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1. Social-ecological vulnerability to environmental extremes and adaptation pathways in small-scale fisheries of the southern California Current

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1322108  

   Micheli, Fiorenza; Saenz-Arroyo, Andrea; Aalto, Emilius; Beas-Luna, Rodrigo; Boch, Charles A; Cardenas, Juan Camilo; De_Leo, Giulio A; Diaz, Eduardo; Espinoza-Montes, Antonio; Finkbeiner, Elena; et al (February 2024, Frontiers in Marine Science)

   Coastal ecosystems and human communities are threatened worldwide by climate change, and shocks from social, market and political change. There is an urgent global need to promote resilient food production and livelihoods in the face of these shocks. Small-scale fisheries (SSF) in rural settings can be particularly vulnerable as they frequently lack the resources, rights and infrastructure to respond to shocks originating outside the focal systems. We examined ecological and social outcomes of environmental extremes in a SSF socio-ecological system (SES) by using long-term oceanographic (between 2010-2019) and ecological (2006-2018) data tracking change in a kelp forest ecosystem of Baja California, Mexico, and concurrent documentation of proactive and reactive actions of a fishing community organized in a cooperative. Results indicate a complex landscape of ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ among species and fisheries exposed to unprecedented environmental extremes, including marine heat waves and prolonged hypoxia, and a suite of adaptive actions by the local fishing cooperative, and others in the region, that have helped confront these rapid and drastic changes. Cooperatives have established voluntary marine reserves to promote recovery of affected populations and have invested in diversification of activities enabled by access rights, collective decision-making, and participatory science programs. Results indicate that local actions can support social and ecological resilience in the face of shocks, and that enabling locally-driven adaptation pathways is critical to resilience. This case study highlights the crucial importance of strengthening and supporting rights, governance, capacity, flexibility, learning, and agency for coastal communities to respond to change and sustain their livelihoods and ecosystems in the long run. 

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2. A Flash Flood Categorization System Using Scene-Text Recognition

   https://doi.org/10.1109/SMARTCOMP.2018.00085  

   Basnyat, Bipendra; Roy, Nirmalya; Gangopadhyay, Aryya (June 2018, 2018 IEEE International Conference on Smart Computing (SMARTCOMP))

   Detecting flash floods in real-time and taking rapid actions are of utmost importance to save human lives, loss of infrastructures, and personal properties in a smart city. In this paper, we develop a low-cost low-power cyber-physical System prototype using a Raspberry Pi camera to detect the rising water level. We deployed the system in the real word and collected data in different environmental conditions (early morning in the presence of fog, sunny afternoon, late afternoon with sunsetting). We employ image processing and text recognition techniques to detect the rising water level and articulate several challenges in deploying such a system in the real environment. We envision this prototype design will pave the way for mass deployment of the flash flood detection system with minimal human intervention. 

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3. Remoteness does not enhance coral reef resilience

   https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15904  

   Baumann, Justin H.; Zhao, Lily Z.; Stier, Adrian C.; Bruno, John F. (October 2021, Global Change Biology)

   Abstract Remote coral reefs are thought to be more resilient to climate change due to their isolation from local stressors like fishing and pollution. We tested this hypothesis by measuring the relationship between local human influence and coral community resilience. Surprisingly, we found no relationship between human influence and resistance to disturbance and some evidence that areas with greater human development may recover from disturbance faster than their more isolated counterparts. Our results suggest remote coral reefs are imperiled by climate change, like so many other geographically isolated ecosystems, and are unlikely to serve as effective biodiversity arks. Only drastic and rapid cuts in greenhouse gas emissions will ensure coral survival. Our results also indicate that some reefs close to large human populations were relatively resilient. Focusing research and conservation resources on these more accessible locations has the potential to provide new insights and maximize conservation outcomes. 

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4. A productivity collapse to end Earth’s Great Oxidation

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1900325116  

   Hodgskiss, Malcolm S.; Crockford, Peter W.; Peng, Yongbo; Wing, Boswell A.; Horner, Tristan J. (August 2019, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   It has been hypothesized that the overall size of—or efficiency of carbon export from—the biosphere decreased at the end of the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) (ca. 2,400 to 2,050 Ma). However, the timing, tempo, and trigger for this decrease remain poorly constrained. Here we test this hypothesis by studying the isotope geochemistry of sulfate minerals from the Belcher Group, in subarctic Canada. Using insights from sulfur and barium isotope measurements, combined with radiometric ages from bracketing strata, we infer that the sulfate minerals studied here record ambient sulfate in the immediate aftermath of the GOE (ca. 2,018 Ma). These sulfate minerals captured negative triple-oxygen isotope anomalies as low as ∼ −0.8‰. Such negative values occurring shortly after the GOE require a rapid reduction in primary productivity of >80%, although even larger reductions are plausible. Given that these data imply a collapse in primary productivity rather than export efficiency, the trigger for this shift in the Earth system must reflect a change in the availability of nutrients, such as phosphorus. Cumulatively, these data highlight that Earth’s GOE is a tale of feast and famine: A geologically unprecedented reduction in the size of the biosphere occurred across the end-GOE transition. 

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5. Cultural-ecosystem resilience is vital yet under-considered in coastal restoration

   https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01758-z  

   Mehta, Jayur Madhusudan; Chamberlain, Elizabeth L (December 2023, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications)

   Abstract As large areas of the Mississippi River Delta (MRD) of the USA disappear into the sea, present-day communities and cultural resources are lost. While the land loss may be readily quantified, describing the impact of cultural losses is less straightforward because cultural elements are frequently less tangible and difficult to map, identify, and categorize. The elision of cultural components of landscapes and ecosystems is evident in restoration practices and policies, although numerous scholars have identified the interlinked processes of culture and ecology as critical to rebuilding healthy and resilient environments. We define and measure cultural-ecosystem resilience (CER) in the Mississippi River Delta through analyses of Indigenous oral histories, mound-building practices and settlement patterns, and the persistence and reuse of archaeological sites. CER describes a system containing resilient properties embedded in human-natural settings including river deltas that may manifest in oral cultural traditions, architecture, and the selection of habitable environments. Our interdisciplinary approach demonstrates the role of human-modified landscapes in generating resilience for past and present coastal communities and highlights the importance of consulting records of historic and modern Indigenous traditions in shaping sustainable landscape-management strategies. Results show that archaeological earthen and shell mounds made by Native American Gulf Coast and MRD communities have been persistent features that endured for centuries and are sited in regions of high multicultural value within the dynamic delta. Yet, we document the rapid 20th-century loss of mounds due to coastal erosion, industry, and other human land-use practices. Present-day and future coastal land loss endangers what remains of these keystone features and thus lowers the resilience of modern Mississippi River Delta communities. 

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