Purpose
Land use is a main driver of global biodiversity loss and its environmental relevance is widely recognized in research on life cycle assessment (LCA). The inherent spatial heterogeneity of biodiversity and its non-uniform response to land use requires a regionalized assessment, whereas many LCA applications with globally distributed value chains require a global scale. This paper presents a first approach to quantify land use impacts on biodiversity across different world regions and highlights uncertainties and research needs.Methods
The study is based on the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) land use assessment framework and focuses on occupation impacts, quantified as a biodiversity damage potential (BDP). Species richness of different land use types was compared to a (semi-)natural regional reference situation to calculate relative changes in species richness. Data on multiple species groups were derived from a global quantitative literature review and national biodiversity monitoring data from Switzerland. Differences across land use types, biogeographic regions (i.e., biomes), species groups and data source were statistically analyzed. For a data subset from the biome (sub-)tropical moist broadleaf forest, different species-based biodiversity indicators were calculated and the results compared.Results and discussion
An overall negative land use impact was found for all analyzed land use types, but results varied considerably. Different land use impacts across biogeographic regions and taxonomic groups explained some of the variability. The choice of indicator also strongly influenced the results. Relative species richness was less sensitive to land use than indicators that considered similarity of species of the reference and the land use situation. Possible sources of uncertainty, such as choice of indicators and taxonomic groups, land use classification and regionalization are critically discussed and further improvements are suggested. Data on land use impacts were very unevenly distributed across the globe and considerable knowledge gaps on cause–effect chains remain.Conclusions
The presented approach allows for a first rough quantification of land use impact on biodiversity in LCA on a global scale. As biodiversity is inherently heterogeneous and data availability is limited, uncertainty of the results is considerable. The presented characterization factors for BDP can approximate land use impacts on biodiversity in LCA studies that are not intended to directly support decision-making on land management practices. For such studies, more detailed and site-dependent assessments are required. To assess overall land use impacts, transformation impacts should additionally be quantified. Therefore, more accurate and regionalized data on regeneration times of ecosystems are needed. 相似文献Purpose
Agriculture is a major water user worldwide, potentially depriving many ecosystems of water. Comprehensive global impact assessment methodologies are therefore required to assess impacts from water consumption on biodiversity. Since scarcity of water, as well as species richness, varies greatly between different world regions, a spatially differentiated approach is needed. Therefore, our aim is to enhance a previously published methodology in terms of spatial and species coverage.Methods
We developed characterization factors for lifecycle impact assessment (LCIA) targeting biodiversity loss of various animal taxa (i.e., birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians) in wetlands. Data was collected for more than 22,000 wetlands worldwide, distinguishing between surface water- and groundwater-fed wetlands. Additionally, we account for a loss of vascular plant species in terrestrial ecosystems, based on precipitation. The characterization factors are expressed as global fractions of potential species extinctions (PDF) per cubic meter of water consumed annually and are developed with a spatial resolution of 0.05 arc degrees. Based on the geographic range of species, as well as their current threat level, as indicated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), we developed a vulnerability indicator that is included in the characterization factor.Results and discussion
Characterization factors have maximal values in the order of magnitude of 10?11 PDF·year/m3 for animal taxa combined and 10?12 PDF·year/m3 for vascular plants. The application of the developed factors for global cultivation of wheat, maize, cotton, and rice highlights that the amount of water consumption alone is not sufficient to indicate the places of largest impacts but that species richness and vulnerability of species are indeed important factors to consider. Largest impacts are calculated for vascular plants in Madagascar, for maize, and for animal taxa; in Australia and the USA for surface water consumption (cotton); and in Algeria and Tunisia for groundwater consumption (cotton).Conclusions
We developed a spatially differentiated approach to account for impacts from water consumption on a global level. We demonstrated its functionality with an application to a global case study of four different crops.Purpose
Despite the fundamental role of ecosystem goods and services in sustaining human activities, there is no harmonized and internationally agreed method for including them in life cycle assessment (LCA). The main goal of this study was to develop a globally applicable and spatially resolved method for assessing land use impacts on the erosion regulation ecosystem service.Methods
Soil erosion depends much on location. Thus, unlike conventional LCA, the endpoint method was regionalized at the grid cell level (5 arcmin, approximately 10?×?10 km2) to reflect the spatial conditions of the site. Spatially explicit characterization factors were not further aggregated at broader spatial scales.Results and discussion
Life cycle inventory data of topsoil and topsoil organic carbon (SOC) losses were interpreted at the endpoint level in terms of the ultimate damage to soil resources and ecosystem quality. Human health damages were excluded from the assessment. The method was tested on a case study of five 3-year agricultural rotations, two of them with energy crops, grown in several locations in Spain. A large variation in soil and SOC losses was recorded in the inventory step, depending on climatic and edaphic conditions. The importance of using a spatially explicit model and characterization factors is shown in the case study.Conclusions
The regionalized assessment takes into account the differences in soil erosion-related environmental impacts caused by the great variability of soils. Taking this regionalized framework as the starting point, further research should focus on testing the applicability of the method through the complete life cycle of a product and on determining an appropriate spatial scale at which to aggregate characterization factors in order to deal with data gaps on the location of processes, especially in the background system. Additional research should also focus on improving the reliability of the method by quantifying and, insofar as it is possible, reducing uncertainty. 相似文献- 1 Population density alone is unlikely to be a good predictor of the impacts of deer on their environment. The assessment of management requirements should therefore be based on assessment of deer impacts, alongside estimates of density.
- 2 Both density and impacts need to be monitored at a landscape scale, and there is a need to develop appropriate methodologies that allow managers to consider the current and likely future impact of deer.
- 3 The relevant scale for assessment (and management) varies both with deer species and context of impact, but should always encompass at least the estimated biological range of the population of deer present in an area. Some impacts (e.g. deer–vehicle collisions, and risks of disease transmission) may need to be assessed at a wider regional level.
- 4 In this review we consider various approaches available for assessing: absolute or relative animal abundance; impacts of ungulates on agriculture, forestry, amenity woodlands and other conservation sites; impacts on public safety (e.g. through road traffic accidents) and on humans or livestock through potential spread of disease.
- 5 In each case the advantages and disadvantages of a variety of methods are considered, before recommendations are made for methodologies which are sufficiently accurate, sufficiently robust and sufficiently practical to be favoured in a management context.
- 6 To address impacts at the landscape scale requires management policies that integrate information on both positive and negative impacts of deer in order to ensure appropriate and holistic management. We present a decision‐support framework suitable for use within the UK, using inputs from a variety of possible impact types to assist managers and forewarn of situations where current management may need to be modified.
Purpose
To assess the diverse environmental impacts of land use, a standardization of quantifying land use elementary flows is needed in life cycle assessment (LCA). The purpose of this paper is to propose how to standardize the land use classification and how to regionalize land use elementary flows.Materials and methods
In life cycle inventories, land occupation and transformation are elementary flows providing relevant information on the type and location of land use for land use impact assessment. To find a suitable land use classification system for LCA, existing global land cover classification systems and global approaches to define biogeographical regions are reviewed.Results and discussion
A new multi-level classification of land use is presented. It consists of four levels of detail ranging from very general global land cover classes to more refined categories and very specific categories indicating land use intensities. Regionalization is built on five levels, first distinguishing between terrestrial, freshwater, and marine biomes and further specifying climatic regions, specific biomes, ecoregions and finally indicating the exact geo-referenced information of land use. Current land use inventories and impact assessment methods do not always match and hinder a comprehensive assessment of land use impact. A standardized definition of land use types and geographic location helps to overcome this gap and provides the opportunity to test the optimal resolution of land cover types and regionalization for each impact pathway.Conclusions and recommendation
The presented approach provides the necessary flexibility to providers of inventories and developers of impact assessment methods. To simplify inventories and impact assessment methods of land use, we need to find archetypical situations across impact pathways, land use types and regions, and aggregate inventory entries and methods accordingly.Purpose
Habitat loss is a significant cause of biodiversity loss, but while its importance is widely recognized, there is no generally accepted method on how to include impacts on biodiversity from land use and land use changes in cycle assessment (LCA), and existing methods are suffering from data gaps. This paper proposes a methodology for assessing the impact of land use on biodiversity using ecological structures as opposed to information on number of species.Methods
Two forms of the model (global and local scales) were used to assess environmental quality, combining ecosystem scarcity, vulnerability, and conditions for maintaining biodiversity. A case study for New Zealand kiwifruit production is presented. As part of the sensitivity analysis, model parameters (area and vulnerability) were altered and New Zealand datasets were also used.Results and discussion
When the biodiversity assessment was implemented using a global dataset, the importance of productivity values was shown to depend on the area the results were normalized against. While the area parameter played an important role in the results, the proposed alternative vulnerability scale had little influence on the final outcome.Conclusions
Overall, the paper successfully implements a model to assess biodiversity impacts in LCA using easily accessible, free-of-charge data and software. Comparing the model using global vs. national datasets showed that there is a potential loss of regional significance when using the generalized model with the global dataset. However, as a guide to assessing biodiversity impact, the model allows for consistent comparison of product systems on an international basis. 相似文献Materials and methods: A comprehensive study of conventional water treatment technologies was carried out and their shortcomings were pointed out. Research findings from the leading groups working on enzyme grafted membrane based water purification were summarized. This review also comprehends the patent documents pertinent to the technology of enzyme grafted membranes for water purification.
Results: Immobilization of an enzyme on a membrane improves the performance of membrane filtration, and processes for the treatment of polluted water. Research has started exploring the potential for laccase enzymes because it can catalyze the oxidation of a wide range of substrates, structurally comparable to EDCs, by a radical-catalyzed reaction mechanism, with corresponding reduction of oxygen to water in an electron transfer process. Further, in the presence of certain mediators, the substrate range of laccases can be further enhanced to non-aromatic substrates.
Conclusions: Removal of EDCs by laccase cross-linked enzyme aggregates in fixed-bed reactors or fluidized-bed reactors and laccase immobilized ultrafiltration (LIUF) membranes are proving their worth in water purification technology. The major operational issues with the use of LIUF membranes are enzyme instability in real wastewater and membrane fouling. In view of the above-stated characteristics, laccases are considered as the most promising enzyme for a greener and less expensive water purification technology. 相似文献
Land-use practices in Mongolia can lead to environmental degradation and consequently affect the structure and function of biological communities. The main aim of this study was to determine land-use effects on freshwater macroinvertebrate communities based on their response to grazing and mining, using a trait-based approach (TBA). The functional structure of macroinvertebrate communities was examined using 86 categories of 16 traits. A total of 13 physical and chemical variables were significantly different among the levels of land-use intensity. Significant declines in functional diversity were observed with increased land-use intensity. The community weighted mean of 19 trait categories for 11 traits varied significantly among different levels of land-use intensity. Traits were significantly explained by environmental variables across a land-use intensity gradient. Water temperature, gravel, nitrate, silt, and cobble were the main predictor variables and explained 28% of the total variance of the trait variation. The functional structure of the macroinvertebrate community was strongly related to environmental conditions. The TBA is an important method in assessing disturbance responses in freshwater communities of steppe and taiga regions, such as in Mongolia and other countries in Central Asia and will be useful in finding best management practices for conserving aquatic ecosystems.
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