Each week on Nature Climate Change, we select three papers published within the last month that we find noteworthy for their novelty and wide interest. Our latest picks are:

Built environment: Cities to suffer

The world’s most populated port cities will be three times more likely to suffer from an extreme weather event by 2070, a study suggests.

Original paper: Hanson, S. et al. A global ranking of port cities with high exposure to climate extremes. Climatic Change doi:10.1007/s10584-010-9977-4 (2010

Agriculture: Insights on adaptation

A historical look at grain growth in North America shows that past generations of farmers have coped with significant climate changes.

Original paper: Olmstead, A. L. & Rhode, P. W. Adapting North American wheat production to climatic challenges, 1839-2009. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA doi:10.1073/pnas.1008279108 (2010).

Ecology: Climate relief

Plant leaf growth is boosted by carbon dioxide, but can, in turn, slow global warming, shows research.

Original paper: Bounoua, L. et al. Quantifying the negative feedback of vegetation to greenhouse warming: A modeling approach. Geophys. Res. Lett. 37, L23701 (2010

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