Phosphorus losses from monitored fields with conservation practices in the Lake Erie Basin,USA

Conservation practices are implemented on farm fields in the USA through Farm Bill programs; however, there is a need for greater verification that these practices provide environmental benefits (e.g., water quality). This study was conducted to assess the impact of Farm Bill eligible conservation practices on soluble P (SP) and total P (TP) losses from four fields that were monitored between 2004 and 2013. No-tillage doubled SP loading compared to rotational tillage (e.g., tilled only before planting corn); however, no-tillage decreased TP loading by 69 % compared to rotational tillage. Similarly, grassed waterways were shown to increase SP loads, but not TP loads. A corn–soybean–wheat–oat rotation reduced SP loads by 85 % and TP loads by 83 % compared to the standard corn–soybean rotation in the region. We can potentially attain TP water quality goals using these Farm Bill practices; however, additional strategies must be employed to meet these goals for SP.     

Recognize fish as food in policy discourse and development funding

The international development community is off-track from meeting targets for alleviating global malnutrition. Meanwhile, there is growing consensus across scientific disciplines that fish plays a crucial role in food and nutrition security. However, this ‘fish as food’ perspective has yet to translate into policy and development funding priorities. We argue that the traditional framing of fish as a natural resource emphasizes economic development and biodiversity conservation objectives, whereas situating fish within a food systems perspective can lead to innovative policies and investments that promote nutrition-sensitive and socially equitable capture fisheries and aquaculture. This paper highlights four pillars of research needs and policy directions toward this end. Ultimately, recognizing and working to enhance the role of fish in alleviating hunger and malnutrition can provide an additional long-term development incentive, beyond revenue generation and biodiversity conservation, for governments, international development organizations, and society more broadly to invest in the sustainability of capture fisheries and aquaculture.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01451-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

The Role of Published Information in Reviewing Conservation Objectives for Natura 2000 Protected Areas in the European Union

Protected areas are designated to protect species and other features known to be present at the time of designation, but over time the information about the presence of protected species may change and this should call for a continued review of conservation objectives. Published scientific literature is one of the possible information sources that would trigger a review of conservation objectives. We studied how published data on new discoveries of protected animal species were taken into account by the nature conservation authorities in updating species lists of Natura 2000 sites in the European Union, which are the basis for conservation planning at the site-level. Over the period studied (2000–2011) only 40 % of published new protected species records were recognized by the authorities. The two main reasons for this seem to be a reliance on other sources of information by authorities and the difficulty in finding relevant information in scientific papers. The latter is because published faunistic information is very fragmented among different journals, and often insufficient in details. We recommend better cooperation between authors, publishers, and nature conservation authorities in terms of information presentation, publishing policy, and a regular review of published information.     

Modeling the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Pacific Salmon Culture Programs: An Example at Winthrop National Fish Hatchery

Hatcheries have long been used in an attempt to mitigate for declines in wild stocks of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.), though the conservation benefit of hatcheries is a topic of ongoing debate. Irrespective of conservation benefits, a fundamental question is whether hatcheries will be able to function as they have in the past given anticipated future climate conditions. To begin to answer this question, we developed a deterministic modeling framework to evaluate how climate change may affect hatcheries that rear Pacific salmon. The framework considers the physiological tolerances for each species, incorporates a temperature-driven growth model, and uses two metrics commonly monitored by hatchery managers to determine the impacts of changes in water temperature and availability on hatchery rearing conditions. As a case study, we applied the model to the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Winthrop National Fish Hatchery. We projected that hatchery environmental conditions remained within the general physiological tolerances for Chinook salmon in the 2040s (assuming A1B greenhouse gas emissions scenario), but that warmer water temperatures in summer accelerated juvenile salmon growth. Increased growth during summer coincided with periods when water availability should also be lower, thus increasing the likelihood of physiological stress in juvenile salmon. The identification of these climate sensitivities led to a consideration of potential mitigation strategies such as chilling water, altering rations, or modifying rearing cycles. The framework can be refined with new information, but in its present form, it provides a consistent, repeatable method to assess the vulnerability of hatcheries to predicted climate change.     

Better estimates of soil carbon from geographical data: a revised global approach

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change - Soils hold the largest pool of organic carbon (C) on Earth; yet, soil organic carbon (SOC) reservoirs are not well represented in climate...     

Subsurface application of manures slurries for conservation tillage and pasture soils and their impact on the nitrogen balance

Injection of cattle and swine slurries can provide soil incorporation in no-till and perennial forage production. Injection is expected to substantially reduce N loss due to ammonia (NH3) volatilization, but a portion of that N conservation may be offset by greater denitrification and leaching losses. This paper reviews our current knowledge of the impacts of subsurface application of cattle and swine slurries on the N balance and outlines areas where a greater understanding is needed. Several publications have shown that liquid manure injection using disk openers, chisels, or tines can be expected to Sreduce NH, emissions by at least 40%, and often by 90% or more, relative to broadcast application. However, the limited number of studies that have also measured denitrification losses have shown that increased denitrification with subsurface application can offset as much as half of the N conserved by reducing NH3 emissions. Because the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) is one product of denitrification, the possible increases in N2O emission with injection require further consideration. Subsurface manure application generally does not appear to increase leaching potential when manure is applied at recommended rates. Plant utilization of conserved N was shown in only a portion of the published studies, indicating that further work is needed to better synchronize manure N availability and crop uptake. At this time in the United States, the economic and environmental benefits from reducing losses of N as NH3 are expected to outweigh potential liability from increases in denitrification with subsurface manure application. To fully evaluate the trade-offs among manure application methods, a detailed environmental and agricultural economic assessment is needed to estimate the true costs of potential increases in NO2O emissions with manure injection.     

Understanding and Integrating Local Perceptions of Trees and Forests into Incentives for Sustainable Landscape Management

We examine five forested landscapes in Africa (Cameroon, Madagascar, and Tanzania) and Asia (Indonesia and Laos) at different stages of landscape change. In all five areas, forest cover (outside of protected areas) continues to decrease despite local people's recognition of the importance of forest products and services. After forest conversion, agroforestry systems and fallows provide multiple functions and valued products, and retain significant biodiversity. But there are indications that such land use is transitory, with gradual simplification and loss of complex agroforests and fallows as land use becomes increasingly individualistic and profit driven. In Indonesia and Tanzania, farmers favor monocultures (rubber and oil palm, and sugarcane, respectively) for their high financial returns, with these systems replacing existing complex agroforests. In the study sites in Madagascar and Laos, investments in agroforests and new crops remain rare, despite government attempts to eradicate swidden systems and their multifunctional fallows. We discuss approaches to assessing local values related to landscape cover and associated goods and services. We highlight discrepancies between individual and collective responses in characterizing land use tendencies, and discuss the effects of accessibility on land management. We conclude that a combination of social, economic, and spatially explicit assessment methods is necessary to inform land use planning. Furthermore, any efforts to modify current trends will require clear incentives, such as through carbon finance. We speculate on the nature of such incentive schemes and the possibility of rewarding the provision of ecosystem services at a landscape scale and in a socially equitable manner.     

College and university environmental programs as a policy problem (part 2): strategies for improvement

Environmental studies and environmental sciences programs in American and Canadian colleges and universities seek to ameliorate environmental problems through empirical enquiry and analytic judgment. In a companion article (Part 1) we describe the environmental program movement (EPM) and discuss factors that have hindered its performance. Here, we complete our analysis by proposing strategies for improvement. We recommend that environmental programs re-organize around three principles. First, adopt as an overriding goal the concept of human dignity??defined as freedom and social justice in healthy, sustainable environments. This clear higher-order goal captures the human and environmental aspirations of the EPM and would provide a more coherent direction for the efforts of diverse participants. Second, employ an explicit, genuinely interdisciplinary analytical framework that facilitates the use of multiple methods to investigate and address environmental and social problems in context. Third, develop educational programs and applied experiences that provide students with the technical knowledge, powers of observation, critical thinking skills and management acumen required for them to become effective professionals and leaders. Organizing around these three principles would build unity in the EPM while at the same time capitalizing on the strengths of the many disciplines and diverse local conditions involved.