Agriculture and Its Residual Effects

2019 ◽  
pp. 126-149
Author(s):  
Emily W. B. Russell Southgate
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Tropical Forests ◽  
Landscape Patterns ◽  
Residual Effects ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Rice Agriculture ◽  
Field Systems ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Historical Agriculture

This chapter shows how detailed historical ecological research indicates that the impacts of historical agriculture are more widespread than previously thought, and often more subtle. Even apparently obvious connections, such as that between nomadic grazing and erosion, are now being questioned by historical analyses. Agriculture has not resulted universally in decreased biodiversity; in fact, grazing over millennia has in places increased biodiversity. Historical agriculture is also being implicated in millennial scale increases in CO2 and CH4 in the atmosphere, the former from deforestation and fires and the latter from paddy rice agriculture starting five thousand years ago. The discovery of hidden field systems under mature temperate and tropical forests and grasslands in Europe and the Americas are allowing reassessment of the impact of prehistoric agricultural systems on soils, species diversity, landscape patterns, and climate. The concept of "landnam" episodes proposed by Iversen for northern Europe may be applicable much more broadly. This has major consequences for considering human impact on global environments.

scholarly journals Vegetation Dynamic Assessment by NDVI and Field Observations for Sustainability of China’s Wulagai River Basin

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2528
Author(s):  
Panpan Chen ◽  
Huamin Liu ◽  
Zongming Wang ◽  
Dehua Mao ◽  
Cunzhu Liang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Dynamic Assessment ◽  
Indicator System ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Vegetation Dynamic ◽  
Management Policies ◽  
The Impact

Accurate monitoring of grassland vegetation dynamics is essential for ecosystem restoration and the implementation of integrated management policies. A lack of information on vegetation changes in the Wulagai River Basin restricts regional development. Therefore, in this study, we integrated remote sensing, meteorological, and field plant community survey data in order to characterize vegetation and ecosystem changes from 1997 to 2018. The residual trend (RESTREND) method was utilized to detect vegetation changes caused by human factors, as well as to evaluate the impact of the management of pastures. Our results reveal that the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of each examined ecosystem type showed an increasing trend, in which anthropogenic impact was the primary driving force of vegetation change. Our field survey confirmed that the meadow steppe ecosystem increased in species diversity and aboveground biomass; however, the typical steppe and riparian wet meadow ecosystems experienced species diversity and biomass degradation, therefore suggesting that an increase in NDVI may not directly reflect ecosystem improvement. Selecting an optimal indicator or indicator system is necessary in order to formulate reasonable grassland management policies for increasing the sustainability of grassland ecosystems.

scholarly journals Lianas reduce carbon accumulation and storage in tropical forests

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (43) ◽  
pp. 13267-13271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geertje M. F. van der Heijden ◽  
Jennifer S. Powers ◽  
Stefan A. Schnitzer
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Forests ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Carbon Dynamics ◽  
Carbon Accumulation ◽  
Carbon Uptake ◽  
Woody Vines ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Agent Of Change ◽  
The Impact

Tropical forests store vast quantities of carbon, account for one-third of the carbon fixed by photosynthesis, and are a major sink in the global carbon cycle. Recent evidence suggests that competition between lianas (woody vines) and trees may reduce forest-wide carbon uptake; however, estimates of the impact of lianas on carbon dynamics of tropical forests are crucially lacking. Here we used a large-scale liana removal experiment and found that, at 3 y after liana removal, lianas reduced net above-ground carbon uptake (growth and recruitment minus mortality) by ∼76% per year, mostly by reducing tree growth. The loss of carbon uptake due to liana-induced mortality was four times greater in the control plots in which lianas were present, but high variation among plots prevented a significant difference among the treatments. Lianas altered how aboveground carbon was stored. In forests where lianas were present, the partitioning of forest aboveground net primary production was dominated by leaves (53.2%, compared with 39.2% in liana-free forests) at the expense of woody stems (from 28.9%, compared with 43.9%), resulting in a more rapid return of fixed carbon to the atmosphere. After 3 y of experimental liana removal, our results clearly demonstrate large differences in carbon cycling between forests with and without lianas. Combined with the recently reported increases in liana abundance, these results indicate that lianas are an important and increasing agent of change in the carbon dynamics of tropical forests.

Soil seed bank and vegetation dynamics in Sahelian fallows; the impact of past cropping and current grazing treatments

2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 683-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Hérault ◽  
Pierre Hiernaux
Keyword(s):  
Seed Bank ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Soil Seed Bank ◽  
Residual Effects ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Phosphorus Fertilizer ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Seed Extraction ◽  
The Impact

The soil seed bank in a 5-y-old Sahelian fallow was studied through seed extraction and compared with germinations recorded either in controlled conditions, ex situ in a glasshouse, or in the field. The influence of phosphorus fertilizer and mulch application during the preceding crop period, and that of seasonal grazing regimes applied the last 2 y of fallowing, were assessed on the composition of the seed stock. Ctenium elegans, Fimbristylis hispidula, Merremia pinnata and Phyllanthus pentandrus accounted together for 75% of extracted seeds, 72% of ex situ, and 62% of in situ seedlings. Mulch treatment was correlated with the first axis of the canonical correspondence analyses performed on the seedling datasets. Mulch and phosphorus fertilizer treatments held similar responses, as they both favoured the seed bank of erect dicotyledons such as P. pentandrus and Cassia mimosoides. On the whole, the effects of grazing remained modest compared with the residual effects of past crop management practices. However, seedling densities increased as a result of dry-season grazing, while the soil seed bank decreased with wet-season grazing. Grazing also reduced the spatial heterogeneity of the seed bank rather than the overall number of species.

Implications of Ionospheric Scintillation for GNSS Users in Northern Europe

2005 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcio Aquino ◽  
Terry Moore ◽  
Alan Dodson ◽  
Sam Waugh ◽  
Jock Souter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Europe ◽  
Ionospheric Scintillation ◽  
Electron Content ◽  
Total Electron ◽  
Northern European ◽  
Amplitude Fluctuations ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Time Delay Effect ◽  
Electron Density Irregularities ◽  
The Impact

Extensive ionospheric scintillation and Total Electron Content (TEC) data were collected by the Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy (IESSG) in Northern Europe during years of great impact of the solar maximum on GNSS users (2001–2003). The ionospheric TEC is responsible for range errors due to its time delay effect on transionospheric signals. Electron density irregularities in the ionosphere, occurring frequently during these years, are responsible for (phase and amplitude) fluctuations on GNSS signals, known as ionospheric scintillation. Since June 2001 four GPS Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitor receivers (the NovAtel/AJ Systems GSV4004) have been deployed at stations in the UK and Norway, forming a Northern European network, covering geographic latitudes from 53° to 70° N approximately. These receivers compute and record GPS phase and amplitude scintillation parameters, as well as TEC and TEC variations. The project involved setting up the network and developing automated archiving and data analysis strategies, aiming to study the impact of scintillation on DGPS and EGNOS users, and on different GPS receiver technologies. In order to characterise scintillation and TEC variations over Northern Europe, as well as investigate correlation with geomagnetic activity, long-term statistical analyses were also produced. This paper summarises our findings, providing an overview of the potential implications of ionospheric scintillation for the GNSS user in Northern Europe.

The impact of marine protected areas on temporal stability of fish species diversity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda K. Pettersen ◽  
Ezequiel M. Marzinelli ◽  
Peter Steinberg ◽  
Melinda A. Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Fish Species ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Fish Species Diversity

REGIONAL SECURITY DYNAMICS IN NORTHERN EUROPE (ON THE EXAMPLE OF NORWAY) IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT CHANGES

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-111
Author(s):  
D. Kalibekuly ◽  
◽  
Y.S. Chukubayev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Member Country ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Security System ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The Impact

The paper examines the dynamics of regional security in Norway as a part of Northern Europe. Being a political and geographical part of the Euro-Atlantic security system. Northern Europe, in its turn, is experiencing the impact of the confrontation between Russia and NATO. Norway's security policy analyzed from the perspective of a regional leader, as a NATO member country participating in the operations of the North Atlantic Alliance and as NATO's northern wing.

scholarly journals Is the impact of eutrophication on phytoplankton diversity dependent on lake volume/ecosystem size?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didier L. Baho ◽  
Stina Drakare ◽  
Richard K. Johnson ◽  
Craig R. Allen ◽  
David G. Angeler
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Phytoplankton Diversity ◽  
Habitat Features ◽  
Anthropogenic Stressors ◽  
Lake Volume ◽  
Ecosystem Size ◽  
Phytoplankton Communities ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Local Habitat

<p>Research focusing on biodiversity responses to the interactions of ecosystem size and anthropogenic stressors are based mainly on correlative gradient studies, and may therefore confound size-stress relationships due to spatial context and differences in local habitat features across ecosystems. We investigated how local factors related to anthropogenic stressors (<em>e.g.,</em> eutrophication) interact with ecosystem size to influence species diversity. In this study, constructed lake mesocosms (with two contrasting volumes: 1020 (shallow mesocosms) and 2150 (deep mesocosms) litres) were used to simulate ecosystems of different size and manipulated nutrient levels to simulate mesotrophic and hypertrophic conditions. Using a factorial design, we assessed how the interaction between ecosystem size and nutrients influences phytoplankton diversity. We assessed community metrics (richness, diversity, evenness and total biovolumes) and multivariate community structure over a growing season (May to early November 2011). Different community structures were found between deep and shallow mescosoms with nutrient enrichment: Cyanobacteria dominated in the deep and Charophyta in the shallow mesocosms. In contrast, phytoplankton communities were more similar to each other in the low nutrient treatments; only Chlorophyta had generally a higher biovolume in the shallow compared to the deep mesocosms. These results suggest that ecosystem size is not only a determinant of species diversity, but that it can mediate the influence of anthropogenic effects on biodiversity. Such interactions increase the uncertainty of global change outcomes, and should therefore not be ignored in risk/impact assessment and management.</p>

scholarly journals Relating Land Use/Cover and Landscape Pattern to the Water Quality under the Simulation of SWAT in a Reservoir Basin, Southeast China

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 11067
Author(s):  
Kaige Lei ◽  
Yifan Wu ◽  
Feng Li ◽  
Jiayu Yang ◽  
Mingtao Xiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Landscape Patterns ◽  
Buffer Size ◽  
Construction Land ◽  
Drinking Water Standard ◽  
Reservoir Basin ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cover Pattern

Understanding the relationship between land use/cover pattern and water quality could provide guidelines for non-point source pollution and facilitate sustainable development. The previous studies mainly relate the land use/cover of the entire region to the water quality at the monitoring sites, but the water quality at monitoring sites did not totally reflect the water environment of the entire basin. In this study, the land use/cover was monitored on Google Earth Engine in Tang-Pu Reservoir basin, China. In order to reflect the water quality of the whole study area, the spatial distribution of the determinants for water quality there, i.e., the total nitrogen and total phosphorus (TN&TP), were simulated by the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The redundancy analysis explored the correlations between land use/cover pattern and simulated TN&TP. The results showed that: (1) From 2009 to 2019, forest was the dominant land cover, and there was little land use/cover change. The landscape fragmentation increased, and the connectivity decreased. (2) About 25% TP concentrations and nearly all the TN concentrations at the monitoring points did not reach drinking water standard, which means nitrogen and phosphorus pollution were the most serious problems. The highest output per unit TN&TP simulated by SWAT were 44.50 kg/hm2 and 9.51 kg/hm2 and occurred in areas with highly fragile landscape patterns. (3) TN&TP correlated positively with cultivated and construction land but negatively with forest. The correlation between forest and TN&TP summited at 500–700-m buffer and construction land at 100-m buffer. As the buffer size increased, the correlation between the cultivated land, and the TN weakened, while the correlation with the TP increased. TN&TP correlated positively with the Shannon’s Diversity Index and negatively with the Contagion Index. This study provides a new perspective for exporting the impact of land use/cover pattern on water quality.

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