Human well-being is dependent on ecosystems. Earth＇s mosaic of ecosystems - forests, grasslands, wetlands, streams, estuaries, and oceans - when functioning naturally, provide materials, conditions, and processes tha...Human well-being is dependent on ecosystems. Earth＇s mosaic of ecosystems - forests, grasslands, wetlands, streams, estuaries, and oceans - when functioning naturally, provide materials, conditions, and processes that sustain all life on this planet, including human life. The benefits that all living things obtain from ecosystems are called ＂ecosystem services.＂ Some are very familiar to us, such as materials like food and timber that are essential for our lives and important parts of the global economy. What are equally important, but certainly less well recognized, are the array of services delivered by ecosystems that do not have easily assigned monetary values, but that make our lives possible. These include the purification of air and water, the decomposition of wastes, the recycling of nutrients on land and in the oceans, the pollination of crops, and the regulation of climate.展开更多
Pollution and climate change are among the most challenging issues for countries with developing economies,but we know little about the ecological risks that result when these pressures occur together.We explored dire...Pollution and climate change are among the most challenging issues for countries with developing economies,but we know little about the ecological risks that result when these pressures occur together.We explored direct effects of,and interactions between,environmental pollution and climate change on ecosystem health in the Bohai Sea region of Northern China.We developed an integrated approach to assess ecological risks to this region under four scenarios of climate change.Although ecological risks to the system from pollution alone have been declining,interactions between pollution and climate change have enhanced ecological risks to this coastal/marine ecosystem.Our results suggest that current policies focused strictly on pollution control alone should be changed to take into account the interactive effects of climate change so as to better forecast and manage potential ecological risks.展开更多
Ensuring global food security requires a sound understanding of climate and environmental controls on crop productivity.The majority of existing assessments have focused on physical climate vari-ables(i.e.,mean temper...Ensuring global food security requires a sound understanding of climate and environmental controls on crop productivity.The majority of existing assessments have focused on physical climate vari-ables(i.e.,mean temperature and precipitation),but less on the increasing climate extremes(e.g.,drought)and their interactions with increasing levels of tropospheric ozone(O3).Here we quantify the combined impacts of drought and O3 on China’s crop yield using a comprehensive,process-based agricultural eco-system model in conjunction with observational data.Our results indicate that climate change/variability and O3 together led to an annual mean reduction of crop yield by 10.0%or 55 million tons per year at the national level during 1981-2010.Crop yield shows a growing threat from severe episodic droughts and in-creasing O3 concentrations since 2000,with the largest crop yield losses occurring in northern China,causing serious concerns in food supply security in China.Our results imply that reducing tropospheric O3 levels is critical for securing crop production in coping with increasing frequency and severity of extreme climate events such as droughts.Improving air quality should be a core component of climate adaptation strategies.展开更多
文摘Human well-being is dependent on ecosystems. Earth＇s mosaic of ecosystems - forests, grasslands, wetlands, streams, estuaries, and oceans - when functioning naturally, provide materials, conditions, and processes that sustain all life on this planet, including human life. The benefits that all living things obtain from ecosystems are called ＂ecosystem services.＂ Some are very familiar to us, such as materials like food and timber that are essential for our lives and important parts of the global economy. What are equally important, but certainly less well recognized, are the array of services delivered by ecosystems that do not have easily assigned monetary values, but that make our lives possible. These include the purification of air and water, the decomposition of wastes, the recycling of nutrients on land and in the oceans, the pollination of crops, and the regulation of climate.
基金This study was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(2017YFC0505704)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41420104004 and No.71761147001)+1 种基金the Key Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.KFZD-SW-322)the Key Technology R&D Program of Tianjin(16YFXTSF00380).
文摘Pollution and climate change are among the most challenging issues for countries with developing economies,but we know little about the ecological risks that result when these pressures occur together.We explored direct effects of,and interactions between,environmental pollution and climate change on ecosystem health in the Bohai Sea region of Northern China.We developed an integrated approach to assess ecological risks to this region under four scenarios of climate change.Although ecological risks to the system from pollution alone have been declining,interactions between pollution and climate change have enhanced ecological risks to this coastal/marine ecosystem.Our results suggest that current policies focused strictly on pollution control alone should be changed to take into account the interactive effects of climate change so as to better forecast and manage potential ecological risks.
基金This study has been supported by NASA(NNG04GM39C,NNX08AL73G),NSF(1137306)Chinese Academy of Sciences(KFJ-EW STS 002)+3 种基金the National Basic Research Program of China(No.2010CB950900No.2002CB412500)the U.S.Department of Energy(DE-FG02-94ER61937)the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency(XA-83600001-1)。
文摘Ensuring global food security requires a sound understanding of climate and environmental controls on crop productivity.The majority of existing assessments have focused on physical climate vari-ables(i.e.,mean temperature and precipitation),but less on the increasing climate extremes(e.g.,drought)and their interactions with increasing levels of tropospheric ozone(O3).Here we quantify the combined impacts of drought and O3 on China’s crop yield using a comprehensive,process-based agricultural eco-system model in conjunction with observational data.Our results indicate that climate change/variability and O3 together led to an annual mean reduction of crop yield by 10.0%or 55 million tons per year at the national level during 1981-2010.Crop yield shows a growing threat from severe episodic droughts and in-creasing O3 concentrations since 2000,with the largest crop yield losses occurring in northern China,causing serious concerns in food supply security in China.Our results imply that reducing tropospheric O3 levels is critical for securing crop production in coping with increasing frequency and severity of extreme climate events such as droughts.Improving air quality should be a core component of climate adaptation strategies.
