Mesoamerica and the Caribbean are low-latitude regions at risk for the effects of climate change. Global climate models provide large-scale assessment of climate drivers, but, at a horizontal resolution of 100 km, can...Mesoamerica and the Caribbean are low-latitude regions at risk for the effects of climate change. Global climate models provide large-scale assessment of climate drivers, but, at a horizontal resolution of 100 km, cannot resolve the effects of topography and land use as they impact the local temperature and precipitation that are keys to climate impacts. We developed a robust dynamical downscaling strategy that used the WRF regional climate model to downscale at 4 - 12 km resolution GCM results. Model verification demonstrates the need for such resolution of topography in order to properly simulate temperatures. Precipitation is more difficult to evaluate, being highly variable in time and space. Overall, a 36 km resolution is inadequate;12 km appears reasonable, especially in regions of low topography, but the 4 km resolution provides the best match with observations. This represents a tradeoff between model resolution and the computational effort needed to make simulations. A key goal is to provide climate change specialists in each country with the information they need to evaluate possible future climate change impacts.展开更多
Writing has often been put forth as one indicator of civilization.This correspondence dovetails with the even broader cross-species expectation that the degrees of social complexity and levels of computational communi...Writing has often been put forth as one indicator of civilization.This correspondence dovetails with the even broader cross-species expectation that the degrees of social complexity and levels of computational communication should closely correlate.Although in a general sense across human cooperative arrangements,a basic relationship between these variables undoubtedly exists,more detailed and fine-grained analyses indicate important axes of variability.Here,our focus is on prehispanic Mesoamerica and the means of computation and communication employed over more than three millennia(ca.1500 BCE-1520 CE).We take a multiscalar and diachronic analytical frame,in which we look at 30 central places,six macroregions,and Mesoamerica as whole.By unraveling elements of“social complexity”,and decoupling computation from communication,we illustrate that institutional differences in governance had a marked effect on the specific modes and technologies through which prehispanic Mesoamerican peoples communicated across time and space.Demographic and spatial scale,though relevant,do not alone determine time/space diversity in media of computational communication.This article is part of the theme issue“Evolution of Collective Computational Abilities of(Pre)Historic Societies”.展开更多
Phylogeographic methods provide the tools to accurately access the geographic origin and diversification of crop species. In the present commentary, I urge the common bean community to face those methods and a tree-th...Phylogeographic methods provide the tools to accurately access the geographic origin and diversification of crop species. In the present commentary, I urge the common bean community to face those methods and a tree-thinking mentality with regards to the long standing debate of the origin of common bean. Such efforts will ultimately bring back interest into wild bean studies and reinforce the uniqueness of this species as a system to study diversification, domestication and adaptive processes across the two most diverse hotspots in the world.展开更多
文摘Mesoamerica and the Caribbean are low-latitude regions at risk for the effects of climate change. Global climate models provide large-scale assessment of climate drivers, but, at a horizontal resolution of 100 km, cannot resolve the effects of topography and land use as they impact the local temperature and precipitation that are keys to climate impacts. We developed a robust dynamical downscaling strategy that used the WRF regional climate model to downscale at 4 - 12 km resolution GCM results. Model verification demonstrates the need for such resolution of topography in order to properly simulate temperatures. Precipitation is more difficult to evaluate, being highly variable in time and space. Overall, a 36 km resolution is inadequate;12 km appears reasonable, especially in regions of low topography, but the 4 km resolution provides the best match with observations. This represents a tradeoff between model resolution and the computational effort needed to make simulations. A key goal is to provide climate change specialists in each country with the information they need to evaluate possible future climate change impacts.
文摘Writing has often been put forth as one indicator of civilization.This correspondence dovetails with the even broader cross-species expectation that the degrees of social complexity and levels of computational communication should closely correlate.Although in a general sense across human cooperative arrangements,a basic relationship between these variables undoubtedly exists,more detailed and fine-grained analyses indicate important axes of variability.Here,our focus is on prehispanic Mesoamerica and the means of computation and communication employed over more than three millennia(ca.1500 BCE-1520 CE).We take a multiscalar and diachronic analytical frame,in which we look at 30 central places,six macroregions,and Mesoamerica as whole.By unraveling elements of“social complexity”,and decoupling computation from communication,we illustrate that institutional differences in governance had a marked effect on the specific modes and technologies through which prehispanic Mesoamerican peoples communicated across time and space.Demographic and spatial scale,though relevant,do not alone determine time/space diversity in media of computational communication.This article is part of the theme issue“Evolution of Collective Computational Abilities of(Pre)Historic Societies”.
文摘Phylogeographic methods provide the tools to accurately access the geographic origin and diversification of crop species. In the present commentary, I urge the common bean community to face those methods and a tree-thinking mentality with regards to the long standing debate of the origin of common bean. Such efforts will ultimately bring back interest into wild bean studies and reinforce the uniqueness of this species as a system to study diversification, domestication and adaptive processes across the two most diverse hotspots in the world.
