A new tool to map the major worldviews in the Netherlands and USA,and explore how they relate to climate change

For addressing climate change, public support for changes in policy is needed, as well changes in individual lifestyles. Both of these appear to be intimately related with people’s worldviews. Understanding these worldviews is therefore essential. In order to research and ‘map’ them, we translated the theoretical ‘Integrative Worldview Framework’ (IWF) into an empirical, quantitative approach. We constructed a worldview-scale aiming to distinguish between four major worldviews – labeled traditional, modern, postmodern, and integrative – and explored their interface with opinions and behaviors with respect to climate change. The survey was conducted with representative samples of citizens in the Netherlands and the USA (n = 527 and n = 556). The hypothesized worldviews were found in the data with a reasonable degree of reliability, especially in the Dutch sample. We also found consistent relationships between these worldview-clusters and a range of opinions, political priorities, and behaviors. In both countries postmoderns and integratives displayed significantly more concern about climate change as well as more sustainable behaviors, compared with moderns and traditionals. The implications of these findings for environmental policy and social science are noteworthy.     

Metal-cored arc welding process for joining of modified 9Cr-1Mo (P91) steel

In the present work, metal-cored arc welding process was used for joining of modified 9Cr-1Mo (P91) steel. Metal-cored arc welding process is characterized by high productivity, slag-free process, defect-free weldments that can be produced with ease, and good weldability. Toughness is essential in welds of P91 steel during hydro-testing of vessels. There is a minimum required toughness of 47 J for welds that has to be met as per the EN1557:1997 specification. In the present study, welds were completed using two kinds of shielding gases, each composition being 80% Argon + 20% CO₂, and pure argon respectively. Microstructural characterization and toughness evaluation of welds were done in the as – weld, PWHT at 760 °C – 2 h and PWHT at 760 °C – 5 h conditions. The pure argon shielded welds (‘A2’ and ‘B2’) have higher toughness than 80% argon + 20% CO₂ shielded welds (‘A1’ and ‘B1’). Pure argon shielded welds show less microinclusion content with low volume fraction of δ-ferrite (<2%) phase. Themo-calc windows (TCW) was used for the prediction of equilibrium critical transformation points for the composition of the welds studied. With increase in post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) duration from 2 h to 5 h, there was increase in toughness of welds above 47 J. Using metal-cored arc welding process, it was possible to achieve the required toughness of more than 47 J after PWHT at 760 °C – 2 h in P91 steel welds.     

Correlating negotiation hotspot issues,Paris climate agreement and the international climate policy regime

The concerns over climate change negotiation, decision texts and links to domestic policy interests of countries to keep warming within an acceptable limit have become the ‘hotspot issues’ of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Hotspot issues are the human – political economy factors which have evolved over time from negotiation texts or phrases, principles or behaviors with tendencies to influence climate negotiations yet cannot be identified with the scientific literature. Whilst big emitters have been accused as having hegemony over the negotiations, the effects of disunity amongst the parties over domestic policy interests have been overlooked. Hence the article examines the emergence of hotspot issues and how they manifest within the international climate policy regime. The Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) of 130 countries submitted before the Paris agreement, were analyzed using the following texts: Adaptation, Mitigation, Co-benefits, Finance, Land use, Food security, Poverty, Resilience, Green growth, Green economy, Sustainable development, Biodiversity, Ecosystem services and Conservation. Of these, ‘adaptation’ was cited 2780 times, 1956 for ‘mitigation’ and 32 for ‘ecosystem services’ in the nature conservation category. Ten phases of the climate policy regime and historical hotspot issues were identified for the period 1980–2030. ‘Adaptation’ and mitigation appeared more frequently in the INDCs and correlated with each other (r = 0.56), as the two correlated further with ‘land use’ (0.50 < r < 0.60), and similarly with sustainable development (0.40 < r < 0.70) where ‘r’ is the Pearson Rank Correlation. Therefore the success of the ‘ambitious targets’ for mitigation will depend on similar ambitious goals for adaptation, land use and sustainable development. Several differences existed in the correlation of the hotspot issues within the regional geographical blocs (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America) and split along the hotspot issues yet Europe mostly oriented towards mitigation and land use, and Oceania on resilience building. These differences provide favorable conditions for increased cooperation and true multilateralism if they are properly diagnosed.     

Exceedance of modern ‘background’ fine-grained sediment delivery to rivers due to current agricultural land use and uptake of water pollution mitigation options across England and Wales

Excessive loss of fine-grained sediment to rivers is widely recognised as a global environmental problem. To address this issue, policy teams and catchment managers require an estimate of the ‘gap’ requiring remediation, as represented by the excess above ‘background’ losses. Accordingly, recent work has estimated the exceedance of modern ‘background’ sediment delivery to rivers at national scale across England and Wales due to (i) current agricultural land cover, cropping and stocking, and (ii) current land use corrected for the uptake of on-farm mitigation measures. This sectoral focus recognises that, nationally, agriculture has been identified as the principal source of fine sediment loss to the aquatic environment. Two estimates of modern ‘background’ sediment loss, based on paleolimnological evidence, were used in the analysis; the target modern ‘background’ (TMBSDR) and maximum modern ‘background’ (MMBSDR) sediment delivery to rivers. For individual (n = 4485) non-coastal water bodies, the sediment ‘gap’ in excess of TMBSDR and MMBSDR, due to current land cover, cropping and stocking, was estimated to range up to 1368 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ (median 61 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) and 1321 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ (median 19 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), respectively. The respective ranges in conjunction with current land cover, cropping and stocking but corrected for the potential impact of on-farm sediment mitigation measures were up to 1315 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ (median 50 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) and 1269 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ (median 8 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹). Multiplication of the estimates of excess sediment loss corrected for current measure uptake, above TMBSDR and MMBSDR, with estimated maximum unit damage costs for the detrimental impacts of sediment pollution on ecosystem goods and services, suggested respective water body ranges up to 495 £ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ and 478 £ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. Nationally, the total loss of sediment in excess of TMBSDR was estimated at 1,389,818 t yr⁻¹ equating to maximum environmental damage costs of £523 M yr⁻¹, due to current structural land use, compared to 1,225,440 t yr⁻¹ equating to maximum damage costs of £462 M yr⁻¹ due the uptake of on-farm sediment control measures. The corresponding total loss of sediment in excess of MMBSDR was estimated at 1,038,764 t yr⁻¹ equating to maximum damage costs of £462 M yr⁻¹, compared with 890,146 t yr⁻¹ and £335 M yr⁻¹ correcting excess agricultural sediment loss for current implementation of abatement measures supported by policy instruments. This work suggests that the current uptake of sediment control measures on farms across England and Wales is delivering limited benefits in terms of reducing loadings to rivers and associated environmental damage costs.     

The precautionary principle and environmental persistence: prioritizing the decision-making process

There is continuing activity among regulatory bodies to assess and prioritize chemicals used in commerce based on their potential to be persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT). Reliable data needed to perform a PBT hazard or risk assessment, however, may not always be readily available. Consequently concern may arise regarding the potential for false positives and false negatives to be wrongly classified. In order to more effectively classify substances, adequate time is needed to acquire the necessary data to support the overall PBT assessment. Of particular interest is the question of whether or not restrictions on the use and manufacture of a substance can be delayed to allow time to conduct the necessary field and laboratory studies of a particular substance? To address this question it is demonstrated that chemical partitioning property and environmental persistence information can be effectively combined to provide guidance for regulatory priority setting. Specifically, it is argued that substances that have media specific half-life values that exceed the regulatory threshold value for persistence under the EU chemicals REACH program, for example, are more likely to have a ‘legacy’ associated with their use when the log K_OA > 8, and when they are emitted to air or soil. Thus, precautionary actions limiting the use and manufacture of the substance may be warranted. Whereas substances emitted to air with log K_OA < 6 and log K_AW > ?2 are less likely to have a ‘legacy’ associated with their use. Thus precautionary actions in the absence of data may not be warranted.     

Assessing the likelihood of catchments across England and Wales meeting ‘good ecological status’ due to sediment contributions from agricultural sources

This paper is concerned with estimating the gap between current and compliant losses of suspended sediment from the agricultural sector in England and Wales in relation to achieving ‘good ecological status’ (GES) in freshwaters by 2015. Given the emphasis on strategic information for policy support, the assessment necessitated a novel modelling methodology for predicting mean annual total suspended sediment loads (SSL) and time-weighted suspended sediment concentrations (SSC). GES was defined as the guideline annual average SSC of 25 mg l⁻¹ cited by the EC Freshwater Fish Directive. Total suspended sediment inputs to all rivers across England and Wales were estimated using a national sediment source apportionment exercise detailing the contributions from diffuse agricultural and urban sources, eroding channel banks and point sources. The total SSL estimated for each Water Framework Directive (WFD) sub-catchment (n = 7816) across England and Wales was used in conjunction with predicted flow exceedance to derive corresponding SSC time-exceedance plots. Spatial variations in modelled time-averaged SSC compared well with available monitoring data. Given the focus upon national scale, the predictive power of the SSC model (r² = 33%) was considered realistic. The modelling approach provided a means of mapping the probability of annual average SSC being less than the 25 mg l⁻¹ standard for GES due to sediment losses from all potential, as well as from agricultural sources only. In order to meet GES in non-compliant catchments, suspended sediment losses from diffuse agricultural sources will typically need to be reduced by up to 20%, but by as much as 80% in isolated cases.     

Disaggregated greenhouse gas emission inventories from agriculture via a coupled economic-ecosystem model

Estimates of regional greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural systems are needed to evaluate possible mitigation strategies with respect to environmental effectiveness and economic feasibility. Therefore, in this study, we used the GIS-coupled economic-ecosystem model EFEM–DNDC to assess disaggregated regional greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from typical livestock and crop production systems in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, Southwest Germany. EFEM is an economic farm production model based on linear programming of typical agricultural production systems and simulates all relevant farm management processes and GHG emissions. DNDC is a process-oriented ecosystem model that describes the complete biogeochemical C and N cycle of agricultural soils, including all trace gases.Direct soil emissions were mainly related to N₂O, whereas CH₄ uptake had marginal influence (net soil C uptake or release was not considered). The simulated N₂O emissions appeared to be highly correlated to N fertilizer application (R² = 0.79). The emission factor for Baden-Württemberg was 0.97% of the applied N after excluding background emissions.Analysis of the production systems showed that total GHG emissions from crop based production systems were considerably lower (2.6–3.4 Mg CO₂ eq ha⁻¹) than from livestock based systems (5.2–5.3 Mg CO₂ eq ha⁻¹). Average production system GHG emissions for Baden-Württemberg were 4.5 Mg CO₂ eq ha⁻¹. Of the total 38% were derived from N₂O (direct and indirect soil emissions, and manure storage), 40% were from CH₄ (enteric fermentation and manure storage), and 22% were from CO₂ (mainly fertilizer production, gasoline, heating, and additional feed). The stocking rate was highly correlated (R² = 0.85) to the total production system GHG emissions and appears to be a useful indicator of regional emission levels.     

Policy implementation of catchment-scale flood risk management: Learning from Scotland and England

Recent years have seen a gradual adoption of a “catchment-scale” approach to flood risk management into European policy-making which, amongst other objectives, promotes rural land use change to reduce flood risk. While some exploratory studies of land managers’ attitudes exist, research is lacking on how public policies can be mobilised locally to implement these ideas. Two local initiatives were analysed in the transboundary River Tweed basin in Scotland and England during which public authorities negotiated with land managers. A combination of documents (N = 21) and interviews (N = 63) forms the basis of the data analysed. The results showed that implementation is highly dependent on the local policy framework, the activities of implementers, and land managers’ responses to (combination of) policy instruments. Several factors were identified influencing implementation such as devolution arrangements (i.e. from national to regional/local), the level of local interest on flood risk, local attitudes to compromise and collaboration, available policy instruments, and the existence of participatory catchment organisations. With limited scope for stand-alone regulatory action or funding in the short term, synergies and measures promoting co-benefits in flood risk management should be further sought in the Water Framework Directive River Basin Management Plans, as well as in cross-compliance and the new agri-environment-climate strategies of the common agricultural policy.     

Risky business: Engaging the public on sea level rise and inundation

To examine whether U.S. public opinion may become as sharply polarized on adaptation responses as it has been on mitigation policies, we surveyed a sample of urban coastal residents in Maryland (n = 378). We then tested the impact of a community deliberative event (n = 40) with small-group sea level rise discussions as a depolarization strategy. Cultural worldviews which contribute to politically polarized beliefs about climate were predictive of perceptions of sea level rise risk. Living close to flooding hazards also significantly predicted respondents’ perceptions of household or neighborhood risks, but not of risks to the entire county. The event significantly increased topic knowledge among all participants and, among those with a worldview predisposing them to lower risk perceptions, significantly increased problem identification and concern about impacts. These results suggest small-group deliberation focused on local problem-solving may be an effective tool for reducing the polarizing effects of cultural worldviews on decision-making.     

Environmental consequences of different beef production systems in the EU

The aim of this paper is to examine the environmental consequences of beef meat production in the EU, using a life cycle approach. Four beef production systems were studied – three from intensively reared dairy calves and one from suckler herds. According to the results of the analysis, the contributions from the production of 1 kg beef meat (slaughter weight) to global warming, acidification, eutrophication, land use and non-renewable energy use were lower for beef from dairy calves than from suckler herds (16.0–19.9 versus 27.3 kg CO₂e, 101–173 versus 210 g SO₂e, 622–1140 versus 1651 g NO₃e, 16.5–22.7 versus 42.9 m²year, and 41.3–48.2 versus 59.2 MJ, respectively). The breakdown analysis helped identify the key areas in the “cradle to farm gate” beef production system where sustainable management strategies are needed to improve environmental performance. The study also included a sensitivity analysis to preliminarily estimate GHG emissions from beef production systems if land opportunity cost and land use change related to grazing and feed crop production for beef were taken into account. If so, the contribution from the production of 1 kg beef to global warming would increase by a factor of 3.1–3.9, based on a depreciation period of 20 years. This highlights the importance of taking into account the impacts of land use in assessing the environmental impacts of livestock production.     

Changes in soil respiration across a chronosequence of tallgrass prairie reconstructions

Close relationships among climatic factors and soil respiration (R_s) are commonly reported. However, variation in R_s across the landscape is compounded by site-specific differences that impede the development of spatially explicit models. Among factors that influence R_s, the effect of ecosystem age is poorly documented. We hypothesized that R_s increases with grassland age and tested this hypothesis in a chronosequence of tallgrass prairie reconstructions in central Iowa, U.S.A. We also assessed changes in root biomass, root ingrowth, aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), and the strength of soil temperature and moisture in predicting R_s. We found a significant increase in total growing season R_s with prairie age (R² = 0.79), ranging from 714 g C m^?2 in the youngest reconstruction (age 4) to 939 g C m^?2 in the oldest prairie (age 12). Soil temperature was a strong predictor of intra-seasonal R_s among prairies (R² = 0.78–0.87) but mean growing season soil temperature and moisture did not relate to total R_s. The increase in R_s with age was positively correlated with root biomass (r = 0.80) and ANPP (r = 0.87) but not with root ingrowth. Our findings suggest that growing season R_s increases with tallgrass prairie age, root biomass, and ANPP during young grassland development.     

‘Formiguers’, a historical system of soil fertilization (and biochar production?)

‘Formiguers’ are structures similar to charcoal-kilns that were used to burn piles of biomass with a soil cover in order to produce fertilizers for agricultural plots. Their use was widespread in Spain up to the 1960s and similar structures are still in use in India and Bhutan. Our objective was to study the effects of the ‘formiguer’ on its soil cover in terms of changes in nutrient availability. We built an experimental 0.5-m³ ‘formiguer’ with 68 kg of plant material with a 12% moisture content and 550 kg of soil with a 16% moisture content. The content of organic carbon and mineral nitrogen decreased in the soil cover as a result of burning. After aerobic incubation all samples had a similar content of mineral nitrogen. Exchangeable potassium and total and labile phosphorus increased after burning as a result of the soil cover mixing with the ashes of the biomass as the ‘formiguer’ collapsed during burning in the first two cases, while mineralization of organic compounds produced the increase in labile phosphorus. This input of nutrients for the agricultural plots occurs at a net loss of 0.4–2.5 Mg organic C ha^?1. Very small amounts of charcoal were produced and this may be the reason for their low occurrence in soils today. Burning of ‘formiguers’ required the harvest of vegetation from a considerable forest area (10–25 ha per hectare of agricultural land) and represented a significant disturbance of these systems.     

The role of indicator choice in quantifying the threat of atmospheric ammonia to the ‘Natura 2000’ network

New ‘critical levels’ (CLE) for assessing the effects of atmospheric ammonia on sensitive ecosystems have recently been adopted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) of 1 and 3 [2–4] μg NH₃ m^?3 of ambient air (including water vapour), for different species sensitivities and their associated habitats. Based on these values, we examined how indicator choice affects estimates of stock-at-risk in the European ‘Natura 2000’ network.We applied an atmospheric model, FRAME, to estimate surface air concentrations of ammonia at 5 km and 1 km resolution for the UK network of Natura sites, optionally including calibration with the National Ammonia Monitoring Network. As a base indicator, we estimated the overall percentage area of the UK Natura network that exceeded critical level thresholds (‘Area Weighted Indicator’, AWI). We compared this with an alternative approach, estimating the percentage number of Natura sites where the critical level was exceeded (‘Designation Weighted Indicator’, DWI), which we consider more relevant under the terms of the Habitats Directive.Using the AWI (with 1 km calibrated ammonia), we estimate that 11.2%, 1.3% and 0.2% area of the UK Natura network exceeds the critical level values of 1, 2 and 3 μg NH₃ m^?3, respectively. By contrast, using the DWI, the equivalent exceedances are 59.1%, 23.6% and 9.8%. The highest regional exceedance (DWI, critical level 1 μg NH₃ m^?3) was calculated for England (91.9% exceeded), and the lowest for Scotland (24.0% exceeded). High resolution maps show that the larger threat estimated by the DWI approach is explained by (i) an anti-correlation between NH₃ concentration and Natura site area and (ii) the fact that exceedance over part of a Natura site is considered to represent a threat to the integrity of the whole site.     

Aero-lap polishing of poly crystalline diamond inserts using Multicon media

Increasing use of poly crystalline diamond (PCD) inserts as cutting tools and wear parts is vividly seen in automobile, aerospace, marine and precision engineering applications. The PCD inserts undergo series of manufacturing processes such as: grinding that forms the required shape and polishing that gives a fine finish. These operations are not straight forward as PCD is extremely resistant to grinding and polishing. Single crystal diamond can easily be polished by choosing a direction of easy abrasion, but polishing a PCD imposes serious difficulties as the grains are randomly oriented. Prior research on polishing of PCD inserts includes electro discharge grinding (EDG), dynamic friction polishing and grinding by a vitrified bonded diamond wheel. The surface textures of PCD produced using an EDG process often contains: micro cavities, particle pullout, micro-grooves, chipped edges, cracks and gouch marks. While applying the dynamic friction polishing method the PCD material undergoes phase transformation and hence increased polishing rate was apparently seen. However the phase transformation of PCD deteriorates the strength of the insert. Furthermore the inserts produced using the dynamic polishing method often exhibits cracks, chip off and edge damage while using as a cutting tool. Therefore, a new method “aero-lap polishing” was attempted as it applies controlled amount of impinging force by which the surface damage can be significantly reduced. The study did establish an improvement of surface finish of PCD from R_a = 0.55 μm, R_t = 4.5 μm to R_a = 0.29 μm, R_t = 1.6 μm within 15–25 min of polishing time along with significant reduction in surface defects.     

Comparison of registry methodologies for reporting carbon benefits for afforestation projects in the United States

No mandatory national program currently exists to mitigate climate change in the US Consequently, voluntary programs and mandatory state-level programs are multiplying to allow users to register emission-offset activities, creating multiple often contradictory measurement and recording standards.For the land use sector we examined a hypothetical project: tree planting on rangelands in California. We apply four sets of protocols from the following registries – the California Climate Action Registry, the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and the USDOE 1605(b) program – and compare the results to the ‘actual’ net sequestration and also briefly compare them to international protocols such as the relevant Clean Development Mechanism methodology. Carbon in land use can be estimated accurately, precisely and cost-effectively, but to achieve this requires good protocols. As predicted, the consequence of applying different protocols for reportable carbon was significant. The choice of measurement pools, the handling of the baseline and the issue of uncertainty led to a baseline estimate of 0–66,690 t CO₂-e, and final sequestered carbon totals (after 60 years) that varied between 118,044 and 312,685 t CO₂-e—a factor of 2.5 difference. The amount reported under 1605(b) is the closest to “actual” with CCX entity reporting the most divergent.     

Evaluation of the effectiveness of low frequency workpiece vibration in deep-hole micro-EDM drilling of tungsten carbide

The application of micro-electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) in deep-hole drilling is still limited due to the difficulty in flushing of debris and unstable machining. Present study introduces a simplistic analytical model to evaluate the effectiveness of low frequency workpiece vibration during the micro-EDM drilling of deep micro-holes. In addition, experimental investigation has been conducted to validate the model by studying the effects of workpiece vibration on machining performance, surface quality and dimensional accuracy of the micro-holes. The effect of vibration frequency and amplitude for three different settings of aspect ratios has been studied experimentally. Moreover, the vibration experiments have been conducted at different levels of gap voltages and capacitances in order to understand the effect of electrical parameters and effectiveness of low-frequency workpiece-vibration at different levels of discharge energies. It has been shown analytically that the effectiveness of low frequency workpiece vibration during micro-EDM drilling can be evaluated by a parameter ‘K_v’ (ratio of maximum acceleration of the vibrating plate in gravitational direction to gravitational acceleration ‘g’), which can be determined from the vibration frequency, amplitude and phase angle of the vibrating workpiece. The theoretical model reveals that for K_v > 1, the position of debris particles will be above the workpiece; thus can be flushed away from machined zone effectively. The experimental reasons for improved micro-EDM drilling performance at the setting of K_v > 1 are found to be the increased effective discharge ratio, reduced short-circuits and improved dielectric flushing. The experimental results also reveal that the low frequency vibration is more effective at the low discharge energy level, thus making it more suitable for micro-EDM. Considering the effect on both the machining characteristics and micro-hole accuracy parameters, vibration frequency of 750 Hz and amplitude of 1.5 μm was found to provide improved performance for the developed vibration device.     

Siting restrictions and proximity of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations to surface water

Proximity and connections to surface waters may play significant roles in determining impacts of manure spills. As occurred in many U.S. states, Minnesota adopted in 2000 more stringent regulations on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) including restrictions on siting new facilities near surface waters. The objectives of this study were to determine whether CAFO proximity to surface waters decreased following the siting restrictions and to evaluate implications of siting restrictions. Permit dates, locations, and distances to nearest surface water bodies for 111 west central Minnesota CAFOs were determined based on satellite imagery, historical records, and correspondence with regulatory officials. Average distance between surface waters and facilities permitted after 2000 was greater than for facilities permitted before 2000. The increase in average distance between CAFOs and public surface waters was significant for open water (1790 m, p = 0.03), but not for streams (280 m, p = 0.47). Decreased CAFO proximity to surface waters should benefit water quality, but after 2000 facilities continued to be permitted close to hydraulic connections not covered by the siting restriction. Comprehensive manure spill tracking and long term targeted water quality monitoring are needed to evaluate effectiveness of siting restrictions and other strategies for protecting surface waters from manure spills.     

The Satoyama Index: A biodiversity indicator for agricultural landscapes

Agricultural development to meet rapidly growing demands for food and biofuel and the abandonment of traditional land use have had major impacts on biodiversity. Habitat diversity is one of the most important factors influencing biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. In this study we propose an ecological index of ecosystem or habitat diversity in agricultural landscapes – the Satoyama Index (SI) – that is discernible under appropriate spatial units (e.g., 6 km × 6 km) from 1 km × 1 km gridded land-cover data available from an open-access web site. A high SI value is an indicator of high habitat diversity, which is characteristic of traditional agricultural systems, including Japanese satoyama landscapes, while a low value indicates a monotonic habitat condition typical of extensive monoculture landscapes. The index correlated well with the spatial patterns of occurrence of a bird of prey (Butastur indicus) and species richness of amphibians and damselflies in Japan. The values of the SI also corresponded well to the spatial patterns of typical traditional agricultural landscapes with high conservation value in other countries, for example, the dehesas of the Iberian Peninsula and shade coffee landscapes in Central America. Globally, the pattern of East/South-East Asian paddy belts with their high index values contrasts markedly with the low values of the Eurasian, American, and Australian wheat or corn belts. The SI, which correlates landscapes with biodiversity through potential habitat availability, is highly promising for assessing and monitoring the status of biodiversity irrespective of scale.     

Streamwater phosphorus and nitrogen across a gradient in rural–agricultural land use intensity

This paper provides an overview of the impacts of rural land use on lowland streamwater phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) concentrations and P loads and sources in lowland streams. Based on weekly water quality monitoring, the impacts of agriculture on streamwater P and N hydrochemistry were examined along a gradient of rural–agricultural land use, by monitoring three sets of ‘paired’ (near-adjacent) rural headwater streams, draining catchments which are representative of the major geology, soil types and rural/agricultural land use types of large areas of lowland Britain. The magnitude and timing of P and N inputs were assessed and the load apportionment model (LAM) was applied to quantify ‘continuous’ (point) source and ‘flow-dependent’ (diffuse) source contributions of P to these headwater streams. The results show that intensive arable farming had only a comparatively small impact on streamwater total phosphorus (TP loads), with highly consistent stream diffuse-source TP yields of ca. 0.5 kg-P ha^?1 year^?1 for the predominantly arable catchments with both clay and loam soils, compared with 0.4 kg-P ha^?1 year^?1 for low agricultural intensity grassland/woodland on similar soil types. In contrast, intensive livestock farming on heavy clay soils resulted in dramatically higher stream diffuse-source TP yields of 2 kg-P ha^?1 year^?1. The streamwater hydrochemistry of the livestock-dominated catchment was characterised by high concentrations of organic P, C and N fractions, associated with manure and slurry sources. Across the study sites, the impacts of human settlement were clearly identifiable with effluent inputs from septic tanks and sewage treatment works resulting in large-scale increases in soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) loads and concentrations. At sites heavily impacted by rural settlements, SRP concentrations under baseflow conditions reached several hundred μg-P L^?1. Load apportionment modelling demonstrated significant ‘point-source’ P inputs to the streams even where there were no sewage treatment works within the upstream catchment. This indicates that, even in sparsely populated rural headwater catchments, small settlements and even isolated groups of houses are sufficient to cause significant nutrient pollution and that septic tank systems serving these rural communities are actually operating as multiple point sources, rather than a diffuse input.     

Performance and water-use efficiency (single-leaf vs. whole-canopy) of well-watered and half-stressed split-root Lambrusco grapevines grown in Po Valley (Italy)

‘Lambrusco a foglia frastagliata’ grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.) were grown outdoors at Piacenza (44°55′N, 9°44′E, Po Valley, Italy) with the root system split between two 30-L pots and subjected from pre-veraison (17 July) to harvest (5 September) to soil drying of half of the root system (HS) induced by withholding water from one of the two pots as compared to well-watered (WW) vines (both pots daily recharged at field capacity). Volumetric soil-water content, pre-dawn and mid-morning leaf water potential, single-leaf gas-exchange as assimilation rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration were monitored throughout the trial. Whole-canopy gas-exchange as net CO₂ exchange rate (NCER) and transpiration were tracked from 31 August to 7 September on three vines per treatment on a 24-h basis using an enclosure method. Primary leaf carbon isotope (δ¹³C) composition, yield components and must composition were determined at harvest.Withdrawing water from one pot triggered a water stress response showing higher stomatal sensitivity to changes in air vapour pressure deficit, relatively low assimilation rates, high intrinsic and extrinsic water-use efficiency (WUE) and earlier cessation of shoot growth. Yet, mid-morning leaf water potential was consistently lower in HS treatment over stress as compared to WW, indicating an anisohydric adjustment. Canopy NCER given on a leaf-area basis showed mean daily rates ranging from 3.9 to 4.9 μmol m² s^?1 in WW canopies against 2.6–3.0 μmol m^?2 s^?1 in HS. Conversely, canopy transpiration rates varied from 0.915 to 1.157 mmol m^?2 s^?1 for WW to 0.630–0.714 mmol m² s^?1 in HS. Increased leaf-based intrinsic and extrinsic WUE in HS did not match the canopy response, which to some extent resulted in an opposite outcome, i.e. higher canopy WUE in well-watered vines especially in the morning hours. Likewise, δ¹³C did not differ between treatments. This suggests caution when point-time determinations of single-leaf-based WUE are extrapolated to the whole-canopy behaviour when assessing the water saving strategies of a given genotype. The stressed vines achieved no variation in yield level and components and had improved grape composition as to soluble solids and total anthocyanins. This optimal behaviour is likely due to earlier shoot growth cessation, enhanced maturity and a buffering leaf-to-fruit ratio (3.61 m² kg^?1) that mitigated the effects of post-veraison stress.