Downscaling Climate Change Impacts, Socio-Economic Implications and Alternative Adaptation Pathways for Islands and Outermost Regions

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the future scenarios of climate change and management concerns associated with climate change impacts on the blue economy of European islands and outermost regions. The publication collects major findings of the SOCLIMPACT project’s research outcomes, aiming to raise social awareness among policy-makers and industry about climate change consequences at local level, and provide knowledge-based information to support policy design, from local to national level. This comprehensive book will also assist students, scholars and practitioners to understand, conceptualize and effectively and responsibly manage climate change information and applied research. This book provides invaluable material for Blue Growth Management, theory and application, at all levels. This first edition includes up-to-date data, statistics, references, case material and figures of the 12 islands case studies. ¨Downscaling climate change impacts, socio-economic implications and alternative adaptation pathways for Islands and Outermost Regions¨ is a must-read book, given the accessible style and breadth and depth with which the topic is dealt. The book is an up-to-date synthesis of key knowledge on this area, written by a multidisciplinary group of experts on climate and economic modelling, and policy design

Influence of rearing temperature during the larval and nursery periods on growth and sex differentiation in two Mediterranean strains of Dicentrarchus labrax

17 pages, 6 figuresuropean sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax of the north-western (NW) and south-eastern (SE) Mediterranean Sea strains were exposed to different temperatures (13, 17 or 21° C) during the larval rearing (11–51 days post hatching, dph) or nursery periods (55–95 dph), in order to examine the effects of temperature on sex differentiation and subsequent growth during the first year of life. Higher growth was observed during exposure to higher temperatures, but fish of the NW strain exposed to 13 or 17° C during larval rearing exhibited compensatory growth once exposure to the lower temperatures finished, and as a result their final size at 300 dph was similar or greater to the group exposed to 21° C. Fish exposed to 17° C during the nursery period also had similar size to fish exposed to 21° C after 300 days of rearing, but the fish exposed to 13° C remained significantly smaller (ANOVA, n = 55–100, P < 0·05). There were significant differences in the sex ratio among the fish exposed to different temperatures during the two periods of rearing, with high temperature (21° C) resulting in a significantly higher percentage of males in the population, both in the NW (ANOVA, n = 2, P < 0·04) and SE populations (ANOVA, n = 2, P < 0·01). The masculinization effect of high temperature was significantly stronger during the larval rearing stage, both in the NW (ANOVA, n = 2, P < 0·005) and SE populations (ANOVA, n = 2, P < 0·01). None of the temperature manipulations could produce 100% females, suggesting that there is a part of the genetic component in sex differentiation which is not labile to environmental influence.This work was undertaken as part of "Improving production efficiency of sea bass farming by developing methodologies to eliminate environmental androgenesis", a research grant from the European Community to S.Z., C.C.M., F.P., and A. T. (contract Q5RS-2000-31365).Peer reviewe

Influence of rearing temperature at two periods during early life on growth and sex differentiation of two strains of European sea bass

The effect of water temperature on sex differentiation was examined in European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) of two strains from the Northwestern and Southeastern Mediterranean Sea, during larval or nursery rearing. Temperatures < 17 °C enhanced feminization, while 21 °C during larval rearing induced higher male% compared to the nursery stage, and the overall male% was significantly different among strains (P<0.05). The study shows that management of larval rearing temperature can prevent the high male% observed in cultured populationsPeer Reviewe

Genetic diversity within the Japanese badgers (Meles anakuma), as revealed by microsatellite analysis

To further understand the population structures of the Japanese badgers (Meles anakuma) on the Japanese islands, we analyzed their bi-parentally inherited microsatellites. Based on genotypes of nine microsatellite loci, the badgers were divided into five discrete clusters: three clusters from the Honshu Island, one from Kyushu and one from Shikoku. We propose that this genetic differentiation among badgers from the Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu Islands is as a consequence of geographical isolation caused by the Seto Inland Sea. Furthermore, the cluster containing individuals from Shikoku was more differentiated from the other clusters, plausibly attributable to the earlier geological separation of the Shikoku Island from the Honshu and Kyushu Islands. The three clusters in Honshu, however, did not correspond precisely with geographical locations. As indicated in previous studies, based on mitochondrial DNA analysis, the genetic relationships within the Japanese badgers might reflect recent population expansion, occurring over a relatively short evolutionary time-scale. The findings preliminarily indicate that the Japanese badgers do not possess the high levels of philopatry seen in the European badger (Meles meles), a closely related species, although further analyses using balanced sample sizes from a wider range is required