Special Issue "Climate Ecosystems Nexus"

A special issue of Climate (ISSN 2225-1154).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Matteo Convertino
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua University (SIGS), Shenzhen, China
Interests: biocomplexity; collective dynamics; ecology and evolution of biological and socio-technological systems; systemic risk analysis; decision science; complex networks; network science; information theory; stochastic processes; fractals; uncertainty; ecohydrology; hydrodynamics; sustainability; ecosystem health; ecodesign; ecosystem modeling; data science; biomimicry; bio-inspired design; macroecology; physiophysics; ecosystem pathology; forecasting; interdisciplinary applications of statistical physics; design by analogy; food systems; physio-linguistics; microbiome; epigenetics; envirome; aquatic and marine ecosystems
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate has always been the major driver for the ecology and evolution of ecosystems’ populations. In this Special Issue, we wish to invite studies that quantify the nexus between climate and socio-ecological dynamics as well as biological dynamics at multiple scales. An emphasis on extremes, tipping points, and climate-based forecasting models is welcome. We also invite papers that try to address the design and management solutions of ecosystem structures, functions, and services that are dependent on projected climate change and anthropocentric trajectories, as well as retrospective studies that look into the relationships between climate, eco-hydro-geomorphology, and populations. Ecosystem services that are considered are, for instance, health, crop productivity, economic stability, biodiversity, and population abundance. Aquatic ecosystems, such as riverine, wetland, coastal, and marine ecosystems, are of particular interest considering the centrality of water for socio-ecological systems ecology and evolution. Statistical physics, machine learning, information theoretic, complex network, risk, and decision science models are welcome, especially those that are spatially explicit, have a worldwide view, a quest toward universal patterns, and make use of data to substantiate their evidence and projections.

Dr. Matteo Convertino
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • climate
  • socio-ecological systems
  • ecosystem services
  • modeling
  • data
  • systemic risk
  • sustainability

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Assessing Annual Actual Evapotranspiration Based on Climate, Topography and Soil in Natural and Agricultural Ecosystems
Climate 2021, 9(2), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli9020020 - 21 Jan 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 801
Abstract
Simple formulas for estimating annual actual evapotranspiration (AET) based on annual climate data are widely used in large scale applications. Such formulas do not have distinct compartments related to topography, soil and irrigation, and for this reason may be limited in basins with [...] Read more.
Simple formulas for estimating annual actual evapotranspiration (AET) based on annual climate data are widely used in large scale applications. Such formulas do not have distinct compartments related to topography, soil and irrigation, and for this reason may be limited in basins with high slopes, where runoff is the dominant water balance component, and in basins where irrigated agriculture is dominant. Thus, a simplistic method for assessing AET in both natural ecosystems and agricultural systems considering the aforementioned elements is proposed in this study. The method solves AET through water balance based on a set of formulas that estimate runoff and percolation. These formulas are calibrated by the results of the deterministic hydrological model GLEAMS (Groundwater Loading Effects of Agricultural Management Systems) for a reference surface. The proposed methodology is applied to the country of Greece and compared with the widely used climate-based methods of Oldekop, Coutagne and Turk. The results show that the proposed methodology agrees very well with the method of Turk for the lowland regions but presents significant differences in places where runoff is expected to be very high (sloppy areas and areas of high rainfall, especially during December–February), suggesting that the proposed method performs better due to its runoff compartment. The method can also be applied in a single application considering irrigation only for the irrigated lands to more accurately estimate AET in basins with a high percentage of irrigated agriculture. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Ecosystems Nexus)
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Article
Potential Transient Response of Terrestrial Vegetation and Carbon in Northern North America from Climate Change
Climate 2019, 7(9), 113; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli7090113 - 18 Sep 2019
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1385
Abstract
Terrestrial ecosystems and their vegetation are linked to climate. With the potential of accelerated climate change from anthropogenic forcing, there is a need to further evaluate the transient response of ecosystems, their vegetation, and their influence on the carbon balance, to this change. [...] Read more.
Terrestrial ecosystems and their vegetation are linked to climate. With the potential of accelerated climate change from anthropogenic forcing, there is a need to further evaluate the transient response of ecosystems, their vegetation, and their influence on the carbon balance, to this change. The equilibrium response of ecosystems to climate change has been estimated in previous studies in global domains. However, research on the transient response of terrestrial vegetation to climate change is often limited to domains at the sub-continent scale. Estimation of the transient response of vegetation requires the use of mechanistic models to predict the consequences of competition, dispersal, landscape heterogeneity, disturbance, and other factors, where it becomes computationally prohibitive at scales larger than sub-continental. Here, we used a pseudo-spatial ecosystem model with a vegetation migration sub-model that reduced computational intensity and predicted the transient response of vegetation and carbon to climate change in northern North America. The ecosystem model was first run with a current climatology at half-degree resolution for 1000 years to establish current vegetation and carbon distribution. From that distribution, climate was changed to a future climatology and the ecosystem model run for an additional 2000 simulation years. A model experimental design with different combinations of vegetation dispersal rates, dispersal modes, and disturbance rates produced 18 potential change scenarios. Results indicated that potential redistribution of terrestrial vegetation from climate change was strongly impacted by dispersal rates, moderately affected by disturbance rates, and marginally impacted by dispersal mode. For carbon, the sensitivities were opposite. A potential transient net carbon sink greater than that predicted by the equilibrium response was estimated on time scales of decades–centuries, but diminished over longer time scales. Continued research should further explore the interactions between competition, dispersal, and disturbance, particularly in regards to vegetation redistribution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Ecosystems Nexus)
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