What the future may bring.

One way to consider how climate change will affect Sideneck turtles is to focus on how climate change will affect the major areas in which they are native. The focus can then be placed on how some of these factors will affect aquatic environments and thus the Sidenecks within.

In Africa weather systems are changing rapidly, and the BBC claims that Africa will be the hardest hit region on earth by climate change, when it comes to people. There are four main reasons for this. Firstly hundreds of millions of people in Africa depend on rainfall to grow their crops. Secondly weather in Africa is governed by many complex weather systems, many of which are from ‘distant parts of the planet’. This coupled with the fact that the weather systems here are extremely understudied, compared with all other populated areas of the world means that it is fairly unknown what the future might bring. Furthermore the change here will be enormous. Both of the two largest decreases in land based rainfall predicted in the world are in Africa. Finally the ‘capacity for adaptation is low.’ The governments here generally fail to prioritise action to tackle climate change, and poverty rates mean that the scale of impact individuals can have is greatly limited. In areas like

Botswana, Namibia and Zambia temperatures are predicted to rise by an incredible 5 degrees or more in the coming decades. Furthermore in Kenya and Tanzania, the rainfall which normally occurs solidly from March till May are predicted to start later, and end sooner. The major theme across Africa is increased temperatures, and drier climate. This could lead to severe implications for Sideneck turtles, being aquatic. First of all their habitats could dry up, meaning that they would not be able to use the water for hunting, regulating temperature or staying hydrated. These things could lead to starvation, or cause the turtles to dry up. This would also greatly affect the food chain of Sidenecks. Many insects require water to lay their eggs, and small fish, aquatic plants and aquatic snails clearly all require water. This would put the Sidenecks under huge strain to find an alternative food source. These pictures show the effects of drought in Eastern Africa.

In South America Climate is massively changing too. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, between the years 2000 and 2013 South America experienced 613 extreme weather occurrences Some of the most major problems are due to tropical storms from both the

Atlantic and Pacific oceans which flank South America. As well as affecting coastal regions, this has major impacts inland, predominantly causing floods and landslides. In addition to these short term crises one of the most significant long term issues is increased droughts, which are highly likely in South America. This could lead to ‘large-scale dieback’ of the Amazon rainforest. Significant recent droughts include those occurring in the Amazon in 2005 and 2010 and one in Southeastern Brazil which lasted from 2012 to late 2015. This particular drought was the worst in over 80 years in Brazil. The water system which provides São Paulo with water was down by 17 percent during the drought, and it was estimated that it only held five months water supply in September 2015. In addition to this the sea levels around South America are predicted to rise by 1-4 feet by 2100 This will severely threaten coastlines by contaminating freshwater systems, eroding coastlines, flooding low-lying areas, and increasing the risks of storm based floods.

Droughts in South America would have a similar effect on Sideneck turtles based in Africa. This would place them under the same immense stress, were their water systems to dry up. This means that were they able to survive these circumstances they would probably evolve in very similar ways. However one major difference in South America is the increasing occurrence of extreme weather.

This would lead to flooding These floods can severely damage habitat, and disrupt nesting (and therefore egg-laying) seasons of freshwater turtles, not just Sidenecks. Floods would also wash food sources downstream at a far quicker rate than usual. However on the whole these floods would not have an overly extreme effect on Sidenecks. However if sea levels rise to the point where freshwater systems are contaminated, this could have a major effect on most freshwater turtles in this area. The increased salt content of the water would dehydrate the turtles, meaning that their bodies would lose more and more water through osmosis. This would cause them to shrivel, causing their cells to die, and eventually causing death. However it is most likely that this would not result in full extinction. The populations would take a big hit originally, but they would eventually adapt to survive in increasingly salty conditions. This is one example of how climate change would cause greater diversification within Sidenecks, so that African Sidenecks and South Americans would become decreasingly related due to new adaptations.

In Australia the most severe problems climate change causes are heatwaves. In the last 50 years the amount of days which break heat records has doubled. In the last few decades more people have died due to heatwaves than all other natural disasters combined. Inland Australia is expected to increase in temperature faster than along the coast. Oceans around Australia are severely struggling, with biodiversity on a rapid decline due to increasing acidity caused by climate change. This is causing mass destruction of coral reefs. In Australia the average rise in temperature since 1910 is 1.4° C. This is 0.3° higher than the global average. In 2019 Australia experienced the driest and hottest year recorded. This is causing the death of many trees, particularly mangroves and river species. Fires in 2019 and 2020 burnt across most of Australia more severely than ever before. Forests with vast wetlands, which have always suppressed fires, ‘burned for the first time’. Increasing temperatures and dryness will have similar effects to those which have already been discussed. However the wildfires which go hand in hand with these increased temperatures are a major problem for all wildlife in Australia. Vegetation and therefore both habitat and food webs are damaged to extraordinary levels. Insect populations decrease vastly, and soil ecosystems are massively damaged. The vast combination of factors mentioned have a massive knock-on affect on aquatic ecosystems as well, and therefore turtles like Sidenecks will be massively affected.

In addition to looking at specific areas a good way to measure the effect of climate change on Sidenecks is to focus on the way in which increasing temperatures will have an affect on freshwater turtles as a whole. Already almost half of all turtle and tortoise species are at risk of extinction. Scientists at the Natural History Museum, London have been looking at the late Cretaceous period and how testudines (turtles, tortoises and terrapins) adapted to large increases in temperature in this period, roughly 66-72 million years ago. They discovered that these creatures flourished in these conditions. However they also saw that they depended on a great deal on rainfall levels. This is especially important for freshwater turtles, which determines how they are distributed. An argument presented by Professor Daniela Schmidt is that another factor which denotes whether turtles will survive the rise in temperature which climate change will bring is how quickly it takes place This is because turtles have been shown to be able to adapt to higher temperatures very successfully, but they will require enough time to adapt. This means that the speed with which temperatures increase will be critical for the survival of turtles. For freshwater turtles a further significant factor of climate change will be habitat destruction. This is because such degradation could limit freshwater turtles to very isolated, confined areas. This could lead to allopatric specialisation as discussed in a previous essay. This would in turn result in greater diversification amongst testudines. It could also simply lead to huge strain on already vulnerable species, or even extinction. Moreover freshwater turtles are far less able to adapt to new temperatures than most land based testudines. A professor of palaeontology at the London Natural history museum, Paul Barret states that 'If turtles find their current habitats unsuitable, other conservation threats - such as manmade habitat degradation and barriers to movement - might be as important in determining the fates of turtles in a warming world as the warming itself.'

Another interesting way to consider the future of Sideneck turtles is to consider the trends that the majority of freshwater systems will follow in the future, due to pollution, and due to Climate change. Freshwater ecosystems are one of the most vulnerable to climate change for 3 significant reasons. Firstly, the populations within are often confined to certain habitats, which become more and more limited and isolated as these habitats become fragmented by human action. Examples of this could be diverting rivers or clearing areas of vegetation for agriculture or logging. Other examples would include building a road through a woodland. The second reason is that water supply and the qualities of that water, most importantly temperature are climate dependent. Finally these systems are already effected by lots of ‘anthropogenic stressors’. These include large scale damming, pollution and many other examples. For these three reasons, when habitat destruction occurs in combination with higher temperatures and higher levels of atmospheric CO2, certain creatures will struggle a huge amount. This is because these factors will affect the ratio for many creatures between energy intake, and time spent foraging. This will mean that metabolic rate of animals will become increasingly important as food supply becomes more limited. As more creatures become affected by this the entire food webs of these ecosystems will be affected.

For Sideneck turtles specifically this could cause stress on food sources which they have been unused to in the past, stemming from a broad range of food sources, which could become increasingly narrowed due to the factors listed above. We can look at the food chain in stages, firstly considering how aquatic plants will be impacted.

Impact of sea level rise: Poses threats to all aquatic plant community types in the vicinity of the oceans, and changes in weather patterns and salinity will affect many. Overall, losses are likely due to this.

Impact of increasing temperatures: Shifts in species composition, shifts in range and distribution, and declines in plant species richness and diversity

Impact of higher CO2 levels: very little.

This increasingly means that aquatic plants will become confined to smaller areas, as is the story with freshwater systems. The next stage of the food web which Sidenecks are a part of is insects.

Impact of sea level rise: very little.

Impact of increasing temperatures: insects are increasingly at a huge risk from this issue, unable to cope with higher temperatures. Evidence for this can mostly be found in Europe, but as the consequences are due to increased temperature, we can assume that the effect would be similar. For example a study showed population of butterflies in the Netherlands had declined by at least 84% over the last 130 years

The next level of the food chain is worms, small fish and aquatic snails. These would be put at risk of dehydration, due to sea level rises increasing salt content in freshwater systems. They would also suffer with the major decreases of populations below them in the web. They would have very little to eat. They may also suffer from higher CO2 levels increasing acidity of the water, but this would be far more likely to occur in marine environments. Finally increased temperatures and droughts would cause huge problems for these creatures, were the water source to dry out for extended periods of time. The Next level of the food chain would be Sidenecks, but the challenges they would face would be very similar to those of the animals one step below in the food chain.

Freshwater systems are also heavily polluted. Every day around 2 billion tons of human waste end up in these systems, resulting in 1 in 7 river stretches in Africa and South America being contaminated. Untreated sewage, combined with runoff fertiliser and other chemicals into freshwater bodies can trigger pathogens, and is a major cause of eutrophication. Another risk is micro-plastics, which can kill animals at all stages of the food chain as they are passed on. This is a man made issue, and must be solved. Marine plastic pollution is far more widely studied than freshwater systems. But several of those where studies have taken place show significant evidence for widespread micro-plastics.

This is an image of sewage flowing into a river, but in the UK. This issue is a threat worldwide.

Another problem facing freshwater eco-systems is Eutrophication. This issue stems from an excess of nutrients in a water system. This causes huge blooms of phytoplankton, like algae and Cyanobacteria. This has a negative impact on the ecosystem. Firstly phytoplankton ‘reduce water clarity’. This means less light enters the water, resulting in many aquatic plants dying as they cannot produce energy. It also means that predators struggle, as they need light to catch prey. This means that Sidenecks would struggle to catch living food, and would run out of plant based food. This algae then completes increased amounts of photosynthesis, leading to increased PH levels in these systems. This harms certain organisms. Eventually these phytoplankton die, but the result of this is not beneficial. ‘Microbial decomposition’ then results in a high usage of oxygen, leaving dissolved oxygen at very low levels. This results in hypoxia, and dead zones, where oxygen levels are not rich enough to support most organisms. Biodiversity is massively reduced by these outbreaks of phytoplankton. Thus habitats suffer, as do food webs. Cyanobacteria in particular can also be directly harmful to organisms. Those organisms which drink this water, or live in it, can die. Furthermore during the ‘blooms’ of Cyanobacteria, zooplankton tend to dominate plankton populations. This means that those creatures which consume these zooplankton thrive, but those who do not suffer. This is yet another reason why biodiversity is severely threatened. This would cause Sidenecks among many other aquatic species, to suffer.

In conclusion the picture painted by current research shows a bleak future for sideneck turtles. Many species could suffer at the hands of continued increasing temperatures and drought, and mass wildfires. Those species who do survive will likely become more diverse however. Some may even one day be able to cope in marine environments, as they adapt to greater salt content in their habitats due to rising sea levels. Evidence of this can already be found in some species of Australian Chelidae. They will sadly have to become more and more restricted to a narrow food supply, unless they adapt yet more, as climate change and fragmentation threaten food webs in freshwater ecosystems. Pollution and eutrophication pose yet more threats to freshwater eco-systems, by damaging food webs and all aspects of life. This will all have huge effects on many species, severely decreasing populations of many, some of which are already endangered.

Bibliography for future essay.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-50726701 https://www.wwfca.org/en/our_work/climate_change_and_energy/climate_change_impacts_la/ https://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/can-freshwater-turtles-survive-in-saltwater/#11 https://australian.museum/learn/climate-change/climate-change-impacts/ https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2016/september/turtles-can-tolerate-warmertemperatures.html https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2010.0055 https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/52324 https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/eutrophication-causes-consequences-andcontrols-in-aquatic-102364466/ https://www.unep.org/beatpollution/forms-pollution/freshwater https://enveurope.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12302-014-0012-7

Freddie Douglas-Pennant

Digital music is a modern form of music, first pioneered in the 1960s, in which physical sound and audio is converted into numerals to be read by a device. This can work both ways, device into audio or audio into device. This form of music has developed as time has moved on, and come 1983, Dave Smith has developed the worlds first MIDI instrument. This stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface MIDIs nowadays are a very sophisticated digital tools which gives you all sorts of instruments at your fingertips. They usually consist of a keyboard alongside multiple drum pads MIDIs allow you to make digital music on your own device. Most music you hear in your day to day life will most likely be a form of digital audio, crafted on a device.

My passion for this music came about when I first got my MIDI, and realised what I could do just from one piece of equipment, not multiple different instruments. Ever since the release of the MIDI, it has opened up the music world to a vast audience. Ever since getting my MIDI I have been creating music as well as remixing songs. I have really enjoyed pursuing this passion as well as learning how to create songs and music in many different genres and forms. As the main part of this project, I will be sharing a song that I created on my MIDI.

This form of music has become very popular due to its easy accessibility and also it has been made much easier for people to not only make music but download it and listen to it on a device. It has changed the course of modern music and continues to develop. Another major benefit of these MIDIs is layering; the ability to combine multiple individual sounds to create a single, more complete sound. This gives you the strength to record single tracks and layer them over the top of each other to create a complex and likeable piece of music.

Here one of the pieces of music that I have remixed from a background audio, it is in the genre of trap Please note, this might not work on an iPad but should work on a computer if you enable editing and double tap it.