Measuring the effectiveness of landscape approaches to conservation and development

Landscape approaches attempt to achieve balance amongst multiple goals over long time periods and to adapt to changing conditions. We review project reports and the literature on integrated landscape approaches, and found a lack of documented studies of their long-term effectiveness. The combination of multiple and potentially changing goals presents problems for the conventional measures of impact. We propose more critical use of theories of change and measures of process and progress to complement the conventional impact assessments. Theories of change make the links between project deliverables, outputs, outcomes, and impacts explicit, and allow a full exploration of the landscape context. Landscape approaches are long-term engagements, but short-term process metrics are needed to confirm that progress is being made in negotiation of goals, meaningful stakeholder engagement, existence of connections to policy processes, and effectiveness of governance. Long-term impact metrics are needed to assess progress on achieving landscapes that deliver multiple societal benefits, including conservation, production, and livelihood benefits. Generic criteria for process are proposed, but impact metrics will be highly situation specific and must be derived from an effective process and a credible theory of change.     

The humanitarian common logistic operating picture: a solution to the inter‐agency coordination challenge

Although significant progress has been made in developing the practice of humanitarian logistics, further improvements in efficiency and effectiveness have the potential to save lives and reduce suffering. This paper explores how the military/emergency services’ concept of a common operating picture (COP) can be adapted to the humanitarian logistics context, and analyses a practical and proven approach to addressing the key challenge of inter‐agency coordination and decision‐making. Successful adaptation could provide the mechanism through which predicted and actual demands, together with the location and status of material in transit, are captured, evaluated, and presented in real time as the basis for enhanced decision‐making between actors in the humanitarian supply network. Through the introduction of a humanitarian logistics COP and its linkages to national disaster management systems, local communities and countries affected by disasters and emergencies will be better placed to oversee and manage their response activities.     

Modeling and data assessment of longitudinal salinity in a low-gradient estuarine river

Continuous data of vertical-profile salinity were analyzed for four stations located successively upriver in a macrotidal estuary, the lower St. Johns River (Northeast Florida, USA). The data analysis confirmed well-mixed salinity conditions in the river with at most 1.3 ppt of vertical variability at Dames Point (river km 20), where the main variations of salinity are along the longitudinal axis of the river. Given the well-mixed salinity conditions and dominant horizontal structure of salinity variations in the river, we present and apply a barotropic, two-dimensional modeling approach for hydrodynamic-salinity transport simulation in the lower St. Johns River. When properly forced by offshore surge, high-resolution wind fields and freshwater river inflows, the model replicated the salinity measurements remarkably well, including the separation into tidal and sub-tidal components. The data and model results show that, at times, offshore winds and surge can be more influential on longitudinal salinity variations than local winds over the river. We demonstrate the importance of using proper boundary conditions to force the model relative to the minimal sensitivity of the model to parameter adjustment of horizontal mixing and uncertainty-based perturbation of wind and inflow forcings.     

Larval outbreaks in West Greenland: Instant and subsequent effects on tundra ecosystem productivity and CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> exchange

Insect outbreaks can have important consequences for tundra ecosystems. In this study, we synthesise available information on outbreaks of larvae of the noctuid moth Eurois occulta in Greenland. Based on an extensive dataset from a monitoring programme in Kobbefjord, West Greenland, we demonstrate effects of a larval outbreak in 2011 on vegetation productivity and CO₂ exchange. We estimate a decreased carbon (C) sink strength in the order of 118–143 g C m^?2, corresponding to 1210–1470 tonnes C at the Kobbefjord catchment scale. The decreased C sink was, however, counteracted the following years by increased primary production, probably facilitated by the larval outbreak increasing nutrient turnover rates. Furthermore, we demonstrate for the first time in tundra ecosystems, the potential for using remote sensing to detect and map insect outbreak events.     

Towards quantifying the glacial runoff signal in the freshwater input to Tyrolerfjord–Young Sound,NE Greenland

Terrestrial freshwater runoff strongly influences physical and biogeochemical processes at the fjord scale and can have global impacts when considered at the Greenland scale. We investigate the performance of the HIRHAM5 regional climate model over the catchments delivering freshwater to Tyrolerfjord and Young Sound by comparing to the unique Greenland Ecological Monitoring database of in situ observations from this region. Based on these findings, we estimate and discuss the fraction of runoff originating from glacierized and non-glacierized land delivered at the daily scale between 1996 and 2008. We find that glaciers contributed on average 50–80% of annual terrestrial runoff when considering different sections of Tyrolerfjord–Young Sound, but snowpack depletion on land and consequently runoff happens about one month earlier in the model than observed in the field. The temporal shift in the model is a likely explanation why summer surface salinity in the inner fjord did not correlate to modelled runoff.     

Methane biofiltration in the presence of ethanol vapor under steady and transient state conditions: an experimental study

Methane (CH₄) removal in the presence of ethanol vapors was performed by a stone-based bed and a hybrid packing biofilter in parallel. In the absence of ethanol, a methane removal efficiency of 55 ± 1% was obtained for both biofilters under similar CH₄ inlet load (IL) of 13 ± 0.5 g_CH4 m^?3 h^?1 and an empty bed residence time (EBRT) of 6 min. The results proved the key role of the bottom section in both biofilters for simultaneous removal of CH₄ and ethanol. Ethanol vapor was completely eliminated in the bottom sections for an ethanol IL variation between 1 and 11 g_ethanol m^?3 h^?1. Ethanol absorption and accumulation in the biofilm phase as well as ethanol conversion to CO₂ contributed to ethanol removal efficiency of 100%. In the presence of ethanol vapor, CO₂ productions in the bottom section increased almost fourfold in both biofilters. The ethanol concentration in the leachate of the biofilter exceeding 2200 g_ethanol m^?3 _leachate in both biofilters demonstrated the excess accumulation of ethanol in the biofilm phase. The biofilters responded quickly to an ethanol shock load followed by a starvation with 20% decrease of their performance. The return to normal operations in both biofilters after the transient conditions took less than 5 days. Unlike the hybrid packing biofilter, excess pressure drop (up to 1.9 cmH₂O m^?1) was an important concern for the stone bed biofilter. The biomass accumulation in the bottom section of the stone bed biofilter contributed to 80% of the total pressure drop. However, the 14-day starvation reduced the pressure drop to 0.25 cmH₂O m^?1.     

Long-term change in drivers of forest cover expansion: an analysis for Switzerland (1850-2000)

Regional Environmental Change - The spatial distribution of forests in Europe represents the legacy of centuries of human land use decisions. Due to the limited availability of historical data,...     

Elemental concentrations and in vitro bioaccessibility in Canadian background soils

Elemental concentrations and bioaccessibility were determined in background soils collected in Canada as part of the North American Geochemical Landscapes Project. The concentrations of As, Cr, Cu, Co, Ni and Zn were higher in the C-horizon (parent material) compared to 0–5 cm (surface soil), and this observation along with the regional distribution suggested that most of the variability in concentrations of these elements were governed by the bedrock characteristics. Unlike the above-stated elements, Pb and Cd concentrations were higher in the surface layer reflecting the potential effects of anthropogenic deposition. Elemental bioaccessibility was variable decreasing in the order Cd > Pb > Cu > Zn > Ni > Co > As > Cr for the surface soils. With the exception of As, bioaccessibility was generally higher in the C-horizon soils compared to the 0–5 cm soils. The differences in metal bioaccessibility between the 0–5 cm and the C-horizon and among the provinces may reflect geological processes and speciation. The mean, median or 95th percentile bioaccessibility for As, Cr, Cu, Co, Ni and Pb were all below 100 %, suggesting that the use of site-specific bioaccessibility results for these elements will yield more accurate estimation of the risk associated with oral bioavailability for sites where soil ingestion is the major contributor of human health risk.     

Accounting for monogastric livestock as a driver in global land use and cover change assessments

Land systems are described based on various characteristics, including land cover composition and agricultural production. However, it is uncertain to what extent livestock, particularly monogastric livestock, determines land systems. We included monogastrics in a land system classification, and statistically analyzed the land cover composition and agricultural production of otherwise similar land systems with and without monogastric livestock. The results indicate that land systems with monogastrics are statistically different from their counterparts in the classification without monogastrics in terms of grassland area and crop yields, but are less different in terms of tree area, crop area, and ruminant livestock production. We then used a land systems map that includes monogastrics in the classification and a similar map that does not include monogastrics to project future changes in a novel manner that integrates livestock as a determinant of land systems. The results show that including monogastrics in otherwise similar projections yields less cropland intensification and more cropland expansion in several world regions, including Northern Africa and the Middle East. Other regions, such as Europe and Australia, were characterized by less decrease or more increase in tree area in the application with monogastrics, mainly due to the occurrence of open forests with monogastrics. This study prompts a call for improved characterization of land systems for land use and cover change (LUCC) assessments in order to better represent LUCC driven by monogastric livestock.