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Identifying future climate refugia in Mediterranean Europe
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Climate refugia are areas that remain relatively buffered from the effects of climate change over time, enabling them to play a vital role in safeguarding biodiversity. New research has identified sites that may serve as climate refugia in Mediterranean Europe over the next 50 years. Most refugia are located outside existing national protected areas, highlighting substantial protection gaps relevant to conservation planning.
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Assessing the role of final energy demand in integrated assessment models
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Models used to assess climate change mitigation pathways rely on assumptions about the relationships between different factors – such as economic growth and climate warming. This study examines hypotheses about the role of final energy demand levels that underpin models used in a prominent international report on climate change. The researchers argue that these models under-represent the potential for global energy demand reduction to contribute to carbon mitigation targets, particularly in reducing dependence on carbon dioxide removal techniques.
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Semi-natural conditions promote ecological recovery of urban streams
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Freshwater ecosystems in urban areas face a variety of pressures and are often significantly degraded. This study considers the potential for recovery of invertebrate communities in urban streams based on 12 years of data from a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. The researchers report that streams with natural features and good water quality tended to recover well, given suitable climatic conditions.
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Temperature-driven changes in traits of European birds are also influenced by other factors
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Studies that observe physical and behavioural changes in wild species over periods of rising temperature rarely evaluate the role of climate change in relation to simultaneous changes of other environmental factors. This study applied a novel approach to long-term datasets on European birds to quantify the contribution of other factors to observed changes over past decades. The researchers say that just over half of observed effect was due to rising temperatures, with other factors mostly accentuating these impacts.
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Environmental status assessment of Mediterranean Sea finds notable differences between ecoregions
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The EU aims to achieve ‘good’ environmental status in marine areas across all Member States. This study assesses protected and non-protected sites in the Mediterranean Sea according to key ecological indicators. The researchers say that protected areas enhanced fish populations and no-trawl zones improved overall ecological status. They argue that more work is needed to gather sufficient data for assessments and to develop indicators that accommodate differences between sites.
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