Journal articles on the topic 'Plant-snow relationships'

Abstract. The westerly wind travelling at high altitudes over eastern Asia transports aerosols from the Asian deserts and urban areas to downwind areas such as Japan. These long-range-transported aerosols include not only mineral particles but also microbial particles (bioaerosols), that impact the ice-cloud formation processes as ice nuclei. However, the detailed relations of airborne bacterial dynamics to ice nucleation in high-elevation aerosols have not been investigated. Here, we used the aerosol particles captured in the snow cover at altitudes of 2450 m on Mt Tateyama to investigate sequential changes in the ice-nucleation activities and bacterial communities in aerosols and elucidate the relationships between the two processes. After stratification of the snow layers formed on the walls of a snow pit on Mt Tateyama, snow samples, including aerosol particles, were collected from 70 layers at the lower (winter accumulation) and upper (spring accumulation) parts of the snow wall. The aerosols recorded in the lower parts mainly came from Siberia (Russia), northern Asia and the Sea of Japan, whereas those in the upper parts showed an increase in Asian dust particles originating from the desert regions and industrial coasts of Asia. The snow samples exhibited high levels of ice nucleation corresponding to the increase in Asian dust particles. Amplicon sequencing analysis using 16S rRNA genes revealed that the bacterial communities in the snow samples predominately included plant associated and marine bacteria (phyla Proteobacteria) during winter, whereas during spring, when dust events arrived frequently, the majority were terrestrial bacteria of phyla Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. The relative abundances of Firmicutes (Bacilli) showed a significant positive relationship with the ice nucleation in snow samples. Presumably, Asian dust events change the airborne bacterial communities over Mt Tateyama and carry terrestrial bacterial populations, which possibly induce ice-nucleation activities, thereby indirectly impacting climate change.

Abstract The functional composition of plant communities is a critical modulator of climate change impacts on ecosystems, but it is not a simple function of regional climate. In the Arctic tundra, where climate change is proceeding the most rapidly, communities have not shifted their trait composition as predicted by spatial temperature–trait relationships. Important causal pathways are thus missing from models of trait composition change. Here, we study causes of plant community functional variation in an oroarctic tundra landscape in Kilpisjärvi, Finland. We consider the community-weighted means of plant vegetative height, as well as two traits related to the leaf economic spectrum. Specifically, we model their responses to locally measured summer air temperature, snow conditions, and soil resource levels. For each of the traits, we also quantify the importance of intraspecific trait variation (ITV) for between-community functional differences and trait–environment matching. Our study shows that in a tundra landscape (1) snow is the most influential abiotic variable affecting functional composition, (2) vegetation height is under weak local environmental control, whereas leaf economics is under strong local environmental control, (3) the relative magnitude of ITV differs between traits, and (4) ITV is not very consequential for community-level trait–environment relationships. Our analyses highlight the importance of winter conditions for community functional composition in seasonal areas. We show that winter climate change can either amplify or counter the effects summer warming, depending on the trait.

The results of a numerical analysis of atmospheric pollution in the vicinity of the industrial site of the Chernorechensky cement plant (CCP) and the territory of Iskitim are presented. The research material was the results of sampling melted snow for 2019-20. The snow index (NDSI), calculated from high-resolution images from the Landsat and Sentinel satellites, was used as satellite data. Statistical relationships between ground-based and satellite observations are given. The general dynamics of changes in the impurity concentration in the snow and NDSI values are revealed. The concentration is calculated on the basis of low-parameter reconstruction models using ground-based measurements. For calculations and visualization, the means of the geographic information system, which was developed earlier, were used. These studies represent the basis for the development of a methodology for a comprehensive analysis of the process of atmospheric pollution using ground-based and satellite observations.

Alpine ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate change, and therefore it is of significant interest to understand the relationships between phenology and its seasonal drivers in mountain areas. However, no alpine-wide assessment on the relationship between land surface phenology (LSP) patterns and its climatic drivers including snow exists. Here, an assessment of the influence of snow cover variations on vegetation phenology is presented, which is based on a 17-year time-series of MODIS data. From this data snow cover duration (SCD) and phenology metrics based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) have been extracted at 250 m resolution for the entire European Alps. The combined influence of additional climate drivers on phenology are shown on a regional scale for the Italian province of South Tyrol using reanalyzed climate data. The relationship between vegetation and snow metrics strongly depended on altitude. Temporal trends towards an earlier onset of vegetation growth, increasing monthly mean NDVI in spring and late summer, as well as shorter SCD were observed, but they were mostly non-significant and the magnitude of these tendencies differed by altitude. Significant negative correlations between monthly mean NDVI and SCD were observed for 15–55% of all vegetated pixels, especially from December to April and in altitudes from 1000–2000 m. On the regional scale of South Tyrol, the seasonality of NDVI and SCD achieved the highest share of correlating pixels above 1500 m, while at lower elevations mean temperature correlated best. Examining the combined effect of climate variables, for average altitude and exposition, SCD had the highest effect on NDVI, followed by mean temperature and radiation. The presented analysis allows to assess the spatiotemporal patterns of earth-observation based snow and vegetation metrics over the Alps, as well as to understand the relative importance of snow as phenological driver with respect to other climate variables.

Abstract The heavy metal content of the Keban lead plant (KLP) slag, its variation with time under rain and snow, the capacity of the Keban region soil to remove heavy metal ions, and the distribution of these metals in soil were investigated. For this purpose, the dilute acetic acid extraction test of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was applied to the slag samples and amounts of heavy metals extracted with hot (80°C) 4 M HNO3 from soil samples at different depths were determined. The concentrations of heavy metal ions in the soil varied with depth, and the heavy metal content of the slag changed with time, showing effects of rain and melt water from snow. From the observed relationships, which take into account the heavy metal content of the slag and the capacity of the soil to remove metal ions leached from the slag, it was concluded that KLP slag from different sites can be applied to land.

In the headwater catchments of the Rocky Mountains, plant productivity and its dynamics are largely dependent upon water availability, which is influenced by changing snowmelt dynamics associated with climate change. Understanding and quantifying the interactions between snow, plants and soil moisture is challenging, since these interactions are highly heterogeneous in mountainous terrain, particularly as they are influenced by microtopography within a hillslope. Recent advances in satellite remote sensing have created an opportunity for monitoring snow and plant dynamics at high spatiotemporal resolutions that can capture microtopographic effects. In this study, we investigate the relationships among topography, snowmelt, soil moisture and plant dynamics in the East River watershed, Crested Butte, Colorado, based on a time series of 3-meter resolution PlanetScope normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) images. To make use of a large volume of high-resolution time-lapse images (17 images total), we use unsupervised machine learning methods to reduce the dimensionality of the time lapse images by identifying spatial zones that have characteristic NDVI time series. We hypothesize that each zone represents a set of similar snowmelt and plant dynamics that differ from other identified zones and that these zones are associated with key topographic features, plant species and soil moisture. We compare different distance measures (Ward and complete linkage) to understand the effects of their influence on the zonation map. Results show that the identified zones are associated with particular microtopographic features; highly productive zones are associated with low slopes and high topographic wetness index, in contrast with zones of low productivity, which are associated with high slopes and low topographic wetness index. The zones also correspond to particular plant species distributions; higher forb coverage is associated with zones characterized by higher peak productivity combined with rapid senescence in low moisture conditions, while higher sagebrush coverage is associated with low productivity and similar senescence patterns between high and low moisture conditions. In addition, soil moisture probe and sensor data confirm that each zone has a unique soil moisture distribution. This cluster-based analysis can tractably analyze high-resolution time-lapse images to examine plant-soil-snow interactions, guide sampling and sensor placements and identify areas likely vulnerable to ecological change in the future.

Snow cover in a mountain area is a physical parameter that induces quite rapid changes in the landscape, from a geomorphological point of view. In particular, snowmelt plays a crucial role in the assessment of avalanche risk, so it is essential to know the days when snowmelt is expected, in order to prepare operational alert levels. Moreover, melting of the snow cover has a direct effect on the recharge of the water table, as well as on the regulation of the vegetative cycle of mountain plants. Therefore, a study on snowmelt, its persistence on the ground, and the height of the snow cover in the Umbria-Marche Apennines in central Italy is of great interest, since this is an area that is extremely poorly sampled and analysed. This study was conducted on the basis of four mountain weather stations equipped with a recently installed sonar-based snow depth gauge, so that a relatively short period, 2010–2020, was evaluated. A trend analysis revealed non-significant decreases in snow cover height and snow persistence time, in contrast to the significant increasing trend of mean temperature, while parameters such as relative humidity and wind speed did not appear to have a dominant trend. Further analysis showed relationships between snowmelt and the climatic parameters considered, leading to the definition of a mathematical model developed using the binary logistic regression technique, and having a predictive power of 82.6% in the case of days with snowmelt on the ground. The aim of this study was to be a first step towards models aimed at preventing avalanche risk, hydrological risk, and plant species adaptation, as well as providing a more complete definition of the climate of the study area.

Records from permanent meteorological stations in and around the range of the George River Caribou Herd have been analyzed for the 1950-1991 period in order to identify climatic factors potentially influencing the numbers, condition, and distribution of caribou. Winter conditions identified include a significant temperature decrease over the period and some years of extreme snowfall. Spatial variations in snow cover may be responsible for shifts in winter range. Indications are that summer climate has not varied significantly, but spring and summer conditions may not have been particularly favourable for plant productivity in the summer range of females and calves. Climatological observations more representative of the summer range are needed for a better understanding of ecological relationships there.

AbstractClimate change impacts are of a particular concern in small mountain ranges, where cold-adapted plant species have their optimum zone in the upper bioclimatic belts. This is commonly the case in Mediterranean mountains, which often harbour high numbers of endemic species, enhancing the risk of biodiversity losses. This study deals with shifts in vascular plant diversity in the upper zones of the Sierra Nevada, Spain, in relation with climatic parameters during the past two decades. We used vegetation data from permanent plots of three surveys of two GLORIA study regions, spanning a period of 18 years (2001–2019); ERA5 temperature and precipitation data; and snow cover durations, derived from on-site soil temperature data. Relationships between diversity patterns and climate factors were analysed using GLMMs. Species richness showed a decline between 2001 and 2008, and increased thereafter. Species cover increased slightly but significantly, although not for endemic species. While endemics underwent cover losses proportional to non-endemics, more widespread shrub species increased. Precipitation tended to increase during the last decade, after a downward trend since 1960. Precipitation was positively related to species richness, colonisation events, and cover, and negatively to disappearance events. Longer snow cover duration and rising temperatures were also related to increasing species numbers, but not to cover changes. The rapid biotic responses of Mediterranean alpine plants indicate a tight synchronisation with climate fluctuations, especially with water availability. Thus, it rather confirms concerns about biodiversity losses, if projections of increasing temperature in combination with decreasing precipitation hold true.

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis of DNA samples clearly distinguished between Cardantine hirsuta L. and two variants of Cardamine lilacina Hook. found in Australia. Cardarnine hirsuta, a recent immigrant, was less variable than C. lilacina, robust alpine snow-patch variant (C. lilacina-RASPV), which is an endemic plant that grows in three distinct regions in the Kosciusko alpine area and C. lilacina, intermedia variant (C. lilacina-IV), which is an endemic plant that is widespread in the same area. Comparison of RAPDs showed that, in the populations of C. lilacina-RASPV, some plants found near each other were closely related, but there was no detectable largerscale population structure. It is most likely that the present populations of C. lilacina-RASPV are relics of a single larger heterogeneous population. Cardarnine lilacina-RASPV is the only known natural host of turnip yellow mosaic tymovirus in Australia. Although in this study RAPD analysis did not indicate whether the host plant variation is influencing the variability of populations of this virus it did provide an understanding of the genetic relationships in these populations of C. lilacina.

Alpine ecosystems are especially sensitive to climatic changes which affect the relationships among glaciers, snow, vegetation and soils. Our aim was to examine how the variation in the abiotic environment affected soil properties and plant species distribution at regional and local scales. We sampled soil and vegetation along two transects set on the opposite-facing slopes (North versus South), from the alpine-nival ecotone to the snowline (Central Great Caucasus, Kazbegi, Georgia). We measured also soil temperature and controlled for the slope inclination. Multivariate ordination methods were used to link abiotic factors, soil properties and plant species distribution along the gradients. We found that ordination models were better resolved when soil properties were used as environmental variables instead of abiotic ones such as elevation, inclination and slope aspect. Soil pH and plant available potassium were the best predictors of plant species distribution in these habitats. We conclude that the models that account for the role of soils as a mediator between the abiotic environment and vegetation can more accurately describe plant species distribution at local and regional scales: a potentially important amendment with implications for the monitoring of the effects of climate change on vegetation at least in high mountain systems.

The false Rhodes grasses [Leptochloa crinita (Lag.) P.M. Peterson and N.W. Snow and Leptochloa pluriflora (E. Fourn.) P.M. Peterson and N.W. Snow] are considered valuable native forage resources for arid and semiarid rangelands in Argentina and the United States. Effectively using plant materials as forage under aridity conditions requires understanding their resource allocation under those conditions. In the present study, plant functional traits were evaluated in six populations of each false Rhodes grass species from different geographic origin in a humid and an arid region. The evaluation was focused on seed weight, due to the key role of this trait in plant survival. The implication of seed weight in germination under osmotic stress and trade-off relationships between functional traits were also analysed. A fixed ontogenetic variation was found in both species, since populations maintained a stable seed weight across environments. The tolerance to osmotic stress at germination stage was more related to seed weight than to population origin or maternal environment of seeds; heavier-seeded populations produced heavier seedlings instead of a higher number of germinated seeds or higher germination rates. Some traits varied between environments but other traits exhibited a fixed response. Variation patterns among populations were similar within environments and in some cases even for populations from the same geographic origin, revealing a fixed ontogenetic variation; this phenomenon was clearer in L. crinita than in L. pluriflora. Moreover, several different trade-off strategies were detected in both species. These results reinforce the knowledge about the key role of seed weight in survival and performance of seedlings at initial growth stages under arid conditions; however, at advanced stages, other traits would have an important function in growth and development of false Rhodes grasses.

The distribution and abundance of plant species in high mountain ecosystems are thought to depend largely on abiotic factors that play out at both landscape scales (e.g. steep environmental gradients affected by increasing elevation) and local scales (e.g. changes in topography, aspect and canopy cover). However, relatively little attention has been paid to biotic interactions, and how these might also change with landscape-wide and local factors. Ecological interactions between plants and insect herbivores are likely to alter species performance and affect local abundance, but their role in the Australian Alps remains largely unexplored. Here, we examine the prediction that the amount of herbivory on saplings of the dominant high elevation tree, snow gum Eucalyptus pauciflora Sieb. ex Spreng. (Myrtaceae), are lower at higher elevation because of increasing environmental stress. Using a reciprocal transplant experiment, we tested the prediction that origin of seed (low, mid, high elevation) has less effect on insect herbivory than environmentally-driven changes in plant morphology (height, leaf thickness, specific leaf area). Across all mountains studied, herbivory was best explained by a combination of plant height, canopy openness, leaf thickness and elevation, but not seed origin. This study highlights the individuality of each mountain environment, at landscape and local scales, as well as the complexity of relationships between environmental change, plants and insects. Given the factors that best explain herbivory across mountains, herbivory may decrease with decreasing productivity associated with increasing elevation, a trend in broad agreement with hypotheses associating leaf area loss to the availability of resources and plant vigour.

Climate warming has the potential to directly affect plant growth rates by accelerating plant processes, and through intermediate affects associated with increased length of the growing season and changes to soil processes. Alpine and subalpine ecosystems may be particularly vulnerable to climate warming because species are adapted to a cold environment and have limited upslope refugia in Australia. In the present study, the vegetative growth of seven subalpine open-heath species was examined in response to 3 years of warming and a wildfire. The warming experiment was established in late 2003 on the Bogong High Plains, Australia, using the protocols of the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX). During the growing seasons (snow-free periods) in 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 leaves and stems were monitored on common or widespread species from each of the major vascular plant growth forms. Plants were monitored inside and outside passively warmed open-topped chambers, at sites that were burnt in early 2003 and sites that escaped fire. In the short-term, warming had significant positive relationships with relative growth rates of three species, including Celmisia pugioniformis (forb; P = 0.09), Carex breviculmis (graminoid; P = 0.004) and Asterolasia trymalioides (shrub; P = 0.02). Burning had significant positive effects (P < 0.05) on the relative growth rates of two of these species, C. pugioniformis and C. breviculmis, as well as for Plantago euryphylla, Poa hiemata and Pimelea alpina. For P. euryphylla and P. alpina, the interaction of warming and burning showed significant relationships with relative growth rates, a negative relationship in P. euryphylla (P = 0.03) and a positive relationship in P. alpina (P = 0.07). Year and season were also found to affect the relative growth rates of most species (P < 0.05). These findings agree with previous northern hemisphere ITEX and other warming experiment results; that is, warming has a positive effect on species’ growth responses. In the present study, it is likely that continued climate warming may result in positive growth responses in other subalpine species across growth forms. Our findings emphasise the value of examining multiple species in climate-change studies.

Abstract. In the winter-wet, summer-dry forests of the western United States, total annual evapotranspiration (ET) varies with precipitation and temperature. Geologically mediated drainage and storage properties, however, may strongly influence these relationships between climate and ET. We use a physically based process model to evaluate how plant accessible water storage capacity (AWC) and rates of drainage influence model estimates of ET–climate relationships for three snow-dominated, mountainous catchments with differing precipitation regimes. Model estimates show that total annual precipitation is a primary control on inter-annual variation in ET across all catchments and that the timing of recharge is a second-order control. Low AWC, however, increases the sensitivity of annual ET to these climate drivers by 3 to 5 times in our two study basins with drier summers. ET–climate relationships in our Colorado basin receiving summer precipitation are more stable across subsurface drainage and storage characteristics. Climate driver–ET relationships are most sensitive to subsurface storage (AWC) and drainage parameters related to lateral redistribution in the relatively dry Sierra site that receives little summer precipitation. Our results demonstrate that uncertainty in geophysically mediated storage and drainage properties can strongly influence model estimates of watershed-scale ET responses to climate variation and climate change. This sensitivity to uncertainty in geophysical properties is particularly true for sites receiving little summer precipitation. A parallel interpretation of this parameter sensitivity is that spatial variation in storage and drainage properties are likely to lead to substantial within-watershed plot-scale differences in forest water use and drought stress.

Recent efforts have been made to monitor the seasonal metrics of plant canopy variations globally from space, using optical remote sensing. However, phenological estimations based on vegetation indices (VIs) in high-latitude regions such as the pan-Arctic remain challenging and are rarely validated. Nevertheless, pan-Arctic ecosystems are vulnerable and also crucial in the context of climate change. We reported the limitations and challenges of using MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) measurements, a widely exploited set of satellite measurements, to estimate phenological transition dates in pan-Arctic regions. Four indices including normalized vegetation difference index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), phenology index (PI), plant phenological index (PPI) and a MODIS Land Cover Dynamics Product MCD12Q2, were evaluated and compared against eddy covariance (EC) estimates at 11 flux sites of 102 site-years during the period from 2000 to 2014. All the indices were influenced by snow cover and soil moisture during the transition dates. While relationships existed between VI-based and EC-estimated phenological transition dates, the R2 values were generally low (0.01–0.68). Among the VIs, PPI-estimated metrics showed an inter-annual pattern that was mostly closely related to the EC-based estimations. Thus, further studies are needed to develop region-specific indices to provide more reliable estimates of phenological transition dates.

Abstract The research objectives are to estimate differences between the potential impact of climatic change to the Athabasca River basin (ARB) and Fraser River basin (FRB) of Canada with and without considering shifts in vegetation patterns induced by climate change and how much the difference will depend on vegetation types and climate. The hydrologic effects of vegetation shifts on ARB and FRB were estimated by applying the Mapped Atmosphere–Plant–Soil System (MAPSS) simulated results based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s First and Second Assessment Report general circulation model (GCM) scenarios to the modified Interaction Soil–Biosphere–Atmosphere (MISBA) scheme. According to MAPSS, vegetation shifts in mountainous regions of FRB are expected to be dominated by conifer/broadleaf competition, while in ARB, climate projections of MAPSS predicted a southern expansion of the boreal forest. Because of differences in sublimation, there is a tendency for more snow to accumulate in open grassland than forests. Furthermore, changes to simulated mean annual maximum snowpack, runoff, and basin area covered by grassland are positively correlated to each other. Generally, a 4% increase in snow water equivalent (SWE) results in a 1% increase in mean annual runoff. These relationships hold true in both basins over a wide range of GCM-projected climate conditions and vegetation responses, suggesting that most changes in mean annual flow can be attributed to changes in SWE. Because of the different modeling approaches between MAPSS and MISBA, it seems that the treatment of these processes in vegetation and hydrologic models should be similar before conclusions can be drawn from various stand-alone simulations. Ideally, a land surface scheme should be coupled with a vegetation model in future studies.

ABSTRACTStudies on the effect of environmental conditions on plants and microorganisms are a central issue in ecology, and they require an adequate experimental setup. A strategy often applied in geobotanical studies is based on the reciprocal transplantation of plant species at different sites. We adopted a similar approach as a field-based tool to investigate the relationships of soil bacterial communities with the environment. Soil samples from two different (calcareous and siliceous) unvegetated glacier forefields were reciprocally transplanted and incubated for 15 months between 2009 and 2010. Controls containing local soils were included. The sites were characterized over time in terms of geographical (bedrock, exposition, sunlight, temperature, and precipitation) and physicochemical (texture, water content, soluble and nutrients) features. The incubating local (“home”) and transplanted (“away”) soils were monitored for changes in extractable nutrients and in the bacterial community structure, defined through terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) of the 16S rRNA gene. Concentrations of soluble ions in most samples were more significantly affected by seasons than by the transplantation. For example, NO3−showed a seasonal pattern, increasing from 1 to 3 μg NO3−(g soil dry weight)−1after the melting of snow but decreasing to <1 μg NO3−(g soil dry weight)−1in autumn. Seasons, and in particular strong precipitation events occurring in the summer of 2010 (200 to 300 mm of rain monthly), were also related to changes of bacterial community structures. Our results show the suitability of this approach to compare responses of bacterial communities to different environmental conditions directly in the field.

Abstract. Alpine snowbeds are characterised by a very short growing season. However, the length of the snow-free period is increasingly prolonged due to climate change, so that snowbeds become susceptible to invasions from neighbouring alpine meadow communities. We hypothesised that spatial distribution of species generated by plant interactions may indicate whether snowbed species will coexist with or will be out-competed by invading alpine species – spatial aggregation or segregation will point to coexistence or competitive exclusion, respectively. We tested this hypothesis in snowbeds of the Swiss Alps using the variance ratio statistics. We focused on the relationships between dominant snowbed species, subordinate snowbed species, and potentially invading alpine grassland species. Subordinate snowbed species were generally spatially aggregated with each other, but were segregated from alpine grassland species. Competition between alpine grassland and subordinate snowbed species may have caused this segregation. Segregation between these species groups increased with earlier snowmelt, suggesting an increasing importance of competition with climate change. Further, a dominant snowbed species (Alchemilla pentaphyllea) was spatially aggregated with subordinate snowbed species, while two other dominants (Gnaphalium supinum and Salix herbacea) showed aggregated patterns with alpine grassland species. These dominant species are known to show distinct microhabitat preferences suggesting the existence of hidden microhabitats with different susceptibility to invaders. These results allow us to suggest that alpine snowbed areas are likely to be reduced as a consequence of climate change and that invading species from nearby alpine grasslands could outcompete subordinate snowbed species. On the other hand, microhabitats dominated by Gnaphalium or Salix seem to be particularly prone to invasions by non-snowbed species.

Abstract. The Arctic has become generally a warmer place over the past decades leading to earlier snow melt, permafrost degradation and changing plant communities. Increases in precipitation and local evaporation in the Arctic, known as the acceleration components of the hydrologic cycle, coupled with land cover changes, have resulted in significant changes in the regional surface energy budget. Quantifying spatiotemporal trends in surface energy flux partitioning is key to forecasting ecological responses to changing climate conditions in the Arctic. An extensive local evaluation of the Two-Source Energy Balance model (TSEB) – a remote-sensing-based model using thermal infrared retrievals of land surface temperature – was performed using tower measurements collected over different tundra types in Alaska in all sky conditions over the full growing season from 2008 to 2012. Based on comparisons with flux tower observations, refinements in the original TSEB net radiation, soil heat flux and canopy transpiration parameterizations were identified for Arctic tundra. In particular, a revised method for estimating soil heat flux based on relationships with soil temperature was developed, resulting in significantly improved performance. These refinements result in mean turbulent flux errors generally less than 50 W m−2 at half-hourly time steps, similar to errors typically reported in surface energy balance modeling studies conducted in more temperate climatic regimes. The MODIS leaf area index (LAI) remote sensing product proved to be useful for estimating energy fluxes in Arctic tundra in the absence of field data on the local biomass amount. Model refinements found in this work at the local scale build toward a regional implementation of the TSEB model over Arctic tundra ecosystems, using thermal satellite remote sensing to assess response of surface fluxes to changing vegetation and climate conditions.

Long-term monitoring of the spring and autumn phenology of five animal species, four plant species, phytoplankton communities, lake temperatures and ice cover on the Paul Smith’s College Phenology Trail in the uplands of the Adirondack State Park (NY, USA) has produced time series spanning 1990–2020 for the biological and water temperature records and 1909–2020 for lake ice. In conjunction with climate records from three nearby weather stations these observations demonstrate that the ice on Lower Saint Regis Lake now thaws one week earlier, on average, than it did in 1909 while the region as a whole warmed by 1.7°C and received 19 cm more precipitation annually. Statistically significant warming trends between 1990 and 2020 were restricted to July and September and therefore contributed to a scarcity of temporal shifts in the spring phenologies of species and lake ice during that shorter time frame, but the lake surface warmed by 1.9°C on average in October. Although most of the phenological records displayed no statistically significant directional change within the 1990–2020 time interval they revealed strong correlations between phenology and monthly air temperatures that are of predictive value. Together with projections from regionally down-scaled climate models these relationships suggest that the phenologies of the species and ice dynamics in question could shift by ca. 1–3 weeks by 2100 depending on the analytical approach used and the magnitude of fossil fuel emissions during this century. As Adirondack winters become shorter and milder before potentially losing snow and ice altogether over the longer term, the unique cultural ecology of the region’s human residents will face profound existential challenges along with the ecosystems and species around them.

The relationships among community pattern, date of snowmelt, and microclimate were examined on Excelsior Ridge in the North Cascades. Nine communities were delineated and placed into three groups based on date of snowmelt and topographic location. The Veratrum viride, Valeriana sitchensis, Lupinus latifolius, and Carex spectabilis communities, all found on windward slopes, were released from snow from June to mid-July. The Phyllodoce empetriformis, Vaccinium deliciosum, and Saxifraga tolmiei communities were located on leeward slopes where snow melted in July. Sheltered basins, which retained snow until late July or early August, supported the Carex nigricans and Luetkea pectinata communities. The influence of time of snowmelt generally was reflected in soil temperature, so that earlier sites were warmer than later sites. A soil moisture gradient was not apparent among any of the communities.

Abstract Ratios of tree height to diameter have been used to predict susceptibility to storm damage for many years. In this study, individual trees damaged by recent snow and wind events in western Montana were sampled in 1997 and 1998 to determine their height:diameter ratios in comparison to nearby undamaged trees. Four species were sampled: ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), western larch (Larix occidentalis), interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca), and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia). Ratios of 80:1 (both measures in equal units) provided a stability threshold for all four species. Trees with higher ratios were more prone to damage than trees with lower ratios. Height:diameter ratios from trees grown in spacing trials were used to examine spacings that avoided development of unstable trees. Wide spacings or early thinnings provide the best means of avoiding major losses to snow and wind damage. The growth and yield model Prognosis was unable to predict height:diameter ratios for developing stands. West. J. Appl. For. 16(2):87–94.

Как известно, потребность в ресурсах растительного происхождения и усугубляющаяся экологическая ситуация требуют новых открытий и соответствующих знаний. В настоящее время лесной пояс в Хибинах является одним из самых труднодоступных, а значит, и самых малоизученных в Российской Федерации. Район занимает почти третью часть всего горного массива на Кольском полуострове. Это наталкивает на выявление запасов фитомассы растительного сообщества, играющих ландшафтообразующую роль в сложении растительного покрова целого региона. Исследования научной работы выполнялись непосредственно с применением анализа экологической, географической и статистической литературы, учебников и учебных пособий. Сформулирован комплекс принципов, определяющих содержание и структуру собранного материала, а также методику работы с ним, в процессе разработана соответствующая система, приведены взаимосвязи древесной растительности массива Вудъяврчорр между диаметрами и фитомассой древостоев. В работе показано изучение влияния климатических факторов на формирование горных породообразующих древесных растений с колебаниями относительных высотных уровней. Были проведены работы описательного характера, а также взяты образцы для лабораторных исследований. На высотных уровнях для определения переходных территорий древесной растительности массива Вудъяврчорр (Кольский полуостров) были исследованы взаимосвязи между диаметрами и фитомассой деревьев. Наибольшее количество общей надземной фитомассы сконцентрировано на юго-восточном профиле, связано это с большей густотой и площадью проективного покрытия крон. Данное обстоятельство обусловлено тем, что в условиях субарктики, где фактор температуры является лимитирующим, на более прогреваемых склонах происходит более раннее таяние снега As is known, the need for plant-based resources and the worsening environmental situation require the training of competent specialists and relevant knowledge. Currently, the Forest belt in the Khibiny occupies almost a third of the massif. This leads to the identifi cation of phytomass reserves of the plant community, which play a landscape-forming role in the composition of the vegetation cover The implementation of research tasks was achieved on the basis of the analysis of environmental, geographical and statistical literature, textbooks, textbooks. A set of principles defi ning the content and structure of the task material, as well as the methodology of working with it, has been formulated, an appropriate system of tasks has been developed in the process, the interrelationships of woody vegetation of the Woodyavrchorr massif between diameters and phytomass of stands are given. The paper shows the study of the infl uence of climatic factors on the formation of rock-forming woody plants with fl uctuations in relative altitude levels. Descriptive work was carried out, as well as samples were taken for laboratory studies. Relationships between diameters and phytomass of trees were investigated at high-altitude levels to determine the transitional territories of woody vegetation of the Takhtarvumchorr massif (Kola Peninsula). The largest amount of total aboveground phytomass is concentrated in the Southeastern profi le, this is due to the greater density and area of the projective crown coverage. This circumstance is due to the fact that in the conditions of the Subarctic, where the temperature factor is limiting, on more heated slopes, on which earlier snow melting occurs.

We studied soil and vegetation patterns of two late snow areas in the Kosciusko alpine region of New South Wales, Australia. Marked floristic differences were found between the lower, central and upper regions of each area. The distributions of six selected species, and the spatial variation in total vegetation cover, were related to the spatial variation in total and exchangeable soil nitrogen concentrations. To test whether variations in soil nitrogen were controlling the spatial separation of late snow area plant species six selected species were subsequently grown at 12-15°C, over a range of increasing nitrogen concentrations. Five of the six selected species (Luzula oldfieldii subsp. dura, Epilobium tasmanicum, Plantago glacialis, Luzula acutifolia subsp. nana and Ranunculus niphophilus) showed similar responses to increasing nitrogen levels, both in terms of relative dry weight production and shoot nitrogen concentrations. Only in one species (Colobanthus nivicola) did responses suggest that it may have been more suited to growth on nitrogen-deficient soils. We concluded, however, that variations in nitrogen availability alone are not responsible for the floristic variation in late snow areas. Possible factors responsible for the variation in floristic composition of the late snow areas are discussed.

Lichen species in the genera Cladonia (subgenus Cladina), Cetraria, Stereocaulon and Alectoria are important vegetation components on well-drained terrain and on elevated micro-sites in peatlands in boreal-Arctic regions. These lichens often form closed mats, the component thalli in which grow vertically upwards at the apices and die off in the older basal regions; they are therefore only loosely attached to the underlying soil. This growth habit is relatively unusual in lichens being found in &lt;0.5% of known species. It might facilitate internal nutrienr recycling and higher growth rates and, together with the production of allelochemicals, it might underlie the considerable ecological success of mat-forming lichens; experiments to critically assess the importance of these processes are required. Mat-forming lichens can constitute in excess of 60% of the winter food intake of caribou and reindeer. Accordingly there is a pressing need for data on lichen growth rates, measured as mass increment, in order to help determine the carrying capacity of winter ranges for rhese herbivores and to better predict recovery rates following grazing. Trampling during the snow-free season fragments lichen thalli; mat-forming lichens regenerate very successfully from thallus fragments provided trampling does nor re-occur. Frequent recurrence of trampling creates disturbed habitats from which lichens will rapidly become eliminated consistent with J.P. Grime's CSR strategy theory. Such damage to lichen ground cover has occurred where reindeer or caribou are unable to migrate away from their winter range such as on small islands or where political boundaries have been fenced; it can also occur on summer range that contains a significant lichen component and on winter range where numbers of migrarory animals become excessive. Species of Stereocaulon, and other genera that contain cyanobacteria (most notably Peltigera and Nephroma), are among the principal agents of nitrogen fixation in boreal-arctic regions. Stereocaulon-dominated subarctic woodlands provide excellent model systems in which to investigate the role of lichens in nitrogen cycling. Mat-forming lichens are sensitive indicators of atmospheric deposition partly because they occur in open situations in which they intercept precipitation and particulates directly with minimal modification by vascular plant overstoreys. Data from both the UK and northern Russia are presented to illustrate geographical relationships between lichen chemistry and atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and acidity. The ecology of mat-fotming lichens remains under-researched and good opportunities exist for making significant contributions to this field including areas that relate directly to the management of arctic ungulates.

Based on limited controlled experiments, both advanced and delayed shifts in flowering phenology induced by precipitation and snow cover have been reported on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP). To clarify the impact of precipitation and snow cover on flowering phenology, we conducted a comprehensive statistical analysis of the temporal change in flowering phenology and its responses to precipitation and snow cover changes using regression models built on the largest collection of ground phenological observation data on the QTP. We found that first flowering date (FFD) for the early-flowering time series significantly advanced at the rate of −0.371 ± 0.149 days/year (p < 0.001), whereas FFD mid-to-late-flowering time series showed no trend at the rate of 0.158 ± 0.193 days/year (p = 0.108). Cumulative pre-season precipitation regressed with FFD positively for early-flowering time series, with the explained variation ranging from 11.7 to 49.4% over different pre-season periods. The negative impact of precipitation on flowering phenology is unexpected, because an increase in precipitation should not hamper plant growth in the semi-arid and arid environments on the QTP. However, precipitation was found to be inversely correlated with temperature. Thus, it is likely that temperature, and not precipitation, regulated flowering phenology over the study period. No relationship was found between FFD and snow-cover melt date or duration. This result indicated that snow cover may not affect flowering phenology significantly, which may be because plant flowering time was much later than the snow-cover melt date on the QTP. These findings contrast the results of controlled experiments on the QTP, which showed that precipitation regulated flowering phenology, and with other studies that showed that snow-cover melting time determined flowering dates of early-flowering species in high latitude and Arctic zones in Europe and North America, where the low-temperature environment is similar to the QTP. These findings can improve flowering phenology models, assist in the prediction of phenological responses of herbaceous plants to climate change, and forecast changes in the structure and function of the grassland ecosystem on the QTP.

Prunus pumila is an introductory species with a disjunctive culturing area, which is caused by the instability of plants to rotting on waterlogged soils with unstable winters and high snow cover. One of the varieties of Prunus pumila in natural habitats grows on acidic soils and sometimes in wetlands. In the introduction population of the Chelyabinsk region, not all varieties could take part in the formation of the introduction population. In terms of stone shape and plant habit, no specimens matching the description of the P. pumila var. depressa variety could be identified. On the basis of the classification of plant morphotypes developed by us it was possible in some cases to obtain significant differences in the distribution of stone indices in groups with different types of crowns. The maximum differences were found in groups with the crown type of raised shrub and tree shrub for the index length / width and length / thickness of the stone. In the first case, a significant difference was obtained at the 1% significance level (tf = 2.81), and in the second even at the 0.1% significance level (tf = 3.78).

Dose response relationships for growth and injury of various Brassicaceae exposed to ozone (O3) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) were developed using a central composite factorial design, analysis of covariance and regression analysis. Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata ’Market Prize’) response variables were insensitive to SO2 and sensitive to O3. All rutabaga (Brassica napus L. ssp. rapifera (Metzg.) Sinsk ’Laurentian’) response variables except specific leaf area and specific water content were sensitive to both SO2 and O3. All cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis ’Snow Crown’) response variables except shoot fresh weight and specific leaf area were sensitive to SO2; all were sensitive to O3. There was no significant interaction between SO2 and O3 in any of the crops, suggesting that the gases acted independently. All the equations describing the responses of cabbage had negative linear relationships to O3 concentration. The response equations for rutabaga differed among variables. Leaf specific water content had a negative linear response to O3. Specific leaf area was not affected and the other growth variables had negative linear relationships to SO2 and negative linear and positive quadratic relationships to O3. Cauliflower response equations varied among response variables, containing negative or positive linear SO2 terms, and negative linear and negative or positive quadratic O3 terms. In all three crops, visible injury was primarily a function of O3 concentration. The R2 values of the equations were lower for cabbage than for rutabaga and cauliflower, suggesting a greater population heterogeneity in cabbage than in the other two crops.Key words: Cabbage, rutabaga, cauliflower, air pollution, central composite design, polynomial quadratic equations

Scheduling crops to flower for specific dates requires a knowledge of the relationship between temperature and time to flower. Our objective was to determine the relationship between temperature and time to flower of four herbaceous perennials. Field-grown, bare-root Coreopsis grandiflora `Sunray', Gaillardia grandiflora `Goblin', Rudbeckia fulgida `Goldsturm', and tissue culture-propagated Chrysanthemum superbum `Snow Cap' were exposed to 5C for 10 weeks. They were grown at 15, 18, 21, 24 or 27C under 4-h night interruption lighting. Time to visible bud (VB) and first flower (FLW) were recorded. Days to VB, days to FLW, and days from VB to FLW decreased as temperature increased. Time to flower at 15C was 70, 64, 96, and 54 days and 24, 39, 48, and 36 days at 27C for Coreopsis, Gaillardia, Rudbeckia, and Chrysanthemum, respectively. The 27C temperature apparently caused devernalization on Coreopsis because only 40% of the plants flowered. The effects of temperature on flower size, flower bud number, and plant height also are presented.

It is well known that post‐fire duff layers that are thin or of lower porosity greatly enhance juvenile survivorship of sexually recruiting boreal plant species. Nonetheless, there has been no study on duff compaction by snow following charring. We examined post‐fire duff depth for the first 3 years (two winters) after a 2006 wildfire in the boreal forest of north‐western Quebec. We found that (1) significant compression was common, with (2) a positive relationship between the initial thickness of the burned organic layer depth and the subsequent amount of compression. The proportional compression rate was, however, roughly constant: ∼14% after 2 years regardless of initial post‐fire duff depth. We conclude that this amount of compression is too little to significantly impact post‐fire seedling recruitment.

A growing body of work indicates that the timing of flowering of temperate angiosperms has been affected by shifts in climate since the 1970s. Sensitivity in flowering phenology to changing temperatures has been particularly well-documented, but widespread phenological sensitivity to changing precipitation patterns in temperate communities has only been shown in a few studies. The exception is relationships between snowpack and early flowering in alpine environments, whereby the timing of flowering herbs had strong associations with winter precipitation and the snowmelt timing. Based on these results, we hypothesized that populations in temperate latitudes characterized by strong seasonality and winter snowfall would demonstrate associations between timing of snowmelt and flowering phenology. We combined a historical dataset of first flowering dates in a Minnesota tallgrass prairie with climatic data to construct a structural equation model, testing hypotheses on the relationships between winter precipitation, temperature, and flowering phenology. While temperature had a strong effect on flowering phenology, winter precipitation had a significant relationship with only a few species. The species affected by snow were later flowering species, which is inconsistent with our prediction that winter precipitation affects early flowering phenology. These results suggest future changes in precipitation will have differing consequences depending on region.

During winter, boreal forest herbivores have access to only poor-quality forage. On Anticosti Island (Quebec, Canada), the ongoing reduction of balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) P. Mill.) owing to overbrowsing by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann, 1780)) may force deer to include a higher proportion of white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss), a browse normally avoided, in their winter diet. We tested the hypotheses that (i) deer body condition during winter and (ii) the costs of detoxification of plant secondary metabolites in the winter diet could be estimated by monitoring the 3-methylhistidine / creatinine and glucuronic acid / creatinine ratios, respectively, in urine collected in snow from white-tailed deer fawns. Doubling the amount of white spruce in the winter diet of deer (from the current 20% under natural conditions to 40%) did not increase 3-methylhistidine / creatinine ratios but increased the glucuronic acid / creatinine ratio in urine, suggesting that a diet containing more spruce was more toxic. A weak positive relationship was observed between 3-methylhistidine and percent cumulative mass loss. There was no relationship between the 3-methylhistidine / creatinine ratio and the number of days left before death, as well as no relationship between the ratio of glucuronic acid / creatinine and percent cumulative mass loss. We conclude that the costs of detoxification of plant secondary metabolites in the winter diet of white-tailed deer in boreal forests could be monitored with glucuronic acid / creatinine ratios, but that 3-methylhistidine / creatinine ratios were weak indicators of deer body condition in winter.

SummaryFollowing a winter with low temperatures during a period with no snow cover, lucerne (alfalfa; Medicago sativa L.) plants were dug from the field and various root and crown lesions were identified and rated according to severity. The plants were then put into pots of soil and grown for 6 weeks to determine if they would live or die. The relationship between lesions present at the time of digging and survival was then studied to see if the lesions could be used to predict survival. Injuries to several characteristics were found to be associated with plant death: bud vigour, leaf vigour, resistance of root bark to peeling, resistance of root to squeezing, root interior colour and, depending on site, the presence of fungi on the root surface. A model combining injury ratings for three characteristics (bud vigour, root colour, and root resistance to peeling) was developed and survival probabilities based on this model are presented. Use of this model will allow for an early evaluation of low-temperature injury without having to wait for aerial growth to occur.

Abstract. Wetlands of northern high latitudes are ecosystems highly vulnerable to climate change. Some degradation effects include soil hydrologic changes due to permafrost thaw, formation of deeper active layers, and rising topsoil temperatures that accelerate the degradation of permafrost carbon and increase in CO2 and CH4 emissions. In this work we present 2 years of modeled year-round CH4 emissions into the atmosphere from a Northeast Siberian region in the Russian Far East. We use a revisited version of the process-based JSBACH-methane model that includes four CH4 transport pathways: plant-mediated transport, ebullition and molecular diffusion in the presence or absence of snow. The gas is emitted through wetlands represented by grid cell inundated areas simulated with a TOPMODEL approach. The magnitude of the summertime modeled CH4 emissions is comparable to ground-based CH4 fluxes measured with the eddy covariance technique and flux chambers in the same area of study, whereas wintertime modeled values are underestimated by 1 order of magnitude. In an annual balance, the most important mechanism for transport of methane into the atmosphere is through plants (61 %). This is followed by ebullition ( ∼ 35 %), while summertime molecular diffusion is negligible (0.02 %) compared to the diffusion through the snow during winter ( ∼ 4 %). We investigate the relationship between temporal changes in the CH4 fluxes, soil temperature, and soil moisture content. Our results highlight the heterogeneity in CH4 emissions at landscape scale and suggest that further improvements to the representation of large-scale hydrological conditions in the model will facilitate a more process-oriented land surface scheme and better simulate CH4 emissions under climate change. This is especially necessary at regional scales in Arctic ecosystems influenced by permafrost thaw.

The paper presents an overview and discussion on the link between natural organic matter (NOM) character and its treatability by coagulation. Trials were conducted on a series of bench scale and pilot plant trials on three source waters: two from UK moorland catchments and one from a US snow melt source. Overall the work demonstrates the importance of the polarity balance and the charge density of the NOM contained within the source water. The hydrophobic content controls the coagulant demand such that variation in the demand between sources or sampling periods can be accounted for by changes in the hydrophobic content and its charge density. The raw water hydrophilic content, and specifically the nonacid fraction, provides a useful indicator of the achievable residual. Analysis of coagulation performance revealed a clear relationship between zeta potential and residual DOC. For each source an operational zeta potential range exists within which the residual concentration is optimal. Comparison of the ranges achieved during each trial demonstrated that a communal range between −10 and +3 mV exist for all waters thus providing a useful guide range for operational control.

Aquatic insects are bioindicators regarding the quality of streams environments. The present study aimed to analyze the community of aquatic insects in streams from the Santa Catarina Plateau, in Brazil. Insects were classified according to their functional trophic structure as gathering-collectors, filtering-collectors, shredders, swallower-predators, perforator-predators and scrapers. Autotrophy and heterotrophy indices were calculated to evaluate the ecological conditions of the sampled streams. Associations between shredders and the riparian vegetation index, filtering-collector index, riverbed stability index, and predator-prey index were performed. The sampled streams demonstrated that the insects inhabiting these environments respond to the strong seasonality observed in the study region, an area located at high altitudes (over 1,200 m a.s.l.) that suffers harsh winters with snow events. This is also reflected in the seasonal heterotrophy and autotrophy index variations noted herein, with higher autotrophy observed during spring and summer. The relationship detected between shredder insects and riparian vegetation indicates that the sampled region may be suffering from deforestation, due to the low contribution of plant matter to the stream waters. However, as many nearby areas are characterized by natural grasslands, it is possible that it is actually an inherent characteristic of the sample area.

Abstract The study of plant phenology has frequently been used to link phenological events to various factors, such as temperature or photoperiod. In the high-alpine environment, proper timing of the phenological cycle has always been crucial to overcome harsh conditions and potential extreme events (i.e. spring frosts) but little is known about the response dynamics of the vegetation, which could shape the alpine landscape in a future of changing climate. Alpine tundra vegetation is composed by an array of species belonging to different phytosociological optima and with various survival strategies, and snowbed communities are a relevant expression of such an extreme-climate adapted flora. We set eight permanent plots with each one in a snowbed located on the Cimalegna plateau in Northwestern Italy and then we selected 10 most recurring species among our plots, all typical of the alpine tundra environment and classified in 3 different pools: snowbed specialists, grassland species and rocky debris species. For 3 years we registered the phenophases of each species during the whole growing season using an adaptation of the BBCH scale. We later focused on the three most biologically relevant phenophases, i.e., flower buds visible, full flowering, and beginning of seed dispersion. Three important season-related variables were chosen to investigate their relationship with the phenological cycle of the studied species: (i) the Day Of Year (DOY), the progressive number of days starting from the 1st of January, used as a proxy of photoperiod, (ii) Days From Snow Melt (DFSM), selected to include the relevance of the snow dynamics, and (iii) Growing Degree Days (GDD), computed as a thermal sum. Our analysis highlighted that phenological development correlated better with DFSM and GDD than with DOY. Indeed, models showed that DOY was always a worse predictor since it failed to overcome interannual variations, while DFSM and marginally GDD were better suited to predict the phenological development of most of the species, despite differences in temperature and snowmelt date among the three years. Even if the response pattern to the three variables was mainly consistent for all the species, the timing of their phenological response was different. Indeed, species such as Salix herbacea and Ranunculus glacialis were always earlier in the achievement of the phenophases, while Agrostis rupestris and Euphrasia minima developed later and the remaining species showed an intermediate behavior. However, we did not detect significant differences among the three functional pools of species.

Abstract. The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP) accident in March 2011 resulted in a significant fallout of radiocesium over the Fukushima region. After reaching the soil surface, radiocesium is almost irreversibly bound to fine soil particles. Thereafter, rainfall and snow melt run-off events transfer particle-bound radiocesium downstream. Erosion models, such as the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), depict a proportional relationship between rainfall and soil erosion. As radiocesium is tightly bound to fine soil and sediment particles, characterizing the rainfall regime of the fallout-impacted region is fundamental to modelling and predicting radiocesium migration. Accordingly, monthly and annual rainfall data from ~ 60 meteorological stations within a 100 km radius of the FDNPP were analysed. Monthly rainfall erosivity maps were developed for the Fukushima coastal catchments illustrating the spatial heterogeneity of rainfall erosivity in the region. The mean average rainfall in the Fukushima region was 1387 mm yr−1 (σ 230) with the mean rainfall erosivity being 2785 MJ mm ha−1 yr−1 (σ 1359). The results indicate that the majority of rainfall (60 %) and rainfall erosivity (86 %) occurs between June and October. During the year, rainfall erosivity evolves positively from northwest to southeast in the eastern part of the prefecture, whereas a positive gradient from north to south occurs in July and August, the most erosive months of the year. During the typhoon season, the coastal plain and eastern mountainous areas of the Fukushima prefecture, including a large part of the contamination plume, are most impacted by erosive events. Understanding these rainfall patterns, particularly their spatial and temporal variation, is fundamental to managing soil and particle-bound radiocesium transfers in the Fukushima region. Moreover, understanding the impact of typhoons is important for managing sediment transfers in subtropical regions impacted by cyclonic activity.

Field winterhardiness is a critical trait in rose cultivars (Rosa ×hybrida) grown in northern climates. Although the molecular basis of cold hardiness has been well documented in model organisms such as Arabidopsis thaliana, little is known about the genetics and mechanisms underlying winterhardiness in roses. This research aims to explore the genetic control of winterhardiness for application in breeding programs using quantitative trail loci (QTL) analysis in two biparental rose populations derived from cold-hardy roses of the Canadian Explorer Series Collection. Field winterhardiness was assessed as a complex trait with winter damage and regrowth recorded in multiyear and multilocation trials in Ontario and Saskatchewan, Canada. In addition, this research explored the relationship between field measurements and electrolyte leakage recorded under artificial conditions. Electrolyte leakage had limited utility for application in rose breeding programs as a substitute for field evaluation, but did enable identification of QTL associated with potential cold hardiness candidate genes. A QTL for electrolyte leakage mapped to a genomic region that harbors a CBF1-like transcription factor. A total of 14 QTLs associated with field winter damage and regrowth were discovered, and they explained between 11% and 37% of the observed phenotypic variance. Two QTL associated with winter damage and regrowth overlapped with a known QTL for black spot (Diplocarpon rosae) disease resistance, Rdr1, in an environment under high disease pressure. Due to the complexity of field winterhardiness and its direct reliance on intertwined factors, such as overall plant health, moisture status, snow cover, and period of prolonged sub-zero temperatures, field trials are the ultimate measurement of field winterhardiness. Transgressive segregation was observed for all traits, and it was most likely due to complementary gene action. Field winter damage and regrowth were highly heritable in single environments, but they were subject to genotype × environment interaction resulting from pest pressure and severe climatic conditions.

False flax is a valuable and irreplaceable oilseed crop. The oil obtained from false flax plants can be compared with flax oil in terms of its useful properties. However, false flax oil has better preservation and has better taste qualities. It is very profitable to use false flax for the production of feed. After the false flax undergoes heat treatment, the remaining press-cake is used as feed for poultry and livestock. Thus, 100 kg of press-cake and 17 kg of protein contain 115 feed units. The purpose of the research was to determine the influence of elements of cultivation technology on the yield of spring false flax on seeds under the conditions of the Ryazan region. The Ryazan region is characterized by a temperate continental climate with warm summers and moderately cold winters with stable snow cover and well-defined, but less long transitional seasons such as spring and autumn. Under the conditions of the Ryazan region the most effective technological techniques (sowing period, seeding rate, use of plant growth regulators) have been developed and experimentally substantiated in order to increase production and improve the quality characteristics of oilseed false flax seeds. The relationship between the individual elements of the crop structure and the yield of spring false flax, as well as weather conditions, is revealed. It is established that the cultivation of spring false flax with a seeding rate of 7 million pieces germinating seeds/ha, was the most cost-effective, where the level of profitability did not fall below 70,3 %. At the same time, the level of profitability was higher in the first sowing period than in the second, which is associated with a higher yield (1,11–1,25 t/ha) and the quality of the products obtained.

The application of the concept of population organization of ecosystems is an integral part in assessing the state of plant populations, as well as in modeling the response of vegetation to climate change. In this regard, it is especially important to focus on the plant species which are widespread in different habitat conditions, the study of their populations will reveal the range of adaptive capabilities of the species at different levels of organization (organismic, populational). One of such species is Thymus mongolicus (Ronn.) Ronn., an implicitly polycentric dwarf shrub, widely distributed in different environmental conditions of Tuva. The aim of the work is to study the features of the development and ontogenetic structure of T. mongolicus coenopopulations in different environmental conditions of Tuva.Three coenopopulations (CP) were studied: in a sandy steppe on a plain (51°34'55.6"N, 94°21'25.5"E), in a steppified meadow along the river bank (51°18'26.4"N, 95°50'45.7"E), in a petrophytic high-altitude steppe on a talus slope (50°31'55.6"N, 91°07'25.5"E). The polyvariance of individual development, the ontogenetic structure of CP, the type of the ontogenetic spectrum of CP, the type of CP, the ecological and average density of CP, demographic parameters (recovery index, aging index, efficiency and age indexes, the rate of population development) were analyzed (Uranov, 1975; Tsenopopulatsii…, 1976, 1988; Zhukova, 1995; Zhivotovsky, 2001). The variability of population traits in different years of the study (2012 and 2021) was analyzed in the CP in the sandy steppe. Spearman’s correlogram was used to study the interrelationships between the traits of coenopopulations and environmental conditions.In this research we revealed that a bimodal type of the ontogenetic spectrum with an absolute maximum on individuals of the young generative state (44.1%) is formed in the CP located in the sandy steppe. According to the peculiarities of the T. mongolicus development in the conditions of sandy steppes, the accumulation of individuals of a young generative state is associated with intensive vegetative reproduction. It was also revealed that their number increases with an increase in the amount of precipitation during the growing season, the height of the snow cover and the projective cover of the herbage. Due to increased competition for environmental resources, later on there is a rapid transition of young generative individuals to the old generative state, a second maximum is formed in the right part of the spectrum. The bimodal type of the ontogenetic spectrum is also formed in the CP located in the conditions of a petrophytic community on a steep slope (angle 40°) with a mobile rocky substrate. Virginal and young generative individuals accumulate in almost equal numbers (26.3% and 25.4%, respectively). Statistical analysis shows a relationship between the slope steepness and a high proportion of individuals of vegetative origin, and on the contrary, the number of individuals of seed origin is in inverse relation to the slope steepness. Ramets are characterized by low viability, they quickly pass into a subsenile state. In the CP in the conditions of a steppified meadow community, a left-sided type of the ontogenetic spectrum is formed. The maximum in the spectrum is accounted for young generative individuals. A strong positive relationship was revealed between the number of young individuals and such factors as the amount of precipitation during the growing season, leveled relief, static soil substrate, snow cover height, total projective cover of the herbage.It is established that fluctuations occurring in different years in the CP located in the sandy steppe are expressed in the alternation of the processes of aging (in 2012) and rejuvenation (in 2021). The rejuvenation of the CP in 2021 occurs due to intensive particulation in young and mature generative states and coincides with a more favorable humidification regime. In addition, there is a decrease in ecological and average density due to a decrease in the proportion of old individuals over the past 10 years.The revealed changes in the characteristics of coenopopulations due to the peculiarities of the development of individuals in specific habitat conditions should be considered as organismic and populational adaptation mechanisms that support the stable state of T. mongolicus coenopopulations in Tuva.

Abstract. Many European countries rely on groundwater for public and industrial water supply. Due to a scarcity of near-real-time water table depth (wtd) observations, establishing a spatially consistent groundwater monitoring system at the continental scale is a challenge. Hence, it is necessary to develop alternative methods for estimating wtd anomalies (wtda) using other hydrometeorological observations routinely available near real time. In this work, we explore the potential of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks for producing monthly wtda using monthly precipitation anomalies (pra) as input. LSTM networks are a special category of artificial neural networks that are useful for detecting a long-term dependency within sequences, in our case time series, which is expected in the relationship between pra and wtda. In the proposed methodology, spatiotemporally continuous data were obtained from daily terrestrial simulations of the Terrestrial Systems Modeling Platform (TSMP) over Europe (hereafter termed the TSMP-G2A data set), with a spatial resolution of 0.11∘, ranging from the years 1996 to 2016. The data were separated into a training set (1996–2012), a validation set (2013–2014), and a test set (2015–2016) to establish local networks at selected pixels across Europe. The modeled wtda maps from LSTM networks agreed well with TSMP-G2A wtda maps on spatially distributed dry and wet events, with 2003 and 2015 constituting drought years over Europe. Moreover, we categorized the test performances of the networks based on intervals of yearly averaged wtd, evapotranspiration (ET), soil moisture (θ), snow water equivalent (Sw), soil type (St), and dominant plant functional type (PFT). Superior test performance was found at the pixels with wtd < 3 m, ET > 200 mm, θ>0.15 m3 m−3, and Sw<10 mm, revealing a significant impact of the local factors on the ability of the networks to process information. Furthermore, results of the cross-wavelet transform (XWT) showed a change in the temporal pattern between TSMP-G2A pra and wtda at some selected pixels, which can be a reason for undesired network behavior. Our results demonstrate that LSTM networks are useful for producing high-quality wtda based on other hydrometeorological data measured and predicted at large scales, such as pra. This contribution may facilitate the establishment of an effective groundwater monitoring system over Europe that is relevant to water management.

Weather and climate are important factors deciding the growth of any crop. Meteorologists and seed technologist view the weather as a dominant element influencing yield and acreage behaviour of crops. The meteorological inputs, unlike other inputs such as land, labour, high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. is a direct input in seed production. The functional relationship between weather and yield is as much complicated as the term ‘weather’ itself. Occurrence of abnormal weather episodes during the growing season or during critical development stages may hamper growth processes resulting in yield reduction. Optimum temperature is the balanced heat requirement for the crop since lower or higher temperature results in abnormal effect of the crop growth. When the temperature goes below the minimum or the base level it is said that the physiology will be reduced or even nil. Similarly, when the temperature goes above the maximum the metabolic activity is enormous leading to the scorching or burning effect. The range of wavelength is a part of electromagnetic spectrum of the radiant energy which includes short wave, x-rays and g rays, long radio waves. The electromagnetic spectrum comprises of U-V, visible, IR wavelength which together transmits 90% of energy. Precipitation in any forms say rainfall, snow, fog, mist, dew, etc is important for the crop growth in relation to the seed production. Because the requirement of water for a plant growth is fulfilled naturally by precipitation. However, the effect is more contemplated in tropical countries like India. Amount of water vapour present in the atmosphere at a given time to the same atmosphere under saturation is termed as relative humidity. The VPD namely Vapour Pressure Deficit which is the difference between the pressure exerted by an atmosphere at a given condition to the same at atmosphere at hundred per cent saturation. That means the VPD is the prime cause for the transpiration of the crop plants. Seed production in efficient manner is a challenge in today’s context in correlation to weather parameters. The sowing window is to be adjusted accordingly so that all the growth phases coincides with favourable weather conditions and the crop is having an opportunity to produce quality seeds. The farm shall have wind breaks and shelter belts to enable suitable microclimate for crop production. Weather cannot be changed but managed by knowing before its occurrence termed as weather forecasting.

Positive and negative actions of man in relation to the environment didn’t appear suddenly. They are based on historical or rather genetic conditioning. Therefore, in order to understand the causes of certain processes or specific actions and formulate the right strategy for the sustainable development of mankind, you need to look into the past, trace the evolution of its relationship with the environment, understand the motivation for the corresponding behavior at different stages of the formation of society. Speaking about Ukraine, we note that already at the time of the Zaporizhzhya Troops they began not only to command landscape units, but also to restore their natural state. There is authoritative evidence that «in the famous Zaporizhzhya Sich» «steppe afforestation» was already practiced, for which, by special order («special orders were issued»), seedlings of forest plants were even grown and there was already a definite system of plantations for «forest and fruit trees». After the liquidation of the Zaporizhzhya Sich, secret distribution of land to private individuals began. Further, the all-encompassing plowing of the steppe, the destruction of forests and shrubs (the latter under the common name «blackthorns» in places rose up to the watersheds). The consequences of managing with the almost complete destruction of the natural state of the land manifested itself very quickly: low groundwater began, and hence the depletion of springs, dried up steppes and rivers. The first attempts to resist the above changes in the landscapes of Stepnaya Ukraine were intuitive. I.A. Danilevsky in 1804 p. over Siversky Donets planted more than 1000 acres of pine. The invention of world significance was the idea of creating forest belts V.Ya. Lomikovsky: in 1809 p. he planted their fields with them (Mirgorod district) and had stable and high yields. Since 1831 p. in the Katerinoslav province, the sands began to be fastened with shrubs of the shelva (acutifoliate willow) along the Volcha river. In 1843 p. the first steppe state forestry in the Russian Empire was founded (the village of Velikoanadol), and near the village of Velikomikhaylovka (the modern Pokrovsky district of the Dnipropetrovsk region) in 1858 Dibrivskoye lesnichestvo was founded. Despite these and other positive phenomena, in the 19th century they continued to destroy forests and plow up still untouched pieces of steppe or meadows. The result was massive soil erosion, the extreme manifestations of which are the formation of ravines, black storms and a number of lean years. The worst crop failure in the 19th century happened in 1891, covering the entire steppe zone of the Russian Empire. Only after that, the government allocated money for scientific research that could solve existing problems. Created expedition led by V.V. Dokuchaev, visiting the steppe regions, proposed a number of appropriate measures. But even after this change for the better did not occur immediately. In 1933 p. A.L. Belgard founded the Department of Geobotany at Dnepropetrovsk State University (DSU). The main motive for its creation is the development of a theoretical base for forest growing in the steppe zone. Later, for the same purpose, he founded the comprehensive expedition of the Dagestan State University, which covered with its research the space from the north of the Dnipropetrovsk region to the Kherson region and from the Rostov region to Moldova. However, it should be noted that the expedition as V.V. Dokuchaev and A.L. Belgard, their efforts were directed not only to the woody, but also to the grassy component of the medium. The recommendations of the first of them mention, among other things, the need to «use grassy vegetation for snow retention and erosion control» of the soil. A.L. Belgarde, exploring the steppe forests from different angles, also paid constant attention to grassy groups, urging to save the steppe virgin lands from further plowing. Immunity is also necessary because, he stressed, some species have found their ecological niche in this way. By destroying it, such taxa can be lost. Untouched steppe or meadow plots with undisturbed turf are a natural standard and model for recreation. Therefore, environmental stabilization of the environment is not possible without the presence of steppe plant groups. If not ideal, then the best option for the country’s landscape design should include nature reserves (such as Khomutovskaya Steppe or Askania-Nova), located uniformly 1-2 or more in the administrative region, but united by a dense network of tree, shrub and grass systems which do not open wide and directly contact with other untouchable areas (national parks, state reserves, natural monuments, «mini-reserves» of local subordination, etc.). Given the continuous plowing of zonal open spaces, to create new reserves it is necessary to remove the territory from agricultural use, as is already done on the island of Khortytsya (Zaporizhzhia). At the same time, it is necessary to recreate the steppe vegetation, taking into account the methods and experience already tested and successfully applied in Ukraine in the Donetsk Botanical Garden, the Steppe Department of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden and in Askania Nova. Hence, considering historical achievements in the field of nature conservation in Ukraine, it can be argued that in the 21st century, society entered, despite the well-known collisions, sufficiently prepared for further progress in relation to the environment, probably not least because of the genetically inherited the specifics of perception of reality of the natural environment.

This paper is meant to study the apocalyptic scenario of the at the perspectives of the Great Acceleration. the apocalyptic scenario is not a pure imagination of the literature works. Instead, scientific evidences are in favour of dramatic change in the climatic conditions related to the climax of Man actions. the modelling of the future climate leads to horrible situations including intolerable temperatures, dryness, tornadoes, and noticeable sear level rise evading coastal regions. Going far from these scientific claims, Homo Sapiens Sapiens extended his imagination through the Climate-Fiction (cli-fi) to propose a dramatic end. Climate Fiction is developed into a recording machine containing every kind of fictions that depict environmental condition events and has consequently lost its true significance. Introduction The Great Acceleration may be considered as the Late Anthropocene in which Man actions reached their climax to lead to dramatic climatic changes paving the way for a possible apocalyptic scenario threatening the existence of the humanity. So, the apocalyptic scenario is not a pure imagination of the literature works. Instead, many scientific arguments especially related to climate change are in favour of the apocalypse1. As a matter of fact, the modelling of the future climate leads to horrible situations including intolerable temperatures (In 06/07/2021, Kuwait recorded the highest temperature of 53.2 °C), dryness, tornadoes, and noticeable sear level rise evading coastal regions. These conditions taking place during the Great Acceleration would have direct repercussions on the human species. Considering that the apocalyptic extinction had really caused the disappearance of many stronger species including dinosaurs, Homo Sapiens Sapiens extended his imagination though the Climate-Fiction (cli-fi) to propose a dramatic end due to severe climate conditions intolerable by the humankind. The mass extinction of animal species has occurred several times over the geological ages. Researchers have a poor understanding of the causes and processes of these major crises1. Nonetheless, whatever the cause of extinction, the apocalyptic scenario has always been present in the geological history. For example, dinosaurs extinction either by asteroids impact or climate changes could by no means denies the apocalyptic aspect2.At the same time as them, many animal and plant species became extinct, from marine or flying reptiles to marine plankton. This biological crisis of sixty-five million years ago is not the only one that the biosphere has suffered. It was preceded and followed by other crises which caused the extinction or the rarefaction of animal species. So, it is undeniable that many animal groups have disappeared. It is even on the changes of fauna that the geologists of the last century have based themselves to establish the scale of geological times, scale which is still used. But it is no less certain that the extinction processes, extremely complex, are far from being understood. We must first agree on the meaning of the word "extinction", namely on the apocalyptic aspect of the concept. It is quite understood that, without disappearances, the evolution of species could not have followed its course. Being aware that the apocalyptic extinction had massacred stronger species that had dominated the planet, Homo Sapiens Sapiens has been aware that the possibility of apocalyptic end at the perspective of the Anthropocene (i.e., Great Acceleration) could not be excluded. This conviction is motivated by the progressive defaunation in some regions3and the appearance of alien species in others related to change of mineralogy and geochemistry4 leading to a climate change during the Anthropocene. These scientific claims fed the vast imagination about climate change to set the so-called cli-fi. The concept of the Anthropocene is the new geological era which begins when the Man actions have reached a sufficient power to modify the geological processes and climatic cycles of the planet5. The Anthropocene by no means excludes the possibility of an apocalyptic horizon, namely in the perspectives of the Great Acceleration. On the contrary, two scenarios do indeed seem to dispute the future of the Anthropocene, with a dramatic cross-charge. The stories of the end of the world are as old as it is, as the world is the origin of these stories. However, these stories of the apocalypse have evolved over time and, since the beginning of the 19th century, they have been nourished particularly by science and its advances. These fictions have sometimes tried to pass themselves off as science. This is the current vogue, called collapsology6. This end is more than likely cli-fi driven7and it may cause the extinction of the many species including the Homo Sapiens Sapiens. In this vein, Anthropocene defaunation has become an ultimate reality8. More than one in eight birds, more than one in five mammals, more than one in four coniferous species, one in three amphibians are threatened. The hypothesis of a hierarchy within the living is induced by the error of believing that evolution goes from the simplest to the most sophisticated, from the inevitably stupid inferior to the superior endowed with an intelligence giving prerogative to all powers. Evolution goes in all directions and pursues no goal except the extension of life on Earth. Evolution certainly does not lead from bacteria to humans, preferably male and white. Our species is only a carrier of the DNA that precedes us and that will survive us. Until we show a deep respect for the biosphere particularly, and our planet in general, we will not become much, we will remain a predator among other predators, the fiercest of predators, the almighty craftsman of the Anthropocene. To be in the depths of our humanity, somehow giving back to the biosphere what we have taken from it seems obvious. To stop the sixth extinction of species, we must condemn our anthropocentrism and the anthropization of the territories that goes with it. The other forms of life also need to keep their ecological niches. According to the first, humanity seems at first to withdraw from the limits of the planet and ultimately succumb to them, with a loss of dramatic meaning. According to the second, from collapse to collapse, it is perhaps another humanity, having overcome its demons, that could come. Climate fiction is a literary sub-genre dealing with the theme of climate change, including global warming. The term appears to have been first used in 2008 by blogger and writer Dan Bloom. In October 2013, Angela Evancie, in a review of the novel Odds against Tomorrow, by Nathaniel Rich, wonders if climate change has created a new literary genre. Scientific basis of the apocalyptic scenario in the perspective of the Anthropocene Global warming All temperature indices are in favour of a global warming (Fig.1). According to the different scenarios of the IPCC9, the temperatures of the globe could increase by 2 °C to 5 °C by 2100. But some scientists warn about a possible runaway of the warming which can reach more than 3 °C. Thus, the average temperature on the surface of the globe has already increased by more than 1.1 °C since the pre-industrial era. The rise in average temperatures at the surface of the globe is the first expected and observed consequence of massive greenhouse gas emissions. However, meteorological surveys record positive temperature anomalies which are confirmed from year to year compared to the temperatures recorded since the middle of the 19th century. Climatologists point out that the past 30 years have seen the highest temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere for over 1,400 years. Several climatic centres around the world record, synthesize and follow the evolution of temperatures on Earth. Since the beginning of the 20th century (1906-2005), the average temperature at the surface of the globe has increased by 0.74 °C, but this progression has not been continuous since 1976, the increase has clearly accelerated, reaching 0.19 °C per decade according to model predictions. Despite the decline in solar activity, the period 1997-2006 is marked by an average positive anomaly of 0.53 °C in the northern hemisphere and 0.27 °C in the southern hemisphere, still compared to the normal calculated for 1961-1990. The ten hottest years on record are all after 1997. Worse, 14 of the 15 hottest years are in the 21st century, which has barely started. Thus, 2016 is the hottest year, followed closely by 2015, 2014 and 2010. The temperature of tropical waters increased by 1.2 °C during the 20th century (compared to 0.5 °C on average for the oceans), causing coral reefs to bleach in 1997. In 1998, the period of Fort El Niño, the prolonged warming of the water has destroyed half of the coral reefs of the Indian Ocean. In addition, the temperature in the tropics of the five ocean basins, where cyclones form, increased by 0.5 °C from 1970 to 2004, and powerful cyclones appeared in the North Atlantic in 2005, while they were more numerous in other parts of the world. Recently, mountains of studies focused on the possible scenario of climate change and the potential worldwide repercussions including hell temperatures and apocalyptic extreme events10 , 11, 12. Melting of continental glaciers As a direct result of the global warming, melting of continental glaciers has been recently noticed13. There are approximately 198,000 mountain glaciers in the world; they cover an area of approximately 726,000 km2. If they all melted, the sea level would rise by about 40 cm. Since the late 1960s, global snow cover has declined by around 10 to 15%. Winter cold spells in much of the northern half of the northern hemisphere are two weeks shorter than 100 years ago. Glaciers of mountains have been declining all over the world by an average of 50 m per decade for 150 years. However, they are also subject to strong multi-temporal variations which make forecasts on this point difficult according to some specialists. In the Alps, glaciers have been losing 1 meter per year for 30 years. Polar glaciers like those of Spitsbergen (about a hundred km from the North Pole) have been retreating since 1880, releasing large quantities of water. The Arctic has lost about 10% of its permanent ice cover every ten years since 1980. In this region, average temperatures have increased at twice the rate of elsewhere in the world in recent decades. The melting of the Arctic Sea ice has resulted in a loss of 15% of its surface area and 40% of its thickness since 1979. The record for melting arctic sea ice was set in 2017. All models predict the disappearance of the Arctic Sea ice in summer within a few decades, which will not be without consequences for the climate in Europe. The summer melting of arctic sea ice accelerated far beyond climate model predictions. Added to its direct repercussions of coastal regions flooding, melting of continental ice leads to radical climatic modifications in favour of the apocalyptic scenario. Fig.1 Evolution of temperature anomaly from 1880 to 2020: the apocalyptic scenario Sea level rise As a direct result of the melting of continental glaciers, sea level rise has been worldwide recorded14 ,15. The average level of the oceans has risen by 22 cm since 1880 and 2 cm since the year 2000 because of the melting of the glaciers but also with the thermal expansion of the water. In the 20th century, the sea level rose by around 2 mm per year. From 1990 to 2017, it reached the relatively constant rate of just over 3mm per year. Several sources contributed to sea level increase including thermal expansion of water (42%), melting of continental glaciers (21%), melting Greenland glaciers (15%) and melting Antarctic glaciers (8%). Since 2003, there has always been a rapid rise (around 3.3 mm / year) in sea level, but the contribution of thermal expansion has decreased (0.4 mm / year) while the melting of the polar caps and continental glaciers accelerates. Since most of the world’s population is living on coastal regions, sea level rise represents a real threat for the humanity, not excluding the apocalyptic scenario. Multiplication of extreme phenomena and climatic anomalies On a human scale, an average of 200 million people is affected by natural disasters each year and approximately 70,000 perish from them. Indeed, as evidenced by the annual reviews of disasters and climatic anomalies, we are witnessing significant warning signs. It is worth noting that these observations are dependent on meteorological survey systems that exist only in a limited number of countries with statistics that rarely go back beyond a century or a century and a half. In addition, scientists are struggling to represent the climatic variations of the last two thousand years which could serve as a reference in the projections. Therefore, the exceptional nature of this information must be qualified a little. Indeed, it is still difficult to know the return periods of climatic disasters in each region. But over the last century, the climate system has gone wild. Indeed, everything suggests that the climate is racing. Indeed, extreme events and disasters have become more frequent. For instance, less than 50 significant events were recorded per year over the period 1970-1985, while there have been around 120 events recorded since 1995. Drought has long been one of the most worrying environmental issues. But while African countries have been the main affected so far, the whole world is now facing increasingly frequent and prolonged droughts. Chile, India, Australia, United States, France and even Russia are all regions of the world suffering from the acceleration of the global drought. Droughts are slowly evolving natural hazards that can last from a few months to several decades and affect larger or smaller areas, whether they are small watersheds or areas of hundreds of thousands of square kilometres. In addition to their direct effects on water resources, agriculture and ecosystems, droughts can cause fires or heat waves. They also promote the proliferation of invasive species, creating environments with multiple risks, worsening the consequences on ecosystems and societies, and increasing their vulnerability. Although these are natural phenomena, there is a growing understanding of how humans have amplified the severity and impacts of droughts, both on the environment and on people. We influence meteorological droughts through our action on climate change, and we influence hydrological droughts through our management of water circulation and water processes at the local scale, for example by diverting rivers or modifying land use. During the Anthropocene (the present period when humans exert a dominant influence on climate and environment), droughts are closely linked to human activities, cultures, and responses. From this scientific overview, it may be concluded apocalyptic scenario is not only a literature genre inspired from the pure imagination. Instead, many scientific arguments are in favour of this dramatic destiny of Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Fig.2. Sea level rise from 1880 to 2020: a possible apocalyptic scenario (www.globalchange.gov, 2021) Apocalyptic genre in recent writing As the original landmark of apocalyptic writing, we must place the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 587 BC and the Exile in Babylon. Occasion of a religious and cultural crossing with imprescriptible effects, the Exile brought about a true rebirth, characterized by the maintenance of the essential ethical, even cultural, of a national religion, that of Moses, kept as pure as possible on a foreign land and by the reinterpretation of this fundamental heritage by the archaic return of what was very old, both national traditions and neighbouring cultures. More precisely, it was the place and time for the rehabilitation of cultures and the melting pot for recasting ancient myths. This vast infatuation with Antiquity, remarkable even in the vocabulary used, was not limited to Israel: it even largely reflected a general trend. The long period that preceded throughout the 7th century BC and until 587, like that prior to the edict of Cyrus in 538 BC, was that of restorations and rebirths, of returns to distant sources and cultural crossings. In the biblical literature of this period, one is struck by the almost systematic link between, on the one hand, a very sustained mythical reinvestment even in form and, on the other, the frequent use of biblical archaisms. The example of Shadday, a word firmly rooted in the Semites of the Northwest and epithet of El in the oldest layers of the books of Genesis and Exodus, is most eloquent. This term reappears precisely at the time of the Exile as a designation of the divinity of the Patriarchs and of the God of Israel; Daily, ecological catastrophes now describe the normal state of societies exposed to "risks", in the sense that Ulrich Beck gives to this term: "the risk society is a society of catastrophe. The state of emergency threatens to become a normal state there1”. Now, the "threat" has become clearer, and catastrophic "exceptions" are proliferating as quickly as species are disappearing and climate change is accelerating. The relationship that we have with this worrying reality, to say the least, is twofold: on the one hand, we know very well what is happening to us; on the other hand, we fail to draw the appropriate theoretical and political consequences. This ecological duplicity is at the heart of what has come to be called the “Anthropocene”, a term coined at the dawn of the 21st century by Eugene Stoermer (an environmentalist) and Paul Crutzen (a specialist in the chemistry of the atmosphere) in order to describe an age when humanity would have become a "major geological force" capable of disrupting the climate and changing the terrestrial landscape from top to bottom. If the term “Anthropocene” takes note of human responsibility for climate change, this responsibility is immediately attributed to overpowering: strong as we are, we have “involuntarily” changed the climate for at least two hundred and fifty years. Therefore, let us deliberately change the face of the Earth, if necessary, install a solar shield in space. Recognition and denial fuel the signifying machine of the Anthropocene. And it is precisely what structures eco-apocalyptic cinema that this article aims to study. By "eco-apocalyptic cinema", we first mean a cinematographic sub-genre: eco-apocalyptic and post-eco-apocalyptic films base the possibility (or reality) of the end of the world on environmental grounds and not, for example, on damage caused by the possible collision of planet Earth with a comet. Post-apocalyptic science fiction (sometimes abbreviated as "post-apo" or "post-nuke") is a sub-genre of science fiction that depicts life after a disaster that destroyed civilization: nuclear war, collision with a meteorite, epidemic, economic or energy crisis, pandemic, alien invasion. Conclusion Climate and politics have been linked together since Aristotle. With Montesquieu, Ibn Khaldûn or Watsuji, a certain climatic determinism is attributed to the character of a nation. The break with modernity made the climate an object of scientific knowledge which, in the twentieth century, made it possible to document, despite the controversies, the climatic changes linked to industrialization. Both endanger the survival of human beings and ecosystems. Climate ethics are therefore looking for a new relationship with the biosphere or Gaia. For some, with the absence of political agreements, it is the beginning of inevitable catastrophes. For others, the Anthropocene, which henceforth merges human history with natural history, opens onto technical action. The debate between climate determinism and human freedom is revived. The reference to the biblical Apocalypse was present in the thinking of thinkers like Günther Anders, Karl Jaspers or Hans Jonas: the era of the atomic bomb would mark an entry into the time of the end, a time marked by the unprecedented human possibility of 'total war and annihilation of mankind. The Apocalypse will be very relevant in describing the chaos to come if our societies continue their mad race described as extra-activist, productivist and consumerist. In dialogue with different theologians and philosophers (such as Jacques Ellul), it is possible to unveil some spiritual, ethical, and political resources that the Apocalypse offers for thinking about History and human engagement in the Anthropocene. What can a theology of collapse mean at a time when negative signs and dead ends in the human situation multiply? What then is the place of man and of the cosmos in the Apocalypse according to Saint John? Could the end of history be a collapse? How can we live in the time we have left before the disaster? Answers to such questions remain unknown and no scientist can predict the trajectory of this Great Acceleration taking place at the Late Anthropocene. When science cannot give answers, Man tries to infer his destiny for the legend, religion and the fiction. Climate Fiction is developed into a recording machine containing every kind of fictions that depict environmental condition events and has consequently lost its true significance. Aware of the prospect of ecological collapse additionally as our apparent inability to avert it, we tend to face geology changes of forceful proportions that severely challenge our ability to imagine the implications. Climate fiction ought to be considered an important supplement to climate science, as a result, climate fiction makes visible and conceivable future modes of existence inside worlds not solely deemed seemingly by science, however that area unit scientifically anticipated. 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Abstract Based on field studies of the snow cover and systematization and analysis of scientific data and technical literature data, the distributions of fluorine, sodium, and lithium, as elements included in the raw materials used for aluminum production, in the snow cover in areas proximal to Siberian aluminum smelters were considered. The results showed that the changes in concentrations of fluorine, sodium, and lithium in the snow cover near various plants have the same dispersion pattern, which can be described by an exponential relationship. Exponential relationships of diminishing concentration with distance from the emission source had high correlation coefficients. From the examples established by these relationships, an assumption was made that the behavior of these aerosols in the atmosphere is determined by the general physical and chemical properties, irrespective of the technologies and natural climatic regions of the plant locations. It is suggested that deposition of aerosols from industrial aluminium production can be achieved at a minimum distance from the plants or within the plant area through particle enlargement by various technological methods in aluminium production or by changing the atmospheric scattering capacity.