Late Quaternary megafauna extinctions impoverished mammalian diversity worldwide. The causes of these extinctions in Australia are most controversial but essential to resolve, because this continent-wide event presaged similar losses that occurred thousands of years later on other continents. Here we apply a rigorous metadata analysis and new ensemble-hindcasting approach to 659 Australian mega...

Global deserts occupy one-third of the Earth's surface and contribute significantly to organic carbon storage, a process at risk in dryland ecosystems that are highly vulnerable to climate-driven ecosystem degradation. The forces controlling desert ecosystem degradation rates are poorly understood, particularly with respect to the relevance of the arid-soil microbiome. Here we document correlat...

The assessment of aridity conditions is a key factor for water management and the implementation mitigation adaptation policies in agroforestry systems. Towards this aim, three indices were computed Iberian Peninsula (IP): De Martonne Index (DMI), Pinna Combinative (PCI), Erinç Aridity (EAI). These first baseline period 1961–1990, using gridded observational data (E-OBS), subsequently, periods ...

We describe a method to represent the results of climate simulation models with spatial analogues. An analogue to a city A is a city B whose climate today corresponds to A’s simulated future climate. Climates were characterized and compared non-parametrically, using the 30-years distribution of three indicators: Aridity Index, Heating Degree Days and Cooling Degree Days. The level of correspond...

The consistency of land-based and ocean-based Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) proxy evidence on and near South America is evaluated by utilizing a regional climate model (RCM). The relatively high resolution of the RCM brings model output closer to the spatial scales of the geological reconstructions. This is important because proxy sites only a few ten’s of kilometers apart can yield markedly diffe...

Climate is complex ecological factor described by different climate elements and phenomena that effect development of vegetation and its natural distribution. Climate elements the most important for vegetation are air temperatures, amount of precipitations, air humidity and wind. The aim of this research was to determine trends and changes of climate elements in the region of Mediterranean Croa...

Climate change is affecting agriculture doubly: evapotranspiration is increasing due to increments in temperature while the availability of water resources is decreasing. Furthermore, irrigated areas are expanding worldwide. In this study, the dynamics of climate change impacts on the water cycle of a newly irrigated watershed are studied through the calculation of soil water balances. The stud...

The natural composition of terrestrial ecosystems can be shaped by climate to take advantage of local environmental conditions. Ecosystem functioning (e.g., interaction between photosynthesis and temperature) can also acclimate to different climatological states. The combination of these two factors thus determines ecological– climate interactions.Aglobal empiricalmap of the sensitivity of vege...