Climate change adaptation strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa: foundations for the future

Many institutions across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and many funding agencies that support them are currently engaged in initiatives that are targeted towards adapting rainfed agriculture to climate change. This does, however, present some very real and complex research and policy challenges. Given to date the generally low impact of agricultural research across SSA on improving the welfare of rainfed farmers under current climatic conditions, a comprehensive strategy is required if the considerably more complex challenge of adapting agriculture to future climate change is to bear fruit. In articulating such a strategy, it is useful to consider the criteria by which current successful initiatives should be judged.

Early metabolic adaptation in C57BL/6 mice resistant to high fat diet induced weight gain involves an activation of mitochondrial oxidative pathways

We investigated the short-term (7 days) and long-term (60 days) metabolic effect of high fat diet induced obesity (DIO) and weight gain in isogenic C57BL/6 mice and examined the specific metabolic differentiation between mice that were either strong-responders (SR), or non-responders (NR) to weight gain. Mice (n = 80) were fed a standard chow diet for 7 days prior to randomization into a high-fat (HF) (n = 56) or a low-fat (LF) (n = 24) diet group. The (1)H NMR urinary metabolic profiles of LF and HF mice were recorded 7 and 60 days after the diet switch. On the basis of the body weight gain (BWG) distribution of HF group, we identified NR mice (n = 10) and SR mice (n = 14) to DIO. Compared with LF, HF feeding increased urinary excretion of glycine conjugates of β-oxidation intermediate (hexanoylglycine), branched chain amino acid (BCAA) catabolism intermediates (isovalerylglycine, α-keto-β-methylvalerate and α-ketoisovalerate) and end-products of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) metabolism (N1-methyl-2-pyridone-5-carboxamide, N1-methyl-4-pyridone-3-carboxamide) suggesting up-regulation of mitochondrial oxidative pathways. In the HF group, NR mice excreted relatively more hexanoylglycine, isovalerylglycine, and fewer tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediate (succinate) in comparison to SR mice. Thus, subtle regulation of ketogenic pathways in DIO may alleviate the saturation of the TCA cycle and mitochondrial oxidative metabolism.

What (science for) adaptation to climate change in Colombian agriculture? A commentary on “A way forward on adaptation to climate change in Colombian agriculture: perspectives towards 2050” by J. Ramirez-Villegas, M. Salazar, A. Jarvis, C. E. Navarro-Valcines.

Climate change is putting Colombian agriculture under significant stress and, if no adaptation is made, the latter will be severely impacted during the next decades. Ramirez-Villegas et al. (2012) set out a government-led, top-down, techno-scientific proposal for a way forward by which Colombian agriculture could adapt to climate change. However, this proposal largely overlooks the root causes of vulnerability of Colombian agriculture, and of smallholders in particular. I discuss some of the hidden assumptions underpinning this proposal and of the arguments employed by Ramirez-Villegas et al., based on existing literature on Colombian agriculture and the wider scientific debate on adaptation to climate change. While technical measures may play an important role in the adaptation of Colombian agriculture to climate change, I question whether the actions listed in the proposal alone and specifically for smallholders, truly represent priority issues. I suggest that by i) looking at vulnerability before adaptation, ii) contextualising climate change as one of multiple exposures, and iii) truly putting smallholders at the centre of adaptation, i.e. to learn about and with them, different and perhaps more urgent priorities for action can be identified. Ultimately, I argue that what is at stake is not only a list of adaptation measures but, more importantly, the scientific approach from which priorities for action are identified. In this respect, I propose that transformative rather than technical fix adaptation represents a better approach for Colombian agriculture and smallholders in particular, in the face of climate change.

Addressing uncertainty in adaptation planning for agriculture

We present a framework for prioritizing adaptation approaches at a range of timeframes. The framework is illustrated by four case studies from developing countries, each with associated characterization of uncertainty. Two cases on near-term adaptation planning in Sri Lanka and on stakeholder scenario exercises in East Africa show how the relative utility of capacity vs. impact approaches to adaptation planning differ with level of uncertainty and associated lead time. An additional two cases demonstrate that it is possible to identify uncertainties that are relevant to decision making in specific timeframes and circumstances. The case on coffee in Latin America identifies altitudinal thresholds at which incremental vs. transformative adaptation pathways are robust options. The final case uses three crop–climate simulation studies to demonstrate how uncertainty can be characterized at different time horizons to discriminate where robust adaptation options are possible. We find that impact approaches, which use predictive models, are increasingly useful over longer lead times and at higher levels of greenhouse gas emissions. We also find that extreme events are important in determining predictability across a broad range of timescales. The results demonstrate the potential for robust knowledge and actions in the face of uncertainty.

Observed adaptation to climate change as initiated transition

This paper investigates whether and to what extent a wide range of actors in the UK are adapting to climate change, and whether this is evidence of a social transition. We document evidence of over 300 examples of early adopters of adaptation practice to climate change in the UK. These examples span a range of activities from small adjustments (or coping), to building adaptive capacity, to implementing actions and to creating deeper systemic change in public and private organisations in a range of sectors. We find that adaptation in the UK has been dominated by government initiatives and has principally occurred in the form of research into climate change impacts. These government initiatives have stimulated a further set of actions at other scales in public agencies, regulatory agencies and regional government (and the devolved administrations), though with little real evidence of climate change adaptation initiatives trickling down to local government level. The sectors requiring significant investment in large scale infrastructure have invested more heavily than those that do not in identifying potential impacts and adaptations. Thus we find a higher level of adaptation activity by the water supply and flood defence sectors. Sectors that are not dependent on large scale infrastructure appear to be investing far less effort and resources in preparing for climate change. We conclude that the UK government-driven top-down targeted adaptation approach has generated anticipatory action at low cost in some areas. We also conclude that these actions may have created enough niche activities to allow for diffusion of new adaptation practices in response to real or perceived climate change. These results have significant implications for how climate policy can be developed to support autonomous adaptors in the UK and other countries.

Building dynamic capabilities of adaptation and innovation: a study of micro-foundations in a transition economy

What are the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities that sustain competitive advantage in a highly volatile environment, such as a transition economy? We explore the detailed nature of these dynamic capabilities along with their antecedents by tracing the sequence of their development based on a longitudinal case study of an organization subject to an external context of radical transition — the Russian oil company, Yukos. Our rich qualitative data indicate two distinct types of dynamic capabilities that are pivotal for organizational transformation. Adaptation dynamic capabilities relate to routines of resource exploitation and deployment, which are supported by acquisition, internalization and dissemination of extant knowledge, as well as resource reconfiguration, divestment and integration. Innovation dynamic capabilities relate to the creation of completely new capabilities via exploration and path-creation processes, which are supported by search, experimentation and risk taking, as well as project selection, funding and implementation. Second, we find that sequencing the two types of dynamic capabilities, helped the organization both to secure short-term competitive advantage, and to create the basis for long-term competitive advantage. These dynamic capability constructs advance theoretical understanding of what dynamic capabilities are, whilst their sequencing explains how firms create, leverage and enhance them over time.

An historical perspective on the development of the thermodynamic equation of seawater - 2010

Oceanography is concerned with understanding the mechanisms controlling the movement of seawater and its contents. A fundamental tool in this process is the characterization of the thermophysical properties of seawater as functions of measured temperature and electrical conductivity, the latter used as a proxy for the concentration of dissolved matter in seawater. For many years a collection of algorithms denoted the Equation of State 1980 (EOS-80) has been the internationally accepted standard for calculating such properties. However, modern measurement technology now allows routine observations of temperature and electrical conductivity to be made to at least one order of magnitude more accurately than the uncertainty in this standard. Recently, a new standard has been developed, the Thermodynamical Equation of Seawater 2010 (TEOS-10). This new standard is thermodynamically consistent, valid over a wider range of temperature and salinity, and includes a mechanism to account for composition variations in seawater. Here we review the scientific development of this standard, and describe the literature involved in its development, which includes many of the articles in this special issue.

The STRATADAPT scale: a measure of marketing strategy adaptation to international business markets

Purpose – The development of marketing strategies optimally adjusted to export markets has been a vitally important topic for both managers and academics for about five decades. However, there is no agreement in the literature about which elements integrate marketing strategy and which components of domestic strategies should be adapted to export markets. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new scale – STRATADAPT. Design/methodology/approach – Results from a sample of small and medium-sized industrial exporting firms support a four-dimensional scale – product, promotion, price, and distribution strategies – of 30 items. The scale presents evidence of composite reliability as well as discriminant and nomological validity. Findings – Findings reveal that all four dimensions of marketing strategy adaptation are positively associated with the amount of the firm's financial resources allocated to export activity. Practical implications – The STRATADAPT scale may assist managers in developing better international marketing strategies as well as in planning more accurate and efficient marketing programs across markets. Originality/value – This study develops a new scale, the STRATADAPT scale, which is a broad measure of export marketing strategy adaptation.

Hypersensitivity and growth adaptation of oestrogen-deprived MCF-7 human breast cancer cells

Background: Efficacy of endocrine therapy is compromised when human breast cancer cells circumvent imposed growth inhibition. The model of long-term oestrogen-deprived MCF-7 human breast cancer cells has suggested the mechanism results from hypersensitivity to low levels of residual oestrogen. Materials and methods: MCF-7 cells were maintained for up to 30 weeks in phenol-red-free medium and charcoal-stripped serum with 10-8 M 17-oestradiol and 10 g/ml insulin (stock 1), 10-8 M 17-oestradiol (stock 2), 10 g/ml insulin (stock 3) or no addition (stock 4). Results: Loss of growth response to oestrogen was observed only in stock 4 cells. Long-term maintenance with insulin in the absence of oestradiol (stock 3) resulted in raised oestrogen receptor alpha (ERlevels (measured by western immunoblotting) and development of hypersensitivity (assayed by oestrogen-responsive reporter gene induction and dose response to oestradiol for proliferation under serum-free conditions), but with no loss of growth response to oestrogen. Conclusion: Hypersensitivity can develop without any growth adaptation and therefore is not a prerequisite for loss of growth response in MCF-7 cells.

Strong armies, slow adaptation: civil-military relations and diffusion of military power

Why are some states more willing to adopt military innovations than others? Why, for example, were the great powers of Europe able to successfully reform their military practices to better adapt to and participate in the so-called military revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries while their most important extra-European competitor, the Ottoman Empire, failed to do so? This puzzle is best explained by two factors: civil-military relations and historical timing. In the Ottoman Empire, the emergence of an institutionally strong and internally cohesive army during the early stages of state formation—in the late fourteenth century—equipped the military with substantial bargaining powers. In contrast, the great powers of Europe drew heavily on private providers of military power during the military revolution and developed similar armies only by the second half of the seventeenth century, limiting the bargaining leverage of European militaries over their rulers. In essence, the Ottoman standing army was able to block reform efforts that it believed challenged its parochial interests. Absent a similar institutional challenge, European rulers initiated military reforms and motivated officers and military entrepreneurs to participate in the ongoing military revolution.

Metaproteomics analysis reveals the adaptation process for the chicken gut microbiota

The animal gastrointestinal tract houses a large microbial community, the gut microbiota, that confers many benefits to its host, such as protection from pathogens and provision of essential metabolites. Metagenomic approaches have defined the chicken fecal microbiota in other studies, but here, we wished to assess the correlation between the metagenome and the bacterial proteome in order to better understand the healthy chicken gut microbiota. Here, we performed high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons and metaproteomics analysis of fecal samples to determine microbial gut composition and protein expression. 16 rRNA gene sequencing analysis identified Clostridiales, Bacteroidaceae, and Lactobacillaceae species as the most abundant species in the gut. For metaproteomics analysis, peptides were generated by using the Fasp method and subsequently fractionated by strong anion exchanges. Metaproteomics analysis identified 3,673 proteins. Among the most frequently identified proteins, 380 proteins belonged to Lactobacillus spp., 155 belonged to Clostridium spp., and 66 belonged to Streptococcus spp. The most frequently identified proteins were heat shock chaperones, including 349 GroEL proteins, from many bacterial species, whereas the most abundant enzymes were pyruvate kinases, as judged by the number of peptides identified per protein (spectral counting). Gene ontology and KEGG pathway analyses revealed the functions and locations of the identified proteins. The findings of both metaproteomics and 16S rRNA sequencing analyses are discussed.