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Shifting frontiers of nitrogen pollution: A multi-scale assessment of long-term anthropogenic nitrogen inputs across the Yellow River basin
Get PDFUnderstanding the spatial–temporal dynamics and socioeconomic drivers of anthropogenic nitrogen inputs is essential for effective nutrient management in large river basins. This study presents a comprehensive assessment of net anthropogenic nitrogen input (NANI) in the Yellow River Basin from 1980 to 2020. It integrates multi-source statistical data from national, provincial, and prefecture-level yearbooks within a hierarchical spatial framework that includes the full basin as well as secondary and tertiary sub-basins. The results show that the NANI increases by 108.9% over the study period, accompanied by a clear shift in spatial patterns. Nitrogen inputs grow most rapidly in historically low-input upstream areas, forming a “reverse growth” trend. Centroid trajectory analysis reveals a northwestward shift in nitrogen input hotspots, primarily driven by land use change and agricultural expansion. A segmented environmental kuznets curve (EKC) model identifies a turning point in per capita GDP (41,000–46,000 CNY), beyond which nitrogen inputs begin to decline. This turning point has already been reached in the midstream and downstream regions, while the upstream region continues to experience growth. Despite recent signs of decline in basin-wide nitrogen inputs since 2016, the persistence of ecological risks and the emergence of new pollution frontiers, especially in sensitive upstream zones, highlight the need for continued attention. These spatial and temporal analyses jointly reveal the “shifting frontiers” of nitrogen pollution, defined as inflection zones where input dynamics begin to transition—spatially, temporally, or economically. This study provides methodological innovation and practical insights for improving nitrogen governance in the Yellow River Basin
Adaptive Strategies in Expertise: Optimizing Movement Trajectory for Perception Accuracy
No full textThis study examines the traces of movement trajectories for perception accuracy in expert performance, focusing on table tennis. Twenty participants (10 experts and 10 novices) performed self-generated movements for extended haptic accuracy tasks, and their performance was analyzed for absolute error and movement trajectory. The results reveal that the expert participants exhibited more movement entropy than novices, strategically sacrificing trajectory predictability to enhance haptic perception accuracy. These findings reveal the adaptive strategies used by experts to optimize performance and provide insights into the balance between movement entropy and perception accuracy in skilled motor control
The multi-faceted global poverty and income inequality landscape in a decarbonizing world
Get PDFAs nations ratchet up their climate change mitigation goals, associated social concerns regarding poverty and inequality must be considered in policy design and implementation. However, multi-faceted impact assessments of global climate change mitigation embodying regional and sectoral details remain largely deficient. The study focuses on increasing the sectoral resolution of the assessment on climate change mitigation impacts on poverty and income inequality. Countermeasures to alleviate adverse distributional effects are evaluated through two integrated assessment models. The aim is to steer policy formulation toward a sustainable and equitable trajectory for climate change mitigation. Results show that, without careful design, stringent climate policies can increase income and food poverty as well as income inequality, especially in India and Sub-Saharan Africa. Although an equal-per-capita redistribution of domestic carbon revenues offsets adverse distributional impacts, it may not suffice to eradicate poverty or food poverty, especially in many Sub-Saharan African countries
Inequities blocking the path to circular economies: A bio-inspired network-based approach for assessing the sustainability of the global trade of waste metals
Get PDFConsidering the importance of waste metals for the transition to circular economies, this study follows a bioinspired approach to evaluate their material and monetary global trade patterns for sustainability and equity. Between 2000 and 2022, the global trade grew by 5 % in trading countries, by 37 % in trade links, by 71 % in material flows, and by 569 % in economic flows. Driven by indirect effects, the average circulation of material and monetary flows ranged between 21.8-34.9 - 34.9 % depending on the demand or supply perspective but showed a declining trend. Due to homogenization, high network redundancy, and low network efficiency the trade remained robust yet outside the "window of vitality" characterizing natural ecosystems. A few, mostly high-income countries dominated the market, consolidating imports of high-value metal waste mostly from low- and middle- income exporters. Policies should address circularity and trade inequities, accounting for environmental and social ramifications throughout the lifecycle of products and materials
A dataset of structural breaks in greenhouse gas emissions for climate policy evaluation
Get PDFThe quantitative assessment of policies aimed at climate change mitigation requires rigorously identifying abnormal changes in greenhouse gas emissions. We present a new dataset of robust level changes in greenhouse gas emissions that cannot be explained by aggregate socioeconomic fluctuations. Modern methods of structural break identification based on two-way fixed effects models are employed to estimate the size of significant level changes in emissions. The resulting dataset spans information for all major greenhouse gases in OECD countries across 37 IPCC sectors, from 1995 to 2022. The data unveils large differences in abnormal changes in emissions across gases, countries and sectors, as well as over time. Our resulting data can be applied to a broad range of research questions, including the analysis of the comparative efficacy of policy instruments to mitigate climate change
Rainfall seasonality shapes belowground root trait dynamics in an Amazonian tropical rainforest: A test of the stress‐dominance hypothesis
Get PDF1. The stress-dominance hypothesis (SDH) predicts that trait variation at the community level increases with the availability of limiting resources, driving spatial and temporal patterns in above-ground plant functional trait expression. Here, we test the assumption that the SDH also applies to fine roots responding to spatial and temporal fluctuations in soil resource availability.
2. We monitored fine root mass and functional root traits associated with resource acquisition, that is specific root length (SRL), specific root tip abundance (SRTA) and branching index (BI), and traits related to stress tolerance, such as root diameter (RD) and tissue density (RTD) in a Central Amazonian tree community. To test for spatial differences in root traits, we separated the uppermost organic (O-A horizon, 0–5 cm) and mineral soil (B horizon, 5–15 cm) layers, and for temporal fluctuations, we investigated the relationship of precipitation on community-level root variation over a period of 27 months.
3. In accordance with the SDH, we found that fine roots in the O-A horizon have on average 15% higher SRL, 23% higher BI, 32% higher SRTA and 15% lower RTD than those in the B horizon. Similarly, precipitation shifted the community over time to higher mean SRL, BI and SRTA (r = 0.92, 0.84 and 0.94, p < 0.0001 respectively), although trait shifts occurred in the trimester after the rainy season onset, revealing a time-lag between rainfall patterns and community response. We also detected a positive increase in trait range for SRL and SRTA with lagged precipitation (r = 0.90 and 0.79, p < 0.0001). On the other hand, traits related to stress showed a weaker negative relationship with instantaneous precipitation (r = −0.7 and −0.57, p = 0.046 and p = 0.1 for RD and RTD, respectively).
4. Our results supported the SDH predictions that root systems will become more acquisitive in areas with more resources, and that the community will shift to more acquisitive but also broader trait dispersion as hydric stress decreases. We conclude that although higher resource availability may increase competition for acquisition, trait overdispersion seems to promote species coexistence. Our results highlight how dynamic root systems can be in response to environmental cues, cautioning the common practice of making conclusions about root traits adaptations to environmental gradients based on a single sampling observation
Analysis of Health Impacts from Future Air Quality Changes Considering the Aging Population in Korea
Get PDFWhen predicting the health impacts of PM2.5 from future air quality changes, it is crucial to consider both air quality improvements and population aging. This study divided future emission scenarios into a base and control scenario to project air quality from 2015 to 2030 and assess health outcomes. The GUIDE model, an Integrated Assessment Model (IAM), was used to estimate future emissions, while the CMAQ (Chemical Transport Model) and BenMAP (Health Impact Model) evaluated health impacts resulting from changes in air quality in Korea. The study focused on the impact of population aging on future health outcomes. Both scenarios showed improved PM2.5 concentrations, with the control scenario showing more substantial improvements due to stronger policy measures. When applying current age patterns, health impacts decreased as PM2.5 concentrations decreased. However, when considering future population aging, health impacts increased despite improved air quality. The results excluding aging show that the number of premature deaths due to cardiovascular disease and all other causes caused by PM2.5 is 18,413 in the base year, while in the future control scenario, the number decreases to 11,729. In contrast, when aging is taken into account, the number of premature deaths increases to 23,037. This finding suggests that, although PM2.5 concentrations are expected to decline, the increasing proportion of elderly individuals will exacerbate health risks. Therefore, accounting for aging population trends is essential when studying the health impacts of future air quality changes
Current and future research in environmental sustainability: Synthesise of the role, responsibilities, and opportunities for the business sector
Get PDFEnvironmental sustainability is a timely and important topic to investigate given the increasingly complex challenges requiring businesses to reevaluate their business models in relationships with the natural environment, including their roles and responsibilities, and how opportunities in addressing these challenges may be utilized. This special issue enhances contemporary and future research by soliciting a wide variety of themes from ten papers falling under the scope of an ecological and climate focus of environmental sustainability relevant to the roles, responsibilities, and opportunities for the business sector, while also considering the links between environmental and social aspects. The articles included in the special issue provide an overview of five topics. These are 1) sub-national greenhouse gas accounting approaches, 2) corporate governance, policies, and practices, 3) sustainable finance, 4) consumer viewpoints and expectations, and 5) bioeconomy. Moreover, the crosscutting themes discussed suggest an inter- and transdisciplinary nature of environmental sustainability. In this introductory article to the special issue, the ten articles bring forth national and institutional levels, the sub-national level, and the organizational level. To conclude, future research avenues are vast based on suggestions presented in the ten papers the special issue covers. However, this introductory article also brings up topics suggested in the initial call for papers but were not covered in the papers included in the special issue, thus still relevant for future studies
Preserving carbon dioxide removal to serve critical needs
No full textCarbon dioxide removal (CDR) is critical to most net-zero pathways, especially given challenges due to slow decarbonization, hard-to-abate (H2A) economic activities and non-CO2 GHGs. However, land-based CDR, which is the most widely deployed currently and in future projections, requires extensive land and water. Here we examine least-cost 1.5 °C overshoot pathways, finding that 78 of 81 scenarios would require all available sustainable CDR to compensate for H2A emissions and overshoot. Use of CDR to compensate for emissions from easier-to-decarbonize sectors such as electricity would leave less available to compensate for H2A emissions, increasing system-wide costs of net zero or rendering such goals impossible. Such usage, however, is allowed in many jurisdictions and is widespread in voluntary markets. We suggest that rapidly transitioning CDR usage to exclusively compensate for H2A emissions and overshoot is required to prevent lower costs for near-term actors leading to larger long-term system-wide costs
Feedback on the ‘Draft Principles for Open Science Monitoring' from the members of the Citizen Science and Open Science Community of Practice
Get PDFMembers of the ‘Citizen Science and Open Science Community of Practice’ provided feedback, comment and input on the response to the ‘Draft Principles for Open Science Monitoring': https://doi.org/10.52949/49 Feedback has been organised into the relevant sections of the draft ‘Draft Principles for Open Science Monitoring’, with the names of contributors provided should members of the ‘Open science monitoring initiative (OSMI)’ wish to contact members and seek clarity. A ‘living’ version of the STARDIT report about the co-creation of this document is available here: STARDIT.wikimedia.org.au/wiki/0202410300001 (a permanent stable version from 2024.11.28 can be found here)