Explore the vast range of titles available.

Background In Ireland, rising temperatures remains the climate projection that national climate scientists associate with the highest degree of confidence. However, the health challenge of heat has been largely absent from Ireland’s public health sector. This is epitomised by the lack of a comprehensive public health-focused heat-health action plan or country-specific codes of practice for heat-health when working outdoors. Our objective is to highlight the anticipated heat-health challenges in Ireland, and other temperate regions, through analysing vulnerable groups and systems, reinforcing the need to respond. Methods A scoping literature review was conducted to determine how heat affects health of the vulnerable in temperate climatic regions, with a focus on Ireland. Additionally, national Google Trends data was coarsely analysed to determine whether heat is a growing societal concern. Results and discussion The heat-vulnerable include: older people; chronically ill; infants, pregnant women, children; outdoor workers; socio-economically disadvantaged; urban dwellers; food systems and the health sector. Google Trends data suggest an increase in heat-related health searches over time, demonstrating rising levels of concern to temperature increases, reinforcing a gap in national policy associated with communication of, and response to, the heat-health challenge. Specific, actionable recommendations for adaptation and mitigation strategies are proposed. Conclusion Heat poses a public and occupational health challenge, receiving limited attention in Ireland. Lack of a co-ordinated effort, places vulnerable populations at risk. Our recommendations, with reference to vulnerable groups and acknowledging the multi-sectoral nature of heat-health and climate change, advocate for the adoption of a “health and climate change in all policies” approach and the development of a public health-focused heat-health action plan.

Reliable rainfall prediction is essential for effective climate adaptation yet remains challenging due to complex atmospheric interactions that vary across regions. This study investigates next-day rainfall predictability in tropical and temperate climates using daily atmospheric data—including pressure, temperature, dew point, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction—collected from topographically similar sites in Alor Setar (tropical) and Vercelli, Williams, and Ashburton (temperate) between 2012 and 2015. Logistic regression and random forest models were used to predict rainfall occurrence as a binary outcome. Key variables were identified using Wald’s statistics and p-values in the logistic regression models, while the random forest models relied on mean decrease accuracy for ranking variable importance. The results reveal that rainfall in temperate climates is significantly more predictable than in tropical regions, with the Williams model demonstrating the highest accuracy. Atmospheric pressure consistently emerged as the dominant predictor in temperate regions but was not significant in the tropical model, reflecting the greater atmospheric variability and complexity in tropical rainfall mechanisms. Crucially, the study highlights that as global warming continues to alter temperate climate patterns—bringing increased variability and more convective rainfall—these regions may experience the same predictive uncertainties currently observed in tropical climates. These findings underscore the urgency of developing robust, climate-specific rainfall prediction models that account for changing atmospheric dynamics, with critical implications for weather forecasting, disaster preparedness, and climate resilience planning.

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most dangerous metabolic diseases. The incidence of this disease continues to increase and is often associated with severe complications. Plants and natural plant products with a healing effect have been successfully used in the treatment of many disease entities since the beginning of the history of herbalism and medicine. At present, great emphasis is placed on the biodiversity of crops and the replacement of the monoculture production system of popular temperate climate plants, such as apple, pear, plum, and vine, with alternative fruit species. Very promising fruit plants are Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas); mulberry (Morus alba); bird cherry (Prunus padus); sour cherry (Prunus cerasus); plants of the genus Amelanchier, Sorbus, and Crategus; medlar (Mespilus germanica); quince (Cydonia oblonga); plants of the genus Vaccinium; and wild roses. When promoting the cultivation of alternative fruit-bearing plants, it is worth emphasizing their beneficial effects on health. This systematic review indicates that the antidiabetic effect of various parts of fruit plants is attributed to the presence of polyphenols, especially anthocyanins, which have different mechanisms of antidiabetic action and can be used in the treatment of diabetes and various complications associated with this disease.

Precipitation‐induced landslides, which are predicted to increase under the changing climate, may have large impacts on insect community properties. However, understanding of how insect community properties shift following landslides remains limited because replicated research involving landslides, which are large‐scale disturbances with stochastic natural causes, is difficult. To tackle this issue, we conducted a large‐scale field experiment by artificially causing landslides at multiple sites. We established 12 landslide sites, each 35 m × 35 m, and 6 undisturbed sites in both planted and natural forests and collected ground‐dwelling beetles 1 year later. We found that forest type (i.e., pre‐disturbance vegetation) did not affect the structure of a ground‐dwelling beetle community disturbed by a landslide (landslide community), but the structure of an undisturbed community was affected by forest type. Moreover, the structures of landslide and undisturbed communities were completely different, possibly because landslides create harsh environments that act as an ecological filter. Thus, a niche‐selection process may have a critical role in community assembly at landslide sites. There were no significant differences in species diversity between undisturbed and landslide communities, suggesting that landslides to not reduce species richness overall. However, among‐site variability in species composition was much greater at landslide sites than at undisturbed sites. This result suggests that stochastic colonization predominated at the landslide sites more than undisturbed sites. Synthesis and applications. Overall, our results suggest that both deterministic and stochastic processes are critical in community assembly, at least in the early post‐landslide stage. Our large‐scale manipulative field experiment with replications has thus resulted in new insights into biological community properties after a landslide. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a large‐scale field experiment by artificially causing landslides at multiple sites to examine initial insect diversity responses before plant vegetation recover. We found that among‐site variability was significantly large in response to the landslide treatment and that both deterministic and stochastic processes are critical in community assembly, at least in the early post‐landslide stage. Our large‐scale manipulative field experiment with multiple replicates has thus resulted in new insights into biological community properties after a landslide.

Abstract The overlap region between the eastern fringe of the Asian westerly region and the temperate continental-monsoon climate transition zone is sensitive to climate changes and is characterized by fragile ecosystems. Uncovering the long-term historical climate variability patterns in this region is necessary. A standardized tree-ring width chronology was constructed based on the tree-ring samples collected from four representative tree species in four typical areas in the overlap region, and the 203- to 343-year annual mean minimum temperature series in the overlap region were reconstructed. The reconstructed series overlapped well with extreme climate events and low-temperature periods recorded in historical data. Therefore, the reconstructed model is stable and reliable. As suggested by the reconstructed series, the annual average minimum temperature in the overlap region changes sharply from east to west, and the periodicity change in the overlap region shows a trend of gradually weakening from the east and west ends to the middle. In the nineteenth century, the high-latitude area was in the high-temperature period, and the entire overlap region experienced significant low-temperature periods lasting 20–45 years until the 1950s. The western part had an earlier low-temperature period start time, a longer cooling duration, and a slower cooling rate than the central part. The overlap region experienced a significant warming period in approximately the last half-century, with temperatures increasing faster in the western and eastern parts than in the central part. The temperature variability in the overlap region was more intense in the last two centuries, with shorter periodicities and a larger proportion of cold periods. The central and western parts of the Asian westerly region, the mid- to high-latitude regions of the transition zone, and the overlap region experienced significant low-temperature periods or drastic cooling trends (the Little Ice Age) in the first half of the nineteenth century and significant warming trends afterwards due to global warming. The influences of these changes may have been exacerbated by the westerly circulation. The results of this study provide new insights into the use of dendroclimatology to extract temperature series in the Asian westerly region and the transition zone and a reference for research on global climate change.

Mediterranean-type climates are defined by temperate, wet winters, and hot or warm dry summers and exist at the western edges of five continents in locations determined by the geography of winter storm tracks and summer subtropical anticyclones. The climatology, variability, and long-term changes in winter precipitation in Mediterranean-type climates, and the mechanisms for model-projected near-term future change, are analyzed. Despite commonalities in terms of location in the context of planetary-scale dynamics, the causes of variability are distinct across the regions. Internal atmospheric variability is the dominant source of winter precipitation variability in all Mediterranean-type climate regions, but only in the Mediterranean is this clearly related to annular mode variability. Ocean forcing of variability is a notable influence only for California and Chile. As a consequence, potential predictability of winter precipitation variability in the regions is low. In all regions, the trend in winter precipitation since 1901 is similar to that which arises as a response to changes in external forcing in the models participating in phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. All Mediterranean-type climate regions, except in North America, have dried and the models project further drying over coming decades. In the Northern Hemisphere, dynamical processes are responsible: development of a winter ridge over the Mediterranean that suppresses precipitation and of a trough west of the North American west coast that shifts the Pacific storm track equatorward. In the Southern Hemisphere, mixed dynamic–thermodynamic changes are important that place a minimum in vertically integrated water vapor change at the coast and enhance zonal dry advection into Mediterranean-type climate regions inland.

Vegetation activity and phenology are significantly affected by climate change, and changes in vegetation activity and phenology can in turn affect regional or global climate patterns. As one of the world’s great biomes, temperate grasslands have undergone remarkable changes in recent decades, but the connections between vegetation activity and phenology changes and regional climate there have remained unclear. Using the observation minus reanalysis (OMR) method, this study investigated the possible effects of vegetation activity and vegetation growing season changes on air temperatures in temperate grasslands of China. The results showed that average NDVI of the temperate grassland significantly increased by 0.011 decade−1 for the growing season during 1982–2015. The growing season started earlier and ended later, resulting in an extension. Increased vegetation activity during spring and autumn significantly warmed spring and autumn air temperatures by reducing albedo. By contrast, summer greening had no significant effect on summer temperature, due to the opposing effects of decreased albedo and enhanced evapotranspiration on temperature. The earlier start and later end of the growing season contributed to warmer spring and autumn air temperatures. As phenological changes had no significant effect on summer temperature, the extended growing season warmed air temperature. Our results suggest that the climate change–induced increasing vegetation activity and extended growing seasons can further aggravate regional warming in temperate grasslands of China, implying that the effects of vegetation activity and phenology changes on regional climate should be considered in climate models for accurately simulating climate change in temperate grasslands.

This study aimed to analyze the population dynamics of the mite Varroa destructor in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in a temperate semi-arid climate in Mexico. Ten colonies homogeneous in population, food stores, and levels of mite infestation were used. The mite infestation rate in brood and adult bees, total number of mites, daily mite fall, brood and adult bee population, and food stores were determined periodically for 10 months. There was a significant effect (p < 0.05) of sampling period on the population of V. destructor in adult bees, brood, total mite population, and daily fallen mites. The total mite population increased by 26% on average per colony. The increase in brood amount reduced the mite infestation rate in adult bees, and the opposite occurred when the brood decreased. Monitoring V. destructor populations by recording fallen mites is more reliable than determining mite infestation rates in bees, as mite fall has a dynamic pattern similar to that of the total mite population. The best period to apply an acaricide treatment in the region of study is between November and December because most mites were in the phoretic phase, since there was less brood in the colonies compared to other times.

Karst regions offer a variety of natural resources such as freshwater and biodiversity, and many cultural resources. The World Karst Aquifer Map (WOKAM) is the first detailed and complete global geodatabase concerning the distribution of karstifiable rocks (carbonates and evaporites) representing potential karst aquifers. This study presents a statistical evaluation of WOKAM, focusing entirely on karst in carbonate rocks and addressing four main aspects: (1) global occurrence and geographic distribution of karst; (2) karst in various topographic settings and coastal areas; (3) karst in different climatic zones; and (4) populations living on karst. According to the analysis, 15.2% of the global ice-free continental surface is characterized by the presence of karstifiable carbonate rock. The largest percentage is in Europe (21.8%); the largest absolute area occurs in Asia (8.35 million km2). Globally, 31.1% of all surface exposures of carbonate rocks occur in plains, 28.1% in hills and 40.8% in mountains, and 151,400 km or 15.7% of marine coastlines are characterized by carbonate rocks. About 34.2% of all carbonate rocks occur in arid climates, followed by 28.2% in cold and 15.9% in temperate climates, whereas only 13.1 and 8.6% occur in tropical and polar climates, respectively. Globally, 1.18 billion people (16.5% of the global population) live on karst. The highest absolute number occurs in Asia (661.7 million), whereas the highest percentages are in Europe (25.3%) and North America (23.5%). These results demonstrate the global importance of karst and serve as a basis for further research and international water management strategies.

Public support is fundamental in scaling up actions to limit global warming. Here, we analyse how the experience of climate extremes influences people’s environmental attitudes and willingness to vote for Green parties in Europe. To this end, we combined high-resolution climatological data with regionally aggregated, harmonized Eurobarometer data (34 countries) and European Parliamentary electoral data (28 countries). Our findings show a significant and sizeable effect of temperature anomalies, heat episodes and dry spells on environmental concern and voting for Green parties. The magnitude of the climate effect differs substantially across European regions. It is stronger in regions with a cooler Continental or temperate Atlantic climate and weaker in regions with a warmer Mediterranean climate. The relationships are moderated by regional income level suggesting that climate change experiences increase public support for climate action but only under favourable economic conditions. The findings have important implications for the current efforts to promote climate action in line with the Paris Agreement.Exposure to extreme weather events could increase environmental concerns and support for Green parties. With high-resolution data across European countries, the authors demonstrate the existence of such effect, then further discuss the heterogeneity and possible mechanisms.