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Climate Change 2016
October 27-29, 2016
Volume 7, Issue 9(Suppl) J Earth Sci Clim Change
ISSN: 2157-7617 JESCC, an open access journal
conferenceseries .com
October 24-26, 2016 Valencia, Spain
World Conference onClimate Change
Heat wave’s short term effects in vulnerable groups: Parkinson disease and pregnants
Cristina Linares
Carlos III Institute of Health, Spain
People over 65 years and those with certain underlying health conditions are considered particularly susceptible to extreme
temperatures, but heat has a particularly important effect in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and pregnant women,
causing premature births (PTB). We analyzed and quantified the short-term effect of high temperatures during heat waves in
Madrid on daily mortality and PD-related hospital admissions and PTB during 2001-2009. We used an ecological time-series
design and fitted Poisson regression models. We analyzed the daily number of deaths due to PD and the number of daily PD-
related emergency hospital admissions and PTB in Madrid, using maximum daily temperature (ºC) and chemical air pollution
as covariates. We controlled for trend, seasonalities, and autoregressive nature. There was a maximum daily temperature of
30 °C at which PD-related admissions were at a minimum. Similarly, a temperature of 34°C coincides with an increase in
the number of admissions. For PD-related admissions, the Relative Risk (RR) for every increase of 1°C above the threshold
temperature was 1.13 IC95% (1.03-1.23) at lags 1 and 5; and for daily PD-related mortality, the RR was 1.14 IC95% (1.0-1.28)
at lag 3. Furthermore, we observed evidence of a short term effect at Lag 1, RR: 1.055 IC95% (1.018 1.092) on preterm births
during the studied period. Our results indicate that suffering from PD is a risk factor that contributes to the excess morbi-
mortality associated with high temperatures, so heat waves are associated with PTB and is relevant from the standpoint of
public health prevention plans.
Drivers of carbon sequestration in grassland soils: Evidence from long-term experiments
Dario Fornara
Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute, UK
Human activities over the last century have greatly contributed to affect the structure and functioning of many terrestrial
ecosystems worldwide. From a climate change perspective human-managed ecosystems often act as a net source
(rather than a sink) of atmospheric CO2. Thus, we need to improve ecosystems’ ability to sequester carbon (C) and reduce
the C-footprint of many human-production systems including agriculture. Across terrestrial ecosystems soils represent the
largest stores of C and have the potential to accumulate more C under suitable management practices. Grassland soils across
Europe remain important food production systems whose long-term sustainability is threatened by increasing management
intensification. Here, I present results from multiple long-term grassland experiments which show how soil C sequestration
can increase with greater plant species diversity and/or under common agricultural practices. These findings suggest that there
are different significant drivers of soil C sequestration and that their relative contribution varies along a gradient a grassland
management intensity. For example, greater biodiversity facilitate soil C sequestration in semi-natural (e.g. low nutrient input)
grasslands whereas the addition of organic nutrients to soils or agricultural liming contribute to higher soil C sequestration in
intensively-used grasslands. I finally discuss why it is important to measure soil C sequestration rates across several years and
what biogeochemical mechanisms might be responsible for changes in soil C sequestration through time.
J Earth Sci Clim Change 2016, 7:9(Suppl)