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Tropical species are considered especially sensitive to climate change, but research now shows that a tropical reef fish can rapidly acclimate over multiple generations. Acute exposure to a 1.5 °C and 3.0 °C temperature rise decreased an individual’s ability to perform aerobic activities such as swimming or foraging by 15% and 30% respectively, but this did not occur when both parents and offspring were reared at the higher temperature.
One of the impacts of ocean warming is a decrease in dissolved oxygen, with implications for valuable pelagic fish species. A study shows that the oxygenated upper ocean layer in the tropical northeast Atlantic thinned at a rate of around one metre per year between 1960 and 2010, and, by tracking individually tagged fish, demonstrates that this contraction in the oxygenated layer limited the movement of blue marlin.
Biofuels could be an important energy source, but they compete with food for cropland. An analysis of current crop production suggests that increasing yields of biofuel crops on existing cropland could avoid agricultural expansion and its associated impacts.
The United Nations programme to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) has matured substantially in the past year. Now the field must innovate to accommodate its growth, says Anna Petherick.
Rotting food and other biological waste produce potent greenhouse-gas emissions. Tapping these gases and improving recycling rates would reap multiple benefits, reports Sonja van Renssen.