scholarly journals Assessment of Nitrogen Ceilings for Dutch Agricultural Soils to Avoid Adverse Environmental Impacts

2001 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 898-907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim de Vries ◽  
Hans Kros ◽  
Oene Oenema ◽  
Jan Willem Erisman
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Traffic Density ◽  
N Fixation ◽  
Critical Limits

In the Netherlands, high traffic density and intensive animal husbandry have led to high emissions of reactive nitrogen (N) into the environment. This leads to a series of environmental impacts, including: (1) nitrate (NO3) contamination of drinking water, (2) eutrophication of freshwater lakes, (3) acidification and biodiversity impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, (4) ozone and particle formation affecting human health, and (5) global climate change induced by emissions of N2O. Measures to control reactive N emissions were, up to now, directed towards those different environmental themes. Here we summarize the results of a study to analyse the agricultural N problem in the Netherlands in an integrated way, which means that all relevant aspects are taken into account simultaneously. A simple N balance model was developed, representing all crucial processes in the N chain, to calculate acceptable N inputs to the farm (so-called N ceiling) and to the soil surface (application in the field) by feed concentrates, organic manure, fertiliser, deposition, and N fixation. The N ceilings were calculated on the basis of critical limits for NO3concentrations in groundwater, N concentrations in surface water, and ammonia (NH3) emission targets related to the protection of biodiversity of natural areas. Results show that in most parts of the Netherlands, except the western and the northern part, the N ceilings are limited by NH3emissions, which are derived from critical N loads for nature areas, rather than limits for both ground- and surface water. On the national scale, the N ceiling ranges between 372 and 858 kton year–1depending on the choice of critical limits. The current N import is 848 kton year–1. A decrease of nearly 60% is needed to reach the ceilings that are necessary to protect the environment against all adverse impacts of N pollution from agriculture.

scholarly journals Modeled Impacts of Farming Practices and Structural Agricultural Changes on Nitrogen Fluxes in the Netherlands

2001 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 664-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim de Vries ◽  
Hans Kros ◽  
Oene Oenema
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
N Leaching ◽  
Farming Practices ◽  
Total N ◽  
Nutrient Emissions ◽  
Low Emission ◽  
Structural Measures ◽  
Year 2000

In the Netherlands, nutrient emissions from intensive animal husbandry have contributed to decreased species diversity in (semi) natural terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, pollution of groundwater, and possibly global warming due to N2O emissions. This paper presents the results of a modelling study presenting the impacts of both structural measures and improved farming practices on major nitrogen (N) fluxes, including NH3and N2O emission, uptake, leaching, and runoff, in the Netherlands, using input data for the year 2000. Average annual fluxes (Gg N year–1) for the year 2000 were estimated at 132 for NH3emission (160 Gg NH3year–1), 28 for N2O emission, 50 for N inflow to groundwater, and 15 for N inflow to surface water at a total N input of 1046. At this input, nitrate (NO3) concentrations in groundwater often exceeded the target of 50 mg NO3l–1, specifically in well-drained sandy soils. The ammonia (NH3) emissions exceeded emission targets that were set to protect the biodiversity of nonagricultural land. Improved farming practices were calculated to lead to a significant reduction in NH3emissions to the atmosphere and N leaching and runoff to groundwater and surface water, but these improvements were not enough to reach all the targets set for those fluxes. Only strong structural measures clearly improved the situation. The NH3emission target of 30 Gg NH3year–1, suggested for the year 2030, could not be attained, however, unless pig and poultry farming is completely banned in the Netherlands and all cattle stay almost permanently in low emission stables.

scholarly journals Hydroclimatic regimes: a distributed water-balance framework for hydrologic assessment, classification, and management

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 3855-3872 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. K. Weiskel ◽  
D. M. Wolock ◽  
P. J. Zarriello ◽  
R. M. Vogel ◽  
S. B. Levin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Resource Assessment ◽  
Annual Runoff ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Equal Weight

Abstract. Runoff-based indicators of terrestrial water availability are appropriate for humid regions, but have tended to limit our basic hydrologic understanding of drylands – the dry-subhumid, semiarid, and arid regions which presently cover nearly half of the global land surface. In response, we introduce an indicator framework that gives equal weight to humid and dryland regions, accounting fully for both vertical (precipitation + evapotranspiration) and horizontal (groundwater + surface-water) components of the hydrologic cycle in any given location – as well as fluxes into and out of landscape storage. We apply the framework to a diverse hydroclimatic region (the conterminous USA) using a distributed water-balance model consisting of 53 400 networked landscape hydrologic units. Our model simulations indicate that about 21% of the conterminous USA either generated no runoff or consumed runoff from upgradient sources on a mean-annual basis during the 20th century. Vertical fluxes exceeded horizontal fluxes across 76% of the conterminous area. Long-term-average total water availability (TWA) during the 20th century, defined here as the total influx to a landscape hydrologic unit from precipitation, groundwater, and surface water, varied spatially by about 400 000-fold, a range of variation ~100 times larger than that for mean-annual runoff across the same area. The framework includes but is not limited to classical, runoff-based approaches to water-resource assessment. It also incorporates and reinterprets the green- and blue-water perspective now gaining international acceptance. Implications of the new framework for several areas of contemporary hydrology are explored, and the data requirements of the approach are discussed in relation to the increasing availability of gridded global climate, land-surface, and hydrologic data sets.

Deferring Crisis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Stewart Mauldin
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Shifting Cultivation ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Antebellum South ◽  
Westward Expansion ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Land Use Practices ◽  
Ecological Regime

This chapter explores the ecological regime of slavery and the land-use practices employed by farmers across the antebellum South. Despite the diverse ecologies and crop regimes of the region, most southern farmers employed a set of extensive agricultural techniques that kept the cost of farming down and helped circumvent natural limits on crop production and stock-raising. The use of shifting cultivation, free-range animal husbandry, and slaves to perform erosion control masked the environmental impacts of farmers’ actions, at least temporarily. Debates over westward expansion during the sectional crisis of the 1850s were not just about the extension of slavery, they also reflected practical concerns regarding access to new lands and fresh soil. Both were necessary for the continued profitability of farming in the South.

scholarly journals Response of altitudinal vegetation belts of the Tianshan Mountains in northwestern China to climate change during 1989–2015

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Zhang ◽  
Lu-yu Liu ◽  
Yi Liu ◽  
Man Zhang ◽  
Cheng-bang An
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Forest Tree ◽  
Tianshan Mountains ◽  
Northwestern China ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Altitudinal Belts ◽  
The Impact

AbstractWithin the mountain altitudinal vegetation belts, the shift of forest tree lines and subalpine steppe belts to high altitudes constitutes an obvious response to global climate change. However, whether or not similar changes occur in steppe belts (low altitude) and nival belts in different areas within mountain systems remain undetermined. It is also unknown if these, responses to climate change are consistent. Here, using Landsat remote sensing images from 1989 to 2015, we obtained the spatial distribution of altitudinal vegetation belts in different periods of the Tianshan Mountains in Northwestern China. We suggest that the responses from different altitudinal vegetation belts to global climate change are different. The changes in the vegetation belts at low altitudes are spatially different. In high-altitude regions (higher than the forest belts), however, the trend of different altitudinal belts is consistent. Specifically, we focused on analyses of the impact of changes in temperature and precipitation on the nival belts, desert steppe belts, and montane steppe belts. The results demonstrated that the temperature in the study area exhibited an increasing trend, and is the main factor of altitudinal vegetation belts change in the Tianshan Mountains. In the context of a significant increase in temperature, the upper limit of the montane steppe in the eastern and central parts will shift to lower altitudes, which may limit the development of local animal husbandry. The montane steppe in the west, however, exhibits the opposite trend, which may augment the carrying capacity of pastures and promote the development of local animal husbandry. The lower limit of the nival belt will further increase in all studied areas, which may lead to an increase in surface runoff in the central and western regions.

scholarly journals Reduced resilience of terrestrial ecosystems locally is not reflected on a global scale

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhao Feng ◽  
Haojie Su ◽  
Zhiyao Tang ◽  
Shaopeng Wang ◽  
Xia Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Terrestrial Vegetation ◽  
Ecosystem Resilience

AbstractGlobal climate change likely alters the structure and function of vegetation and the stability of terrestrial ecosystems. It is therefore important to assess the factors controlling ecosystem resilience from local to global scales. Here we assess terrestrial vegetation resilience over the past 35 years using early warning indicators calculated from normalized difference vegetation index data. On a local scale we find that climate change reduced the resilience of ecosystems in 64.5% of the global terrestrial vegetated area. Temperature had a greater influence on vegetation resilience than precipitation, while climate mean state had a greater influence than climate variability. However, there is no evidence for decreased ecological resilience on larger scales. Instead, climate warming increased spatial asynchrony of vegetation which buffered the global-scale impacts on resilience. We suggest that the response of terrestrial ecosystem resilience to global climate change is scale-dependent and influenced by spatial asynchrony on the global scale.

scholarly journals Prospective Environmental Impacts of Passenger Cars under Different Energy and Steel Production Scenarios

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 6236
Author(s):  
Michael Samsu Koroma ◽  
Nils Brown ◽  
Giuseppe Cardellini ◽  
Maarten Messagie
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Reduction Potential ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Direct Reduction ◽  
Steel Production ◽  
Passenger Cars ◽  
Co2 Intensity

The potential environmental impacts of producing and using future electric vehicles (EVs) are important given their expected role in mitigating global climate change and local air pollutants. Recently, studies have begun assessing the effect of potential future changes in EVs supply chains on overall environmental performance. This study contributes by integrating expected changes in future energy, iron, and steel production in the life cycle assessment (LCA) of EVs. In this light, the study examines the impacts of changes in these parameters on producing and charging future EVs. Future battery electric vehicles (BEV) could have a 36–53% lower global warming potential (GWP) compared to current BEV. The change in source of electricity generation accounts for 89% of GWP reductions over the BEV’s life cycle. Thus, it presents the highest GWP reduction potential of 35–48%. The use of hydrogen for direct reduction of iron in steelmaking (HDR-I) is expected to reduce vehicle production GWP by 17% compared to current technology. By accounting for 9% of the life cycle GWP reductions, HDR-I has the second-highest reduction potential (1.3–4.8%). The results also show that the potential for energy efficiency improvement measures for GWP reduction in vehicle and battery manufacture would be more beneficial when applied now than in the distant future (2050), when the CO2 intensity of the EU electricity is expected to be lower. Interestingly, under the same conditions, the high share of renewable energy in vehicle supply chains contributed to a decrease in all air pollution-related impact categories, but an increase in toxicity-related categories, as well as land use and water consumption.

scholarly journals Downscaling MODIS Surface Reflectance to Improve Water Body Extraction

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianghong Che ◽  
Min Feng ◽  
Hao Jiang ◽  
Jia Song ◽  
Bei Jia
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Body ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Water Area ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Surface Reflectance ◽  
Discrimination Ability ◽  
Automated Method ◽  
Landsat 7

Inland surface water is essential to terrestrial ecosystems and human civilization. Accurate mapping of surface water dynamic is vital for both scientific research and policy-driven applications. MODIS provides twice observation per day, making it perfect for monitoring temporal water dynamic. Although MODIS provides two bands at 250 m resolution, accurately deriving water area always depends on observations from the spectral bands with 500 m resolution, which limits its discrimination ability over small lakes and rivers. The paper presents an automated method for downscaling the 500 m MODIS surface reflectance (SR) to 250 m to improve the spatial discrimination of water body extraction. The method has been tested at Co Ngoin and Co Bangkog in Qinghai-Tibet plateau. The downscaled SR and the derived water bodies were compared to SR and water body mapped from Landsat-7 ETM+ images were acquired on the same date. Consistency metrics were calculated to measure their agreement and disagreement. The comparisons indicated that the downscaled MODIS SR showed significant improvement over the original 500 m observations when compared with Landsat-7 ETM+ SR, and both commission and omission errors were reduced in the derived 250 m water bodies.

A coupled multi-proxy and process modelling approach for extraction of quantitative terrestrial ecosystem information from speleothems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Lechleitner ◽  
Christopher C. Day ◽  
Oliver Kost ◽  
Micah Wilhelm ◽  
Negar Haghipour ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Soil Respiration ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Clear Correlation ◽  
Northern Spain ◽  
Regional Temperature ◽  
Global Carbon

<p>Terrestrial ecosystems are intimately linked with the global climate system, but their response to ongoing and future anthropogenic climate change remains poorly understood. Reconstructing the response of terrestrial ecosystem processes over past periods of rapid and substantial climate change can serve as a tool to better constrain the sensitivity in the ecosystem-climate response.</p><p>In this talk, we will present a new reconstruction of soil respiration in the temperate region of Western Europe based on speleothem carbon isotopes (δ<sup>13</sup>C). Soil respiration remains poorly constrained over past climatic transitions, but is critical for understanding the global carbon cycle and its response to ongoing anthropogenic warming. Our study builds upon two decades of speleothem research in Western Europe, which has shown clear correlation between δ<sup>13</sup>C and regional temperature reconstructions during the last glacial and the deglaciation, with exceptional regional coherency in timing, amplitude, and absolute δ<sup>13</sup>C variation. By combining innovative multi-proxy geochemical analysis (δ<sup>13</sup>C, Ca isotopes, and radiocarbon) on three speleothems from Northern Spain, and quantitative forward modelling of processes in soil, karst, and cave, we show how deglacial variability in speleothem δ<sup>13</sup>C is best explained by increasing soil respiration. Our study is the first to quantify and remove the effects of prior calcite precipitation (PCP, using Ca isotopes) and bedrock dissolution (open vs closed system, using the radiocarbon reservoir effect) from the speleothem δ<sup>13</sup>C signal to derive changes in respired δ<sup>13</sup>C over time. Our approach allows us to estimate the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration (Q<sub>10</sub>), which is higher than current measurements, suggesting that part of the speleothem signal may be related to a change in the composition of the soil respired δ<sup>13</sup>C. This is likely related to changing substrate through increasing contribution from vegetation biomass with the onset of the Holocene.</p><p>These results highlight the exciting possibilities speleothems offer as a coupled archive for quantitative proxy-based reconstructions of climate and ecosystem conditions.</p>

Environmental impact and treatment of hydraulic fracturing in shale gas

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heng Wang ◽  
Lifa Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Pollution Sources ◽  
Fracturing Fluid ◽  
Geological Disasters ◽  
Surface Water And Groundwater

<p>Hydraulic fracturing is one of the key technologies to stimulate shale gas production and may have some environmental impacts while enhancing shale gas development. Through the introduction of hydraulic fracturing technology from the design and construction aspects, analysis of its potential adverse environmental impacts in water resource consumption, surface water and groundwater pollution, geological disasters, and other aspects, and based on the existing problems to form targeted solutions.</p><p>According to EIA report, during the stimulation process of shale gas fracturing, the amount of water resources is about 10,000m<sup>3</sup>, of which 20%-80% can be returned, and the flowback rate of Shale gas in China is 20%-60%, which means that at least 20%-40% polluted water containing various chemical raw materials will be hidden in the formation for a long time. The shale flowback rate in China is significantly lower than that in the United States, not only due to formation conditions, but also due to equipment and technology. In view of this situation, it is necessary to control the whole process from design to construction.</p><p>In the design process of hydraulic fracturing of shale gas, real-time control of the fracture range is carried out in conjunction with seismic monitoring and software simulation fitting, so as to reduce the consumption of water resources on the premise of achieving the purpose of increasing production. Especially, to reducing the fracturing program as much as possible in the water-scarce areas, so as to ensure the security of public water resources. Reduce the use of chemical additives to alleviate the pollution of surface water and groundwater. After detection of possible pollution, determine the amount of pollution sources on site and carry out comprehensive pollutant recovery and treatment. Strictly prohibit high-risk pollution sources from entering the fracturing fluid process. At the same time, the fracturing fluid is used to recycled and purified. In terms of geological disasters caused by fracturing, high-risk geological disaster zones should be identified and monitored in advance to prevent large-scale geological activities caused by micro-earthquakes caused by fracturing from causing uncontrollable geological disasters.</p>

scholarly journals History, Current Situation and Challenges of Gold Mining in Ecuador’s Litoral Region

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1220
Author(s):  
Carlos Mestanza-Ramón ◽  
Selene Paz-Mena ◽  
Carlos López-Paredes ◽  
Mirian Jimenez-Gutierrez ◽  
Greys Herrera-Morales ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
Socioeconomic Impact ◽  
Mining Sector ◽  
Illegal Mining ◽  
Precautionary Measures

Gold mining in Ecuador has been present in the country since Inca times; over the years interest in the mineral has increased, leading to the creation of legislation to control the mining sector in a safe manner. The Litoral region consists of seven provinces, six of which have registered gold concessions; the most affected provinces are El Oro and Esmeraldas. The objective of this study was to analyze the historical and current situation of artisanal and industrial gold mining in the Litoral region of Ecuador. Different methodologies were used for the elaboration of this study, including bibliographic review, grey literature, field interviews and a validation of expert judgment. The main results indicate that El Oro and Esmeraldas are essentially the most conflictive areas in the region, as they have sometimes had to establish precautionary measures due to the risks caused by illegal mining. In addition, in both areas there is a great socioeconomic impact ranging from lack of opportunities, forgetfulness, migration, emigration, and violation of rights, among others. With respect to environmental impacts, the study highlights the contamination of water sources (which leads to a lack of drinking water for people), and damage to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Finally, the study concludes that the authorities should control the mining sector more by implementing more laws and carrying out inspections to put an end to illegal gold mining, in order to improve the situation in the areas.

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