Treating cattle with antibiotics affects greenhouse gas emissions, and microbiota in dung and dung beetles

Antibiotics are routinely used to improve livestock health and growth. However, this practice may have unintended environmental impacts mediated by interactions among the wide range of micro- and macroorganisms found in agroecosystems. For example, antibiotics may alter microbial emissions of greenhouse gases by affecting livestock gut microbiota. Furthermore, antibiotics may affect the microbiota of non-target animals that rely on dung, such as dung beetles, and the ecosystem services they provide. To examine these interactions, we treated cattle with a commonly used broad-spectrum antibiotic and assessed downstream effects on microbiota in dung and dung beetles, greenhouse gas fluxes from dung, and beetle size, survival and reproduction. We found that antibiotic treatment restructured microbiota in dung beetles, which harboured a microbial community distinct from those in the dung they were consuming. The antibiotic effect on beetle microbiota was not associated with smaller size or lower numbers. Unexpectedly, antibiotic treatment raised methane fluxes from dung, possibly by altering the interactions between methanogenic archaea and bacteria in rumen and dung environments. Our findings that antibiotics restructure dung beetle microbiota and modify greenhouse gas emissions from dung indicate that antibiotic treatment may have unintended, cascading ecological effects that extend beyond the target animal.

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Changing International Law for a Changing Climate

AJIL Unbound ◽

10.1017/aju.2018.76 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 112 ◽

pp. 279-284 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Daniel C. Esty ◽

Dena P. Adler

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Public Transportation ◽

The United States ◽

Paris Agreement ◽

Successful Implementation ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Wide Range ◽

National Governments

After more than two decades of inadequate international efforts to address climate change resulting from rising greenhouse gas emissions, the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement shifted gears. That agreement advances a “bottom-up” model of global cooperation that requires action commitments from all national governments and acknowledges the important role that cities, states, provinces, and businesses must play in delivering deep decarbonization. Given the limited control that presidents and prime ministers have over many of the policies and choices that determine their countries’ carbon footprints, the Paris Agreement missed an opportunity to formally recognize the climate change action commitments of mayors, governors, and premiers. These subnational officials often have authorities complementary to national governments, particularly in federal systems (including the United States, China, Canada, and Australia). They therefore possess significant independent capacities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through their economic development strategies, building codes, zoning rules and practices, public transportation investments, and other policies. Likewise, the world community missed an opportunity to formally recognize the commitments of companies to successful implementation of the Paris Agreement and thereby to highlight the wide range of decisions that business leaders make that significantly affect greenhouse gas emissions.

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Greenhouse gas emissions from dung pats vary with dung beetle species and with assemblage composition

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0178077 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 12 (7) ◽

pp. e0178077 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Irene Piccini ◽

Fabrizio Arnieri ◽

Enrico Caprio ◽

Beatrice Nervo ◽

Simone Pelissetti ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Dung Beetle ◽

Beetle Species ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Assemblage Composition

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Erratum: The role of dung beetles in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cattle farming

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/srep22683 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Eleanor M. Slade ◽

Terhi Riutta ◽

Tomas Roslin ◽

Hanna L. Tuomisto

Keyword(s):

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Dung Beetles ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Cattle Farming

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Mitigation Strategies for Reduction of Embodied Energy and Carbon, in the Construction Systems of Contemporary Quality Architecture

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11143806 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (14) ◽

pp. 3806 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Enrico Sicignano ◽

Giacomo Di Ruocco ◽

Roberta Melella

Keyword(s):

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Building Materials ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Embodied Energy ◽

Design Strategies ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Wide Range

The criticality related to the consumption of operational energy and related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of existing buildings is clearly decreasing in new buildings due to the strategies tested and applied in recent years in the energy retrofit sector. Recently, studies have been focusing on strategies to reduce environmental impacts related to the entire life cycle of the building organism, with reference to the reduction of embodied energy (and related greenhouse gas emissions) in building materials. As part of EEA’s European EBC project, Annex 57, a wide range of case studies have been promoted with the aim of identifying design strategies that can reduce the embodied energy and related greenhouse gas emissions of buildings. The aim of this paper is to investigate the most common construction systems in the construction industry (concrete, steel, wood) through the analysis of three contemporary architectural works, with the aim of identifying the predisposition for environmental sustainability of each technological system, thus guiding the operators in the sector towards design choices more compatible with the environmental requirements recommended by European legislation.

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Linking an economic model for European agriculture with a mechanistic model to estimate nitrogen losses from cropland soil in Europe

Biogeosciences Discussions ◽

10.5194/bgd-4-2215-2007 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

pp. 2215-2278 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

A. Leip ◽

G. Marchi ◽

R. Koeble ◽

M. Kempen ◽

W. Britz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Economic Model ◽

Large Scale ◽

Agricultural Soils ◽

Mechanistic Model ◽

Nitrogen Budget ◽

The European Union ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Wide Range

Abstract. For the comprehensive assessment of the policy impact on greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural soils both socio-economic aspects and the environmental heterogeneity of the landscape are important factors that must be considered. We developed a modelling framework that links the large-scale economic model for agriculture CAPRI with the bio-geochemistry model DNDC to simulate greenhouse gas fluxes, carbon stock changes and the nitrogen budget of agricultural soils in Europe. The framework allows the ex-ante simulation of agricultural or agri-environmental policy impacts on wide range of environmental problems such as climate change (greenhouse gas emissions), air pollution and groundwater pollution. Those environmental impacts can be analysed in the context of economic and social indicators as calculated by the economic model. The methodology consists in four steps (i) the definition of appropriate calculation units that can be considered as homogeneous in terms of economic behaviour and environmental response; (ii) downscaling of regional agricultural statistics and farm management information from a CAPRI simulation run into the spatial calculation units; (iii) setting up of environmental model scenarios and model runs; and finally (iv) aggregating results for interpretation. We show first results of the nitrogen budget in cropland for the area of fourteen countries of the European Union. These results, in terms of estimated nitrogen fluxes, must still be considered as illustrative as needs for improvements in input data (e.g. the soil map) and management data (yield estimates) have been identified and will be the focus of future work. Nevertheless, we highlight inter-dependencies between farmer's choices of land uses and the environmental impact of different cultivation systems.

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R&D Expenditure for New Technology in Livestock Farming: Impact on GHG Reduction in Developing Countries

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11247129 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (24) ◽

pp. 7129

Author(s):

Alessia Spada ◽

Mariantonietta Fiore ◽

Umberto Monarca ◽

Nicola Faccilongo

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Research And Development ◽

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Data Set ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Livestock Sector ◽

Wide Range ◽

Ghg Reduction

The achievement of the objectives of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has increasingly received attention and support from decision makers and research by scholars. The livestock sector has always been one of the major sources of GHG emissions, especially in developing countries that do not have green technologies to improve the management of livestock waste. In order to achieve an absolute reduction in emissions, developed countries have applied a wide range of mitigation options; however, there are few studies from the developing world, although greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries have registered a rapid growth. Therefore, this research aims to assess and understand whether public R&D investments can affect emissions deriving from the livestock sector in developing countries. We made use of the FAOSTAT data (FAO Statistical Databases United Nations) and ASTI data set (Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators), collecting data from 29 Africa countries, in 2014 (latest data available). The data were analyzed by means of a Generalized Propensity Scores (GPS) approach, an increasingly widespread technique that is more robust than regression models, especially in small datasets. Our analysis suggests that the livestock sector in these countries shows an improvement in its relationships with the environment and GHG emission levels when the level of public R&D (Research and Development) investment on agriculture is greater. Therefore, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by investing in research and development can lead to more efficient and sustainable resource management for developing countries.

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Individual and Contributory Responsibility for Environmental Harm

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199941339.013.24 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Kenneth Shockley

Keyword(s):

Moral Responsibility ◽

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Moral Obligation ◽

Environmental Problems ◽

Environmental Harm ◽

Moral Significance ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Wide Range ◽

Individual Actions

Many environmental problems are the result of the aggregation of seemingly innocuous individual actions. As a result, recognizing the moral significance of our contributory, indirect role in the generation of collective harms is crucial in environmental contexts. This chapter argues that taking our contributory role seriously provides a means of accepting a robust form of responsibility for collective harms. Our responsibilities include not only our individual actions, what we have done directly as individuals, but also the influence we might have on the wide range of institutions and practices that can generate harm and benefit. Taking seriously our contributory responsibility for collective harms not only provides an appropriate way of thinking about moral responsibility in environmental contexts but also provides a helpful response to those who reject the possibility of an individual moral obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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