The changes caused by the climate crisis—such as its impact on rainfall and rising temperatures—are stressful for plants in both wild and agricultural environments. A special issue of the journal Science brings together five articles reviewing this issue, including the adaptations that plants can adopt and that could be applied to combat it.
Atmospheric evaporative demand is a measure of the atmosphere's ability to extract moisture from the soil and influences the availability of water on the Earth's surface. An international team has analysed global drought data from 1901 to 2022 and found that this demand has contributed to a 40% increase in drought severity since 1981. Furthermore, this trend is accelerating and will most likely continue due to climate change, according to the authors. The results are published in the journal Nature.
An international research project involving Spanish participation has analysed the distribution of brown bears in Europe and Turkey. To do this, the team studied more than three million locations belonging to some 3,000 bears, with data from 14 European and Turkish subpopulations in very different environments. The main conclusion is that bears occupy areas where the species that form part of their diet are distributed. The study, published in Global Change Biology, shows that the influence of climate change on these species also has an impact on the distribution of bears.
An international study, published in Science, has found that only 24% of the current glacier mass would be maintained if the world were to warm to 2.7°C, the trajectory set by current climate policies. In contrast, limiting warming to 1.5°C - the Paris Agreement target - would preserve 54% of the glacier mass.
Migratory birds are particularly affected by the climatic, ecological and urban changes resulting from the constantly changing world in which we live. Their survival is at risk, as are the ecosystems in which they live. We analyse the threats they face on a cyclical basis during their migratory routes and why it is important to protect them.
Suffering climate change-related disasters is associated with a cumulative deterioration in mental health, meaning that the effects are exacerbated by successive events, according to an Australian study. The research, published in The Lancet Public Health, is based on longitudinal data from 2009 to 2019 on 5,000 people who suffered damage to their homes after at least one disaster (flood, wildfire, or cyclone).
An international team has analyzed the sudden changes in temperature that occurred in the world between 1961 and 2023. Their conclusions are that more than 60% of the regions included in the analysis - including Western Europe - have experienced an increase in the frequency and intensity of these sudden changes, which can endanger health, agriculture or infrastructures. Moreover, the trend will continue to rise as a result of climate change. The results are published in the journal Nature Communications.
The year 2024 was the warmest year in Europe, with record temperatures in almost half of the continent, according to the European State of the Climate 2024, published by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The report highlights 2024 as one of the ten wettest years since 1950 and estimates that storms and floods affected 413,000 people in Europe and at least 335 people lost their lives.
A study reveals that most of the carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbed by ecosystems has been stored in dead plant material, soils and sediments, and not in living biomass. These data, which suggest that terrestrial carbon reserves are more resistant and stable than previously believed, are crucial for designing future climate change mitigation strategies and optimising carbon sequestration efforts. The findings are published in the journal Science.
Despite the overwhelming evidence, climate change denialist messages have found a loudspeaker in certain social networks. Of importance in this disinformation strategy is the attempt to discredit the scientific community in general, and climate researchers and weather forecasters in particular. However, the study of climate and the prediction and monitoring of adverse weather phenomena is in the interest of society as a whole.