decadal-climate-update">for at least one year</a>. This threshold was already briefly passed for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-just-blew-past-1-5-degrees-game-over-on-climate-not-yet-213364">month of July 2023</a> during the Northern summer.</p>
<p>The question is, how do we manage this period of “overshoot” and bring temperatures back down? The goal will be to restore a more habitable climate, as fast as possible.</p>
<p>Today an independent group of global leaders released a major report. The <a href="https://www.overshootcommission.org/">Climate Overshoot Commission</a> offers guidance at this crucial time. So far the report’s call for an immediate moratorium on “solar radiation management” (deflecting the sun’s rays to reduce warming) has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/14/experts-call-for-global-moratorium-on-efforts-to-geoengineer-climate">attracted the most attention</a>. But the details of other recommendations deserve closer inspection.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Introducing the Climate Overshoot Commission (2022)</span></figcaption>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-just-blew-past-1-5-degrees-game-over-on-climate-not-yet-213364">We just blew past 1.5 degrees. Game over on climate? Not yet</a>
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<h2>How can we respond to climate overshoot?</h2>
<p>Historically, climate policies have focused on mitigation (reducing greenhouse gas emissions). More recently, adaptation has gained prominence. </p>
<p>But the climate overshoot report identifies at least four different kinds of responses to warming above 1.5°C: </p>
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<li><p>cut emissions to mitigate warming </p></li>
<li><p>adapt to the changing climate </p></li>
<li><p>remove carbon that is already in the atmosphere or ocean</p></li>
<li><p>explore intervening to limit warming by intentionally reflecting a fraction of sunlight into space. </p></li>
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<p>The commission’s task was to examine how all possible responses might best be combined. Their report was written by <a href="https://www.overshootcommission.org/commission1">12 global leaders</a> – including former presidents of Niger, Kiribati and Mexico – who worked alongside a <a href="https://www.overshootcommission.org/yeg">youth panel</a> and a team of <a href="https://www.overshootcommission.org/scienceadvisors">scientific advisers</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-1-5-global-warming-limit-is-not-impossible-but-without-political-action-it-soon-will-be-159297">The 1.5℃ global warming limit is not impossible – but without political action it soon will be</a>
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<h2>The four-step plan to reining in warming</h2>
<p>Not surprisingly, the commission argues our central task is mitigation. Transitioning away from fossil fuels remains the first priority. </p>
<p>But reaching net zero emissions is just the first step. The commission argues developed countries like Australia should go further and aim for net-negative emissions. </p>
<p>Why net-negative? In the short term, drawing down carbon can create space for the least industrialised countries to fight poverty while transitioning to clean energy. In the longer term, the whole global economy must achieve net-negative emissions if the planet is to return to our current “safe” climatic zone. </p>
<p>The second step is adaptation. Only a few decades ago former United States Vice President Al Gore branded adapting to climate change a “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09644016.2022.2113606?journalCode=fenp20">lazy cop-out</a>”. Today we have no choice but to adapt to changing conditions. </p>
<p>However, adaptation is expensive – whether it is developing new crop varieties or rebuilding coastal infrastructure. Since the poorest communities who are most vulnerable to climate harms have the least capacity to adapt, the commission recommends international assistance for locally controlled, context-specific strategies.</p>
<p>As a third step, the commission agrees with <a href="https://theconversation.com/on-top-of-drastic-emissions-cuts-ipcc-finds-large-scale-co-removal-from-air-will-be-essential-to-meeting-targets-180663">scientific assessments</a> that carbon dioxide “will need to be removed from the air on a significant scale and stored securely” if we are to avoid permanent overshoot beyond 1.5°C warming. But how to achieve large-scale permanent, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00643">carbon removal</a>?</p>
<p>Some environmental activists support <a href="https://theconversation.com/stripping-carbon-from-the-atmosphere-might-be-needed-to-avoid-dangerous-warming-but-it-remains-a-deeply-uncertain-prospect-195097">natural solutions</a> such as planting trees but oppose industrial methods that seek to store carbon in inorganic form such as carbon capture and storage underground. The commission agrees the organic/inorganic distinction is important. However, it points out while forests bring many benefits, carbon stored in ecosystems is often re-released – for example, in forest fires. </p>
<p>The commission worries many carbon removal approaches are phoney, impermanent or have adverse social and environmental impacts. However, instead of ruling out technologies on ideological grounds, it recommends research and regulation to ensure only socially beneficial and high-integrity forms of carbon removal are scaled up.</p>
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<p>The fourth step – “solar radiation management” – refers to techniques that aim to reduce climate harms caused by reflecting some of the Sun’s energy into space. No-one likes the idea of solar radiation management. But no-one likes getting vaccinated either – our gut reactions don’t provide a fool-proof guide to whether an intervention is a worth considering. </p>
<p>Should we trust our guts on this one? While climate models suggest <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2020/05/WGI_AR5_FAQ_EN.pdf">solar radiation management</a> could reduce climate harms, we don’t yet properly understand associated risks. </p>
<p>The commission approaches this topic with caution. On the one hand, it recommends an immediate “moratorium on the deployment of solar radiation modification and large-scale outdoor experiments” and rejects the idea that deployment is now inevitable. On the other hand, it recommends increased support for research, international dialogue on governance, and periodic global scientific reviews.</p>
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<h2>Time to examine intervention in the climate system?</h2>
<p>The idea we can avoid dangerous warming completely seems increasingly quaint. Like baggy jeans, the boy band NSYNC and the iPod shuffle, it reminds us of a more innocent era. Yet, Australia’s climate debate often seems stuck in this era. </p>
<p>The widespread hope we “still have time” means we are not yet discussing the merits of more interventionist responses to the climate crisis. However, there’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/coral-reefs-how-climate-change-threatens-the-hidden-diversity-of-marine-ecosystems-211007">increasing reason</a> to be sceptical incremental measures will be sufficient. We may soon be forced to move beyond the non-interventionist, conservation paradigm.</p>
<p>Whether or not its recommendations are taken up, the Climate Overshoot Commission’s work shows how the international community has failed to avert dangerous climate change. Reckoning with the consequences of this failure will dominate public policy for decades to come. This new report takes us a step forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213649/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Symons sits on the advisory board for RePlanet NGO and is a member of The Australian Institute of International Affairs (NSW) Council.</span></em></p>A new report explores options for managing the period after global warming exceeds 1.5°C. This is called ‘climate overshoot’, because we’re pushing past the safe zone into dangerous climate change.Jonathan Symons, Senior Lecturer, Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132372023-09-14T20:04:49Z2023-09-14T20:04:49ZWith the popularity of One Piece, has Netflix hit the winning formula for live-action anime adaptations?<p>What began as a friendly pirate-based <a href="https://www.viz.com/read/manga/one-piece-volume-103/product/7495/digital">manga</a>, Netflix’s One Piece features the eternally optimistic Monkey D. Luffy (pronounced Loofy), a young man with magical stretchy powers that gathers a crew of eccentric loners to crew his Straw Hat Pirate brigade and set out in search of the legendary One Piece pirate treasure. </p>
<p>The production quality of this series is excellent, from sets, costumes and make-up, it seems that every cent of its estimated <a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/a44988074/netflix-one-piece-budget-cost/">US $138 million budget</a> has been well used. </p>
<p>With a 95% viewer rating on <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/one_piece_2023/s01">Rotten Tomatoes</a> and One Piece sitting at the top of Netflix’s <a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/top10/tv">global viewing stats</a> in its second week in the top 10, it’s clear that Netflix has struck a winning adaptation formula, with a <a href="https://mashable.com/article/one-piece-live-action-netflix-review">Mashable</a> review declaring that “Netflix does the impossible”.</p>
<p>At first glance, One Piece could be seen as a blend of Harry Potter and the Pirates of the Caribbean, a mixture of fantasy and pirate aesthetics. One Piece’s postmodern take on the pirate genre has characters dressed in neat business suits, and contemporary t-shirts. But it is the general mix of the manga’s fun, action and drama that the series captures so well.</p>
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<h2>From Manga to Anime to Live-action</h2>
<p>One Piece first appeared as a manga in 1997 and holds the distinction of being the world’s most published manga with over 100 compiled book volumes, with sales of over <a href="https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2022-08-04/one-piece-manga-sets-guinness-world-record-with-over-500-million-published/.188352">500 million</a>.</p>
<p>The manga’s initial success saw its first animated TV series produced by Toei Animation in Japan in 1999, with over 1,000 episodes now in circulation. There have been 11 feature-length animated movies, including 2022’s <a href="https://www.onepiece-film.jp/en/movie-en/">One Piece Film: Red</a>, and 4 short films, all produced and initially released in Japan.</p>
<p>The first attempt to bring the One Piece anime to the west, stalled immediately. In 2004, an American company purchased the rights to the series, but dubbed and reedited the show to be more child friendly, resulting in a quick backlash from audiences. In 2007, the show was picked up by another company (now Crunchyroll) and packaged for DVD and broadcast in its original, uncut format. </p>
<p>In 2020, anime streaming service, Crunchyroll, <a href="https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/latest/2020/2/22/crunchyroll-expands-one-piece-territories-to-europe-and-mena">released the anime </a> across its platforms in Europe and the Middle-East.</p>
<p>While manga and anime such as Dragon Ball Z and Pokémon have long attracted a global audience, One Piece is aimed at a slightly older audience. Until now, it has not received the same kind of international attention (and marketing).</p>
<p>One Piece’s journey from manga, through anime to live-action has precedence across all genres in Japan, not just in children’s cartoons. From the sweet family drama of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Palme d’Or entry, Our Little Sister (2015) to Takashi Miike’s ultra-violent Ichi the Killer (2001), Kengo Hanazawa’s zombie hit, I Am A Hero (2015) and any number of high school based films such as Akira Nagai’s After the Rain (2018), the journey from manga to live-action is often keenly awaited by Japanese audiences.</p>
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<h2>Keeping it ‘real’</h2>
<p>The adaptation of “sacred” Japanese manga and anime series have copped more than a little criticism from audiences, well beyond the dedicated otaku (enthusiasts). If you’re not sure how passionate fans can be, here’s one <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43K-H_dtQ9g">spirited review</a> of the series, that he’s thoughtfully limited to just under one hour. At one point he breathlessly exhorts “Make no mistake, I am going to spend the vast majority of this video just absolutely slobbering over this!” </p>
<p>When Scarlet Johansson was chosen to play the lead role in the live-action version of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Tlz8DKyNM&t=70s">Ghost in the Shell</a> (2017), the opposition mobilised accusing the producers of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/16/dreamworks-scarlett-johansson-ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing">whitewashing</a> the film.</p>
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<p>But it’s not just Western casting that gets the ire of fans and critics. The live-action remake of Kiki’s Delivery Service (2014), best known for the 1989 Studio Ghibli anime, was poorly received in both Japan and the West. The remake copped a <a href="https://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/film-review-kikis-delivery-service-1201121673/">Variety review</a> claiming that it was marred by its “charmless heroine, leaden storytelling and dime-store production values”.</p>
<h2>Casting the crew</h2>
<p>Perhaps one of the keys to this series immediate success is its international casting. </p>
<p>Luffy is played with ineffable joy by Mexico’s Inaki Godoy, who captures the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpli9XAMYks">wild-eyed optimism</a> of the original manga character. Australia’s Morgan Davies plays the cabin boy Koby, bringing a delightfully androgynous innocence to the role. </p>
<p>Spanish-English actor, Taz Skylar is the be-suited Sanji, who joins the Straw Hats as their cook. </p>
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<p>American actor Jeff Ward excels as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_zpkX3Z3hk">Buggy the Clown</a>, perhaps the character most responsible for the story’s appeal to older audiences. Like Pennywise in Stephen King’s It, or Heath Ledger’s Joker, Buggy’s grotesqueness will fire up the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-we-so-scared-of-clowns-heres-what-weve-discovered-199352#:%7E:text=Coulrophobia%2C%20or%20the%20fear%20of,a%20lack%20of%20focused%20research.">coulrophobia</a> (fear of clowns) in even the best of us.</p>
<p>The surprising inclusion of just one Japanese actor in the regular cast features Mackenyu as the sword-wielding Zoro (so much of One Piece borrows from other movies, folk-tales and popular culture). Mackenyu is a Japanese teen film star, and the son of the great Sonny Chiba, martial arts and action star (in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill films).</p>
<p>The excellent casting in One Piece tops off the series’ ability to remain breathtakingly fun. Like Ryan Gosling’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meZbLQMR8rE">over-the-top performance</a> in Barbie, the entire cast of One Piece look like they’re <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4AimLyU73M">having a blast</a>, and the enthusiasm shows in their performances. </p>
<h2>Secret to success?</h2>
<p>So how did Netflix do it? How did they create an adaptation that captured the excitement of both the manga and anime and doesn’t, well, suck? </p>
<p>This series of One Piece stays true to its characters, supported by a strong cast and a healthy budget that allows high production standards and special effects. </p>
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<p>Many of the props, including some of the boats, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_zpkX3Z3hk">were actually built</a>, so the actors aren’t just green-screening their performances. The result is a rollicking, swashbucklingly fun pirate adventure. The Netflix executives must be feeling as chipper as Luffy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213237/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter C. Pugsley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece, the enormously successful Japanese manga and anime franchise, brings the series to a truly global audience.Peter C. Pugsley, Associate professor, Department of English, Creative Writing and Film, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2113902023-08-11T10:03:15Z2023-08-11T10:03:15ZGran Turismo: why this glorified advert fails where Barbie succeeded<p><em>Warning: the following article contains spoilers for Gran Turismo.</em></p>
<p>Directed by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0088955/">Neill Blomkamp</a> (District 9, Elysium), Gran Turismo is based on the true story of <a href="https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a44759037/gran-turismo-true-story-jann-mardenborough-now/#:%7E:text=The%20facts%20are%20accurate%20though,and%20killing%20one%20of%20them.">Jann Mardenborough</a> (played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5994098/">Archie Madekwe</a>), a teenage gamer addicted to the driving simulator game Gran Turismo, who wins the chance to become a professional racing driver.</p>
<p>As he joins the Gran Turismo (GT) academy, Jann goes through exactly the sorts of setbacks and near-misses you might expect. From the group bully to the countless crashes in training, right through until the final challenge where – you guessed it – he achieves what we all knew he would from the start, it’s all very predictable. </p>
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<p>It’s not that this is an out-and-out bad film, like some video game tie ins we’ve seen in the past (I’m looking at you 1993’s <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/super_mario_bros">Super Mario Bros.</a>). It’s just really dull. And it’s not really a proper game tie in. Aside from the rampant product placement and the slightly awkward homages to GT producer <a href="https://gran-turismo.fandom.com/wiki/Kazunori_Yamauchi">Kazunori Yamauchi</a>, you could be forgiven for thinking this isn’t a film about video games at all. The film simply can’t decide what it wants to be.</p>
<h2>Missed opportunities</h2>
<p>While the link between video games and professional racing has a lot of cinematic potential, the gaming stage of Jann’s life is over with quite quickly. We never really get a sense of how much time he spent gaming, or even what skills he gained that helped him become so good at GT.</p>
<p>The racing side of the film is also rather shallow. Beyond a lot of engine noise and tense expressions from behind the wheel, there is never any sense of proper jeopardy. After all, Jann won his chance to be a racer – it’s not like he really has anything to lose.</p>
<p>It is quite disappointing that a film about racing doesn’t give much insight into the art of racing, or the skills required to make it to the top. Rather, we are simply told by Jann’s trainer (played by Stranger Things star <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1092086/">David Harbour</a>) that it’s all about “commitment” and “conviction”.</p>
<p>It is a little ironic then, that the film’s biggest failing is that it lacks the strength of its own convictions. There’s very little in it for gaming enthusiasts (beside a few Easter eggs and a lot of product placement). Meanwhile, the racing scenes are generic and lack the heft of proper motor sport.</p>
<p>The end result is a film that feels flat. Midway through the screening I attended, a group of tween boys sitting just in front of me walked out – they’d simply had enough.</p>
<h2>The blurring of worlds</h2>
<p>As a concept, Gran Turismo is a curious beast. It is a film produced by Sony, about games that are published by Sony and played on consoles manufactured by Sony. </p>
<p>As a marketer, I am fascinated by the fact that consumers are paying to watch a film about a product that is ultimately designed to sell more copies of that product. Audiences are essentially paying Sony for the privilege of watching an extended advert. This is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1469540520944228">a topic I have written about extensively in my research</a> – especially examples in which the consumer also becomes a part of the product, such as with social media. </p>
<p>But so long as toys and video games continue make big money, this trend of movie tie-ins like Gran Turismo is only going to continue. From the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ_JOBCLF-I">Lego movie</a> to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtuFgnxQMrA">Transformers</a> franchise to the recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/greta-gerwigs-barbie-movie-is-a-feminist-bimbo-classic-and-no-thats-not-an-oxymoron-210069">Barbie movie</a>, we all seem to enjoy a film that makes us feel nostalgic, or adds value to something we already love. </p>
<p>The Barbie movie’s success speaks to its strong writing, A-list stars and handling of wider themes. Gran Turismo lacks the substance and depth that have made its doll-themed counterpart so popular. Compared with its competitors in the movie tie-ins market, Grant Turismo feels rather shallow. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Ryder does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Audiences are essentially paying Sony for the privilege of watching an extended advert.Mike Ryder, Lecturer in Marketing, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077662023-06-28T13:20:19Z2023-06-28T13:20:19ZPastoralists are an asset to the world – and we have a lot to learn from them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533789/original/file-20230623-27-7cuh4q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.tni.org/en/publication/livestock-climate-and-the-politics-of-resources">Pastoralists</a> are livestock keepers who are frequently on the move, sometimes across huge distances. Following mobile lifestyles and living far from centres of power, they are often inaccurately <a href="https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/hoofprints-on-the-land/">dismissed as backward and in need of modernisation</a>. </p>
<p>Many policies are directed at <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2020.1802249">transforming mobile pastoralists</a> into settled agriculturalists or urban dwellers. This aims at recasting them into the dominant image of “civilised” living. And, despite their positive contributions to livelihoods, economies and the environment, the world’s many <a href="https://iyrp.info/">millions of pastoralists</a> have been vilified as contributors to <a href="https://pastres.org/livestock-report/">climate change</a> and destroyers of <a href="https://pastres.org/biodiversity/">the environment</a>. </p>
<p>I am a social scientist with a background in ecology. Over more than <a href="https://pastres.org/about-us/pastres-team/">30 years</a> I have been researching land, livelihoods and agrarian change, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Contrary to the dominant, negative views on pastoralists, <a href="https://pastres.org/">research</a> in six countries across three continents over the past five years has shown how pastoralism is an innovative, flexible and productive system that can handle uncertainty and adapt to change, while contributing to climate change mitigation and improving biodiversity.</p>
<p>Our research is explored in a <a href="https://practicalactionpublishing.com/book/2667/pastoralism-uncertainty-and-development">new open access book</a>, published with my co-researchers from across the world. It highlights how effective pastoralists are at <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/cb5855en/cb5855en.pdf">living with variability</a> and responding to uncertainties. Of course, there are limits to such flexible and adaptive responses. Pastoralists are vulnerable to <a href="https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/15458">exclusions due to land grabbing, energy projects and urbanisation</a>. Political decision-making can also marginalise them. </p>
<p>But lessons from the pastoral margins can question assumptions about the best ways to meet today’s challenges. Here I offer five.</p>
<h2>1. Embracing uncertainty and change</h2>
<p>We live in a complex and uncertain world. Whether it’s due to climate change, market volatility or pandemic outbreaks, <a href="https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/14470">we don’t know what the future will hold</a>. Old certainties have disappeared, and expectations of stability, order and control are no longer tenable. This requires a very different approach centred on flexibility, improvisation and adaptability. </p>
<p>It means shifting from “<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Qe_RDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=seeing+like+a+state+james+scott&ots=Fz9HZKBYap&sig=0NQhlD_BjJI2vyFtcOmWyibffBg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=seeing%20like%20a%20state%20james%20scott&f=false%22">seeing like a state</a>” (or a corporation, bank or development agency) to “<a href="https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/53003">seeing like a pastoralist</a>”. This involves <a href="https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/saas/aop/saas.of.04132303/saas.of.04132303.xml">embracing uncertainty, complexity and dynamic change</a>.</p>
<h2>2. Mobile lives</h2>
<p>Mobility is central to pastoralists’ production strategies. With highly variable resources over space and time, moving between grazing patches is essential. This requires <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/ejdr.2010.41">skilled herding, the training of animals and intelligence</a> on where fodder and water can be found. <a href="https://theconversation.com/livestock-are-threatened-by-predators-but-old-fashioned-shepherding-may-be-an-effective-solution-201193">Traditional practices</a> are combined with modern technologies for scouting and gaining information, based on deep knowledge of animals and the environment. Overall, <a href="https://practicalactionpublishing.com/book/1264/living-with-uncertainty">the ability to respond flexibly to changing circumstances</a> is essential. </p>
<p>The result is that pastoralists make use of otherwise unproductive rangelands across more than <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/114064">half the world’s land surface</a> and they are immensely skilled at living with diverse environmental, market and political uncertainties.</p>
<p>Our work shows that flexible mobility is <a href="https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/saas/aop/saas.of.04132303/saas.of.04132303.xml">crucial for everyone, everywhere in today’s uncertain, turbulent world</a>. We argue that learning from mobile pastoralists – from the savanna plains of Africa to the semi-deserts of the Middle East and North Africa, the steppes and high mountains of Asia and the hills and mountain areas of Europe – <a href="https://comparativemigrationstudies.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40878-022-00277-1">enhances our ability to be mobile</a>.</p>
<h2>3. Global markets and trade</h2>
<p>Pastoral systems are always embedded in markets and trade. Many of the great historical trade routes – across the Asian steppes, through the Sahara desert and from eastern Africa to the Arabian peninsula, for example – have been facilitated by pastoralists. </p>
<p>Pastoralists are no strangers to cross-border trade and globalisation, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2020.1802249">contrary to negative narratives</a> that suggest that they reject markets and commercialisation. However, the markets that are so central to pastoralists’ livelihoods are not the simple ones described in economics textbooks. </p>
<p>Our work in <a href="https://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/109485/">Sardinia in Italy</a> shows how pastoralists engage with informal “<a href="https://zbw.eu/econis-archiv/bitstream/11159/2279/1/III-Revisiting%20Sustainable%20Development.pdf#page=80">real markets</a>” to confront market volatility and uncertainty. Such markets are forged through networks of social relationships, allowing for flexibility when the formal markets for sheep’s milk face price crashes. </p>
<p>Important lessons emerge more generally. In surprising ways, <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/what-bankers-should-learn-from-the-traditions-of-pastoralism">pastoralists’ responses to market volatility echo those of bankers and financiers</a> facing financial crises. Instead of technical risk protocols and regulations, a more social, networked basis for trust-building as the basis for managing economic uncertainty, and so averting financial crises, is required.</p>
<h2>4. Disaster and emergency management</h2>
<p>Pastoral areas face constant shocks and stresses ranging from drought, floods, heavy snowfalls, diseases, conflicts and more. In northern Kenya <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00220388.2021.2013469">networks of highly skilled pastoralists</a> mobilise knowledge, technology and finance during times of crisis, helping to prevent disasters. Such people may include local forecasters who give a sense of what weather might be in store. They could be scouts on motorbikes scoping out new grazing areas, checking for conflict and other dangers. </p>
<p>Further <a href="https://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/110472/">work</a> in northern Kenya demonstrates how pastoralists survive, thrive and respond to uncertainties through asset redistribution, comradeship, diversification and collective responses to protect the livelihoods from external threats. All this suggests new ways of going about <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dpr.12613">disaster planning and humanitarian response</a>.</p>
<h2>5. Rethinking land access</h2>
<p>The urge to demarcate, register and control land is strong, as this is the model frequently used in settled agricultural contexts. But this can be disastrous in pastoral areas, restricting movement and so undermining the very basis of pastoral production. </p>
<p>The obsession with private property, individualisation and a market-based approach to land management is anathema to pastoralists, where hybridity, <a href="https://theconversation.com/collective-land-tenure-is-under-threat-in-kenya-why-it-needs-to-be-protected-74393">collective arrangements</a> and continuous negotiation of resource use are central. </p>
<p>As our work in <a href="https://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/106349/">Amdo Tibet in China</a> finds, taking such an approach to land governance seriously disrupts the standard models that dominate policy-making. </p>
<h2>A lifeline to the future</h2>
<p>A world without pastoralists would be a poorer place materially, environmentally and culturally. And we would lose a lifeline to the future, where we can learn how to live with and from uncertainty, just like pastoralists have always done.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207766/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Scoones receives funding from a European Research Council Advanced Grant for PASTRES (Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience: Global Lessons from the Margins, Grant No. 70432). </span></em></p>A world without pastoralists would not only be a poorer place, but we would lose an important lifeline to our collective future.Ian Scoones, Professorial Fellow, Institute of Development StudiesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077292023-06-19T20:01:12Z2023-06-19T20:01:12ZThe world’s fish are shrinking as the climate warms. We’re trying to figure out why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532549/original/file-20230619-166311-wolwqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C5973%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marius Masalar / Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fish are the most diverse group of vertebrates, ranging from tiny gobies and zebrafish to gigantic tunas and whale sharks. They provide vital sustenance to billions of people worldwide via fisheries and aquaculture, and are critical parts of aquatic ecosystems.</p>
<p>But fish around the world are getting smaller as their habitats get warmer. For example, important commercial fish species in the North Sea have <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12514">declined in size</a> by around 16% in the 40 years to 2008, while the water temperature increased by 1–2°C. This “shrinking” trend is forecasted to significantly <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate1691">exacerbate the impacts of global warming on marine ecosystems</a>.</p>
<p>The link between warmer water and smaller size is well known, but poorly understood. Our experiments <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jfb.15213">keeping fish in warmer water</a> offer some crucial clues – and may help us learn how to prepare for a warmer future with smaller fish. </p>
<h2>The temperature–size rule</h2>
<p>Fisheries are a potential confounding factor when studying the effect of warmer waters on fish, because fisheries often target large fish. Removing these larger fish from the population benefits the survival of fish that mature quickly and reproduce at a younger age, when they are smaller.</p>
<p>This trait of maturing early can be passed through fish generations. Indeed, it can lead to a phenomenon known as “fisheries-induced evolution”, where the exploited species tends to decrease in size over time.</p>
<p>How do we tell the difference between the impacts of climate warming and those of fisheries? </p>
<p>One way is to examine the body size trends in fish species that are not targeted by fisheries. Several <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0902080106">fish species in French rivers</a>, for example, are not exploited by fisheries but have decreased in size over several decades while their environment has grown warmer.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An underwater photo showing a large number of round, silvery fish" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532558/original/file-20230619-19-8yplhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532558/original/file-20230619-19-8yplhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532558/original/file-20230619-19-8yplhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532558/original/file-20230619-19-8yplhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532558/original/file-20230619-19-8yplhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532558/original/file-20230619-19-8yplhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532558/original/file-20230619-19-8yplhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Fishing can reduce fish sizes, but even fish populations largely unaffected by fisheries appear to be shrinking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sebastian Pena Lambarri / Unsplash</span></span>
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<p>Another way is to examine fish under controlled conditions, by manipulating water temperature and studying the impact on fish size. Such experiments have shown that fish do indeed end up smaller in body size when kept under warm conditions, and the trend is so common it has been given a name: the “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0065250408602123">temperature–size rule</a>”.</p>
<p>We also know that <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aao6868">smaller fish produce proportionally fewer offspring</a>. And if fish are shrinking, fisheries that base their catch quotas on weight will be taking a larger number of individual fish.</p>
<p>So shrinking fish means each fish will have fewer offspring, and more fish being caught. This is likely to have substantial ecological and commercial ramifications.</p>
<h2>Supply and demand</h2>
<p>Warmer water means smaller fish, but why?</p>
<p>The most popular current theories suggest the cause is due to a mismatch between how much oxygen a fish needs (to sustain its body’s metabolism) and how much it can get (via its gills). </p>
<p>The argument is that fish gills do not grow at the same pace as the rest of their bodies. Once a fish reaches a certain body size, its gills can only supply enough oxygen to keep its body running – there is no oxygen left over for growth.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-is-climate-change-affecting-fishes-there-are-clues-inside-their-ears-110249">How is climate change affecting fishes? There are clues inside their ears</a>
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<p>What does this have to do with warming? The next step of the argument says fish use more oxygen in warmer water – but their gills don’t get any bigger. So fish reach the limit of their growth at a smaller size, leading to the temperature–size rule. </p>
<p>This “oxygen mismatch” theory has sparked <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.13652">heated debate</a> among global scientists, largely because insufficient data exist to confirm or refute it.</p>
<h2>Oxygen supply can keep up with demand</h2>
<p>To get some data, we have carried out long-term experiments keeping fish under warmer water conditions than normal. We also tried providing extra oxygen, to see if it benefited their growth. </p>
<p>We have regularly taken metabolic measurements, and quantified the gill surface area of the fish to understand how well they can transport oxygen from the water into the body.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A side-on photo of a silvery-blue fish, showing its head and gills" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532559/original/file-20230619-15-vp91po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532559/original/file-20230619-15-vp91po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532559/original/file-20230619-15-vp91po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532559/original/file-20230619-15-vp91po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532559/original/file-20230619-15-vp91po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532559/original/file-20230619-15-vp91po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532559/original/file-20230619-15-vp91po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fish need more oxygen when they live in warmer waters – but research shows their gills are capable of keeping up with the increase in demand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paco Joss / Unsplash</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Our results show the “oxygen mismatch” theory doesn’t hold up. While the metabolism of fish does <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jfb.15213">increase with warming of the water</a>, we found the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/conphys/article/9/1/coab040/6296168">gills grow sufficiently</a> to keep up with the increased oxygen demand as fish increase in size. </p>
<p>So, why then are fish shrinking as the climate warms?</p>
<h2>Is reproduction the key?</h2>
<p>We know that fish tend to grow faster in warmer conditions and reach reproductive maturity at an earlier age and smaller size. It is possible that once fish start reproducing, energy is channelled into reproduction rather than further growth. </p>
<p>Evidence for this comes from a population of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1995.tb01932.x">fish living in a Swedish lagoon</a> that gives us an eye to a warmer future, as the lagoon receives warm (non-contaminated) water from a nearby nuclear power plant. </p>
<p>Fish in the warm lagoon grow faster and reach reproductive maturity earlier, then they tend to die at a younger age and at a smaller body size than their counterparts living in adjacent, cooler waterways. “Live fast, die young”, as the saying goes. </p>
<p>While this idea seems to be broadly applicable, some <a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/82996">conflicting findings</a> point to the need for more focused research attention.</p>
<h2>Fish can’t keep shrinking forever</h2>
<p>As our understanding of the relationship between temperature and fish size increases, we would also like to know whether we can do anything about it. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/faf.12770">latest research</a>, we explored differences in growth rates between individual fish of the same species. </p>
<p>One thing we wanted to know was whether particular physiological traits may allow some individuals to get around the temperature–size rule and be impacted less by climate warming. We found there is significant variability across individual fish, but we don’t know how this variability could be harnessed to future-proof fish populations.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/warming-oceans-are-changing-australias-fishing-industry-98301">Warming oceans are changing Australia's fishing industry</a>
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<p>As our work continues, we also look to the future and think about the ramifications to fish and the industries that rely on them. </p>
<p>Fish cannot keep shrinking forever. There is a minimum size that each species must reach in order to maintain a viable population. </p>
<p>If species reach their specific thermal limits in particular locations, they will not be able to reproduce and they will cease to exist in those locations. If their entire habitat range becomes too warm, the species will become extinct.</p>
<p>These considerations of smaller fish and shifting thermal habitats will be critical for the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture industries as we continue into a future with a warmer, more extreme climate. Our efforts to quantify and forecast the impacts will help resource managers and industries prepare for climate-linked disruption.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207729/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Clark receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Deakin University. </span></em></p>As the world gets hotter, fish are getting smaller. The future of aquatic ecosystems – and fisheries – could depend on understanding how and why it’s happening.Timothy Clark, Associate Professor - Animal Ecophysiology, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2013632023-06-07T17:44:04Z2023-06-07T17:44:04ZThe invisible effects of human activity on nature<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515229/original/file-20230314-2080-67ctev.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C0%2C4573%2C3414&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lake surrounding a mining site in Northern Québec.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Maxime Thomas)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Discussions at the recent COP15 biodiversity conference in Montréal highlighted once again the <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/cop15-ends-landmark-biodiversity-agreement">impact of human activities on wildlife</a>. Many species are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158038">forced to migrate</a>, <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/">are seeing their populations declining, or worse, are finding themselves on the brink of extinction</a>. For example, the populations of woodland caribou (<em>Rangifer tarandus</em>) are declining <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/cosewic-assessments-status-reports/caribou-specific-populations-2014/part-2.html">as a result of the damage of logging on their habitat</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong>This article is part of <em>La Conversation Canada’s</em> series <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca-fr/topics/foret-boreale-138017">The boreal forest: A thousand secrets, a thousand dangers</a></strong></p>
<p><br><em>La Conversation Canada invites you to take a virtual walk in the heart of the boreal forest. In this series, our experts focus on management and sustainable development issues, natural disturbances, the ecology of terrestrial wildlife and aquatic ecosystems, northern agriculture and the cultural and economic importance of the boreal forest for Indigenous peoples. We hope you have a pleasant — and informative — walk through the forest!</em></p>
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<p>However, the consequences of human activities are not always visible. Before being driven into decline, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03484.x">some species are able to adapt to disturbances in their habitat</a> — but only up to a point. This is particularly true of plants, which cannot move to avoid disturbances in their environment, and as a result, are necessarily subjected to the impact of human activities. </p>
<p>Our work in forest ecology at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) is allowing us to demonstrate the invisible effects of human activities on boreal flora. </p>
<h2>Adapting, but not without consequences…</h2>
<p>The capacity of plants to adapt is actually a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it makes it possible to put off a decline in their populations due to human activity. On the other hand, it can lead researchers to underestimate the consequences that human activities are having on the environment.</p>
<p>When a species adapts to disturbances in its habitat, its nutritional and medicinal properties may change. This is because plants respond to these disturbances by producing chemical compounds. <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/reports-publications/food-safety/glycoalkaloids-foods.html">Some of these compounds can have harmful effects on the health of the humans who consume them</a>. In the boreal forest, this can take the form of toxins in the seeds of <a href="https://m.espacepourlavie.ca/en/biodome-flora/ground-hemlock">ground hemlock</a> and the leaves of <a href="https://espacepourlavie.ca/en/biodome-flora/sheep-laurel">sheep laurel</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmap.2018.11.004">However, other compounds are sought after for their benefits to human health</a>. For example, antioxidants, which are highly valued in food for their health benefits, have the primary function of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5254-5_1">protecting plants from sunlight and various pollutants</a>. One example of these is <a href="http://www5.agr.gc.ca/resources/prod/doc/misb/fb-ba/nutra/pdf/polyphenols_eng.pdf">polyphenols, found in some boreal forest berries, such as blueberries and cranberries</a>.</p>
<h2>…especially for Indigenous communities</h2>
<p>People whose diet consists of wild plants are particularly affected by the changes in chemical composition that take place when plants are adapting to disturbances in their habitat. This is the case for Indigenous communities, who <a href="https://mackiki.uqat.ca/index.php">gather dozens of species in their traditional territories for food and medicinal purposes</a>.</p>
<p>To study how the adaptation of plants affects their chemical properties, we conducted a project in partnership with three Indigenous communities in northwestern Québec. Members of the communities suggested that we work on <a href="https://espacepourlavie.ca/en/biodome-flora/labrador-tea">Labrador tea</a> because of its cultural importance and medicinal uses. Labrador tea leaves are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-8-7">used in infusion to treat many ailments, such as osteoarthritis, diabetes or kidney problems</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2015.12.021">The leaves contain antioxidants</a> called flavonoids in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pca.1203">large quantities</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Labrador tea plants in the forest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508419/original/file-20230206-21-5q16bp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508419/original/file-20230206-21-5q16bp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508419/original/file-20230206-21-5q16bp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508419/original/file-20230206-21-5q16bp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508419/original/file-20230206-21-5q16bp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508419/original/file-20230206-21-5q16bp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508419/original/file-20230206-21-5q16bp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Labrador tea is an understory plant, 30 to 120 centimetres tall. It is found in moist forest environments in Canada and the northern United States.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Maxime Thomas), provided by the author</span></span>
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<h2>Disturbances have different effects</h2>
<p>The members of the communities we met expressed their concerns about the consequences of two human disturbances on their territories: hydroelectric transmission lines and the exploitation of mining sites. The hydroelectric transmission lines create an artificial opening in the forest, which overexposes the plants to the sun. Mining sites <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-017-9453-y">generate heavy metal pollution</a>. In both cases, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/162750">Labrador tea plants adapt by producing flavonoids</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Labrador tea plants under a hydroelectric transmission line" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508420/original/file-20230206-21-nh0rng.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508420/original/file-20230206-21-nh0rng.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508420/original/file-20230206-21-nh0rng.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508420/original/file-20230206-21-nh0rng.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508420/original/file-20230206-21-nh0rng.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508420/original/file-20230206-21-nh0rng.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508420/original/file-20230206-21-nh0rng.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Plants under hydroelectric lines are much more exposed to the sun than in the surrounding forest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Maxime Thomas), provided by the author</span></span>
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<p>After analyzing the chemical composition of Labrador tea plants sampled from the territories of three Indigenous communities, we found contrasting effects of human disturbances. On the one hand, plants under hydroelectric transmission lines produced more flavonoids to protect themselves from the sun. On the other hand, plants near mining sites produced less flavonoids, due to a degradation of their metabolism by heavy metals.</p>
<p>However, before jumping to the conclusion that plants under hydroelectric transmission lines are healthier, other factors need to be considered. For example, chemicals potentially harmful to human health, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/annhyg/meh106">triclopyr</a> or <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/transmission-line-herbicide-1.3221418">glyphosate</a>, may be used to maintain hydroelectric transmission lines.</p>
<p>The flavonoid analysis only tells part of the story, so further analysis of factors such as the content of plant pollutants would be needed to gain a full picture of the effects of human disturbance on plant properties.</p>
<p>Biodiversity is important for the functioning of ecosystems, and also for the services it provides to humans. Indigenous peoples <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/native-knowledge-what-ecologists-are-learning-from-indigenous-people">have extensive knowledge of plants and their environment</a>, which should be valued. </p>
<p>Human disturbances affect the plants, the benefits they provide and the Indigenous knowledge that depends on them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201363/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Human activities can affect plants and have consequences for the human populations that consume them.Maxime Thomas, Doctorant en sciences de l'environnement, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)Hugo Asselin, Professeur titulaire, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)Mebarek Lamara, Professeur, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)Nicole Fenton, Professeure, écologie végétale/Professor, plant ecology, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2060362023-05-30T15:16:51Z2023-05-30T15:16:51ZA Little Life: the problem with adapting Hanya Yanagihara novel for the stage<p>The stage adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara’s 2015 novel A Little Life is well into its London run and has proved to be one of the most polarising theatre events of the year. </p>
<p>Reviewers have said the performance is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65199805">“distressing”</a>, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/a-little-life-review-james-norton-b2313820.html">“harrowing”</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/apr/05/a-little-life-review-james-norton-sexually-abused-harold-pinter-theatre-london-hanya-yanagihara">“torture porn”</a>. However, they have also said that the central performances are <a href="https://www.tatler.com/article/a-little-life-review-harold-pinter-theatre-james-norton">“a theatrical miracle”</a> and <a href="https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/a-little-life-review">“brilliant”</a>. Such extreme contrasts, in my opinion, seem only to be expected for a novel that also garnered similar divided opinions.</p>
<p>Reviewers criticised its representation of trauma, its realism and its treatment of its gay characters. One particularly, scathing review by the critic Andrea Long Chu criticised what she saw as Yanagihara’s proclivity to <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/hanya-yanagihara-review.html">“torture” her gay male characters</a>.</p>
<p>However, there was also a lot of praise with the writer Garth Greenwell dubbing it
“<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/05/a-little-life-definitive-gay-novel/394436/">the great gay novel</a>”.</p>
<p>Adapted for the stage by Ivo van Hove and Yanagihara herself, it was expected to be a very faithful adaptation of the beloved novel. Considering the difficulties and limitations of adapting a 700-page novel for the stage, it is fairly faithful. And therein lies the problem. </p>
<p>It’s not often that people complain about an adaptation being too faithful to its source material, but the play’s attempt to recreate characters’ written inner turmoil in a visual medium ultimately worsened the issues its most vehement critics had with it – those of authenticity and realism.</p>
<h2>Representing the mind on stage</h2>
<p>The novel’s expansively detailed creation of a mind unable to recover from extensive childhood trauma is what made it so affecting and disturbing to many readers. This detail relies heavily on Yanagihara’s incorporation of extended digressions into Jude’s psyche, excavating the harrowing memories and distressing thought patterns that plague him. </p>
<p>The play’s mode of introducing interiority into the performance hinged on character monologues, mostly from Jude, and the presence of Ana (Jude’s childhood social worker who tragically passed away early in his abuse recovery). Ana is rewritten as a kind of embodied memory or ghost figure who returns frequently to voice Jude’s thoughts or sometimes narrate his actions.</p>
<p>While it is difficult to try and show a character’s thoughts on stage without falling into extensive and potentially cheesy exposition, this choice felt somewhat condescending. </p>
<p>Similarly, a lot of the play’s sound design was immensely successful, but some choices felt odd. One such was the use of Arcade Fire’s My Body Is A Cage played at recurring intervals in moments where Jude’s physical and mental suffering was at its greatest. </p>
<p>While this worked at times, at others it felt like the audience was being spoon-fed Jude’s thoughts and anxieties, hammering home that his body limits him through song, rather than trusting the actors to portray this or the audience to pick it up from their stellar performances.</p>
<h2>Trust your audience and trust your actors</h2>
<p>The show should have trusted the acting because its quality is one of the few things reviewers <a href="https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/a-little-life-review">agree</a> on.</p>
<p>James Norton especially gives an astounding performance as Jude. His embodiment of adult and child Jude, sometimes side by side in the same scene and costume, is particularly astonishing. This collapsing of past and present in his performance was also one of the most successful aspects of the adaptation and was a powerful theatrical representation of trauma’s ability to endure across time. </p>
<p>In an New Yorker article <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/03/the-case-against-the-trauma-plot">criticising trauma storylines</a>, Parul Sehgal makes an exception for A Little Life. She describes the book as an “exemplary novelistic incarnation” of “trauma theory”, so adapting the novel’s representation of the enduring nature of trauma was an important aspect to get right.</p>
<p>The trauma theory Sehgal speaks of is theorist <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/11364/unclaimed-experience">Cathy Caruth’s</a> notion of traumatic events as “unclaimed experience” that causes a “breach” in the mind’s experience of time, self and the world. Trauma, according to Caruth, is not a simple, healable wound and the book and play represent that agonisingly well. </p>
<p>There are, however, other aspects of the character’s psychology that the play just doesn’t get right. Although already long at three and a half hours, there is a lot of character history and mindset that the adaptation has chosen to represent with gimmicks.</p>
<p>Perhaps van Hove hoped to create a disorienting experience, a way of rendering the emotional onslaught of the novel by incorporating flashing lights, loud music, jarring tonal shifts and lots of fake blood. This does have its own undeniable effect, but it’s markedly different from the slow and extensive building of a life and psyche irreparably changed by trauma. </p>
<p>Instead, the audience watches a life in fast forward as the story jumps back and forth the timeline at breakneck speed. It’s whiplash-inducing to see all these things, many of which are heartbreaking and horrible, happening to a person without understanding or seeing how they process or comprehend them. We see little of why Jude behaves and thinks in certain ways outside of the simplified and linear conclusion of “childhood trauma equals haunted adult”.</p>
<p>The novel is more than the reductive <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/11/torture-porn-or-serious-literature-the-love-hate-phenomenon-of-cult-novel-a-little-life">“trauma porn”</a> label it is often given. A Little Life illustrates how the traditional markers of success and happiness in contemporary neoliberal America – family, wealth, prestigious careers – are unable to help people heal from complex trauma, despite what we are sold. </p>
<p>Instead of this more nuanced take on contemporary culture, the play flattens and simplifies this message into the oft-repeated adage: be kind to everyone because you don’t know what they are going through. It’s a nice sentiment but ultimately lacks the critical heft of Yanagihara’s novel.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206036/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Wall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The book is a hard read and some say the play is an even harder watch - is it just trauma porn?Natalie Wall, PhD in English Literature, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2050092023-05-23T12:27:30Z2023-05-23T12:27:30ZMore than two dozen cities and states are suing Big Oil over climate change – they just got a boost from the US Supreme Court<p>Honolulu has lost <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6801979/Honolulu-Climate-Lawsuit-3-9-2020.pdf">more than 5 miles</a> of its famous beaches to sea level rise and storm surges. Sunny-day flooding during high tides makes many city roads impassable, and water mains for the public drinking water system are corroding from saltwater because of sea level rise.</p>
<p>The damage has left the city and county spending millions of dollars on repairs and infrastructure to try to adapt to the rising risks.</p>
<p>Future costs will almost certainly be higher. More than US$19 billion in property value, at today’s dollars, is at risk by 2100 from projected sea level rise, driven by greenhouse gas emissions largely from the burning of fossil fuels. Elsewhere in Honolulu County, which covers all of Oahu, many coastal communities will be cut off or uninhabitable.</p>
<p>Unwilling to have their taxpayers bear the full brunt of these costs, the <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6801979/Honolulu-Climate-Lawsuit-3-9-2020.pdf">city and county sued</a> Sunoco LP, Exxon Mobil Corp. and other big oil companies in 2020.</p>
<p>Their case – one of <a href="https://climateintegrity.org/cases">more than two dozen</a> involving <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527655/original/file-20230523-14019-49gxsv.png">U.S. cities, counties and states suing the oil industry</a> over climate change – just got a break from the U.S. Supreme Court. That has significantly increased their odds of succeeding.</p>
<h2>Suing over the cost of climate change</h2>
<p>At stake in all of these cases is who pays for the staggering cost of a changing climate.</p>
<p>Local and state governments that are suing want to hold the major oil companies responsible for the costs of responding to disasters that scientists are increasingly <a href="https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/10/04/attribution-science-linking-climate-change-to-extreme-weather/">able to attribute</a> to climate disruption and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acbce8">tie back to the fossil fuel industry</a>. Several of the plaintiffs accuse the companies of lying to the public about their products’ risks in violation of state or local consumer protection laws that prohibit false advertising.</p>
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<p>The governments in the <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6801979/Honolulu-Climate-Lawsuit-3-9-2020.pdf">Honolulu case allege</a> that the oil companies “are directly responsible” for a substantial rise in carbon dioxide emissions that have been driving climate change. They say the companies should contribute their <a href="https://commonwealthmagazine.org/energy/fair-share-for-the-fossil-fuel-industry/">fair share</a> to defray some of the costs.</p>
<p>The gist of Honolulu’s complaint is that the big oil companies <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk0063">have known for decades</a> that their products cause climate change, yet their public statements continued to <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-big-oil-knew-about-climate-change-in-its-own-words-170642">sow doubts</a> about <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-was-an-exxon-funded-climate-scientist-49855">what was known</a>, and they failed to warn their customers, investors and the public about the dangers posed by their products. </p>
<p>Were it not for this deception, the lawsuit says, the city and county would not be facing mounting costs of abating the damage from climate change.</p>
<p>Importantly, the complaint is based on state – not federal – law. It alleges that the defendants have violated established common law rules long recognized by the courts involving nuisance, failure to warn and trespass.</p>
<p>The city and county want the companies to help fund climate adaptation measures – everything from building seawalls and raising buildings to buying flood-prone properties and restoring beaches and dunes.</p>
<h2>Supreme Court could have killed these cases</h2>
<p>Not surprisingly, the oil companies have thrown their vast legal resources into fighting these cases.</p>
<p>On April 24, however, they lost one of their most powerful arguments.</p>
<p>The U.S. Supreme Court <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/042423zor_1p24.pdf">declined to hear challenges</a> in the Hawaii case and four others involving the seemingly technical question of which court should hear these cases: state or federal.</p>
<p>The oil companies had “<a href="https://www.bonalaw.com/insights/legal-resources/requirements-for-removing-a-case-from-state-court-to-federal-court">removed</a>” the cases from state court to federal court, <a href="http://climatecasechart.com/case/city-county-of-honolulu-v-sunoco-lp/">arguing that damage lawsuits</a> for climate change go beyond the limits of state law and are governed by federal law. </p>
<p>That theory would have derailed all five cases – because there is no federal common law for greenhouse gases.</p>
<p>The court made that position clear in 2011 in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2010/10-174">American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut</a>. Several state and local governments had sued five major power companies for violating the federal common law of interstate nuisance and asked for a court order forcing these companies to reduce their emissions. The Supreme Court refused, holding that the federal Clean Air Act displaced federal common law for these gases. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/09-17490/09-17490-2012-09-21.html">Native Village of Kivalina v. Exxon Mobil Corp.</a>, a federal court of appeals extended that holding to also bar claims for monetary damages based on federal common law.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Sandbags sit outside a home near a beach in Oahu, Hawaii, where waves have eaten into the shoreline almost up to the house." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527383/original/file-20230521-128284-x96kaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527383/original/file-20230521-128284-x96kaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527383/original/file-20230521-128284-x96kaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527383/original/file-20230521-128284-x96kaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527383/original/file-20230521-128284-x96kaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527383/original/file-20230521-128284-x96kaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527383/original/file-20230521-128284-x96kaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Several coastal communities, including in Honolulu County, facing increasing erosion want oil companies to help pay for protective infrastructure.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/4c2fc5b90f894fe7963daeb19724bce4?ext=true">AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To avoid this fate, Honolulu and the other plaintiffs focused on violations of state law, not federal law. Without exception, the federal courts of appeals sided with them and sent the cases back to state court.</p>
<h2>What happens next?</h2>
<p>The Honolulu case leads the pack at this point.</p>
<p>In 2022, the 1st Circuit Court in Hawaii <a href="http://climatecasechart.com/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2022/20220203_docket-1CCV-20-0000380_ruling.pdf">denied the oil companies’ motion</a> to dismiss the case based on the argument that the Clean Air Act also preempts state common law. This could open the door for discovery to begin sometime this year.</p>
<p>In discovery, senior corporate officers – perhaps including <a href="https://theconversation.com/exxons-rex-tillerson-and-the-rise-of-big-oil-in-american-politics-70260">former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson</a>, who was secretary of state under Donald Trump – will be required to answer questions under oath about what the companies knew about climate change versus what they disclosed to the public.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Rex Tillerson, a smiling older man in a suit and tie, walks out of a courthouse with security guards." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527353/original/file-20230521-106641-dkrcqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527353/original/file-20230521-106641-dkrcqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527353/original/file-20230521-106641-dkrcqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527353/original/file-20230521-106641-dkrcqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527353/original/file-20230521-106641-dkrcqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527353/original/file-20230521-106641-dkrcqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527353/original/file-20230521-106641-dkrcqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2019, former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson testified in a securities fraud lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general’s office. The judge ruled in Exxon’s favor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ExxonClimateLawsuit/cc7e743167614cb4bf7a4ec99319422f/photo">AP Photo/Seth Wenig</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Evidence <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk0063">from Exxon documents</a>, described in a recent study by science historians Naomi Oreskes and Geoffrey Supran, shows that the company’s own scientists “knew as much as academic and government scientists knew” about climate change going back decades. But instead of communicating what they knew, “Exxon worked to deny it,” Supran and Oreskes write. The company overemphasized uncertainties and cast doubt on climate models.</p>
<p>This is the kind of evidence that could sway a jury. The standard of proof in a civil case like Honolulu’s is “preponderance of the evidence,” which roughly translates to 51%. Ten of the 12 jurors must agree on a verdict.</p>
<p>Any verdict likely would be appealed, perhaps all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and it could be years before the Honolulu case is resolved.</p>
<h2>Lawsuits don’t begin to cover the damage</h2>
<p>It is unlikely that even substantial verdicts in these cases will come close to covering the full costs of damage from climate change.</p>
<p>According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/2022-us-billion-dollar-weather-and-climate-disasters-historical-context">in 2022 alone the U.S. sustained</a> 18 weather and climate disasters that each exceeded $1 billion in damage. Together, they cost over $165 billion.</p>
<p>But for many of the communities most at risk from these disasters, every penny counts. We believe establishing the oil companies’ responsibility may also discourage further investments in fossil fuel production by banks and brokerage houses already nervous about the <a href="https://www.ey.com/en_it/banking-capital-markets-risk-regulatory-transformation/climate-change-and-risk-three-key-challenges-facing-banks">financial risks</a> of climate disruption.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205009/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Honolulu, Baltimore, Charleston, S.C. and several other cities harmed by rising seas and extreme weather are suing the oil industry. At stake is who pays for the staggering costs of climate change.Patrick Parenteau, Professor of Law Emeritus, Vermont Law & Graduate SchoolJohn Dernbach, Professor of Law, Widener UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2026632023-05-08T18:04:20Z2023-05-08T18:04:20ZCome pests, frost or fire: How the Swiss are arming their wines against climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524615/original/file-20230505-17-sxlgnl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C1024%2C672&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The lush Canton of Valais has long been known as Switzerland's most prolific wine-making region.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vignoble_du_Valais#/media/Fichier:VignesSion.jpg">Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Climate change is increasingly felt globally, and the wine industry is no exception. In vineyards, global heating is synonymous with increased <a href="https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/8565768-le-gel-printanier-a-malmene-lensemble-du-vignoble-suisse.html">frost and hail</a>, <a href="https://www.vitisphere.com/actualite-97334-secheresse-et-chaleurs-le-vignoble-de-la-moitie-sud-en-souffrance.html">droughts</a>, <a href="https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/occitanie/pyrenees-orientales/perpignan/incendie-dans-les-pyrenees-orientales-un-meilleur-entretien-des-vignes-aurait-permis-de-reduire-la-surface-brulee-selon-des-vignerons-2756878.html">fires</a> and <a href="https://www.letemps.ch/suisse/precipitations-favorisent-attaques-champignons-vignes-locales">disease</a>.</p>
<p>This is problematic when we know the production of high-quality grapes requires consistent weather conditions. The <a href="https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2021/june/22/the-lifecycle-of-a-vine/">growth cycle of a vine</a> spans from April to September, and each stage depends on different weather conditions. For example, sunny and warm weather is essential during flowering and fruit set, while sun with moderate rain and marked day/night temperature differences are ideal during maturation.</p>
<h2>The biggest climate risks facing the wine sector</h2>
<p>Each vintage is at risk of climate hazards, leading to unpredictable variations in quantity and quality compared to the historical norm. As a result, winemakers now recognise significant business risks come with the territory, including:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Changes in grape growing conditions: <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2019/10/climate-change-changing-flavour-french-wine">disruptions to the seasonal cycle</a> can affect the quality and quantity of grapes harvested. This, in turn, can erode a region’s and producer’s reputation and, by extension, its revenues.</p></li>
<li><p>Increased pests and diseases: Warmer temperatures provide ideal breeding conditions for <a href="https://oeno-one.eu/article/view/1780">disease</a> and pests. In response, winegrowers will typically compensate by dousing cultures with pesticides, hampering sustainability efforts.</p></li>
<li><p>Water scarcity: <a href="https://cbey.yale.edu/our-stories/water-to-wine-the-case-for-wine-amidst-the-california-drought">Repeated droughts</a> can limit irrigation and force producers to invest in expensive water management methods.</p></li>
<li><p>Vineyard relocation: Some wine regions may become unsuitable for growing grapes, ultimately prompting producers to relocate elsewhere. In turn, increased competition for <a href="https://www.liquor.com/emerging-wine-regions-5191526">newly hospitable regions</a> for grape growth puts additional pressure on revenues.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In addition to these direct effects, climate change can drive up the cost of inputs such as energy, water, and labour, reducing producers’ profitability.</p>
<p>Overall, the economic consequences of climate change for wine producers appear complex. Might it be possible for producers to mitigate these impacts by resorting to more creative practices?</p>
<h2>Up to 40% of losses avoided</h2>
<p>To answer this question, we turn to the Canton of Valais, Switzerland’s most prolific wine-making region located in the country’s south. The area is reputed for its international grape varieties, syrah and pinot noir in particular, but above all for its local stars, such as the petite arvine, amigne, or cornalin. Overall, more than 50 varietals exist in the region.</p>
<p>Valais makes for a promising case study for at least two reasons. First, the region produces a large array of red and white grape varieties. This factor sets it apart from French vineyards, where <a href="https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-topics/wine-educational-questions/wine-grapes-vineyard-france-classifications-appellation-law/">AOC</a> rules limit the varieties that can be used. Second, the Valais grape varieties react differently to climatic hazards. Syrah, for example, allows for a drier climate, whereas pinot noir require cooler temperatures. Gamaret, on the other hand, is more pest resistant. Our question is therefore whether a diversified portfolio of grape varieties could reduce climate risk.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Variability of quantities" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519944/original/file-20230407-440-fj7o5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519944/original/file-20230407-440-fj7o5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519944/original/file-20230407-440-fj7o5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519944/original/file-20230407-440-fj7o5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519944/original/file-20230407-440-fj7o5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519944/original/file-20230407-440-fj7o5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519944/original/file-20230407-440-fj7o5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This graph shows how grape diversity can offset climate risks faced by the wine sector. The horizontal axis shows the number of grape varieties, and the vertical axis shows the extent to which the harvest varies from year to year compared to the historic norm. The solid line indicates the average variation when 1 to 10 grape varieties are used.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As seen in Figure 1 above, winemakers growing one type of grape face a 1 in 3 chance that the harvest will vary by more than 44%. However, the risk drops as winemakers grow more varieties. The first blue dot on the left shows that choosing pinot noir, a type of grape that is more consistent over time, lowers climate risks. Boasting a mix of grape varieties slashes risks even further.</p>
<p>With four different varieties, it is possible to reduce by 40% the variability of the quantities produced. The continuous line progressively decreases from 0.44 to 0.27 when the number of varieties increases from 1 to 4. The risk is halved when producing eight randomly selected grape varieties. The dashed line in the figure shows that it is possible to reduce the risk even more if the grape varieties are chosen with particular care: combining four white and red, late and early varieties can reduce the climate risk by almost two thirds.</p>
<p>Figure 2 focuses on the variation in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oechsle_scale">Oechsle degrees</a>, which estimates the ripeness of grapes and predicts the eventual alcohol content of a wine produced. As such, Oesle degrees are considered a quality indicator. Certainly, other dimensions define a great wine. Nevertheless, to make good wine, one must harvest grapes at maturity and, therefore, with enough sugar. The figure shows that working with multiple grape varieties reduces the risk of suffering from a lack of maturity or excessive maturity. The results are similar to those in Figure 1, except that the vertical axis contains lower values. This shows that quality variations are smaller than quantity variations. This is explained by the fact that it is possible to modulate the harvest dates to obtain grapes with sufficient maturity.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Variability of the quality" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519946/original/file-20230407-3644-zx48ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519946/original/file-20230407-3644-zx48ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519946/original/file-20230407-3644-zx48ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519946/original/file-20230407-3644-zx48ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519946/original/file-20230407-3644-zx48ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519946/original/file-20230407-3644-zx48ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519946/original/file-20230407-3644-zx48ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An example to follow?</h2>
<p>Our research confirms regions that allow the growth of different grape varieties are better equipped to face off climate risks and could serve as an example for others. Benefits include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Increased resilience: By planting grape types with varying <a href="https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/01/27/wine-regions-shrink-climate-change/">tolerance to environmental stressors</a>, producers increase the resilience of vineyards to changing climate conditions. For example, if one variety is impacted by a heatwave, another may still produce a high-quality crop.</p></li>
<li><p>Improved crop quality: Different grape varieties have different flavour profiles, sugar levels, and acidity, resulting in more interesting wines.</p></li>
<li><p>Protection against disease: Producers can reduce dependence on a single variety and protect vineyards against disease outbreaks.</p></li>
<li><p>Adaptability to changing conditions: By drawing from different grape varieties, producers can ready their vineyards to erratic weather patterns and ensure their long-term viability.</p></li>
<li><p>Market diversity: By tapping into a broader market, producers reduce economic dependence on a single variety. This reduces market fluctuation risk and ensures a stable income stream.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The diversification strategy is not without its obstacles, however.</p>
<p>Different grape varieties have different soil requirements. If these aren’t attended to, they may not grow as well. Some grape varieties also take longer to mature, impacting overall productivity. To tackle these challenges head on, transitioning producers will have to invest in equipment, labour, and other resources, sometimes at a hefty cost.</p>
<p>Not to mention that consumers may end up not generating sufficient demand even if one has overcome these challenges. It is therefore crucial for winemakers to carefully consider these issues as they embark onto a diversification strategy, starting off, perhaps, with an in-depth feasibility study.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202663/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean-Philippe Weisskopf a reçu des financements de la part de la HES-SO Haute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse Occidentale. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philippe Masset ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>In the face of climate change, research shows it might be best not to put all one’s grapes in one basket.Jean-Philippe Weisskopf, Associate Professor of Finance, EHL Hospitality Business School, Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale (HES-SO)Philippe Masset, Professeur associé, Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale (HES-SO)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2013662023-05-03T14:31:01Z2023-05-03T14:31:01ZHow to move without legs or wings: Helping trees migrate to new regions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514723/original/file-20230310-29-l0lox6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C2%2C991%2C658&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trees are rooted to the ground — but they move into new areas as the wind carries their seeds or seedlings are planted.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While it is true that individual trees are immobile, as a species they can actually move and migrate as well as birds do! However, this takes place over a much different time frame. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>This article is part of <em>La Conversation Canada’s</em> series <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca-fr/topics/foret-boreale-138017">The boreal forest: A thousand secrets, a thousand dangers</a></strong></p>
<p><br><em>La Conversation Canada invites you to take a virtual walk in the heart of the boreal forest. In this series, our experts focus on management and sustainable development issues, natural disturbances, the ecology of terrestrial wildlife and aquatic ecosystems, northern agriculture and the cultural and economic importance of the boreal forest for Indigenous peoples. We hope you have a pleasant — and informative — walk through the forest!</em></p>
<hr>
<p>This is what we will explore in this article, the first in our new summer series. As researchers in forest ecophysiology, we study basic tree physical functions and relate them to broader ecological dynamics. Rapid climate change is challenging the sustainability of forest ecosystems in many ways. To deal with the new problems associated with climate change, we need new tools: “assisted tree migration” is one of these. </p>
<p>And to inspire us, this excerpt from a song by Québec poet Gilles Vigneault:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I planted an oak tree at the end of my field, </p>
<p>will I lose my sorrow?</p>
<p>Will I lose my time?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Let’s get the definitions out of the way first: assisted migration refers to the “<a href="https://pubs.cif-ifc.org/doi/10.5558/tfc2011-089">human-assisted movement of species in response to climate change</a>.” We usually associate the term ‘migration’ with the movement of people or the seasonal flights of birds. </p>
<p>We don’t typically think about forest migration, however, and it may even seem weird to associate these two terms. After all, trees are typically rooted to the ground and don’t move. Or do they?</p>
<h2>The moving forest</h2>
<p>Tree migration occurs through seed dispersal, and the germination and establishment of new seedlings. After some time, these seedlings will start producing new seeds and contribute to this slow geographical expansion.</p>
<p>Migration strategies may differ among tree species. For example, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262953744_Mechanism_of_autorotation_flight_of_maple_samaras_Acer_palmatum">maple samaras</a> are wind-carried seeds that can travel faster and further than the acorns of an oak tree, limited by their heavy weight. However, new seedlings require years, often decades to grow and produce seeds that can migrate further than their parents.</p>
<p>This movement, which takes place over a period of centuries — generally too slow for our conception of time — can <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1752-4571.2007.00013.x">become limiting</a> in the face of rapid human-induced changes in climate systems.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510181/original/file-20230214-1870-o5vnke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="oak acorns" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510181/original/file-20230214-1870-o5vnke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510181/original/file-20230214-1870-o5vnke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510181/original/file-20230214-1870-o5vnke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510181/original/file-20230214-1870-o5vnke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510181/original/file-20230214-1870-o5vnke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510181/original/file-20230214-1870-o5vnke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510181/original/file-20230214-1870-o5vnke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maple samaras, carried by the wind, can travel faster and farther than the acorns of an oak tree, which are limited by their imposing weight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Fast changes, slow trees</h2>
<p>Current climate change is quickly <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-ii/">modifying environmental conditions</a>. No natural warming event in the past has occurred at a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2681">comparable rate</a>. Such rapid changes are putting great pressure on forest ecosystems, particularly by modifying habitat conditions.</p>
<p>The migration speeds of the vast majority of tree species <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ddi.13630">are slower than the shift of favourable habitats</a>. This means that their migration to new favourable habitats (e.g. cold regions in the north becoming warmer) will not compensate for the loss of habitats in other areas (e.g. warm regions in the south becoming drier).</p>
<p>This mismatch between changing habitat conditions and natural tree migration entails a loss of forest vigour. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/57/11/939/234280">A decline</a> is predicted for many tree species, which may in turn jeopardize local forest ecosystems.</p>
<h2>Helping trees migrate</h2>
<p>We are being called upon to find strategies to help forests adapt to new climatic conditions. This motivates researchers and forest managers to consider new approaches to solving this problem, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.5849/jof.13-016">assisted migration</a>. </p>
<p>Artificial seed transfer and planting can accelerate the natural migration process and help overcome geographical barriers, such as mountain ranges or large water surfaces. Assisted migration could therefore be used to help maintain functional forest ecosystems in the future. This is not only important for the conservation of species, but also for the maintenance of all the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780080983493000244">services</a> forests provide, from wood production to carbon sequestration from the atmosphere.</p>
<p>In general, short-distance relocation is easier to achieve, while longer-distance migration requires careful planning. Since the latter presents higher ecological risks, it is generally only considered <a href="https://pubs.cif-ifc.org/doi/10.5558/tfc2011-089">for the conservation of endangered species</a>. </p>
<p>But enough theory, let’s move on to concrete examples.</p>
<h2>A Canadian example</h2>
<p>The sugar maple (<em>Acer saccharum</em>) is an iconic tree species in Canada. As climate change intensifies, sugar maples in the southern portion of the range <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/ES15-00238.1">are suffering from increased competition</a> from trees that are more tolerant to warmer, drier conditions, such as American beech (<em>Fagus grandifolia</em>).</p>
<p>At the same time, researchers have found that areas near the northern limit of maple’s range are becoming <a href="https://academic.oup.com/forestscience/article/67/4/446/6270781">increasingly suitable for this species</a>. In this case, assisted migration could help northern forests adapt faster to new conditions, and provide valuable services such as maple syrup production. So why not just go ahead with the technique?</p>
<h2>Pioneers</h2>
<p>In 2019, the University of Québec in Chicoutimi (UQAC) established an experimental sugar maple plantation at the northern edge of its range, in the Saguenay region of Québec. The experiment is being conducted in partnership with a local family farm, which has chosen to dedicate part of its land to scientific research and the vision of a productive sugar bush for future generations.</p>
<p>The plantation, counting 500 young trees issued from several populations in Québec and the United States, will celebrate its fourth year of life in the spring of 2024. In a few decades, excellent maple syrup may be produced here, in addition to all the valuable scientific data collected up to that point.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510184/original/file-20230214-14-v0cnk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="sugar maple" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510184/original/file-20230214-14-v0cnk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510184/original/file-20230214-14-v0cnk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510184/original/file-20230214-14-v0cnk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510184/original/file-20230214-14-v0cnk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510184/original/file-20230214-14-v0cnk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510184/original/file-20230214-14-v0cnk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510184/original/file-20230214-14-v0cnk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As climate change intensifies, southern sugar maple forests are suffering from increased competition from trees that are more tolerant to warmer, drier conditions, such as American beech.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Trials on migration</h2>
<p>Similar studies have been conducted by the <a href="https://dream-forests.org/membres/">DREAM-Québec research network</a>, a project of the Québec government (Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests), the U.S. Forest Service and Laval University. The experiments consist of mixed plantations of a dozen tree species, located in the Portneuf region of Québec and in Wisconsin in the United States. Here, the effects of factors such as microclimate, herbivore browsing and plant competition on tree establishment and growth can be tested. In addition, the performance of trees from southern populations — adapted to conditions similar to the predicted future climate — can be compared with that of local populations.</p>
<p>This type of experimental study provides valuable information on the characteristics that can help or hinder the success of assisted migration projects. For example, we can understand which species or populations are more sensitive to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/58/3/253/230872">late frost events</a> or <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40725-021-00148-5">browsing by herbivores</a>.</p>
<p>Implementing scientific trials today can help us fully understand the dynamics and risks of assisted migration, so that we can make the best forest management choices for future years and generations. </p>
<p>Climate change is progressing rapidly and forests don’t move at the same rate, so it is important to begin planting tomorrow’s forests. </p>
<p><em>The authors would like to thank Emilie Champagne of the Direction de la recherche forestière du Québec (Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests) for her contributions and comments on the article, and Jardins Gobeil for their collaboration and assistance in maintaining the experimental site.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201366/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claudio Mura received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) as part of the Alliance-Érable project, in partnership with the Government of Québec (Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts), the Centre Acer, the Productrices et Producteurs acéricoles du Québec, the Syndicat des Producteurs de bois du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean and the Université du Québec en Outaouais.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patricia Raymond is a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs forestiers du Québec (QC, Canada). She has received funding from the Green Economy Plan of the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks of the Government of Quebec.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sergio Rossi is a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs forestiers du Québec (QC, Canada) and the Ordine dei Dottori Agronomi e Forestali di Padova (Italy). He has received funding from public programs: the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Nature et technologie (FRQNT) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).</span></em></p>The rapidly changing climate presents many challenges for the sustainability of forest ecosystems. Assisting the migration of trees is a tool to address these challenges.Claudio Mura, PhD student in Forest Ecophysiology, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)Patricia Raymond, Chercheuse scientifique et professeure associée, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)Sergio Rossi, Professor, Département des Sciences Fondamentales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.