Method for endogenizing capital in the United States Environmentally‐Extended Input‐Output model

Each year businesses, governments, and homeowners in the United States invest around one fifth of gross domestic product into the creation of capital assets such as buildings, machinery, and software to enable production and consumption. Use of capital is typically included to some extent in environmental life cycle assessments of goods and services but is not incorporated into most environmentally extended input‐output (EEIO) models, including the US Environmental Protection Agency's USEEIO. Capital assets are typically created in years prior to their use, so a challenge lies in distributing the impacts of their creation over time. In this work, a highly detailed capital flow matrix approach is followed to distribute the use of fixed capital assets to consuming industries. Data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis's Fixed Asset Accounts is merged with its Industry Accounts data by the creation of concordance tables. Public highways and streets are partially reallocated to industries operating vehicles. The resulting capital use matrix is later combined into a modified USEEIO. “Housing” is found to be the largest consumer of fixed assets, followed by general government, fossil fuel extraction, and financial industries involved in leasing. Construction, vehicles, and machinery are mostly used by industries in the form of fixed assets. The types of fixed assets used by industries are consistent with expectations: housing is dominated by structures, transport by equipment, and information industries by intellectual property products.     

Towards Productive Cities: Environmental Assessment of the Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus of the Urban Roof Mosaic

Cities are rapidly growing and need to look for ways to optimize resource consumption. Metropolises are especially vulnerable in three main systems, often referred to as the FEW (i.e., food, energy, and water) nexus. In this context, urban rooftops are underutilized areas that might be used for the production of these resources. We developed the Roof Mosaic approach, which combines life cycle assessment with two rooftop guidelines, to analyze the technical feasibility and environmental implications of producing food and energy, and harvesting rainwater on rooftops through different combinations at different scales. To illustrate, we apply the Roof Mosaic approach to a densely populated neighborhood in a Mediterranean city. The building‐scale results show that integrating rainwater harvesting and food production would avoid relatively insignificant emissions (13.9–18.6 kg CO₂ eq/inhabitant/year) in the use stage, but their construction would have low environmental impacts. In contrast, the application of energy systems (photovoltaic or solar thermal systems) combined with rainwater harvesting could potentially avoid higher CO₂ eq emissions (177–196 kg CO₂ eq/inhabitant/year) but generate higher environmental burdens in the construction phase. When applied at the neighborhood scale, the approach can be optimized to meet between 7% and 50% of FEW demands and avoid up to 157 tons CO₂ eq/year. This approach is a useful guide to optimize the FEW nexus providing a range of options for the exploitation of rooftops at the local scale, which can aid cities in becoming self‐sufficient, optimizing resources, and reducing CO₂ eq emissions.     

Corporate and Product Carbon Footprint under Compound Hybrid Analysis: Application to a Spanish Timber Company

The European Union (EU) is advancing steadily toward the stabilization of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. Various sectors are now obliged to make reductions, and new policies based on the carbon footprint are being encouraged. However, voluntary reporting of so‐called scope 3 emissions is hindering successful implementation of these policies. In this study, we present a tiered hybrid analysis to report emissions according to the ISO/TR 14069 standards and to obtain complete measures of scope 3 emissions. A process analysis for scope 1 and scope 2 emissions is complemented with a multiregional input‐output analysis for upstream scope 3 emissions. This novel approach is applied to the case study of a Spanish timber company. Its total carbon footprint in 2011 was 783,660 kilograms of carbon‐dioxide equivalent, of which 88% correspond to scope 3 emissions. These emissions are globally distributed; 71% are from European countries, followed by 8% from emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, Australia, and Turkey), 5% from China, and, finally, 16% from the rest of the world. We identify and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this novel approach, the European implementation of which could be highly effective in reducing global carbon emissions.     

Allometry of fine roots in forest ecosystems

Theoretical predictions regarding fine root production are needed in many ecosystem models but are lacking. Here, we expand the classic pipe model to fine roots and predict isometric scaling relationships between leaf and fine root biomass and among all major biomass production components of individual trees. We also predict that fine root production scales more slowly against increases in leaf production across global forest ecosystems at the stand level. Using meta‐analysis, we show fine root biomass scales isometrically against leaf biomass both at the individual tree and stand level. However, despite isometric scaling between stem and coarse root production, fine root production scales against leaf production with a slope of about 0.8 at the stand level, which probably results from more rapid increase of turnover rate in leaves than in fine roots. These analyses help to improve our understandings of allometric theory and controls of belowground C processes.     

Predicting coral community recovery using multi‐species population dynamics models

Predicting whether, how, and to what degree communities recover from disturbance remain major challenges in ecology. To predict recovery of coral communities we applied field survey data of early recovery dynamics to a multi‐species integral projection model that captured key demographic processes driving coral population trajectories, notably density‐dependent larval recruitment. After testing model predictions against field observations, we updated the model to generate projections of future coral communities. Our results indicated that communities distributed across an island landscape followed different recovery trajectories but would reassemble to pre‐disturbed levels of coral abundance, composition, and size, thus demonstrating persistence in the provision of reef habitat and other ecosystem services. Our study indicates that coral community dynamics are predictable when accounting for the interplay between species life‐history, environmental conditions, and density‐dependence. We provide a quantitative framework for evaluating the ecological processes underlying community trajectory and characteristics important to ecosystem functioning.     

Demography of an endangered,long-lived fish: Informing management options in the face of cyclic and stochastic climate variation

June sucker (Chasmistes liorus) is a long-lived, endangered fish endemic to Utah Lake, Utah. For several decades June sucker have failed to recruit sufficient numbers to the adult size classes such that the current wild population consists of a small number of old adults and it continues to decline. Vital rates of June sucker are influenced by climate-driven variation in lake level and inflow from the Provo River. We used population projection matrix modeling to assess effects of cyclic and stochastic environmental variation on population growth trajectories of June sucker in Utah Lake. The stable stage distribution is dominated by stage 1 individuals (93% of the total population) in contrast to the current situation where old age classes are the most abundant. Total population size is highly influenced by the stochastic component of climate variation; whereas, the adult population of June sucker closely tracks the systematic drought cycle. If changes in survival of larvae and juveniles can be coordinated such that positive changes in both parameters can occur somewhat simultaneously, then each parameter would only have to be increased by a factor of about 8.8 to achieve sustainable population growth (compared to a 77-fold increase for each parameter separately). Stochastic climatic variation has relatively little long-term effect on population growth. However, the multidecadal cyclic pattern of lake level and river discharge imposes a similar pattern on population growth rates of the June sucker, such that during some periods, populations decline even when the long-term trend is positive.     

基于同步辐射显微CT研究冻融循环对黑土团聚体结构特征的影响

在我国东北地区,土壤不同程度的受到季节性冻融的影响。冻融作用会改变土壤微观结构,团聚体作为土壤结构的基本单元,其结构特征的改变反映了冻融作用对土壤微观结构的影响。同步辐射显微CT可以无损获取高分辨率、强对比度的内部结构图像,是研究土壤团聚体三维微结构的有效手段。采集了室内冻融循环试验下不同冻融循环次数的土壤团聚体样品,应用同步辐射显微CT扫描获取了3.25μm分辨率的团聚体内部结构图像,然后应用CT图像处理方法和Image J软件观察并定量分析了团聚体微结构特征。结果表明:随着冻融循环次数的增加,土壤孔隙度不断增大,瘦长型孔隙度占比与100μm的非毛管孔隙度不断增大;当冻融循环次数达到7次以上,团聚体孔隙连通度随冻融循环次数的增加而变大。冻融循环对黑土团聚体孔隙度、孔隙形状、孔隙分级、连通性等结构特征影响显著。该研究为春季解冻期土壤侵蚀机理的研究及水土流失的防治提供理论依据。     

镧胁迫下外源H2O2对裸燕麦幼苗叶绿素荧光参数和光合碳同化酶活性的影响

稀土污染已成为制约农业发展的一种重要因素,为探讨外源过氧化氢(H_2O_2)缓解裸燕麦镧(La)胁迫伤害的光合生理机制,以‘白燕7号’裸燕麦幼苗为材料,采用砂培方法,研究了5 mmol/L H_2O_2喷施预处理对1.20 mmol/L La~(3+)胁迫下裸燕麦幼苗生长、叶片叶绿素荧光参数和碳同化关键酶活性的影响。结果表明:La胁迫下,H_2O_2预处理的裸燕麦幼苗根长、株高和生长量的降幅及叶片叶黄素循环脱环氧化状态(A+Z)/(V+A+Z)显著下降,PSⅡ最大光化学效率(F_v/F_m)、实际光化学效率(Φ_(PSⅡ))、光化学猝灭系数(qP)和吸收光能用于光化学反应的份额(P)显著提高,PSⅡ非光化学猝灭系数(NPQ)、调节性能量耗散Y(NPQ)、非调节性能量耗散Y(NO)、吸收光能用于天线热耗散的份额(D)、PSⅡ反应中心非光化学耗散的份额(E_x)和双光系统间激发能分配不平衡偏离系数(β/α-1)明显降低,同时1, 5-二磷酸核酮糖羧化酶(Rubisco)、1, 7-二磷酸景天庚酮糖酯酶(SBPase)和1, 6-二磷酸果糖醛缩酶(FBAase)活性显著提高,但转酮醇酶(TKase)活性无显著变化。表明外源H_2O_2能够通过提高PSⅡ光化学效率和碳同化关键酶活性而非依赖叶黄素循环的热耗散来减轻La胁迫导致的光抑制,从而缓解La胁迫幼苗生长的受抑程度,增强裸燕麦对La胁迫的适应性。