Climate change will have serious repercussions for agriculture, ecosystems, and farmer livelihoods in Central America. Smallholder farmers are particularly vulnerable due to their reliance on agriculture and ecosystem services for their livelihoods. There is an urgent need to develop national and local adaptation responses to reduce these impacts, yet evidence from historical climate change is fragmentary. Modeling efforts help bridge this gap. Here, we review the past decade of research on agricultural and ecological climate change impact

Cartagena is subsiding at a higher rate compared to that of global climate-driven sea level rise. We investigate the relative sea level rise (RSLR) and the influence of vertical land movements in Cartagena through the integration of different datasets, including tide gauge records, GPS geodetic subsidence data, and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) observations of vertical motions. Results reveal a long-term rate (> 60 years) of RSLR of 5.98 ± 0.01 mm/yr. The last two decades exhibited an even greater rate of RSLR of 7.02 ± 0.06 mm/yr. GPS subsidence rates range between − 5.71 ± 2.18 and − 2.85 ± 0.84 mm/yr. InSAR data for the 2014–2020 period show cumulative subsidence rates of up to 72.3 mm. We find that geologically induced vertical motions represent 41% of the observed changes in RSLR and that subsidence poses a major threat to Cartagena’s preservation. The geodetic subsidence rates found would imply a further additional RSLR of 83 mm by 2050 and 225 mm by 2100. The Colombian government should plan for the future and serve as an example to similar cities across the Caribbean.

Fertilization in sea urchins is followed by the replacement of sperm-specific histones by cleavage-stage histone variants recruited from maternal stores. Such remodelling of zygote chromatin involves a cysteine proteinase that degrades the sperm-specific histones in a selective manner, leaving the maternal cleavage-stage histone variants intact. The mechanism that determines the selectivity of the sperm-histone-selective proteinase (SpH-proteinase) was analysed by focusing on the post-translational modification status of both sets of histones. It has previously been reported that only native cleavage-stage histones are poly(ADP-ribosylated), whereas the sperm-specific histones are not modified. To determine whether the poly(ADP-ribose) moiety afforded protection from degradation, the ADP-ribose polymers were removed from the cleavage-stage histones in vitro; these proteins were then assayed as potential substrates of the SpH-proteinase. Strikingly, the cleavage-stage histone variants were extensively degraded after the enzymic removal of their ADP-ribose moieties. In addition, the SpH cysteine proteinase was not inhibited by isolated poly(ADP-ribose) polymers. Consequently, only poly(ADP-ribosylated) cleavage-stage histone variants are protected from proteolysis. These results demonstrate a novel role for this type of post-translational modification, namely the protection of nuclear proteins against nuclear proteinases after fertilization.

At intermediate stages of male pronucleus formation, sperm-derived chromatin is composed of hybrid nucleoprotein particles formed by sperm H1 (SpH1), dimers of sperm H2A-H2B (SpH2A-SpH2B), and a subset of maternal cleavage stage (CS) histone variants. At this stage in vivo, the CS histone variants are poly(ADP-ribosylated), while SpH2B and SpH1 are phosphorylated. We have postulated previously that the final steps of sperm chromatin remodeling involve a cysteine-protease (SpH-protease) that degrades sperm histones in a specific manner, leaving the maternal CS histone variants unaffected. More recently we have reported that the protection of CS histones from degradation is determined by the poly(ADP-ribose) moiety of these proteins. Because of the selectivity displayed by the SpH-protease, the coexistence of a subset of SpH together with CS histone variants at intermediate stages of male pronucleus remodeling remains intriguing. Consequently, we have investigated the phosphorylation state of SpH1 and SpH2B in relation to the possible protection of these proteins from proteolytic degradation. Histones H1 and H2B were purified from sperm, phosphorylated in vitro using the recombinant alpha-subunit of casein kinase 2, and then used as substrates in the standard assay of the SpH-protease. The phosphorylated forms of SpH1 and SpH2B were found to remain unaltered, while the nonphosphorylated forms were degraded. On the basis of this result, we postulate a novel role for the phosphorylation of SpH1 and SpH2B that occurs in vivo after fertilization, namely to protect these histones against degradation at intermediate stages of male chromatin remodeling.

Fertilization in sea urchins is followed by the replacement of sperm-specific histones by cleavage-stage histone variants recruited from maternal stores. Such remodelling of zygote chromatin involves a cysteine proteinase that degrades the sperm-specific histones in a selective manner, leaving the maternal cleavage-stage histone variants intact. The mechanism that determines the selectivity of the sperm-histone-selective proteinase (SpH-proteinase) was analysed by focusing on the post-translational modification status of both sets of histones. It has previously been reported that only native cleavage-stage histones are poly(ADP-ribosylated), whereas the sperm-specific histones are not modified. To determine whether the poly(ADP-ribose) moiety afforded protection from degradation, the ADP-ribose polymers were removed from the cleavage-stage histones in vitro; these proteins were then assayed as potential substrates of the SpH-proteinase. Strikingly, the cleavage-stage histone variants were extensively degraded after the enzymic removal of their ADP-ribose moieties. In addition, the SpH cysteine proteinase was not inhibited by isolated poly(ADP-ribose) polymers. Consequently, only poly(ADP-ribosylated) cleavage-stage histone variants are protected from proteolysis. These results demonstrate a novel role for this type of post-translational modification, namely the protection of nuclear proteins against nuclear proteinases after fertilization.