Aphids are the most common vector of plant viruses, and their feeding behavior is an important determinant of virus transmission. Positive effects of global change on aphid performance have been documented, but effects on aphid behavior are not known. We assessed the plant-mediated behavioral responses of a generalist aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), to increased CO2 and n...

Ecosystems in the Caspian Sea region have been heavily modified by anthropogenic activities, mainly as a result of changes in the water flow and degradation of the water quality in the ecosystems. Changes in the regional environment have influenced regional economies, particularly obvious in the impacts on fish stocks. Using the methodology developed in the GIWA project, experts in the region c...

Inactivity is the risk factor with potentially the greatest public health impact, according to the 1989 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force report. Our study reports changes in subjects' physical fitness level after simple changes aimed at enabling community members to adopt more easily active lifestyles. Simple environmental and social alterations occurred at a San Diego Naval air station. We ...

Most macroevolutionary events are correlated with changes in the environment, but more rigorous evidence of cause and effect has been elusive. We compiled a 10 Myr record of origination and extinction, changes in mode of reproduction, morphologies and abundances of cupuladriid bryozoan species, spanning the time when primary productivity collapsed in the southwestern Caribbean as the Isthmus of...

When a species encounters novel environmental conditions, some phenotypic characters may develop differently than in the ancestral environment. Most environmental perturbations of development are likely to reduce fitness, and thus selection would usually be expected to favor genetic changes that restore the ancestral phenotype. I propose the term "genetic compensation" to refer to this form of ...

Flexible or innovative behavior is advantageous, especially when animals are exposed to frequent and unpredictable environmental perturbations. Improved cognitive abilities can help animals to respond quickly and adequately to environmental dynamics, and therefore changing environments may select for higher cognitive abilities. Increased cognitive abilities can be attained, for instance, if env...

Executive Summary This Environmental and Climate Change Policy Brief has been written as an input to the Poverty and Development Assessment that Sida is undertaking as part of the preparation of a revised Swedish cooperation strategy with Zambia. It aims at briefly presenting key environmental sustainability challenges and opportunities (including climate change and disaster risk reduction) in ...

The intellectual origins of environmental history as a self-conscious domain of enquiry can be traced to the encounter of 17th and 18th century western Europeans with the startlingly unfamiliar environments of the tropics and the damage inflicted on these environments in the course of resource extraction by European empires. For nearly a century from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, the di...