Methane in Australian agriculture: current emissions, sources and sinks, and potential mitigation strategies

2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damien Finn ◽  
Ram Dalal ◽  
Athol Klieve
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Methane Flux ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sources And Sinks ◽  
Climate Change Drivers

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential ~28 times that of carbon dioxide. Consequently, sources and sinks that influence the concentration of methane in the atmosphere are of great interest. In Australia, agriculture is the primary source of anthropogenic methane emissions (60.4% of national emissions, or 3 260 kt–1 methane year–1, between 1990 and 2011), and cropping and grazing soils represent Australia’s largest potential terrestrial methane sink. As of 2011, the expansion of agricultural soils, which are ~70% less efficient at consuming methane than undisturbed soils, to 59% of Australia’s land mass (456 Mha) and increasing livestock densities in northern Australia suggest negative implications for national methane flux. Plant biomass burning does not appear to have long-term negative effects on methane flux unless soils are converted for agricultural purposes. Rice cultivation contributes marginally to national methane emissions and this fluctuates depending on water availability. Significant available research into biological, geochemical and agronomic factors has been pertinent for developing effective methane mitigation strategies. We discuss methane-flux feedback mechanisms in relation to climate change drivers such as temperature, atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane concentrations, precipitation and extreme weather events. Future research should focus on quantifying the role of Australian cropping and grazing soils as methane sinks in the national methane budget, linking biodiversity and activity of methane-cycling microbes to environmental factors, and quantifying how a combination of climate change drivers will affect total methane flux in these systems.

The convergence of carbon dioxide emissions: a survey of the empirical literature

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 1757-1785 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Payne
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Geographic Region ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Change Models

PurposeThis survey of the literature on the convergence of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions informs researchers on areas for future research by summarizing the countries examined, the types of convergence tested and the methodological approaches undertaken.Design/methodology/approachThis survey examines peer-reviewed empirical studies of CO2 emissions convergence with respect to country coverage and alternative approaches to test for various types of convergence.FindingsFor large multicountry studies, the support for convergence is quite limited. However, studies focused exclusively on a subset of countries defined by income classification, geographic region or institutional structure reveal the finding of convergence is more prevalent. Studies at the subnational level have primarily been in the cases of the US and China with the exception of two studies across industry sectors in Portugal and Sweden.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses exclusively on peer-reviewed published studies.Practical implicationsThis study is relevant to the design of mitigation strategies to reduce CO2 emissions and the assumption of convergence underlying climate change models.Social implicationsAs a major component of greenhouse gas emissions, CO2 emissions is of global importance in its impact on the environment and climate change.Originality/valueThis study provides the most recent and comprehensive survey of the empirical literature on the convergence of CO2 emissions.

scholarly journals Potential Impact of the Current and Future Climate on the Yield, Quality, and Climate Suitability for Tea [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze]: A Systematic Review

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 619
Author(s):  
Sadeeka Layomi Jayasinghe ◽  
Lalit Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Tea Quality ◽  
Climate Suitability ◽  
Yield Quality ◽  
The Impact

Even though climate change is having an increasing impact on tea plants, systematic reviews on the impact of climate change on the tea system are scarce. This review was undertaken to assess and synthesize the knowledge around the impacts of current and future climate on yield, quality, and climate suitability for tea; the historical roots and the most influential papers on the aforementioned topics; and the key adaptation and mitigation strategies that are practiced in tea fields. Our findings show that a large number of studies have focused on the impact of climate change on tea quality, followed by tea yield, while a smaller number of studies have concentrated on climate suitability. Three pronounced reference peaks found in Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RYPS) represent the most significant papers associated with the yield, quality, and climate suitability for tea. Tea yield increases with elevated CO2 levels, but this increment could be substantially affected by an increasing temperature. Other climatic factors are uneven rainfall, extreme weather events, and climate-driven abiotic stressors. An altered climate presents both advantages and disadvantages for tea quality due to the uncertainty of the concentrations of biochemicals in tea leaves. Climate change creates losses, gains, and shifts of climate suitability for tea habitats. Further studies are required in order to fill the knowledge gaps identified through the present review, such as an investigation of the interaction between the tea plant and multiple environmental factors that mimic real-world conditions and then studies on its impact on the tea system, as well as the design of ensemble modeling approaches to predict climate suitability for tea. Finally, we outline multifaceted and evidence-based adaptive and mitigation strategies that can be implemented in tea fields to alleviate the undesirable impacts of climate change.

scholarly journals From Dichotomy to an Integrated Approach: Cities’ Benefits of Integrating Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7591
Author(s):  
Jo-Ting Huang-Lachmann ◽  
Edeltraud Guenther
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Endogenous Risk ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Entry Points ◽  
Change Mitigation

Cities are facing impacts of climate change and encountering risks such as extreme weather events, while cities are also aiming to contribute to their mitigation goals by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the differences in characteristics of climate change mitigation and adaptation have shown the possible reasons for a dichotomy in climate policy. This has motivated us to further look into whether cities could integrate their actions in climate change mitigation and adaptation in their planning and how they achieve benefits to overcome the dichotomy. To answer our research question, we have developed an analysis framework built on the endogenous risk theory to analyse how cities overcome the different characteristics to integrate their climate strategies and obtain benefits. The theory of endogenous risk involves seeing both climate change mitigation and adaptation as risk reduction strategies because both of them aim to reduce climate risks and can be carried out by actors who perceive such risks. Therefore, the actors will be more willing to integrate and implement both mitigation and adaptation policy. Our results show that mitigation and adaptation in cities are interlinked and that benefits of an integrated climate change policy exist. A list of entry points how cities overcome the dichotomy are also identified. Our research outcomes also provide a list of benefits identified by the cities in their integrated climate strategies and we call for more public disclosed data for future research and policy assessments.

scholarly journals A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of extreme weather events and other weather-related variables on Cryptosporidium and Giardia in fresh surface waters

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Young ◽  
Ben A. Smith ◽  
Aamir Fazil
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Surface Waters ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Extreme Weather ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Fresh Surface

Global climate change is expected to impact drinking water quality through multiple weather-related phenomena. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the relationship between various weather-related variables and the occurrence and concentration of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in fresh surface waters. We implemented a comprehensive search in four databases, screened 1,228 unique citations for relevance, extracted data from 107 relevant articles, and conducted random-effects meta-analysis on 16 key relationships. The average odds of identifying Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts in fresh surface waters was 2.61 (95% CI = 1.63–4.21; I2 = 16%) and 2.87 (95% CI = 1.76–4.67; I2 = 0%) times higher, respectively, during and after extreme weather events compared to baseline conditions. Similarly, the average concentration of Cryptosporidium and Giardia identified under these conditions was also higher, by approximately 4.38 oocysts/100 L (95% CI = 2.01–9.54; I2 = 0%) and 2.68 cysts/100 L (95% CI = 1.08–6.55; I2 = 48%). Correlation relationships between other weather-related parameters and the density of these pathogens were frequently heterogeneous and indicated low to moderate effects. Meta-regression analyses identified different study-level factors that influenced the variability in these relationships. The results can be used as direct inputs for quantitative microbial risk assessment. Future research is warranted to investigate these effects and potential mitigation strategies in different settings and contexts.

scholarly journals Influence of elevated carbon dioxide concentrations on methane emission and its associated soil microflora in rice ecosystem

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (SI) ◽  
pp. 26-34
Author(s):  
S. K. Rajkishore ◽  
M. Maheswari ◽  
K. S. Subramanian ◽  
R. Prabhu ◽  
G. Vanitha
Keyword(s):  
Elevated Co2 ◽  
Methane Emission ◽  
Methane Flux ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Soil Microflora ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Randomized Design ◽  
Dry Soil ◽  
Rice Ecosystem

The dynamics of methane emission and its associated soil microflora in rice ecosystem as a response to elevated CO2 concentrations were studied in open top chamber (OTC) conditions. The treatments consisted of three levels of CO2 (396, 550 and 750 µmol mol-1) and three levels of nitrogen (0, 150 and 200 kg ha-1) and replicated five times in a completely randomized design. The data showed that elevated [CO2] significantly (P ? 0.01) increased the DOC throughout the cropping period with the values ranging from 533 to 722 mg L-1 and 368 to 501 mg L-1 in C750 and Camb, respectively. Methane emission rates were monitored regularly during the experiment period and it was revealed that elevated [CO2] had increased the methane emissions regardless of stages of crop growth.  It was observed that methane emissions were significantly higher under [CO2] of 750 µmol mol-1 by 33 to 54 per cent over the ambient [CO2] of 396 µmol mol-1. Consistent with the observed increases in methane flux, the enumeration of methanogens showed a significant (P ? 0.01) increase under elevated [CO2] with the population ranging from 5.7 to 20.1 x 104 CFU g-1 of dry soil and 5.1 to 16.9 x 104 CFU g-1 of dry soil under C750 and Camb concentrations, respectively. Interestingly, even though higher methanotrophs population was recorded under elevated [CO2], it could not circumvent the methane emission. Overall, the results of OTC studies suggest that methane mitigation strategies need to be explored for the future high CO2 environments. 

scholarly journals Ocean Acidification: An Introduction

EDIS ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua T. Patterson ◽  
Lisa S. Krimsky
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Coastal Flooding ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Excess Carbon ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Science Community ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Levels ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2

Ocean acidification (OA) generally refers to the ongoing decrease in ocean pH. Ocean acidification is caused primarily by the oceanic uptake of excess carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Other impacts related to climate change (increased sea level rise, coastal flooding and extreme weather events) often receive more attention than OA, but the acidification of the Earth’s oceans is well documented and is a major concern for the marine science community. This publication is the first in a series that addresses ocean acidification in Florida. It specifically explains the changes that are occurring to the chemistry of our coastal and oceanic waters because of elevated carbon dioxide levels. Additional publications address potential environmental, economic, and social implications for Florida.  

scholarly journals The fourth generation of urban projects to tackle climate change: a typological proposal

2021 ◽  
Vol 1203 (3) ◽  
pp. 032012
Author(s):  
Gino Perez-Lancellotti ◽  
Marcela Ziede
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Fourth Generation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Rising Sea Levels ◽  
Urban Project ◽  
Adaptation And Mitigation

Abstract Climate change is the major challenge of our humanity and the relationship between climate change and cities has received increasing scholarly attention from governance, urban planning and infrastructure perspectives. However, the scale of the urban project, understood as the operationalization of climate change actions, has been neglected. The current three generations of urban projects are revisited (modern city, morphologic articulation, large urban projects) and a fourth-generation within the context of climate change is identified as missing; it combines adaptation and mitigation strategies for urban projects. While adaptation strategies are oriented to minimizing the negative impact of climate change on rising sea-levels, floods and rivers’ changes through green and blue infrastructures, mitigation strategies are twofold: one oriented to minimizing CO2 gas emissions and the other to reducing the risks of deterioration of natural systems due to human intervention or natural causes. Integrating the four generations, a typology of a 2x2 matrix of urban projects is drawn up. The four quadrants of types of urban projects are explained and accompanied by examples. Potential and desirable shifts between the quadrants are discussed to understand how changes are needed to advance to develop this new generation of urban projects. The paper contributes to expanding our understanding of urban projects in the context of climate change with heuristics purposes for researchers, practitioners and academia, and to prepare public policy makers to encourage the debate of climate change actions of adaptation and mitigation that should be materialized on an urban project scale. Future research may empirically test the typology in different contexts of development.

Water and Gender

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Angela Caretta ◽  
Brandon Anthony Rothrock
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Water Relations ◽  
Gender Relations ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Gender Inequalities

Water relations are gendered, and there are various, differential socio-ecological and power dynamics that reify those relations at different spatial scales. There are multiple examples across the Global North and Global South that pinpoint the diverse productive and reproductive uses of water by men and women. Women, for instance, are more likely to be excluded from water management and decision making, while men are in control of water for agricultural production. Neoliberal framings of water in economic terms may exacerbate gender inequalities as neoliberal policies are often blind to the complex politics and power embedded in gender relations and water. Emerging literature on embodiment and emotions in waterscapes confronts neoliberal framings of water by theorizing the everyday lived experience of disenfranchised groups excluded from water management. Gendered studies of water relations focus largely on women, with limited attention to men. Male usage of water is often presented in relation to their role in water infrastructure management and design and water for leisure. As climate change becomes a more pressing issue in general society, existing uneven gendered relations of water resource use will be further exacerbated. With prevalent literature on gender relations focusing on women, future research needs to further incorporate studies of masculinity in gender relations to better inform adaptation and mitigation strategies. An understanding of gender and education would be insufficient without an understanding of both gender differentials in access to water and the gendered implications of climate change.

scholarly journals Constraints to Vegetable Production Resulting from Pest and Diseases Induced by Climate Change and Globalization: A Review

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mutondwa M. Phophi ◽  
Paramu L. Mafongoya
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Insect Pests ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Vegetable Production ◽  
Pests And Diseases ◽  
Exotic Pests

Vegetable production worldwide is constrained by pests and diseases which effects are exacerbated by climate change and variability. Greenhouse gas emissions are also increasing due to poor agricultural practices and other human activities. This will continue to have a negative impact on the prevalence of insect pests and diseases. This review focuses on the climatic factors that impact on insect pests and diseases of vegetable crops. High atmospheric temperatures and elevated carbon dioxide increases pest development, survival of pests and distribution of pest to new areas. The distribution of insect pests and diseases are not due to climate changes only but are also a result of globalisation and poor biosecurity measures at country borders. There is limited information on the distribution of pests and diseases due to globalisation in African countries. New exotic pests will continue to be introduced to countries if biosecurity measures are not improved. Future research must focus on how to manage emerging pests and diseases influenced by high temperatures and carbon dioxide and other climatic conditions which influence pest severity under smallholder farmers in the southern African regions.

scholarly journals Microbial growth and carbon use efficiency show seasonal responses in a multifactorial climate change experiment

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Simon ◽  
Alberto Canarini ◽  
Victoria Martin ◽  
Joana Séneca ◽  
Theresa Böckle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Microbial Growth ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Summer Drought ◽  
Microbial Physiology ◽  
Soil Microbial ◽  
Carbon Use Efficiency ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Climate Change Drivers

Abstract Microbial growth and carbon use efficiency (CUE) are central to the global carbon cycle, as microbial remains form soil organic matter. We investigated how future global changes may affect soil microbial growth, respiration, and CUE. We aimed to elucidate the soil microbial response to multiple climate change drivers across the growing season and whether effects of multiple global change drivers on soil microbial physiology are additive or interactive. We measured soil microbial growth, CUE, and respiration at three time points in a field experiment combining three levels of temperature and atmospheric CO2, and a summer drought. Here we show that climate change-driven effects on soil microbial physiology are interactive and season-specific, while the coupled response of growth and respiration lead to stable microbial CUE (average CUE = 0.39). These results suggest that future research should focus on microbial growth across different seasons to understand and predict effects of global changes on soil carbon dynamics.

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