TY - JOUR A1 - Tabares Jimenez, Ximena del Carmen A1 - Zimmermann, Heike Hildegard A1 - Dietze, Elisabeth A1 - Ratzmann, Gregor A1 - Belz, Lukas A1 - Vieth-Hillebrand, Andrea A1 - Dupont, Lydie A1 - Wilkes, Heinz A1 - Mapani, Benjamin A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike T1 - Vegetation state changes in the course of shrub encroachment in an African savanna since about 1850 CE and their potential drivers JF - Ecology and evolution N2 - Shrub encroachment has far-reaching ecological and economic consequences in many ecosystems worldwide. Yet, compositional changes associated with shrub encroachment are often overlooked despite having important effects on ecosystem functioning. We document the compositional change and potential drivers for a northern Namibian Combretum woodland transitioning into a Terminalia shrubland. We use a multiproxy record (pollen, sedimentary ancient DNA, biomarkers, compound-specific carbon (delta C-13) and deuterium (delta D) isotopes, bulk carbon isotopes (delta(13)Corg), grain size, geochemical properties) from Lake Otjikoto at high taxonomical and temporal resolution. We provide evidence that state changes in semiarid environments may occur on a scale of one century and that transitions between stable states can span around 80 years and are characterized by a unique vegetation composition. We demonstrate that the current grass/woody ratio is exceptional for the last 170 years, as supported by n-alkane distributions and the delta C-13 and delta(13)Corg records. Comparing vegetation records to environmental proxy data and census data, we infer a complex network of global and local drivers of vegetation change. While our delta D record suggests physiological adaptations of woody species to higher atmospheric pCO(2) concentration and drought, our vegetation records reflect the impact of broad-scale logging for the mining industry, and the macrocharcoal record suggests a decrease in fire activity associated with the intensification of farming. Impact of selective grazing is reflected by changes in abundance and taxonomical composition of grasses and by an increase of nonpalatable and trampling-resistant taxa. In addition, grain-size and spore records suggest changes in the erodibility of soils because of reduced grass cover. Synthesis. We conclude that transitions to an encroached savanna state are supported by gradual environmental changes induced by management strategies, which affected the resilience of savanna ecosystems. In addition, feedback mechanisms that reflect the interplay between management legacies and climate change maintain the encroached state. KW - climate change KW - fossil pollen KW - land-use change KW - savanna ecology KW - sedimentary ancient DNA KW - state and transition KW - tree-grass interactions Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5955 SN - 2045-7758 VL - 10 IS - 2 SP - 962 EP - 979 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mielke, Jahel T1 - Signals for 2 degrees C BT - the influence of policies, market factors and civil society actions on investment decisions for green infrastructure JF - Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment N2 - The targets of the Paris Agreement make it necessary to redirect finance flows towards sustainable, low-carbon infrastructures and technologies. Currently, the potential of institutional investors to help finance this transition is widely discussed. Thus, this paper takes a closer look at influence factors for green investment decisions of large European insurance companies. With a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, the importance of policy, market and civil society signals is evaluated. In summary, respondents favor measures that promote green investment, such as feed-in tariffs or adjustments of capital charges for green assets, over ones that make carbon-intensive investments less attractive, such as the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies or a carbon price. While investors currently see a low impact of the carbon price, they rank a substantial reform as an important signal for the future. Respondents also emphasize that policy signals have to be coherent and credible to coordinate expectations. KW - Green infrastructure investment KW - policy signals KW - green finance KW - climate change KW - institutional investors Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/20430795.2018.1528809 SN - 2043-0795 SN - 2043-0809 VL - 9 IS - 2 SP - 87 EP - 115 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hickmann, Thomas A1 - Stehle, Fee T1 - The Embeddedness of Urban Climate Politics in Multilevel Governance BT - a Case Study of South Africa’s Major Cities JF - The journal of environment & development : a review of international policy N2 - Numerous scholars have lately highlighted the importance of cities in the global response to climate change. However, we still have little systematic knowledge on the evolution of urban climate politics in the Global South. In particular, we lack empirical studies that examine how local climate actions arise in political-administrative systems of developing and emerging economies. Therefore, this article adopts a multilevel governance perspective to explore the climate mitigation responses of three major cities in South Africa by looking at their vertical and horizontal integration in the wider governance framework. In the absence of a coherent national climate policy, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban have developed distinct climate actions within their jurisdictions. In their effort to address climate change, transnational city networks have provided considerable technical support to these cities. Yet, substantial domestic political-economic obstacles hinder the three cities to develop a more ambitious stance on climate change. KW - climate change KW - developing and emerging economies KW - local climate policy making KW - multilevel governance KW - South Africa KW - transnational city networks Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/1070496518819121 SN - 1070-4965 SN - 1552-5465 VL - 28 IS - 1 SP - 54 EP - 77 PB - Sage Publ. CY - Thousand Oaks ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chan, Sander A1 - Boran, Idil A1 - van Asselt, Harro A1 - Iacobuta, Gabriela A1 - Niles, Navam A1 - Rietig, Katharine A1 - Scobie, Michelle A1 - Bansard, Jennifer S. A1 - Delgado Pugley, Deborah A1 - Delina, Laurence L. A1 - Eichhorn, Friederike A1 - Ellinger, Paula A1 - Enechi, Okechukwu A1 - Hale, Thomas A1 - Hermwille, Lukas A1 - Hickmann, Thomas A1 - Honegger, Matthias A1 - Hurtado Epstein, Andrea A1 - Theuer, Stephanie La Hoz A1 - Mizo, Robert A1 - Sun, Yixian A1 - Toussaint, Patrick A1 - Wambugu, Geoffrey T1 - Promises and risks of nonstate action in climate and sustainability governance JF - Wiley interdisciplinary reviews : Climate change KW - climate change KW - governance KW - nonstate actions KW - SDGs KW - sustainable development Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.572 SN - 1757-7780 SN - 1757-7799 VL - 10 IS - 3 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kahl, Sandra M. A1 - Lenhard, Michael A1 - Joshi, Jasmin Radha T1 - Compensatory mechanisms to climate change in the widely distributed species Silene vulgaris JF - The journal of ecology N2 - The adaptation of plants to future climatic conditions is crucial for their survival. Not surprisingly, phenotypic responses to climate change have already been observed in many plant populations. These responses may be due to evolutionary adaptive changes or phenotypic plasticity. Especially plant species with a wide geographic range are either expected to show genetic differentiation in response to differing climate conditions or to have a high phenotypic plasticity. We investigated phenotypic responses and plasticity as an estimate of the adaptive potential in the widespread species Silene vulgaris. In a greenhouse experiment, 25 European populations covering a geographic range from the Canary Islands to Sweden were exposed to three experimental precipitation and two temperature regimes mimicking a possible climate-change scenario for central Europe. We hypothesized that southern populations have a better performance under high temperature and drought conditions, as they are already adapted to a comparable environment. We found that our treatments significantly influenced the plants, but did not reveal a latitudinal difference in response to climate treatments for most plant traits. Only flower number showed a stronger plasticity in northern European populations (e.g. Swedish populations) where numbers decreased more drastically with increased temperature and decreased precipitation treatment. Synthesis. The significant treatment response in Silene vulgaris, independent of population origin - except for the number of flowers produced - suggests a high degree of universal phenotypic plasticity in this widely distributed species. This reflects the likely adaptation strategy of the species and forms the basis for a successful survival strategy during upcoming climatic changes. However, as flower number, a strongly fitness-related trait, decreased more strongly in northern populations under a climate-change scenario, there might be limits to adaptation even in this widespread, plastic species. KW - climate change KW - global change ecology KW - latitudinal gradient KW - local adaptation KW - phenotypic plasticity KW - plant performance KW - temperature increase Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13133 SN - 0022-0477 SN - 1365-2745 VL - 107 IS - 4 SP - 1918 EP - 1930 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - GEN A1 - Ayzel, Georgy A1 - Izhitskiy, Alexander T1 - Climate change impact assessment on freshwater inflow into the Small Aral Sea T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - During the last few decades, the rapid separation of the Small Aral Sea from the isolated basin has changed its hydrological and ecological conditions tremendously. In the present study, we developed and validated the hybrid model for the Syr Darya River basin based on a combination of state-of-the-art hydrological and machine learning models. Climate change impact on freshwater inflow into the Small Aral Sea for the projection period 2007–2099 has been quantified based on the developed hybrid model and bias corrected and downscaled meteorological projections simulated by four General Circulation Models (GCM) for each of three Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios (RCP). The developed hybrid model reliably simulates freshwater inflow for the historical period with a Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency of 0.72 and a Kling–Gupta efficiency of 0.77. Results of the climate change impact assessment showed that the freshwater inflow projections produced by different GCMs are misleading by providing contradictory results for the projection period. However, we identified that the relative runoff changes are expected to be more pronounced in the case of more aggressive RCP scenarios. The simulated projections of freshwater inflow provide a basis for further assessment of climate change impacts on hydrological and ecological conditions of the Small Aral Sea in the 21st Century. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1071 KW - Small Aral Sea KW - hydrology KW - climate change KW - modeling KW - machine learning Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-472794 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 1071 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grimm-Seyfarth, Annegret A1 - Mihoub, Jean-Baptiste A1 - Henle, Klaus T1 - Functional traits determine the different effects of prey, predators, and climatic extremes on desert reptiles JF - Ecosphere : the magazine of the International Ecology University N2 - Terrestrial reptiles are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Their highest density and diversity can be found in hot drylands, ecosystems which demonstrate extreme climatic conditions. However, reptiles are not isolated systems but part of a large species assemblage with many trophic dependencies. While direct relations among climatic conditions, invertebrates, vegetation, or reptiles have already been explored, to our knowledge, species’ responses to direct and indirect pathways of multiple climatic and biotic factors and their interactions have rarely been examined comprehensively. We investigated direct and indirect effects of climatic and biotic parameters on the individual (body condition) and population level (occupancy) of eight abundant lizard species with different functional traits in an arid Australian lizard community using a 30‐yr multi‐trophic monitoring study. We used structural equation modeling to disentangle single and interactive effects. We then assessed whether species could be grouped into functional groups according to their functional traits and their responses to different parameters. We found that lizard species differed strongly in how they responded to climatic and biotic factors. However, the factors to which they responded seemed to be determined by their functional traits. While responses on body condition were determined by habitat, activity time, and prey, responses on occupancy were determined by habitat specialization, body size, and longevity. Our findings highlight the importance of indirect pathways through climatic and biotic interactions, which should be included into predictive models to increase accuracy when predicting species’ responses to climate change. Since one might never obtain all mechanistic pathways at the species level, we propose an approach of identifying relevant species traits that help grouping species into functional groups at different ecological levels, which could then be used for predictive modeling. KW - Australia KW - climate change KW - Gekkonidae KW - periodic flooding KW - Scincidae KW - species functional traits KW - species interactions KW - structural equation modeling Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2865 SN - 2150-8925 VL - 10 IS - 9 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ayzel, Georgy A1 - Izhitskiy, Alexander T1 - Climate Change Impact Assessment on Freshwater Inflow into the Small Aral Sea JF - Water N2 - During the last few decades, the rapid separation of the Small Aral Sea from the isolated basin has changed its hydrological and ecological conditions tremendously. In the present study, we developed and validated the hybrid model for the Syr Darya River basin based on a combination of state-of-the-art hydrological and machine learning models. Climate change impact on freshwater inflow into the Small Aral Sea for the projection period 2007-2099 has been quantified based on the developed hybrid model and bias corrected and downscaled meteorological projections simulated by four General Circulation Models (GCM) for each of three Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios (RCP). The developed hybrid model reliably simulates freshwater inflow for the historical period with a Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency of 0.72 and a Kling-Gupta efficiency of 0.77. Results of the climate change impact assessment showed that the freshwater inflow projections produced by different GCMs are misleading by providing contradictory results for the projection period. However, we identified that the relative runoff changes are expected to be more pronounced in the case of more aggressive RCP scenarios. The simulated projections of freshwater inflow provide a basis for further assessment of climate change impacts on hydrological and ecological conditions of the Small Aral Sea in the 21st Century. KW - Small Aral Sea KW - hydrology KW - climate change KW - modeling KW - machine learning Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/w11112377 SN - 2073-4441 VL - 11 IS - 11 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schwarzer, Christian A1 - Joshi, Jasmin Radha T1 - Ecotypic differentiation, hybridization and clonality facilitate the persistence of a cold-adapted sedge in European bogs JF - Biological journal of the Linnean Society : a journal of evolution N2 - Recent research has shown that many cold-adapted species survived the last glacial maximum (LGM) in northern refugia. Whether this evolutionary history has had consequences for their genetic diversity and adaptive potential remains unknown. We sampled 14 populations of Carex limosa, a sedge specialized to bog ecosystems, along a latitudinal gradient from its Scandinavian core to the southern lowland range-margin in Germany. Using microsatellite and experimental common-garden data, we evaluated the impacts of global climate change along this gradient and assessed the conservation status of the southern marginal populations. Microsatellite data revealed two highly distinct genetic groups and hybrid individuals. In our common-garden experiment, the two groups showed divergent responses to increased nitrogen/phosphorus (N/P) availability, suggesting ecotypic differentiation. Each group formed genetically uniform populations at both northern and southern sampling areas. Mixed populations occurred throughout our sampling area, an area that was entirely glaciated during the LGM. The fragmented distribution implies allopatric divergence at geographically separated refugia that putatively differed in N/P availability. Molecular data and an observed low hybrid fecundity indicate the importance of clonal reproduction for hybrid populations. At the southern range-margin, however, all populations showed effects of clonality, lowered fecundity and low competitiveness, suggesting abiotic and biotic constraints to population persistence. KW - biogeography KW - bog/mire plants KW - Carex limosa KW - climate change KW - glacial divergence KW - global change KW - leading/trailing edge KW - population differentiation KW - sexual/asexual reproduction Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blz141 SN - 0024-4066 SN - 1095-8312 VL - 128 IS - 4 SP - 909 EP - 925 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - THES A1 - Hanschmann, Raffael Tino T1 - Stalling the engine? EU climate politics after the ‘Great Recession’ T1 - Den Motor abgewürgt? EU-Klimapolitik nach der Großen Rezession BT - investigating the impact of economic shocks on EU climate policy-making in three case studies BT - eine Untersuchung des Einflusses von Wirtschaftskrisen auf Prozesse in der EU-Klimapolitik in drei Fallstudien N2 - This dissertation investigates the impact of the economic and fiscal crisis starting in 2008 on EU climate policy-making. While the overall number of adopted greenhouse gas emission reduction policies declined in the crisis aftermath, EU lawmakers decided to introduce new or tighten existing regulations in some important policy domains. Existing knowledge about the crisis impact on EU legislative decision-making cannot explain these inconsistencies. In response, this study develops an actor-centred conceptual framework based on rational choice institutionalism that provides a micro-level link to explain how economic crises translate into altered policy-making patterns. The core theoretical argument draws on redistributive conflicts, arguing that tensions between ‘beneficiaries’ and ‘losers’ of a regulatory initiative intensify during economic crises and spill over to the policy domain. To test this hypothesis and using social network analysis, this study analyses policy processes in three case studies: The introduction of carbon dioxide emission limits for passenger cars, the expansion of the EU Emissions Trading System to aviation, and the introduction of a regulatory framework for biofuels. The key finding is that an economic shock causes EU policy domains to polarise politically, resulting in intensified conflict and more difficult decision-making. The results also show that this process of political polarisation roots in the industry that is the subject of the regulation, and that intergovernmental bargaining among member states becomes more important, but also more difficult in times of crisis. N2 - Diese Dissertation untersucht den Einfluss der in 2008 beginnenden globalen Wirtschaftskrise auf die Prozesse der EU-Klimapolitik. Während die Zahl der verabschiedeten Gesetze zur Treibhausgasreduktion nach Krisenausbruch insgesamt sank, entschieden die EU-Gesetzgeber, in mehreren wichtigen Politikfeldern neue Regulierungen einzuführen oder existierende zu verschärfen. Bestehendes Wissen zum Einfluss der Krise auf EU-Gesetzgebungsprozesse kann diese Inkonsistenzen nicht erklären. Daher entwickelt diese Arbeit ein auf Rational-Choice-Institutionalismus basierendes konzeptionelles Gerüst, das auf der Mikro-Ebene eine kausale Verbindung zwischen Wirtschaftskrise und veränderten Politikprozessen herstellt. Das zentrale theoretische Argument beruht auf Verteilungskonflikten innerhalb der regulierten Wirtschaftsbranchen: Die Spannung zwischen „Nutznießern“ und „Verlierern“ einer geplanten Regulierung intensiviert sich in Krisenzeiten und setzt sich im politischen Raum fort. Diese Hypothese wird an drei Fallstudien mittels sozialer Netzwerkanalyse getestet. Die drei Fallstudien untersuchen politische Entscheidungsprozesse in den folgenden EU-Politikfeldern: Kohlenstoffdioxid-Emissionsgrenzen für PKW, die Ausweitung des Emissionshandels auf Flugverkehr und die Einführung eines Regulierungsrahmens für Biokraftstoffe. Die wichtigste Erkenntnis der Untersuchung ist, dass makroökonomische Schocks eine Polarisierung der politischen Interessen innerhalb eines Politikfeldes auslösen, dadurch Konflikte intensivieren und letztlich Entscheidungsfindungen erschweren. Die Ergebnisse zeigen zudem, dass dieser Polarisierungsprozess in der regulierten Wirtschaftsbranche wurzelt. Außerdem werden Verhandlungen zwischen den Regierungen der Mitgliedsstaaten in Krisenzeiten wichtiger, aber auch schwieriger.  KW - EU KW - European Union KW - policy-making KW - network analysis KW - policy preferences KW - economic crisis KW - crisis KW - climate KW - climate change KW - climate policy KW - climate politics KW - environmental policy KW - EU KW - Europäische Union KW - Politikgestaltung KW - Netzwerkanalyse KW - Politikpräferenzen KW - Wirtschaftskrise KW - Krise KW - Klima KW - Klimawandel KW - Klimapolitik KW - Umweltpolitik Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-440441 ER -