Evapotranspiration (ET) is a vital component in land-atmosphere interactions. In drylands, over 90% of annual rainfall evaporates. The Nile Basin in Africa is about 42% dryland in a region experiencing rapid population growth and development. The relationship of ET with climate, vegetation and land cover in the basin during 2002–2011 is analyzed using thermal-based Simplified Surface Energy Bal...

Weather, climate and tourism are interconnected in many different ways. All of them are of both global and local significance. Weather and/or climate information is of interest for tourists and the tourism industry. Crucial for tourism is information on thermal comfort or thermal stress conditions. Thermal indices, i.e., physiologically equivalent temperature, can deliver relevant information f...

Introduction Urban street design has a strong influence on human thermal bioclimate. Especially shading and ground coverage show great impact (Lin et al 2010 a, b). Thus, if the design of a popular urban place is changed, human thermal bioclimate on the place may be seriously affected. Facing the impact of global climate change especially heat stress should be reduced (Matzarakis and Endler 201...

Energy crisis, global warming and other environmental issues are what motivate researchers to find new strategies to reduce energy consumption in buildings. Recently, using phase change materials (PCM) in the building’s envelopes has drawn significant attention as an energy-saving method, which helps in increasing the building’s thermal capacity. In the present research, the effects of the main...

Given climate change, thermal stress-related mass coral-bleaching events present one of the greatest anthropogenic threats to coral reefs. While corals and their symbiotic algae may respond to future temperatures through genetic adaptation and shifts in community compositions, the climate may change too rapidly for coral response. To test this potential for response, here we develop a model of ...

According to recent reviews, the question of how trophic interactions may affect evolutionary responses to climate change remains unanswered. In this modelling study, we explore the evolutionary dynamics of thermal and plant-herbivore interaction traits in a warming environment. We find the herbivore usually reduces adaptation speed and persistence time of the plant by reducing biomass. However...

Designing for indoor thermal environmental conditions is one of the key elements in the energy efficient building design process. This paper overviews the investigation of thermal comfort conditions in China and relevant energy efficiency issues. A development of the Chinese evaluation standard for indoor thermal environments based on intensive field and laboratory studies has been introduced. ...

1. Many tropical ectotherms are considered vulnerable to anthropogenic climate change because they have evolved to become thermal specialists. Indeed, several recent studies have suggested that even small increases in mean operative temperature may lead to a reduction in activity and the subsequent extinction of populations. Within the tropics, lizards are considered particularly vulnerable due...