Relatively, few species have been able to colonize extremely cold alpine environments. We investigate the role played by the cushion life form in the evolution of climatic niches in the plant genus Androsace s.l., which spreads across the mountain ranges of the Northern Hemisphere. Using robust methods that account for phylogenetic uncertainty, intraspecific variability of climatic requirements...

Niche-based models calibrated in the native range by relating species observations to climatic variables are commonly used to predict the potential spatial extent of species invasion. This climate matching approach relies on the assumption that invasive species conserve their climatic niche in the invaded ranges. We test this assumption by analysing the climatic niche spaces of Spotted Knapweed...

Insect outbreaks are expected to increase in frequency and intensity with projected changes in global climate through direct effects of climate change on insect populations and through disruption of community interactions. Although there is much concern about mean changes in global climate, the impact of climatic variability itself on species interactions has been little explored. Here, we comp...

This paper analyses the interactions between land use, institutions and culture in the context of climatic extremes in Vietnam. Although there has been a long history of examining the evolutionary nature of markets and institutions within an institutional economics framework, developing the institutional economic approach to include society environment interactions allows examination of process...

Quality, quantity, and cost of feed resources available for beef production vary from one region of the country to another and within regions, depending upon climatic factors and natural resources available in specific production situations. Diversity among breeds can be exploited by crossbreeding to optimize performance levels and to match genetic resources with the climatic environment, feed ...

The study investigated the role of climatic variables and irrigated agricultural on the seasonality of malaria transmission in New Halfa, eastern Sudan. A time-series analysis was performed using monthly climatic variables, monthly water available for irrigation of crops and monthly slide positive rate of malaria during the period 1986-2002. Cases of malaria were reported every month of the yea...

Gathorne-Hardy and Harcourt-Smith raise questions about the accuracy of estimates of the magnitude of the climatic impact of the supereruption of Toba, whether it could have caused a human population bottleneck, the form, duration and timing of the human bottleneck, and cultural capacities for behavioral responses to climatic disasters. This News and Views forum provides an opportunity to summa...

We show that the diverse ecoregions of Madagascar share one distinctive climatic feature: unpredictable intra- or interannual precipitation compared with other regions with comparable rainfall. Climatic unpredictability is associated with unpredictable patterns of fruiting and flowering. It is argued that these features have shaped the evolution of distinctive characteristics in the mammalian f...

Twenty-five-year population trends of 42 bird species rare as breeders in the UK were examined in relation to changes in climatic suitability simulated using climatic envelope models. The effects of a series of potential 'nuisance' variables were also assessed. A statistically significant positive correlation was found across species between population trend and climate suitability trend. The d...