Plant secondary metabolism in a fluctuating world: climate change perspectives.

Climate changes have unpredictable effects on ecosystems and agriculture. Plants adapt metabolically to overcome these challenges, with plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) being crucial for plant-environment interactions. Thus, understanding how PSMs respond to climate change is vital for future cultivation and breeding strategies. Here, we review PSM responses to climate changes such as elevated carbon dioxide, ozone, nitrogen deposition, heat and drought, as well as a combinations of different factors. These responses are complex, depending on stress dosage and duration, and metabolite classes. We finally identify mechanisms by which climate change affects PSM production ecologically and molecularly. While these observations provide insights into PSM responses to climate changes and the underlying regulatory mechanisms, considerable further research is required for a comprehensive understanding.

Findings of new phytoplankton species in the Barents Sea as a consequence of global climate changes.

Over the past few decades, the Earth's climate has been characterized by a stable increase in temperature, which in many regions leads to a change in the composition of flora and fauna. A striking manifestation of this process is the appearance in ecological communities of new, uncharacteristic for them, species of animals and plants. One of the most productive and at the same time the most vulnerable in this respect are the marine ecosystems of the Arctic. This article is devoted to the analysis of findings of vagrant phytoplankton species in the Barents Sea, a body of water experiencing especially rapid warming due to an increase in the volume and temperature of incoming Atlantic water. For the first time, fundamental questions are considered: how widely these species are distributed over the Barents Sea area, and in what seasons do they reach high levels of abundance. The material for the present work was planktonic collections made during expedition surveys of 2007-2019 in different seasons throughout the Barents Sea. The water samples were taken using a rosette Niskin bottle sampler. The plankton net with a 29 µm mesh size was applied for filtering. The obtained material was processed according to standard hydrobiological methods and followed by subsequent microscopy for taxonomic identification of organisms and cell counting. The results of our observations show that vagrant microplankton species do not create a stable population that persists throughout the annual development cycle. Their major presence is noted in the autumn-winter period, the smallest in the summer. The distribution of invaders is strictly tied to warm jets of currents, while the weakening of the inflow of Atlantic water masses deep into the Barents Sea from the west is a limiting factor for their penetration into its eastern part. The southwestern and western parts of the basin are characterized by the most significant number of floristic finds; from here, towards the north and east, their number decreases. It can be concluded that at present the proportion of vagrant species in the Barents Sea, both in species diversity and in the total biomass of the algocenosis, is insignificant. They do not change the structure of the community as a whole, and their presence does not have any negative impact on the ecosystem of the Barents Sea pelagic. However, at this stage of research, it is too early to predict the environmental consequences of the phenomenon under study. Given the growing number of recorded cases of finds of species uncharacteristic for the Arctic, there is a possibility that this process may disrupt the biological stability of the ecosystem and even lead to its destabilization.

Plant secondary metabolic responses to global climate change: A meta-analysis in medicinal and aromatic plants.

Plant secondary metabolites (SMs) play crucial roles in plant-environment interactions and contribute greatly to human health. Global climate changes are expected to dramatically affect plant secondary metabolism, yet a systematic understanding of such influences is still lacking. Here, we employed medicinal and aromatic plants (MAAPs) as model plant taxa and performed a meta-analysis from 360 publications using 1828 paired observations to assess the responses of different SMs levels and the accompanying plant traits to elevated carbon dioxide (eCO2 ), elevated temperature (eT), elevated nitrogen deposition (eN) and decreased precipitation (dP). The overall results showed that phenolic and terpenoid levels generally respond positively to eCO2 but negatively to eN, while the total alkaloid concentration was increased remarkably by eN. By contrast, dP promotes the levels of all SMs, while eT exclusively exerts a positive influence on the levels of phenolic compounds. Further analysis highlighted the dependence of SM responses on different moderators such as plant functional types, climate change levels or exposure durations, mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation. Moreover, plant phenolic and terpenoid responses to climate changes could be attributed to the variations of C/N ratio and total soluble sugar levels, while the trade-off supposition contributed to SM responses to climate changes other than eCO2 . Taken together, our results predicted the distinctive SM responses to diverse climate changes in MAAPs and allowed us to define potential moderators responsible for these variations. Further, linking SM responses to C-N metabolism and growth-defence balance provided biological understandings in terms of plant secondary metabolic regulation.

A cautionary signal from the Red Sea on the impact of increased dust activity on marine microbiota.

BACKGROUND: Global climate change together with growing desertification is leading to increased dust emissions to the atmosphere, drawing attention to possible impacts on marine ecosystems receiving dust deposition. Since microorganisms play important roles in maintaining marine homeostasis through nutrient cycling and carbon flow, detrimental changes in the composition of marine microbiota in response to increased dust input could negatively impact marine health, particularly so in seas located within the Global Dust Belt. Due to its strategic location between two deserts and unique characteristics, the Red Sea provides an attractive semi-enclosed "megacosm" to examine the impacts of large dust deposition on the vastly diverse microbiota in its exceptionally warm oligotrophic waters. RESULTS: We used culture-independent metagenomic approaches to assess temporal changes in the Red Sea microbiota in response to two severe sandstorms, one originated in the Nubian Desert in the summer 2016 and a second one originated in the Libyan Desert in the spring 2017. Despite differences in sandstorm origin and meteorological conditions, both sandstorms shifted bacterial and Archaeal groups in a similar mode. In particular, the relative abundance of autotrophic bacteria declined while those of heterotrophic bacteria, particularly Bacteroidetes, and Archaea increased. The changes peaked within six days from the start of sandstorms, and the community recovered the original assemblage within one month. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that increased dust emission with expanding desertification could lead to undesirable impacts in ocean function, enhancing heterotrophic processes while reducing autotrophic ones, thereby affecting the marine food web in seas receiving dust deposition.

A novel hybrid method based on Cuckoo optimization algorithm and artificial neural network to forecast world's carbon dioxide emission.

This paper deals with the global energy consumption to forecast future projections based on primary energy, global oil, coal and natural gas consumption using a hybrid Cuckoo optimization algorithm and information of British Petroleum Company plc and BP Amoco plc. The Artificial Neural Network (ANN) has some significant disadvantages, such as training slowly, easiness to fall into local optimal point, and sensitivity of the initial weights and bias. To overcome the shortcomings, an improved ANN structure, that is optimized by the Cuckoo Optimization Algorithm (COA), is proposed in this paper (COANN). The performance of the COANN is evaluated with Mean Squared Error (MSE), Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and Correlation Coefficient (CC) between the output of the model and the actual dataset. Finally, CO2 emission in the world by 2050 is forecasted using COANN. The findings showed that COANN is a helpful and reliable tool for monitoring global warming. This proposed method will assist experts, policy planners and researchers who study greenhouse gases.•The method can be used as a potential tool for policymakers and governments to make policy on global warming monitoring and control.•The proposed method can play a key role in the global climate changes policies and can have a significant impact on the efficiency or inefficiency of government's intervention policies.

A novel approach to forecast global CO2 emission using Bat and Cuckoo optimization algorithms.

This paper presents the application of Bat and Cuckoo optimization algorithm methods to forecast Global CO2 emerged from energy consumption. The models are developed in two forms (linear and exponential) and used to estimate to develop Global CO2 emission model values based on the uses global oil, natural gas, coal, primary energy consumption. The available data are partly used for finding optimal, or near optimal values of weighting parameters (1980-2013) and partly for testing the models (2014-2018). The performance of methods is evaluated with mean squared error (MSE), root mean squared error (RMSE), Mean absolute error (MAE). According to the simulation results obtained, there is a good agreement between the results obtained from BA Global CO_2 emission models (BA-GCO_2) and COA Global CO_2 emission models (COA-GCO_2) but COA- exponential model outperformed the other models. The modeling approach recommended a helpful and reliable method for forecasting global climate changes and environmental decision making.•The article provides a method for forecasting and climate policy decision making.•The method presented in this article can be useful for experts, policy planners and researchers who study greenhouse gases.•The analysis obtained herein by Metaheuristic Algorithms solver can serve as a standard benchmark for other researchers to compare their analysis of the other methods using this dataset.

Elevated temperature increases the accumulation of microbial necromass nitrogen in soil via increasing microbial turnover.

Microbial-derived nitrogen (N) is now recognized as an important source of soil organic N. However, the mechanisms that govern the production of microbial necromass N, its turnover, and stabilization in soil remain poorly understood. To assess the effects of elevated temperature on bacterial and fungal necromass N production, turnover, and stabilization, we incubated 15 N-labeled bacterial and fungal necromass under optimum moisture conditions at 10°C, 15°C, and 25°C. We developed a new 15 N tracing model to calculate the production and mineralization rates of necromass N. Our results showed that bacterial and fungal necromass N had similar mineralization rates, despite their contrasting chemistry. Most bacterial and fungal necromass 15 N was recovered in the mineral-associated organic matter fraction through microbial anabolism, suggesting that mineral association plays an important role in stabilizing necromass N in soil, independently of necromass chemistry. Elevated temperature significantly increased the accumulation of necromass N in soil, due to the relatively higher microbial turnover and production of necromass N with increasing temperature than the increases in microbial necromass N mineralization. In conclusion, we found elevated temperature may increase the contribution of microbial necromass N to mineral-stabilized soil organic N.

Dimensões psicológicas do aquecimento global conforme a visão de adolescentes brasileiros / Psychological dimensions of global warming according to the view of Brazilian teenagers / Dimensiones psicológicas del calentamiento global conforme la visión de adolescentes brasileños

Evidências científicas sugerem o envolvimento das ações humanas nas mudanças climáticas globais (MCGs) - seja como intensificadoras, mitigadoras ou adaptadoras diante dos seus efeitos - situação que evidencia a relevância de se investigar os aspectos psicológicos envolvidos no tema. O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar a visão de adolescentes sobre o aquecimento global (AG), que é uma parte importante das MCGs. Participaram 323 estudantes do Ensino Fundamental e Médio, sendo 202 garotas e 121 rapazes, com idades entre 12 e 19 anos, e média de 15 anos, que responderam a um questionário, contendo uma pergunta aberta sobre AG. Evidenciou-se que o conhecimento do assunto é superficial; os estudantes o percebem como um problema ambiental genérico, e o confundem com outros problemas, como a poluição. A cadeia interdependente de fenômenos relacionados às MCGs, como os gases do efeito estufa, foi mencionada por raríssimos participantes, assim como as implicações locais do problema.(AU)

Scientific evidences suggest the involvement of human actions into global climate changes (GCCs), either as intensifying them, or mitigating and adapting to theirs effects, implying the relevance of psychological aspects of the problem. The objective of this study was to investigate adolescents' vision of global warming (GW), an important part of GCCs. The participants were 323 students of junior high and high school levels, 202 girls and 121 boys, with ages between 12 and 19 years (average was 15 years), who responded a questionnaire containing an open query about GW. Results showed that their knowledge of the subject is superficial; the students perceive it as a generic environmental problem, and confound it with other types of problems, such as pollution. The interdependent chain of phenomena related to GCCs, such as the greenhouse gases, was mentioned by rare respondents, as it also happened for the local implications of the problem.(AU)

Evidencias científicas sugieren la participación de las acciones humanas en el cambio climático global (CCG), sea como intensificadoras, mitigadoras o de adaptación ante sus efectos. Esa situación indica la importancia de investigarse los aspectos psicológicos implicados en el tema. El objetivo de este estudio fue investigar la visión de los adolescentes sobre el calentamiento global (CG), que es una parte importante del CCG. Participaron 323 estudiantes de escuela secundaria, con 202 niñas y 121 niños de edades comprendidas entre 12 y 19 años, edad media 15, que respondieron a un cuestionario con una pregunta abierta sobre CG. Identificamos que el conocimiento del tema es superficial, los estudiantes lo perciben como un problema ambiental genérico, y lo confunden con otros problemas como la contaminación. La cadena de fenómenos interdependientes relacionados con el CCG, tales como gases del efecto invernadero fueron poco mencionados, así como las implicaciones locales del problema.(AU)

Dimensões psicológicas do aquecimento global conforme a visão de adolescentes brasileiros / Psychological dimensions of global warming according to the view of Brazilian teenagers / Dimensiones psicológicas del calentamiento global conforme la visión de adolescentes brasileños

Evidências científicas sugerem o envolvimento das ações humanas nas mudanças climáticas globais (MCGs) - seja como intensificadoras, mitigadoras ou adaptadoras diante dos seus efeitos - situação que evidencia a relevância de se investigar os aspectos psicológicos envolvidos no tema. O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar a visão de adolescentes sobre o aquecimento global (AG), que é uma parte importante das MCGs. Participaram 323 estudantes do Ensino Fundamental e Médio, sendo 202 garotas e 121 rapazes, com idades entre 12 e 19 anos, e média de 15 anos, que responderam a um questionário, contendo uma pergunta aberta sobre AG. Evidenciou-se que o conhecimento do assunto é superficial; os estudantes o percebem como um problema ambiental genérico, e o confundem com outros problemas, como a poluição. A cadeia interdependente de fenômenos relacionados às MCGs, como os gases do efeito estufa, foi mencionada por raríssimos participantes, assim como as implicações locais do problema...

Scientific evidences suggest the involvement of human actions into global climate changes (GCCs), either as intensifying them, or mitigating and adapting to theirs effects, implying the relevance of psychological aspects of the problem. The objective of this study was to investigate adolescents' vision of global warming (GW), an important part of GCCs. The participants were 323 students of junior high and high school levels, 202 girls and 121 boys, with ages between 12 and 19 years (average was 15 years), who responded a questionnaire containing an open query about GW. Results showed that their knowledge of the subject is superficial; the students perceive it as a generic environmental problem, and confound it with other types of problems, such as pollution. The interdependent chain of phenomena related to GCCs, such as the greenhouse gases, was mentioned by rare respondents, as it also happened for the local implications of the problem...

Evidencias científicas sugieren la participación de las acciones humanas en el cambio climático global (CCG), sea como intensificadoras, mitigadoras o de adaptación ante sus efectos. Esa situación indica la importancia de investigarse los aspectos psicológicos implicados en el tema. El objetivo de este estudio fue investigar la visión de los adolescentes sobre el calentamiento global (CG), que es una parte importante del CCG. Participaron 323 estudiantes de escuela secundaria, con 202 niñas y 121 niños de edades comprendidas entre 12 y 19 años, edad media 15, que respondieron a un cuestionario con una pregunta abierta sobre CG. Identificamos que el conocimiento del tema es superficial, los estudiantes lo perciben como un problema ambiental genérico, y lo confunden con otros problemas como la contaminación. La cadena de fenómenos interdependientes relacionados con el CCG, tales como gases del efecto invernadero fueron poco mencionados, así como las implicaciones locales del problema...