Establishing a direct link between climate change and fluctuations in animal populations through long-term monitoring is difficult given the paucity of baseline data. We hypothesized that social wasps are sensitive to climatic variations, and thus studied the impact of ENSO events on social wasp populations in French Guiana. We noted that during the 2000 La Niña year there was a 77.1% decrease in their nest abundance along ca. 5 km of forest edges, and that 70.5% of the species were no longer present.

Relationship of outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) with convective available potential energy (CAPE) and temperature at the 100-hPa pressure level is examined using daily radiosonde data for a period 1980–2006 over Delhi (28.3˚N, 77.1˚E) and Kolkata (22.3˚N, 88.2˚E), and during 1989–2005 over Cochin (10˚N, 77˚E) and Trivandrum (8.5˚N, 77.0˚E), India. Correlation coefficient (Rxy) between monthly OLR and CAPE shows a significant (∼−0.45) anti-correlation at Delhi and Kolkata suggesting low OLR associated with high convective activity during summer (seasonal variation).

he stable isotope ratios of atmospheric CO2 (18O/16O and 13C/12C) have been monitored since 1977 to improve our understanding of the global carbon cycle, because biosphere–atmosphere exchange fluxes affect the different atomic masses in a measurable way. Interpreting the 18O/16O variability has proved difficult, however, because oxygen isotopes in CO2 are influenced by both the carbon cycle and the water cycle.