Trends and gaps in biodiversity and ecosystem services research: A text mining approach

Understanding the relationship between biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services concepts is essential for evidence-based policy development. We used text mining augmented by topic modelling to analyse abstracts of 15 310 peer-reviewed papers (from 2000 to 2020). We identified nine major topics; “Research & Policy”, “Urban and Spatial Planning”, “Economics & Conservation”, “Diversity & Plants”, “Species & Climate change”, “Agriculture”, “Conservation and Distribution”, “Carbon & Soil & Forestry”, “Hydro-& Microbiology”. The topic “Research & Policy” performed highly, considering number of publications and citation rate, while in the case of other topics, the “best” performances varied, depending on the indicator applied. Topics with human, policy or economic dimensions had higher performances than the ones with ‘pure’ biodiversity and science. Agriculture dominated over forestry and fishery sectors, while some elements of biodiversity and ecosystem services were under-represented. Text mining is a powerful tool to identify relations between research supply and policy demand.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-022-01776-2.     

Abolition of set-aside schemes, associated impacts on habitat structure and modelling of potential effects of cross-farm regulation

In intensively farmed regions, habitat fragmentation represents a major pressure on biodiversity. Depending on its spatial setting, set-aside land can increase size and connectivity of habitats and thus counteract fragmentation. In 2008, the EU-wide set-aside obligation was suspended and a large proportion of set-aside land was re-cultivated. With Denmark as case we apply an indicator to measure the effect of set-aside land on spatial structure of semi-natural habitats in term of habitat size and connectivity. Furthermore, we model effects of a hypothetical spatial regulation, where set-aside land with the greatest benefit for habitat structure is retained as uncultivated, while set-aside land with the least effect is re-cultivated. The model is applied to individual farms and to farm agglomerations of increasing sizes, enabling us to explore potential effects of cross-farm regulation. The novelty of our approach is the application of observed land-uses changes for modelling a hypothetical regulation working on a range of spatial scales. Results show that after abolition of set-aside schemes the effect of set-aside land on habitat structure was more than halved. Modelled spatial regulation considerably reduces impacts. Effects increase with increasing size of farm agglomerations. However, marginal benefits become negligible at agglomeration sizes over 36 km².     

Predicting a ‘tree change’ in Australia's tropical savannas: Combining different types of models to understand complex ecosystem behaviour

In this study, key ecological modelling limitations of a process-based simulation model and a Bayesian network were reduced by combining the two approaches. We demonstrate the combined modelling approach with a case study investigating increases in woody vegetation density in northern Australia's tropical savannas. We found that by utilising the strengths of a simulation model and a Bayesian network we could both forecast future change in woody vegetation density and diagnose the reasons for current vegetation states. The local conditions of climate, soil characteristics and the starting population of trees were found to be more important in explaining the likelihood of change in woody vegetation density compared to management practices such as grazing pressure and fire regimes. We conclude that combining the strengths of a process and BN model allowed us to produce a simple model that utilised the ability of the process model to simulate ecosystem processes in detail and over long time periods, and the ability of the BN to capture uncertainty in ecosystem response and to conduct scenario, sensitivity and diagnostic analysis. The overall result was a model that has the potential to provide land managers with a better understanding of the behaviour of a complex ecosystem than simply utilising either modelling approach in isolation.     

Estimation of the nutrient inputs into river systems – experiences from German rivers

The nutrient discharges from point and diffuse sources in more than 200 German river basins were estimated for the periods 1983–1987 and 1993–1997 employing the MONERIS model. This model distinguishes between six diffuse pathways and point source emissions from waste water treatment plants and direct industrial discharges. It was estimated that the total nitrogen input into the German river systems amounts to about 819,000 t N year^–1 in the period 1993 to 1997. These emissions have decreased since the mid-eighties by about 266,000 t N year^–1, mainly caused by the reduction of point discharges. For phosphorus the emissions have been reduced by 56,290 t P year^–1 and amount to 37,250 t P year^–1 in the period 1993–1997. Based on emission data a retention module estimates riverine nutrient loads. The comparison of the model output with the observed loads shows a deviation as low as 30% and 50% for nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. The regional resolution of the model indicates the relative importance of different pathways for phosphorus and nitrogen input into river systems. Electronic Publication     

The effect of temperature on leaching and subsequent decomposition of dissolved carbon from inundated floodplain litter: implications for the generation of hypoxic blackwater in lowland floodplain rivers

Dissolved organic carbon export from floodplain litter during flood events is an important energy subsidy for lowland rivers. Temperature affects both the release and decomposition of dissolved organic carbon from floodplain plant litter. Unseasonally warm flood conditions have resulted in the release and consumption of carbon at a rate so rapid that water column oxygen has been depleted, causing the death of aquatic organisms upon exposure to this ‘hypoxic blackwater’. To date, there has not been a systematic investigation of the role of temperature on hypoxic blackwater dynamics. In a series of laboratory experiments, we investigated the temperature dependence of both leaching and decomposition of carbon from a common floodplain litter component in south-eastern Australia – the leaves of the river red gum Eucalyptus camaldulensis. The leaching rate increased with temperature and approximated Arrhenius kinetics. Additionally, the solubility of the leaf carbon increased substantially at temperatures above ～25°C. The rate of organic carbon respiration also increased with temperature, and the relationship with temperature was approximately linear. These data can be used to improve models for the prediction of hypoxic blackwater risk.     

Flexibility in daily travel routines causes regional variation in bird migration speed

We used novel Global Positioning System-based satellite telemetry to reconstruct daily time budgets on travelling days of a long-distance migrant, the Osprey Pandion haliaetus, to reveal how landscape affects migratory performance. We compared daily travel routines between the Ospreys’ passage of Europe and the Sahara. In Europe, where feeding habitat is abundant, Ospreys fed both before–after flights and during interruptions, thus, combining migration with foraging. This resulted in a 2.7-h shorter daily flight period in Europe than in the Sahara. A calculated energy budget indicated that a ‘fly-and-forage migration strategy’ is favourable in Europe because associated benefits (energy intake) more than outweigh costs (reduced flight time). The much shorter flight time in Europe was the main explanation why Ospreys covered on average 78 km less distance on a travelling day in Europe than in the Sahara. In addition, there were regional differences in hourly flight speeds that are most probably the result of variation in thermal soaring conditions. We conclude that landscape properties have a profound effect on migration through regional variation in daily routines.     

A New Concept for Air Quality Modelling in Street Canyons

We present an analytical model that predicts concentrations in street canyons assuming a uniform distribution within a street, dimensioned by its length and width and the height of the surrounding built-up area. Using the Prandtl-Taylor hypothesis, the concentration in the street is determined from a mass flux balance between a horizontal advective flux, a turbulent diffusive vertical flux and a continuous road transport emission source. The model does not necessarily assume re-circulation of the flow in the street canyon, but rather considers the turbulent intermittency in the shear layer shed from the upwind roof level as the driving force. This concept is in agreement with recent measurements and observations. The model has been applied to compute benzene concentrations based on hourly emissions obtained for 1963 streets and road segments in the City of Antwerp, Belgium. The results are compared with diffusive sampler measurements carried out at 101 locations in several streets of Antwerp, during 4 periods of 5 days in 1998. When averaged over periods of 5 days, the calculated benzene concentrations show a very good agreement with the results obtained by the diffusive sampler measurements.     

火灾调查理论框架建立探讨

本文根据目前火灾科学研究的现状，提出了建立火灾调查理论框架的构想。对火灾调查研究中国外发展状况，进行了较为详细的综述，并指出目前该领域存在的问题。详细讨论了建立火灾调查理论框架的科学根据，同时探讨了火灾调查理论研究中包含的关键科学问题。     

Validation of geometry modelling approaches for offshore gas dispersion simulations

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes are widely used for gas dispersion studies on offshore installations. The majority of these codes use single-block Cartesian grids with the porosity/distributed-resistance (PDR) approach to model small geometric details. Computational cost of this approach is low since small-scale obstacles are not resolved on the computational mesh. However, there are some uncertainties regarding this approach, especially in terms of grid dependency and turbulence generated from complex objects. An alternative approach, which can be implemented in general-purpose CFD codes, is to use body-fitted grids for medium to large-scale objects whilst combining multiple small-scale obstacles in close proximity and using porous media models to represent blockage effects. This approach is validated in this study, by comparing numerical predictions with large-scale gas dispersion experiments carried out in DNV GL's Spadeadam test site. Gas concentrations and gas cloud volumes obtained from simulations are compared with measurements. These simulations are performed using the commercially available ANSYS CFX, which is a general-purpose CFD code. For comparison, further simulations are performed using CFX where small-scale objects are explicitly resolved. The aim of this work is to evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of these different geometry modelling approaches.     

珠江口三维水质与底泥耦合模型的验证及应用

基于一维河网与三维河口耦合水动力模型,建立了可描述珠江口水体-底泥中营养盐动态变化的三维水质-底泥模型,利用1999年和2006年夏季观测数据对模型进行了验证,在此基础上,模拟分析了珠江口主要水质因子和底泥营养盐通量的分布特征,以及底泥通量对珠江口营养盐输入的贡献.验证结果表明,模型能较好地反映出水体和底泥中的营养盐及溶解氧浓度的时空分布特征,各水质因子的模拟值与观测值的相对误差均小于38%;另外,底泥营养盐通量的模拟值与文献报道的实测结果较为接近,表明模型能合理地刻画出底泥主要生化过程及通量变化特征.模拟结果显示,夏季珠江口氨氮(NH_4~+-N)和活性磷酸盐(PO_4~(3-)-P)通量主要从底泥向水体输送,底泥是水体氮磷元素的源,而硝态氮和亚硝态氮(NO_3~-+NO_2~-,NO23)的通量输送方向则与之相反,底泥呈现“汇”的效应;底泥营养盐通量主要从河口向外海递减,伶仃洋NH_4~+-N、NO23、PO_4~(3-)-P的通量变化范围分别为0.24~8.88、-10.06~-0.14、-0.37~0.41 mmol·m~(-2)·d~(-1),珠江口近海的通量变化范围分别为-0.01~4.14、-1.45~0.68、-0.12~0.09 mmol·m~(-2)·d~(-1).整体而言,底泥营养盐通量对珠江口营养盐输入有明显贡献,夏季经底泥释放进入水体的NH_4~+-N和PO_4~(3-)-P最大相当于陆源总氮、总磷输入量的12%和22%.