Ecosystem services as a counterpart of emergy flows to ecosystems

A generic input-state-output scheme has been used to represent ecosystem dynamics. Systemic approaches to ecosystems use functions that are based either on inputs, state or outputs of the system. Some examples of approaches that use a combination of functions have been recently proposed. For example the use of eco-exergy to emergy flow can be seen as a mixed input-state approach; more recently, to connect the state to the output of the ecosystem, the relation of eco-exergy and ecosystems services has been proposed. This paper studies the link between the useful output of an ecosystems and its input through the relation between ecosystem services and emergy flow, in a kind of grey/black box scheme (i.e., without considering the state and the structure of the ecosystem). No direct connection between the two concepts can be determined, but identifying and quantifying the emergy flows feeding an ecosystem and the services to humans coming from them facilitate the sustainable conservation of Nature and its functions. Furthermore, this input-output relation can be established in general by calculating the ratio of the value of the ecosystem services to the emergy flow that supports the system. In particular, the ratio of the world ecosystem services to the emergy flow supporting the entire biosphere has been calculated showing that, at least at the global level, Nature is more efficacious in producing “money” (in form of ecosystem services) than economic systems (e.g., national economies and their GDP).     

A functional perspective on the analysis of land use and land cover data in ecology

Assessments of large-scale changes in habitat are a priority for management and conservation. Traditional approaches use land use and land cover data (LULC) that focus mostly on “structural” properties of landscapes, rather than “functional” properties related to specific ecological processes. Here, we contend that designing functional analyses of LULC can provide important and complementary information to traditional, structural analyses. We substantiate this perspective with an example of functional changes in habitat due to industrial anthropogenic footprints in Alberta’s boreal forest, where there has been little overall forest loss (~ 6% structural change), but high levels of functional change (up to 93% functional change) for species’ habitat, biodiversity, and wildfire ignition. We discuss the methods needed to achieve functional LULC analyses, when they are most appropriate to add to structural assessments, and conclude by providing recommendations for analyses of LULC in a future of increasingly high-resolution, dynamic remote sensing data.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01434-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Use of Mytilus galloprovincialis and Tapes philippinarum as sentinel organisms for the development of a biosurveillance program in the Pialassa Baiona coastal lagoon (Ravenna, Italy)

The Pialassa Baiona is an intertidal lagoon located north from the town of Ravenna (Italy). It shows a certain degree of contamination caused by past uncontrolled discharges, and we aim at developing a bioassessment program to be used for future monitoring and conservation plans. A battery of six biomarkers (lysosome membrane stability, lipofuscin and neutral lipid accumulation, hsp70 expression, metallothionein levels and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity) was investigated in Mytilus galloprovincialis transplanted for 30 days in different sites. Tapes philippinarum are widely distributed within the lagoon, and we explored the possibility to use resident clams for future biosurveillance programs. Adenylyl cyclase (ACase) activity was also assessed in tissues of both bivalves as a future possible biomarker. Taken together, our results indicate that mussels are suitable sentinel organisms also within such a peculiar environment; alteration of four biomarkers was observed in tissues of mussels transplanted in two sites out of the five analyzed, indicating their low water quality. T. philippinarum showed a barely detectable AChE activity and absence of neutral lipids in digestive glands, therefore appeared unsuitable for our purpose, at least using the selected battery of biomarkers. ACase activity was not different among animals collected from the different sites.     

Obstruction of biodiversity conservation by minimum patch size criteria

Minimum patch size criteria for habitat protection reflect the conservation principle that a single large (SL) patch of habitat has higher biodiversity than several small (SS) patches of the same total area (SL > SS). Nonetheless, this principle is often incorrect, and biodiversity conservation requires placing more emphasis on protection of large numbers of small patches (SS > SL). We used a global database reporting the abundances of species across hundreds of patches to assess the SL > SS principle in systems where small patches are much smaller than the typical minimum patch size criteria applied for biodiversity conservation (i.e., ∼85% of patches <100 ha). The 76 metacommunities we examined included 4401 species in 1190 patches. From each metacommunity, we resampled species–area accumulation curves to evaluate how biodiversity responded to habitat existing as a few large patches or as many small patches. Counter to the SL > SS principle and consistent with previous syntheses, species richness accumulated more rapidly when adding several small patches (45.2% SS > SL vs. 19.9% SL > SS) to reach the same cumulative area, even for the very small patches in our data set. Responses of taxa to habitat fragmentation differed, which suggests that when a given total area of habitat is to be protected, overall biodiversity conservation will be most effective if that habitat is composed of as many small patches as possible, plus a few large ones. Because minimum patch size criteria often require larger patches than the small patches we examined, our results suggest that such criteria hinder efforts to protect biodiversity.     

A numerical investigation of the influence time distribution in a shallow coastal lagoon environment of the Gulf of California

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - The influence time distribution in Santa María La Reforma coastal lagoon, which is one of the most productive ecosystems in Mexico, has been numerically...     

Understanding fungal potential in the mitigation of contaminated areas in the Czech Republic: tolerance,biotransformation of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) and oxidative stress analysis

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The study of the soil microbial community represents an important step in better understanding the environmental context. Therefore, biological...     

Saprotrophic soil fungi to improve phosphorus solubilisation and release: In vitro abilities of several species

Modern agriculture is dependent on phosphate rock (PR), which is a nonrenewable resource. Improvement of phosphorus (P) availability for crops in agricultural soils represents a key strategy to slow down the depletion of PR. The aim of this study was to identify potential P biofertilisers among saprotrophic fungal species. We tested 30 fungal strains belonging to 28 taxa (4 Zygomycota and 24 Ascomycota) and with different life strategies. The study showed that many saprotrophic fungi have the ability to mobilise P from insoluble forms according to a variety of mechanisms. Our results expand the pool of P solubilising fungal species, also suggesting a new solubilisation index and shedding light on parameters that could be basic in the selection of efficient soil P-biofertilisers fungi. Rhizopus stolonifer var. stolonifer, Aspergillus niger and Alternaria alternata were found to be the best performing strains in terms of amounts of TCP solubilisation.