Environmental Sustainability

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Browsing Environmental Sustainability by Subject "15 Life on Land"

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    Developing a multifunctional indicator framework for soil health
    (Elsevier, 2025-06) Hannam, Jacqueline A.; Harris, Maddie; Deeks, Lynda K.; Hoskins, Hannah; Hutchison, James; Withers, Amy J; Harris, Jim A.; Way, Lawrence; Rickson, R. Jane
    We developed a proof-of-concept indicator framework to monitor soil health based on the delivery of ecosystem services. Instead of distilling soil health to one metric, the framework enables simultaneous comparison of the delivery and trade-offs between different ecosystem services that are delivered by soils, accounting for inherent capability determined by soil type and land use. The framework has potential to explore a whole systems approach, ascertaining soil system response in real time that can detect emergent properties of the system. Initial development of the framework ranked salient soil properties known to be linked and pertinent to the delivery of ecosystem services. These key soil properties, together with other environmental variables were used to create simple conceptual models representing a causal network for soils’ contributions to the ecosystem services of climate regulation, food production, water regulation and below-ground biodiversity. The conceptual models were developed into Bayesian Belief Networks populated with relevant national data and expert judgement. The resulting outputs gave an indication of how well (i.e. healthy) a soil can deliver each ecosystem service at a land parcel scale presented in a dashboard app. The output at a specific location can be contextualised or benchmarked against to the range of values for areas with similar soil and land use types. The idea was to build the model with readily available data and knowledge but with flexibility for iterative development to refine the framework and models and improve outputs over time. This enables indicator updates using inputs of local knowledge of land management, or when additional soil data becomes available, or when soil policy drivers change, or our understanding of the conceptual and statistical models are improved. The indicator framework can be applied and adapted for use in multiple contexts from reporting national policy targets on soil health to determining soil health for a farmer at the field level.
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    ItemOpen Access
    Organic management in coffee: a systematic review of the environmental, economic and social benefits and trade-offs for farmers
    (Taylor and Francis, 2025-05-29) Jones, Katharine; Njeru, Ezekiel Mugendi; Garnett, Kenisha; Girkin, Nicholas T.
    Global coffee production is expanding, contributing to environmental degradation, notably through extensive use of inorganic fertilizers. Volatile prices, climate change, rising input costs, and pressure to decrease carbon footprints represent key challenges for farmers. Regenerative soil management and the use of organic management as an alternative to conventional mineral fertilizers offer one potential solution to address these challenges. However, information is limited regarding the potential options available for farmers, and their potential environmental, economic, and social impacts. We undertook a systematic review of the literature to assess the benefits and trade-offs from adopting different organic management approaches following PRISMA guidelines. We identified 43 peer-reviewed articles, predominantly focusing on agroforestry, plant-derived additions, soil management or animal manure to improve livelihoods and environment. Research priorities differ by region and there is a skew toward researching the environmental impacts of regenerative techniques. Our synthesis demonstrates multiple potential environmental benefits to organic management, but increasing economic risks and trade-offs for farmers, particularly in transitioning to organic management. We also highlight the social barriers facing farmers, from education to access to knowledge networks to support implementation. These challenges must be addressed to support any future sustainable transitions to organic management in coffee.
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    Predicted yield and soil organic carbon changes in agroforestry, woodland, grassland, and arable systems under climate change in a cool temperate Atlantic climate
    (Springer, 2025-05) Giannitsopoulos, Michail L.; Burgess, Paul J.; Graves, Anil R.; Olave, Rodrigo J.; Eden, Jonathan M.; Herzog, Felix
    The impact of a changing climate on crop and tree growth remains complex and uncertain. Whilst some areas may benefit from longer growing seasons and increased CO2 levels, others face threats from more frequent extreme weather events. Models can play a pivotal role in predicting future agricultural and forestry scenarios as they can guide decision-making by investigating the interactions of crops, trees, and the environment. This study used the biophysical EcoYield-SAFE agroforestry model to account for the atmospheric CO2 fertilization and calibrated the model using existing field measurements and weather data from 1989 to 2021 in a case study in Northern Ireland. The study then looked at two future climate scenarios based on the representative concentration pathways (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) for 2020–2060 and 2060–2100. The predicted net impacts of future climate scenarios on grass and arable yields and tree growth were positive with increasing CO2 fertilization, which more than offset a generally negative effect of increased temperature and drought stress. The predicted land equivalent ratio remained relatively constant for the baseline and future climate scenarios for silvopastoral and silvoarable agroforestry. Greater losses of soil organic carbon were predicted under arable (1.02–1.18 t C ha−1 yr−1) than grassland (0.43–0.55 t C ha−1 yr−1) systems, with relatively small differences between the baseline and climate scenarios. However, the predicted loss of soil organic carbon was reduced in the long-term by planting trees. The model was also used to examine the effect of different tree densities on the trade-offs between timber volume and understory crop yields. To our best knowledge this is the first study that has calibrated and validated a model that accounts for the effect of CO2 fertilization and determined the effect of future climate scenarios on arable, grassland, woodland, silvopastoral, and silvoarable systems at the same site in Europe.
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    The known unknowns of petrogenic organic carbon in soils
    (American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2025-04-01) Evans, Daniel L.; Doetterl, Sebastian; Gallarotti, Nora; Georgiadis, Eleanor; Nabhan, Sami; Wartenweiler, Stephan H.; Rhyner, Timo M. Y.; Mittelbach, Benedict V. A.; Eglinton, Timothy I.; Hemingway, Jordon D.; Blattmann, Thomas M.
    Intensifying effects of global climate change have spurred efforts to enhance carbon sequestration and the long‐term storage of soil organic carbon (OC). Current soil carbon models predominantly assume that inputs of OC are biospheric, that is, primarily derived from plant decomposition. However, these overlook the contribution of OC from soil parent material, including petrogenic organic carbon (OCpetro) from OC‐bearing (meta‐)sedimentary bedrock. To our knowledge, no soil carbon model accounts for the inputs of OCpetro to soils, resulting in significant gaps in our understanding about the roles OCpetro plays in soils. Here, we call for cross‐disciplinary research to investigate the transport and stability of OCpetro across the bedrock–soil continuum. We pose four key questions as motivation for this effort. Ignoring the inputs of OCpetro to soils has significant implications, including overestimating biospheric carbon stocks and turnover times. Furthermore, we lack information on the role that OCpetro may play in priming microbial communities, as well as the impacts of land management on OCpetro stocks.