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Mapping ecosystem service temporal trends: a case study of European wood potential, supply and demand between 2008 and 2018
Get PDFWood is one of the key forest Ecosystem Services (ES) of growing ecological, social and economic importance; therefore, we need more precise information about its long-term usage. To achieve this, it is necessary to examine the spatio-temporal aspects of wood ES potential, supply and demand. In this study, we analyse spatio-temporal patterns of wood ES supply and demand at continental, national and regional scales to identify areas of increasing and decreasing supply and demand levels in Europe. In addition, we present background information about the potential of European forests to provide wood ES and its relationship to supply and demand. Our results showed that the overall European wood supply and demand as well as the wood ES potential were characterised by increasing trends. Furthermore, this increase was also regional, particularly in central and northern Europe. This study demonstrates not only the significance of spatio-temporal data in ES mapping, but also the importance of considering a broader range of components of the ES cascade model when assessing change. Our research has shown that potential, supply and demand can all increase in the same area, but also that low supply and demand do not guarantee wood potential growth. In addition, we found that a broad scale assessment helps to identify more general patterns and trends, but analysing data at a more accurate scale provides more comprehensive insights for identifying areas that may require targeted action for sustainable forest management.202
A large one-time addition of organic soil amendments increased soil macroporosity but did not affect intra-aggregate porosity of a clay soil
Get PDFSoil structure is a dynamic property which controls a wide range of soil functions and is closely linked with soil carbon content. The carbon contents of agricultural soils are subject to several ongoing trends, including declining carbon stocks and attempts to increase the soil carbon reserves. In this study, we aimed to quantify how organic soil amendments, which have been shown to reduce long-term nutrient loads from agricultural fields, can impact soil structure. The structural impacts of a large one-time addition (8 tons carbon per hectare, three different soil amendments) of pulp and paper mill side stream sludges to a boreal clay soil were explored quantitatively in aggregate (X-ray microtomography, sample size 1–2 mm), core (water retention measurements, sample size 195 cm3) and column (macropores ≥80 µm, sample size ∼ 20 dm3) scales. Our results showed no micrometer-scale structural changes within soil aggregates despite the large number (25 aggregate per treatment) of imaged samples. However, the organic soil amendments had a statistically significant impact on the macroporosity. The macroporosity was on average 20–27 % higher compared to the control samples and visible even five years after the application of the amendments. Such change in soil structure improves soil aeration and fast infiltration of water during wet periods and extreme rain events and may thereby also reduce erosion risk by decreasing surface runoff. The increased microporosity was visible only in the column scale. No statistically significant differences were observed in the fraction of large pores in core scale water retention measurements. Probing the soil structural changes in macropore regime by X-ray tomography or developing sub-micron scale analysis methods are recommended approaches to improve our understanding of clay soil’s structural changes induced by organic soil amendments.202
Current and future glyphosate use in European agriculture
Get PDFThere has been a longstanding and contentious debate about the future of glyphosate use in the European Union (EU). In November 2023, the European Commission approved the renewal of the use registration for glyphosate for a further 10 years. Nevertheless, the EU Farm to Fork strategy calls for a 50% reduction in pesticide use by 2030. In November 2022, the European Weed Research Society organised a 2 day workshop to identify critical glyphosate uses in current EU cropping systems and to review the availability of glyphosate alternatives. Workshop participants identified four current, critical uses in EU cropping systems; control and management of perennial weeds, weed control in conservation agriculture, vegetation management in tree and vine crops and herbicide resistance management. There are few herbicide alternatives that provide effective, economic, broad-spectrum control of weeds, particularly perennial weeds. Mechanical weed control, and in particular, soil cultivation is the most obvious glyphosate alternative. However, this is not possible in conservation agriculture systems and, in general, increased soil cultivation has negative impacts for soil health. Emerging technologies for precision weed control can enable more targeted use of glyphosate, greatly reducing use rates. These technologies also facilitate the use and development of alternative targeted physical weed control (e.g. tillage, lasers, electricity), reducing the energy and environmental costs of these approaches. In tree crops, the use of organic and inorganic mulches can reduce the need for glyphosate use. In general, reduced use of glyphosate will require an even greater focus on integrated weed management to reduce weed establishment in agroecosystems, increase weed management diversity and limit the use of alternative resistance-prone herbicides.202
Comparing the impact of microplastics derived from a biodegradable and a conventional plastic mulch on plant performance
Get PDFAgricultural lands have been identified as plastic sinks. One source is plastic mulches, which are a source of micro- and nano-sized plastics in agricultural soils. Because of their persistence, there is now a push towards developing biodegradable plastics, which are designed to undergo (partial) breakdown after entering the environment. Yet, limited research has investigated the impacts of both conventional and biodegradable plastics on distinct plants. Moreover, comparisons among studies are difficult due to differences in experimental design. This study directly compares the effects of artificially weathered conventional polyethylene (PE) and starch-based biodegradable polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) on four food crops, including two monocots (barley, Hordeum vulgare, and wheat, Triticum aestivum L.) and two dicots (carrot, Daucus carota, and lettuce, Lactuca sativa L.). We investigated the effects of environmentally relevant low, medium, and high (0.01 %, 0.1 %, 1 % w/w) concentrations of PE and starch-PBAT blend on seed germination (acute toxicity), and subsequently on plant growth and chlorophyll through a pot-plant experiment (chronic toxicity). Germination of all species was not affected by both plastics. However, root length was reduced for lettuce and wheat seedlings. No other effects were recorded on monocots. We observed a reduction in shoot length and bud wet weight of carrot seedlings for the highest concentration of PE and starch-PBAT blend. Chronic exposure resulted in a significant decrease in shoot biomass of barley and lettuce. Additionally, a positive increase in the number of leaves of lettuce was observed for both plastics. Chlorophyll content was increased in lettuce when exposed to PE and starch-PBAT blend. Overall, adverse effects in dicots were more abundant than in monocots. Importantly, we found that the biodegradable plastic caused more commonly adverse effects on plants compared to conventional plastic, which was confirmed by a mini-review of studies directly comparing the impact of conventional and biodegradable microplastics.202
Deadwood enrichment in Fennoscandian spruce forests – New results from the EVO experiment
Get PDFIn Fennoscandian forests, evidence on the effects of variable tree retention, prescribed burning and deadwood creation on deadwood quantity and quality is still scarce. We studied the effects of prescribed burning, tree retention and downed wood creation on the deadwood profile in managed boreal Norway spruce forest stands over a 16-year period. The stand scale treatments of the experiment included cuttings with a constant volume of
dispersed retention trees (50 m3 ha-1, ca. 200 trees per ha), and three levels of downed deadwood creation (5, 30 and 60 m3 ha-1), in both upland and paludified biotopes of Myrtillus site type, with or without prescribed burning, with three replicates each.
After 16 years since the treatments, the diverse deadwood profiles with varying distribution by decay class were formed. The volume of deadwood varied from 9 to 107 m3 ha-1 with a mean of 65 m3 ha-1. The index of deadwood diversity was positively influenced by prescribed burning and negatively influenced by deadwood creation. The volume of all deadwood and coarse woody debris (CWD), volume and number of logs, as well as dead to live volume ratio increased after prescribed burning and with the level of deadwood creation. The positive effect of deadwood creation on the total CWD volume was higher in the upland biotopes than in the paludified ones. The highest amounts of all deadwood, CWD and logs were recorded in the upland biotopes after prescribed burning without deadwood creation. Our findings highlight the impact of tree retention with prescribed burning and deadwood creation in diversifying deadwood profile and maintaining deadwood continuum for decades.202
Impact of vegetation composition and seasonality on sensitivity of modelled CO2 exchange in temperate raised bogs
Get PDFEncroachment of vascular plants (VP) in temperate raised bogs, as a consequence of altered hydrological conditions and nutrient input, is widely observed. Effects of such vegetation shift on water and carbon cycles are, however, largely unknown and identification of responsible plant physiological traits is challenging. Process-based modelling offers the opportunity of gaining insights into ecosystem functioning beyond observations, and to infer decisive trait shifts of plant functional groups. We adapted the Soil–Vegetation–Atmosphere Transfer model pyAPES to a temperate raised bog site by calibration against measured peat temperature, water table and surface CO2 fluxes. We identified the most important traits determining CO2 fluxes by conducting Morris sensitivity analysis (MSA) under changing conditions throughout the year and simulated VP encroachment. We further investigated transferability of results to other sites by extending MSA to parameter ranges derived from literature review. We found highly variable intra-annual plant traits importance determining ecosystem CO2 fluxes, but only a partial shift of importance of photosynthetic processes from moss to VP during encroachment. Ecosystem respiration was dominated by peat respiration. Overall, carboxylation rate, base respiration rate and temperature sensitivity (Q10) were most important for determining bog CO2 balance and parameter ranking was robust even under the extended MSA.202
Modeling snowpack dynamics and surface energy budget in boreal and subarctic peatlands and forests
Get PDFThe snowpack has a major influence on the land surface energy budget. Accurate simulation of the snowpack energy and radiation budget is challenging due to, e.g., effects of vegetation and topography, as well as limitations in the theoretical understanding of turbulent transfer in the stable boundary layer. Studies that evaluate snow, hydrology and land surface models against detailed observations of all surface energy balance components at high latitudes are scarce. In this study, we compared different configurations of the SURFEX land surface model against surface energy flux, snow depth and soil temperature observations from four eddy-covariance stations in Finland. The sites cover two different climate and snow conditions, representing the southern and northern subarctic zones, as well as the contrasting forest and peatland ecosystems typical for the boreal landscape. We tested different turbulent flux parameterizations implemented in the Crocus snowpack model. In addition, we examined common alternative approaches to conceptualize soil and vegetation, and we assessed their performance in simulating surface energy fluxes, snow conditions and soil thermal regime. Our results show that a stability correction function that increases the turbulent exchange under stable atmospheric conditions is imperative to simulate sensible heat fluxes over the peatland snowpacks and that realistic peat soil texture (soil organic content) parameterization greatly improves the soil temperature simulations. For accurate simulations of surface energy fluxes, snow and soil conditions in forests, an explicit vegetation representation is necessary. Moreover, we demonstrate the high sensitivity of surface fluxes to a poorly documented parameter involved in snow cover fraction computation. Although we focused on models within the SURFEX platform, the results have broader implications for choosing suitable turbulent flux parameterization and model structures depending on the potential use cases for high-latitude land surface modeling.202
