Unraveling past impacts of climate change and land management on historic peatland development using proxy‐based reconstruction,monitoring data and process modeling

Peatlands represent globally significant soil carbon stores that have been accumulating for millennia under water‐logged conditions. However, deepening water‐table depths (WTD) from climate change or human‐induced drainage could stimulate decomposition resulting in peatlands turning from carbon sinks to carbon sources. Contemporary WTD ranges of testate amoebae (TA) are commonly used to predict past WTD in peatlands using quantitative transfer function models. Here we present, for the first time, a study comparing TA‐based WTD reconstructions to instrumentally monitored WTD and hydrological model predictions using the MILLENNIA peatland model to examine past peatland responses to climate change and land management. Although there was very good agreement between monitored and modeled WTD, TA‐reconstructed water table was consistently deeper. Predictions from a larger European TA transfer function data set were wetter, but the overall directional fit to observed WTD was better for a TA transfer function based on data from northern England. We applied a regression‐based offset correction to the reconstructed WTD for the validation period (1931–2010). We then predicted WTD using available climate records as MILLENNIA model input and compared the offset‐corrected TA reconstruction to MILLENNIA WTD predictions over an extended period (1750–1931) with available climate reconstructions. Although the comparison revealed striking similarities in predicted overall WTD patterns, particularly for a recent drier period (1965–1995), there were clear periods when TA‐based WTD predictions underestimated (i.e. drier during 1830–1930) and overestimated (i.e. wetter during 1760–1830) past WTD compared to MILLENNIA model predictions. Importantly, simulated grouse moor management scenarios may explain the drier TA WTD predictions, resulting in considerable model predicted carbon losses and reduced methane emissions, mainly due to drainage. This study demonstrates the value of a site‐specific and combined data‐model validation step toward using TA‐derived moisture conditions to understand past climate‐driven peatland development and carbon budgets alongside modeling likely management impacts.     

Greenhouse gas budget of a poplar bioenergy plantation in Belgium: CO2 uptake outweighs CH4 and N2O emissions

Biomass from short‐rotation coppice (SRC) of woody perennials is being increasingly used as a bioenergy source to replace fossil fuels, but accurate assessments of the long‐term greenhouse gas (GHG) balance of SRC are lacking. To evaluate its mitigation potential, we monitored the GHG balance of a poplar (Populus) SRC in Flanders, Belgium, over 7 years comprising three rotations (i.e., two 2 year rotations and one 3 year rotation). In the beginning—that is, during the establishment year and during each year immediately following coppicing—the SRC plantation was a net source of GHGs. Later on—that is, during each second or third year after coppicing—the site shifted to a net sink. From the sixth year onward, there was a net cumulative GHG uptake reaching ?35.8 Mg CO₂ eq/ha during the seventh year. Over the three rotations, the total CO₂ uptake was ?51.2 Mg CO₂/ha, while the emissions of CH₄ and N₂O amounted to 8.9 and 6.5 Mg CO₂ eq/ha, respectively. As the site was non‐fertilized, non‐irrigated, and only occasionally flooded, CO₂ fluxes dominated the GHG budget. Soil disturbance after land conversion and after coppicing were the main drivers for CO₂ losses. One single N₂O pulse shortly after SRC establishment contributed significantly to the N₂O release. The results prove the potential of SRC biomass plantations to reduce GHG emissions and demonstrate that, for the poplar plantation under study, the high CO₂ uptake outweighs the emissions of non‐CO₂ greenhouse gases.     

Simulation of Effects of Soils,Climate and Management on N<Subscript>2</Subscript>O Emission from Grasslands

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a potent greenhouse gas with a high contribution from agricultural soils and emissions that depend on soil type, climate, crops and management practices. The N₂O emissions therefore need to be included as an integral part of environmental assessments of agricultural production systems. An algorithm for N₂O production and emission from agricultural soils was developed and included in the FASSET whole-farm model. The model simulated carbon and nitrogen (N) turnover on a daily basis. Both nitrification and denitrification was included in the model as sources for N₂O production, and the N₂O emissions depended on soil microbial and physical conditions. The model was tested on experimental data of N₂O emissions from grasslands in UK, Finland and Denmark, differing in climatic conditions, soil properties and management. The model simulated the general time course of N₂O emissions and captured the observed effects of fertiliser and manure management on emissions. Scenario analyses for grazed and cut grasslands were conducted to evaluate the effects of soil texture, climatic conditions, grassland management and N fertilisation on N₂O emissions. The soils varied from coarse sand to sandy loam and the climatic variation was taken to represent the climatic variation within Denmark. N fertiliser rates were varied from 0 to 500 kg N ha⁻¹. The simulated N₂O emissions showed a non-linear response to increasing N rates with increasing emission factors at higher N rates. The simulated emissions increased with increasing soil clay contents. N₂O emissions were slightly increased at higher temperatures, whereas increasing annual rainfall generally lead to decreasing emissions. Emissions were slightly higher from grazed grasslands compared with cut grasslands at similar rates of total N input (fertiliser and animal excreta). The results indicate higher emission factors and thus higher potentials for reducing N₂O emissions for intensively grazed grasslands on fine textured soils than for extensive cut-based grasslands on sandy soils.     

Rethinking Environmental Performance from a Public Health Perspective: A Comparative Industry Analysis

To date the most common measures of environmental performance used to compare industries, and by extension firms or facilities, have been quantity of pollution emitted or hazardous waste generated. Discharge information, however, does not necessarily capture potential health effects. We propose an alternative environmental performance measure that includes the public health risks of toxic air emissions extended to industry supply chains using economic input-output life-cycle assessment. Cancer risk to the U.S. population was determined by applying a damage function to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) as modeled by CalTOX, a multimedia multipathway fate and exposure model. Risks were then translated into social costs using cancer willingness to pay. For a baseline emissions year of 1998, 260 excess cancer cases were calculated for 116 TRI chemicals, dominated by ingestion risk from polycyclic aromatic compounds and dioxins emitted by the primary aluminum and cement industries, respectively. The direct emissions of a small number of industry sectors account for most of the U.S. population cancer risk. For the majority of industry sectors, however, cancer risk per $1 million output is associated with supply chain upstream emissions. Ranking industries by total (direct + upstream) supply chain risk per economic output leads to different conclusions about the relative hazards associated with these industries than a conventional ranking based on emissions per economic output.     

Comparison of Life-Cycle Inventory Databases: A Case Study Using Soybean Production

Three established life-cycle inventories of agricultural operations were used to generate air emissions data for soybean production: the greenhouse gases, regulated emissions, and energy use in transportation (GREET) model; the economic input-output life-cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) model; and SimaPro software equipped with the Franklin database. EIO-LCA and GREET baseline data were compared to evaluate differences in boundary definitions that apply specifically to U.S. soybean agriculture and processing, which resulted in several major findings. The EIO model estimated for emissions of particulate matter less than 10 micrograms (PM10) resulting from wind erosion that were not included in GREET, but neglected indirect nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from fertilizer application. EIO also assumed significantly lower process energy requirements and lower volatile organic compounds (VOC) for soybean crushing and oil extraction. The GREET and SimaPro models were compared using identical boundary and assumption data, to reveal major discrepancies in fundamental assumptions of energy inventories. Key emission factors varied by several orders of magnitude for basic energy generation and combustion processes, potentially impacting results for any inventory analysis that contains significant energy consumption. The Franklin database assumed VOC and sulfur oxides (SOx) emissions more than an order of magnitude higher than GREET for all categories investigated, with significantly lower N2O and methane (CH4) emission factors.     

The Eco-efficiency of Lead in China's Lead-Acid Battery System

Improving eco-efficiency can contribute to sustainable development. This article defines the societal services and environmental impacts of the lead-acid battery (LAB) system and offers definitions of eco-efficiency, resource efficiency, and environmental efficiency in the context of LAB systems. Based on the actual lead-flow in the LAB system, we develop a model that considers changes in production, the time interval between production and disposal, direct linkages between the final product and the societal service it provides, and the fiscal year as the statistical period. From this model, equations for eco-efficiency are derived and changes in eco-efficiency are predicted.
The results show, not surprisingly, that increased lead recycling and reduced lead emissions will both improve ecoefficiency. The resource and environmental efficiencies for LAB in China are 119 and 131 kilowatt-hour-years per metric tonne (kWh. yr/t), respectively, versus a value for both of 15, 800 kWh. yr/t in Sweden. The difference results from a lower lead recycling rate (only 0.312 tonne/tonne, which means that nearly 70% of the old lead scrap is not recycled based on official statistics) and higher lead emissions (0.324 tonne/tonne, which means that nearly 33% of the lead inputs used in the LAB system were lost into the environment) in China. Further analysis shows that these problems result from inefficient management of lead scrap, poor quality lead ore, and an abundance of small-scale lead-related plants. Ways to improve eco-efficiency are proposed.     

Cochlear function in mice following inhalation of brevetoxin-3

Brevetoxin-3 was shown previously to adversely affect central auditory function in goldfish. The present study evaluated the effects of exposure to this agent on cochlear function in mice using the 2f₁-f₂ distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE). Towards this end, inbred CBA/CaJ mice were exposed to a relatively high concentration of brevetoxin-3 (~400 g/m³) by nose-only inhalation for a 2-h period. Further, a subset of these mice received a second exposure a day later that lasted for an additional 4 h. Mice exposed only once for 2 h did not exhibit any notable cochlear effects. Similarly, mice exposed two times, for a cumulative dose of 6 h, exhibited essentially no change in DPOAE levels.     

A geography‐based critique of new US biofuels regulations

The new renewable fuels standard (RFS 2) aims to distinguish corn‐ethanol that achieves a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared with gasoline. Field data from Kim et al. (2009) and from our own study suggest that geographic variability in the GHG emissions arising from corn production casts considerable doubt on the approach used in the RFS 2 to measure compliance with the 20% target. If regulators wish to require compliance of fuels with specific GHG emission reduction thresholds, then data from growing biomass should be disaggregated to a level that captures the level of variability in grain corn production and the application of life cycle assessment to biofuels should be modified to capture this variability.     

收缩视角下黄河中游城市碳排放时空格局及其影响因素

城市收缩作为城市化进程中的一种现象,与碳排放之间的关系错综复杂。当前从多维度收缩视角来探究碳排放量驱动因素的研究鲜有。据此,从人口、社会和经济三个维度构建城市收缩评价体系,利用黄河中游四省50个城市2012-2020年面板数据,基于熵值法、夜间灯光指数及地理探测器等方法探究城市收缩对碳排放时空差异的影响。结果表明:①黄河中游资源型城市收缩现象最为严重,呈现"大分散,小聚集"特征。人口收缩占比最多,综合收缩最少。②碳排放总量在研究时段内从2327 Mt增长到3040 Mt,热点区域分布在鄂尔多斯市、乌海市、呼和浩特市、忻州市和朔州市;冷点区域从陕西省和河南省分散分布逐渐向河南省集聚。碳排放总量两极分化现象明显,高值区域数量少,数值大,且逐年增幅大;低值区域数量多,数值低,呈逐年降低趋势。成长型和成熟型资源城市是碳排放量的热点区域,同时城市收缩加剧了碳排放量;衰退型和再生型资源城市已经成为碳排放量的冷点区域,此时的城市收缩对碳排放量抑制作用加强。③城市收缩对于碳排放量的影响是复杂的,经济收缩对碳排放空间分异的解释力最强,人口收缩解释力最小,多数影响因素空间叠加后会产生双因子增强作用,且主导因素由人口和经济收缩转变为社会和经济收缩。可见,黄河中游城市碳排放时空格局及影响因素存在一定差异,因此,在制定双碳行动方案时应综合考虑这些差异,进而可提出有针对性且能适应于地区发展需要的节能减排对策。     

贵州省碳吸收/碳排放时空变化特征及其与经济的脱钩效应

贵州省是我国喀斯特生态系统的典型分布区,生态敏感且脆弱,同时其也曾是我国的连片特困区,经济发展愿望迫切。对区域环境-经济发展状况及相互作用关系进行研究具有重要意义。研究从植被净生态系统生产力、土壤碳储量、岩溶碳通量三方面计算了贵州省陆地生态系统碳吸收,以能源燃烧排放的CO₂表征碳排放量,对区域碳吸收和碳排放的时空变化特征进行剖析,在此基础上构建环境碳负荷指数和脱钩弹性系数,用于解析贵州省碳收支状况及环境碳负荷与经济发展之间的脱钩关系。结果显示:(1)贵州省植被净生态系统生产力均值为257.72 g C/m²,呈逐步增强趋势,空间上呈现西高东低、南高北低的分布格局;岩溶碳通量的均值为6.71 t C/km²,年际波动较大,集中分布在研究区东北和西南部;土壤碳储量的均值为8.38 t/hm²,其高值区主要位于研究区南部和东部边缘;(2)区域碳排放呈现出了逐年增长的特征,表明了能源消耗的增强,形成了以城市高值区为中心向外辐射递减,各点之间以道路连通为特征的分布格局;(3)环境碳负荷指数呈逐年增长趋势,表征区域面临的环境压力越来越大,特别是在贵州省主城区出现了明显的收支不平衡,能源结构优化亟待加强;(4)综合脱钩状态整体以弱脱钩和扩张连接为主,且随时间推移脱钩状态由弱脱钩向扩张连接转变,说明环境保护滞后于经济发展,也就意味着贵州省经济的发展一定程度上牺牲了环境保护。未来应进一步强化生态修复工程的可持续性,同时发展绿色经济以促进区域生态-经济可持续发展。