Nature Climate Change Contents October 2013 Volume 3 Number 10 pp 849-938

Advertisement Frontiers in Environmental Science is a new, open access journal launching in 2013! We are building world class editorial boards of outstanding scientists like you. We're looking for a Specialist Chief Editor for Interdisciplinary Climate Studies, amongst other key specialities.  Be a part of the future of research publication.  TABLE OF CONTENTS October 2013 Volume 3, Issue 10 Editorial Commentaries News Feature Market Watch Research Highlights News and Views Perspective Review Letters Articles Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   The NatureJournals app  Download the NatureJournals app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Tap in and subscribe to Nature Climate Change via the app for just $49.99*  *Apple exchange rates apply iPhone, iPad and iPad touch are trademarks of Apple Inc   Editorial Top Campaign Climate p849 doi:10.1038/nclimate2023 A well-organized global grassroots campaign for climate protection could eclipse the IPPC in political influence. Commentaries Top Climate protection can learn from the AIDS movement pp850 - 851 Jeremy Brecher and Kevin Fisher doi:10.1038/nclimate1986 Climate protection advocacy can learn from the success of the International AIDS Conference in forging a powerful global movement of scientists, non-governmental organizations and civil society. China's synthetic natural gas revolution pp852 - 854 Chi-Jen Yang and Robert B. Jackson doi:10.1038/nclimate1988 China has recently pushed for investments in large-scale coal-fuelled synthetic natural gas plants. The associated carbon emissions, water needs and wider environmental impacts are, however, mostly neglected and could lock the country into an unsustainable development path. Bias in the attribution of forest carbon sinks pp854 - 856 Karl-Heinz Erb, Thomas Kastner, Sebastiaan Luyssaert, Richard A. Houghton, Tobias Kuemmerle, Pontus Olofsson and Helmut Haberl doi:10.1038/nclimate2004 A substantial fraction of the terrestrial carbon sink, past and present, may be incorrectly attributed to environmental change rather than changes in forest management. News Feature Top Providing aid before climate disasters strike pp857 - 858 Lisa Palmer doi:10.1038/nclimate2016 Human lives can be saved when climate disaster prevention is part of international development aid. Market Watch Top Pipe dream pp859 - 860 Anna Petherick doi:10.1038/nclimate2011 Ecuador's president has called time on the Yasuní–ITT Initiative. Anna Petherick asks what the world can learn from it. Research Highlights Top Ecological Impacts: Biological invaders | Carbon feedbacks: Oscillating in synchrony | Sea-level rise: Sinking sea | Environmental Economics: Living roofs | Decision-making: Participatory planning News and Views Top Mitigation policy: Health co-benefits pp863 - 864 George D. Thurston doi:10.1038/nclimate2013 Efforts to tackle climate change have met significant financial and political barriers that have been difficult to overcome. Research now shows that such measures are justified on grounds other than mitigation of climate change. See also: Letter by J. Jason West et al. Oceanography: Deep ocean freshening pp864 - 865 Nathaniel L. Bindoff and William R. Hobbs doi:10.1038/nclimate2014 The traditional view of the open ocean is that surface waters should change faster and that the deep waters should be relatively stable. Now research shows that the depths of the Southern Ocean are also rapidly freshening and warming, and that these changes are spreading towards the Equator. Carbon Storage: A permafrost carbon bomb? pp865 - 867 Claire C. Treat and Steve Frolking doi:10.1038/nclimate2010 The fate of permafrost soil carbon following thaw depends on hydrology. See also: Letter by Bo Elberling et al. Soil carbon: Microbes and global carbon pp867 - 868 Joshua Schimel doi:10.1038/nclimate2015 The amount of organic material that microbes assimilate into their biomass is critical in regulating whether soils, the planet's main pool of organic matter, will absorb or emit carbon in a warmer world. See also: Letter by William R. Wieder et al. Nature Climate Change JOBS of the week Effects of Climate Change on Tropical Seagrasses The Dead Sea Arava Science Center Climate innovation-driven PhD in enzymology and in silico protein design Prifysgol Aberystwyth University Earth Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in Sustainable Development Earth Institute, Columbia University Plasmon enhanced rare-earth based solar cell converters CEA (French Atomic and Alternative Energies Commission) PhD scholarship in organic materials for organic solar cells The Department of Energy Conversion and Storage at DTU More Science jobs from Nature Climate Change EVENT More science events from Perspective Top Benefits of tree mixes in carbon plantings pp869 - 874 Kristin B. Hulvey, Richard J. Hobbs, Rachel J. Standish, David B. Lindenmayer, Lori Lach and Michael P. Perring doi:10.1038/nclimate1862 Trees can provide a multitude of ecosystem services. The current push to plant trees, motivated by the goal of sequestering carbon, raises the question of how tree diversity affects carbon sequestration and other services offered by afforestation/reforestation projects. This Perspective examines the potential benefits of mixed tree planting over a monoculture approach. Review Top The role of satellite remote sensing in climate change studies pp875 - 883 Jun Yang, Peng Gong, Rong Fu, Minghua Zhang, Jingming Chen, Shunlin Liang, Bing Xu, Jiancheng Shi and Robert Dickinson doi:10.1038/nclimate1908 Satellite remote sensing has advanced the understanding of the climate system in the short period of observations. This study highlights remote sensing discoveries that were not detected by climate models or conventional observations, and suggests future challenges for the robust determination of climate trends. Letters Top Co-benefits of mitigating global greenhouse gas emissions for future air quality and human health pp885 - 889 J. Jason West, Steven J. Smith, Raquel A. Silva, Vaishali Naik, Yuqiang Zhang, Zachariah Adelman, Meridith M. Fry, Susan Anenberg, Larry W. Horowitz and Jean-Francois Lamarque doi:10.1038/nclimate2009 Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions often reduces co-emitted air pollutants, with advantages for human health. Avoided mortality from air pollution, a co-benefit of CO2 abatement, is estimated under global climate change mitigation scenarios to be in the range of US$50–US$380 per tonne of CO2. This exceeds the projected mitigation costs for 2030 and 2050, and is within the lower range of costs expected in 2100. See also: News and Views by George D. Thurston Long-term CO2 production following permafrost thaw pp890 - 894 Bo Elberling, Anders Michelsen, Christina Schädel, Edward A. G. Schuur, Hanne H. Christiansen, Louise Berg, Mikkel P. Tamstorf and Charlotte Sigsgaard doi:10.1038/nclimate1955 The long-term loss of carbon from thawing permafrost in Northeast Greenland is quantified for 1996–2008 by repeated sediment sampling and incubation. Although the active layer has increased by >1 cm per year, there has not been a detectable decline in carbon stocks. Laboratory studies highlight the potential for fast carbon mobilization under aerobic conditions, but indicate that carbon at near-saturated conditions may remain largely immobilized for decades. See also: News and Views by Claire C. Treat and Steve Frolking Observed changes in the albedo of the Arctic sea-ice zone for the period 1982–2009 pp895 - 898 Aku Riihelä, Terhikki Manninen and Vesa Laine doi:10.1038/nclimate1963 Albedo is a key component in the energy budget of the Arctic region, and a thorough understanding of it is essential for climate modelling. An analysis of the changes in Arctic sea-ice from 1982 to 2009 indicates that late summer sea-ice albedo is becoming dimmer. The rate of albedo decrease is shown to be accelerating over the study period. Adapted conservation measures are required to save the Iberian lynx in a changing climate pp899 - 903 D. A. Fordham, H. R. Akçakaya, B. W. Brook, A. Rodríguez, P. C. Alves, E. Civantos, M. Triviño, M. J. Watts and M. B. Araújo doi:10.1038/nclimate1954 The Iberian lynx has suffered severe population declines in the twentieth century. An ecological modelling study that accounts for the effects of climate change, prey availability and management intervention now shows that lynx are likely to become extinct in the wild in the next 50 years. However, a carefully planned reintroduction program could avert extinction this century. Prediction of seasonal climate-induced variations in global food production pp904 - 908 Toshichika Iizumi, Hirofumi Sakuma, Masayuki Yokozawa, Jing-Jia Luo, Andrew J. Challinor, Molly E. Brown, Gen Sakurai and Toshio Yamagata doi:10.1038/nclimate1945 Increasing volatility in food markets and the rising incidence of climatic extremes could lead to more frequent spikes in food prices. A global assessment of the reliability of crop simulations in reproducing past failures in major crop types suggests that seasonal forecasts can be useful for monitoring global food production. Global soil carbon projections are improved by modelling microbial processes pp909 - 912 William R. Wieder, Gordon B. Bonan and Steven D. Allison doi:10.1038/nclimate1951 Earth system models (ESMs) generally have crude representations of the responses of soil carbon responses to changing climate. Now an ESM that explicitly represents microbial soil carbon cycling mechanisms is able to simulate carbon pools that closely match observations. Projections from this model produce a much wider range of soil carbon responses to climate change over the twenty-first century than conventional ESMs. See also: News and Views by Joshua Schimel Coastal habitats shield people and property from sea-level rise and storms pp913 - 918 Katie K. Arkema, Greg Guannel, Gregory Verutes, Spencer A. Wood, Anne Guerry, Mary Ruckelshaus, Peter Kareiva, Martin Lacayo and Jessica M. Silver doi:10.1038/nclimate1944 Extreme weather, rising seas and degraded coastal ecosystems all play a part in escalating the risks that coastal regions are exposed to. Now research into hazards facing the contiguous USA indicates that the likelihood and magnitude of losses can be reduced by intact reefs and coastal vegetation. Global imprint of climate change on marine life pp919 - 925 Elvira S. Poloczanska, Christopher J. Brown, William J. Sydeman, Wolfgang Kiessling, David S. Schoeman, Pippa J. Moore, Keith Brander, John F. Bruno, Lauren B. Buckley, Michael T. Burrows, Carlos M. Duarte, Benjamin S. Halpern, Johnna Holding, Carrie V. Kappel, Mary I. O’Connor, John M. Pandolfi, Camille Parmesan, Franklin Schwing, Sarah Ann Thompson and Anthony J. Richardson doi:10.1038/nclimate1958 Research that combines all available studies of biological responses to regional and global climate change shows that 81–83% of all observations were consistent with the expected impacts of climate change. These findings were replicated across taxa and oceanic basins. Articles Top Attributing the increase in atmospheric CO2 to emitters and absorbers pp926 - 930 P. Ciais, T. Gasser, J. D. Paris, K. Caldeira, M. R. Raupach, J. G. Canadell, A. Patwardhan, P. Friedlingstein, S. L. Piao and V. Gitz doi:10.1038/nclimate1942 There is no single correct procedure for the attribution of responsibility for growth in atmospheric CO2 concentrations because results are closely dependant on how carbon sinks are accounted for and linked to emissions. Now research that uses two different approaches—one assuming geographically constrained sinks and the other unconstrained—unambiguously attributes the largest share of the historical increase in CO2 to developed countries. Future distribution of tundra refugia in northern Alaska pp931 - 938 Andrew G. Hope, Eric Waltari, David C. Payer, Joseph A. Cook and Sandra L. Talbot doi:10.1038/nclimate1926 Communities of boreal species are spreading northwards as tundra communities recede under climate change in the Arctic. Concurrently, human activities in the Arctic are increasing. This study takes a multidisclinary approach to investigate the potential future distribution of tundra species and to relate the location of refugial areas to disparate land-use practices in northern Alaska.   Advertisement LEARNING IN THE DIGITAL AGE Nature and Scientific American collaborate to probe the revolution underway in education and discuss what it means for learning, teaching and research.  Access the Special online or via specials in the NatureJournals app.   Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. The contents of the Natureevents Directory are now live. The digital version is available here. Find the latest scientific conferences, courses, meetings and symposia on natureevents.com. For event advertising opportunities across the Nature Publishing Group portfolio please contact natureevents@nature.com More Nature Events

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