Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Ambio 2019 Apr 16. Epub 2019 Apr 16.

Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Vejlsøvej 25, 8600, Silkeborg, Denmark.

Wetland restoration is considered an effective mitigation method for decreasing nitrogen (N) losses from agricultural land. However, when former cropland becomes rewetted, there is a risk that phosphorus (P) accumulated in soils will be released downstream. Here, we evaluate N and P retention in eight restored wetlands in Denmark monitored for 1 year using a mass balance approach. Read More

Ambio 2019 Apr 16. Epub 2019 Apr 16.

Institute of Animal Nutrition (ITE), Bundesallee 37, 38116, Braunschweig, Germany.

Lead poisoning of birds of prey from ingestion of ammunition lead has been well documented. Alternative, lead-free ammunition is widely available, but the toxicokinetics of other metals in birds are poorly understood. We tested the erosion of lead, copper, zinc, iron and brass by feeding domestic Pekin ducks (Anas platyrhynchos forma domestica) defined numbers of small metal pellets. Read More

Ambio 2019 Apr 9. Epub 2019 Apr 9.

Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UNICEN), Pinto 399, 7000, Tandil, Argentina.

Waterfowl hunting in Argentina is a profitable industry that attracts hunters from all over the world. Most hunting occurs as high-end hunting tourism, through which registered outfitters service predominantly foreign clients on private lands. Lead pollution from hunting ammunition is increasingly recognized as a significant local problem, impacting wildlife, aquatic and terrestrial habitats, and extending to vulnerable human rural communities. Read More

Ambio 2019 Apr 8. Epub 2019 Apr 8.

Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, 303-70 Dysart Road, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2M6, Canada.

Social-ecological memory (SEM) is an analytical construct used to consider the ways by which people can draw upon biological materials and social memory to reorganize following a disturbance. Since its introduction into the literature, there have been few cases that have considered its use. We use ethnographic methods to study Bribri people's commercial crops that have been invaded by different fungal pathogens and have undergone several disturbance recovery cycles. Read More

Ambio 2019 Apr 5. Epub 2019 Apr 5.

Biology Department, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA, 31698, USA.

The publication contained a dating model that was based on AD/BC dates instead of years before present (YBP) dates for the three C AMS values. As a result, dates reported as YBP should be reported as BC. While all of the dates for the prescribed burning period are correct given that they were based on the Pb model, all dates reported as YBP should read BC. Read More

Ambio 2019 Apr 3. Epub 2019 Apr 3.

Faculty of Science and Engineering, Environmental and Marine Biology, Åbo Akademi University, Tykistökatu 6, 20520, Turku, Finland.

A large-scale loss of the habitat-forming macroalgae Fucus vesiculosus was reported around the Baltic Sea in the 1980's, but only relatively local studies have reported its current status. We studied recent comprehensive mapping data in the Finnish marine area and compared reported Fucus occurrences in relation to its potential, to find out its current status on a larger scale. We also investigated the effects of water quality on Fucus occurrence and its depth penetration. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 30. Epub 2019 Mar 30.

Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.

Changes in Arctic vegetation can have important implications for trophic interactions and ecosystem functioning leading to climate feedbacks. Plot-based vegetation surveys provide detailed insight into vegetation changes at sites around the Arctic and improve our ability to predict the impacts of environmental change on tundra ecosystems. Here, we review studies of changes in plant community composition and phenology from both long-term monitoring and warming experiments in Arctic environments. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 27. Epub 2019 Mar 27.

Division of Wildlife Conservation, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 1300 College Road, Fairbanks, AK, 99701, USA.

Semi-jacketed lead-cored or copper-based homogenous rifle bullets are commonly used for hunting big game. Ever since their introduction in the 1990's, copper-based bullets have not been widely accepted by hunters due to limited supply, higher expense, and the perception that they exhibit inferior killing efficiency and correspondingly higher wounding rates. Here, we present data showing that animal flight distances for roe deer, red deer, brown bear, and moose dispatched with lead- or copper-based hunting bullets did not significantly differ from an animal welfare standardized animal flight distance based on body mass. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 23. Epub 2019 Mar 23.

Geography Department, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 230 Elizabeth Avenue, St. John's, NL, A1B 3X9, Canada.

Wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) were reintroduced into Alaska after a 170-year absence in the state. Wildlife reintroductions may cause problems by damaging property, spreading disease, increasing fear levels, and human injury and death. We examined the influence of urban Alaskan's wildife value orientations (WVO; domination and mutualism), fear, and attitudes toward wood bison on their behavioral intention to support lethal management under specific situations. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 23. Epub 2019 Mar 23.

Department of Bioscience, Institute for Bioscience - Kalø, Aarhus University, Grenåvej 12, 8410, Rønde, Denmark.

The transition to non-lead ammunition has been enforced by regulations on use and possession of lead shot and rifle bullets. Here we review the scientific and technical literature about this regulatory process in Europe and give some notes of its effectiveness to reduce this source of lead contamination in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Presently, lead shot use has been legally restricted in 23 European countries. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 23. Epub 2019 Mar 23.

Department of Wildlife Diseases, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, P.O. 700430, 10324, Berlin, Germany.

As lead is a heavy metal showing high toxicity for many organisms, its entry in the ecosystem should be minimised. Nevertheless, considerable quantities are deposited in the environment via hunting ammunition. Such practice is responsible for the occurrence of lead poisoning in many wildlife species and represents a health risk to humans. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 23. Epub 2019 Mar 23.

Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont and CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, Burlington, USA.

Climate change adaptation, mitigation and food security may be addressed at the same time by enhancing soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration through environmentally sound land management practices. This is promoted by the "4 per 1000" Initiative, a multi-stakeholder platform aiming at increasing SOC storage through sustainable practices. The scientific and technical committee of the Initiative is working to identify indicators, research priorities and region-specific practices needed for their implementation. Read More

Ambio 2019 May;48(5):437-448

Human Geography, School of Social Sciences, Monash University, 20 Chancellors Walk, Building 11, W819, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia.

Urban transformations form a central challenge for enabling global pathways towards sustainability and resilience. However, it remains unclear what kind of capacity is needed to deliver urban change that is actually transformative. Against a backdrop of current claims and efforts to achieve urban transformations, this special issue reviews the relational concept of urban transformative capacity and how it can inform novel approaches in research, policy, and practice. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 21. Epub 2019 Mar 21.

Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California at Davis, Davis, USA.

Cooperative management of pest susceptibility to transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops is pursued worldwide in a variety of forms and to varying degrees of success depending on context. We examine this context using a comparative socioecological analysis of resistance management in Australia, Brazil, India, and the United States. We find that a shared understanding of resistance risks among government regulators, growers, and other actors is critical for effective governance. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 21. Epub 2019 Mar 21.

Environmental Studies and Sciences, The University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Canada.

In this article, we focus on wellbeing as an important concept relating to bioenergy development in Canada. We use a three-dimensional or social approach to understanding wellbeing, which includes subjective and relational aspects in addition to the more traditional material dimension of wellbeing (e.g. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 20. Epub 2019 Mar 20.

Department of Integrative Biology, College of Biological Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada.

To analyse those factors that inhibit or facilitate the shift from lead to non-lead ammunition, it is important to evaluate the extent to which hunters can purchase suitable non-lead products. Based on an Internet search, we identified 22 European and 6 North American manufactures of non-lead shot cartridges distributed in 10 different countries. During the web search, we found non-lead shot cartridges available in retail stores with online sales of these products in 22 of 29 European countries. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 16. Epub 2019 Mar 16.

Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, 10691, Stockholm, Sweden.

Bottom-up approaches are often presented as a remedy to environmental governance problems caused by poorly aligned social institutions and fragmented ecosystems. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence demonstrating how such social-ecological fit might emerge and help achieve desirable outcomes. This paper combines quantitative social-ecological network analysis with interviews to investigate whether bottom-up approaches in lake governance improve the fit. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 16. Epub 2019 Mar 16.

Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, bldg. 1540, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark.

The Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP) provides an opportunity to improve our knowledge of Arctic arthropod diversity, but initial baseline studies are required to summarise the status and trends of planned target groups of species known as Focal Ecosystem Components (FECs). We begin this process by collating available data for a relatively well-studied region in the Arctic, the North Atlantic region, summarising the diversity of key terrestrial arthropod FECs, and compiling trends for some representative species. We found the FEC classification system to be challenging to implement, but identified some key groups to target in the initial phases of the programme. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 16. Epub 2019 Mar 16.

Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, GL2 7BT, UK.

A proposed European Union (EU)-wide restriction on the use of lead gunshot for shooting in and over wetlands estimated that the societal benefits of a restriction outweighed costs, despite few identified benefits being quantified economically. A subsequent Annex XV Investigation Report on the evidence of impacts of lead ammunition in terrestrial environments concluded that additional measures to control its use are warranted, although to date this has not been further evaluated. To help inform this process, we review the literature and undertake new analyses to estimate the costs of continued use of lead ammunition associated with impacts on wildlife, people and the environment. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 16. Epub 2019 Mar 16.

Birmingham Institute for Forest Research and School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.

As evidence for the devastating impacts of air pollution on human health continues to increase, improving urban air quality has become one of the most pressing tasks facing policy makers world-wide. Increasingly, and very often on the basis of conflicting and/or weak evidence, the introduction of green infrastructure (GI) is seen as a win-win solution to urban air pollution, reducing ground-level concentrations without imposing restrictions on traffic and other polluting activities. The impact of GI on air quality is highly context dependent, with models suggesting that GI can improve urban air quality in some situations, but be ineffective or even detrimental in others. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 16. Epub 2019 Mar 16.

Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QZ, UK.

Poisoning of wild birds following ingestion of lead from ammunition has long been recognised and considerable recent research has focused on terrestrial birds, including raptors and scavengers. This paper builds upon previous reviews and finds that both the number of taxa affected and geographical spread of cases has increased. Some lead may also be absorbed from embedded ammunition fragments in injured birds which risk sub-lethal and welfare effects. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 11. Epub 2019 Mar 11.

Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellatera, Barcelona, Spain.

Despite its relative adaptive capacity and its many values, indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) is rapidly eroding. Over the past decades a myriad of efforts have emerged to prevent this erosion. In this work, we reviewed and systematically coded 138 ILK conservation initiatives published in academic papers in order to explore trends in participation, digitalization, timing, location, and approach of the initiatives. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 11. Epub 2019 Mar 11.

Faculty of Social Science and Work, University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR), Calle Violante de Hungría, 23, 50009, Saragossa, Spain.

Impacts of the legal designation of protected areas (PAs) may have contrasting implications for different stakeholders, and at different spatial scales. In this study, we analysed the organisational perception on the socioeconomic effects of PA designation from all sectors of activity in Spain, accounting for PAs' legal stringency. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 68 organisations at national, regional (Andalusia) and local scales (two municipalities in the Almeria province, Andalusia) through an online survey. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 9. Epub 2019 Mar 9.

Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, School of Nursing, University of California San Francisco, 530 Parnassus Avenue, Suite 366, San Francisco, 94143, USA.

Growing research and public awareness of the environmental impacts of tobacco present an opportunity for environmental science and public health to work together. Various United Nations agencies share interests in mitigating the environmental costs of tobacco. Since 2000, transnational tobacco industry consolidation has accelerated, spotlighting the specific companies responsible for the environmental and human harms along the tobacco production chain. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 9. Epub 2019 Mar 9.

Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK.

The main determinants of agricultural employment are related to households' access to private assets and the influence of inherited social-economic stratification and power relationships. However, despite the recommendations of rural studies which have shown the importance of multilevel approaches to rural poverty, very few studies have explored quantitatively the effects of common-pool resources and household livelihood capitals on agricultural employment. Understanding the influence of access to both common-pool resources and private assets on rural livelihoods can enrich our understanding of the drivers of rural poverty in agrarian societies, which is central to achieving sustainable development pathways. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 9. Epub 2019 Mar 9.

Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland.

Stock enhancement activities provide an opportunity to examine density-dependent suppression of population biomass which is a fundamental issue for resource management and design of no-take-zones. We document 'catch-and-wait' fisheries enhancement where all but the largest lobsters are thrown back, recapturing them later after they have grown to a larger size. The residency, rate of return, and potential negative density-dependent effects of this activity are described using a combination of tagging and v-notching and by relating spatial growth patterns to population density defined with Catch Per Unit Effort. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 9. Epub 2019 Mar 9.

Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, Nahant, MA, 01908, USA.

The ability of resource-dependent communities to adapt to climate change depends in part on their perceptions and prioritization of specific climate-related threats. In the Maine lobster fishery, which is highly vulnerable to warming water associated with climate change, we found a strong majority (84%) of fishers viewed warming water as a threat, but rank its impacts lower than other drivers of change (e.g. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 9. Epub 2019 Mar 9.

State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People's Republic of China.

The dramatic increase in anthropogenic activity severely threatens the biodiversity and life-support services that underpin human well-being. The broadened focus of protecting ecosystem services (ESs) better aligns the interests of people and biodiversity conservation. In this study, we used species richness as a surrogate for biodiversity and mapped the key ESs in East Africa with the goal to assess the spatial congruence between biodiversity and ESs, and evaluate the representation of current protected areas (PAs) network for biodiversity and ESs. Read More

Ambio 2019 Mar 7. Epub 2019 Mar 7.

National Center for Scientific Research, PSL Université Paris, CRIOBE, USR 3278 CNRS-EPHE-UPVD, Maison des Océans, 195 rue Saint-Jacques, 75005, Paris, France.

The transformation of coral reefs has profound implications for millions of people. However, the interactive effects of changing reefs and fishing remain poorly resolved. We combine underwater surveys (271 000 fishes), catch data (18 000 fishes), and household surveys (351 households) to evaluate how reef fishes and fishers in Moorea, French Polynesia responded to a landscape-scale loss of coral caused by sequential disturbances (a crown-of-thorns sea star outbreak followed by a category 4 cyclone). Read More

Ambio 2019 Feb 15. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

NERC Center for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, UK.

Guidance for large-scale restoration of natural or semi-natural linear vegetation elements that takes into account the need to maintain human livelihoods such as farming is often lacking. Focusing on a Chilean biodiversity hotspot, we assessed the landscape in terms of existing woody vegetation elements and proposed a buffer strip and hedgerow network. We used spatial analysis based on Google Earth imagery and QGIS, field surveys, seven guidelines linked to prioritization criteria and seedling availability in the region's nurseries, and estimated the budget for implementing the proposed network. Read More

Ambio 2019 May 15;48(5):463-477. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering, The Royal Institute of Technology, 100 44, Stockholm, Sweden.

Transformation towards sustainable development is about findings new ways of thinking, organising and doing to navigate wicked challenges such as climate change and urbanisation. Such challenges call for new governance modes that match the complexity of the systems to be handled, where multi-level governance and collaborative approaches have been suggested to contribute to such transformative capacity building. This in-depth, trans-disciplinary study investigates how the multi-level governance context in Stockholm, Sweden, influences the transformative capacity from the perspective of local sustainability initiatives. Read More

Ambio 2019 Feb 15. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

School of Geography and Development, University of Arizona, 1064 E. Lowell Street, Tucson, AZ, 85719, USA.

The political economy of dam development in South America is changing as a result of a resurgence in water infrastructure investments. The arrival of Chinese-funded projects in the region has altered a context traditionally dominated by multilateral development banks. Tensions are escalating around new dam projects and the environmental impact assessment process is increasingly the site of politicization around water in the region. Read More

Ambio 2019 Feb 15. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Institute for Bioscience - Kalø, Aarhus University, Grenåvej 14, 8410, Rønde, Denmark.

Denmark implemented a total ban on the use of lead shot for hunting and clay target shooting in 1996. Compliance was not studied systematically until recently. However, sporadic police checks and individual studies indicated that compliance was far from complete in the early years after regulation. Read More

Ambio 2019 Feb 15. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Faculty of Forestry, Department of Conservation of Forest Resources and Ecotourism, Kampus Fahutan, IPB Darmaga, Kotak Pos 168, Bogor, 16001, Indonesia.

Volunteer-led surveys are increasingly used to collect ecological information and may represent a means for obtaining the tree measurement datasets necessary to calculate carbon stocks in tropical forests in order to justify funding like REDD+. However, the accuracy of tree measurements collected by volunteers remains unassessed. Here, we examine how tree measurements collected by student volunteers vary compared to measurements collected by trained ecologists using identical methods. Read More

Ambio 2019 May 15;48(5):507-514. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Department of Work Science, Business Economics and Environmental Psychology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden.

This paper presents a perspective we find lacking in the general discussion on urban transformative capacity, as well as the discourse on children's environmental experiences and their participation in urban planning processes. Children contribute to the building of urban transformative capacity in several ways. Firstly, they contribute with new perspectives on the environment that broaden existing perspectives on human-environment relations in urban planning. Read More

Ambio 2019 May 8;48(5):494-506. Epub 2019 Feb 8.

Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, and African Climate and Development Initiative, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, 7700, South Africa.

The intersecting challenges of urbanization, growing inequality, climate and environmental risk and economic sustainability require new modes of urban governance. Although the urban poor are increasingly recognized as needing to be part of climate adaptation planning and implementation, many governance arrangements fail to explicitly include them. In order to make climate governance more inclusive, transformative capacity is needed. Read More

Ambio 2019 Jan 21. Epub 2019 Jan 21.

Department of Geography, Lucy Stone Hall, Rutgers University, 54 Joyce Kilmer Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA.

Forest transitions occur when net reforestation replaces net deforestation in places. Because forest transitions can increase biodiversity and augment carbon sequestration, they appeal to policymakers contending with the degrading effects of forest loss and climate change. What then can policymakers do to trigger forest transitions? The historical record over the last two centuries provides insights into the precipitating conditions. Read More

Ambio 2019 Jan 8. Epub 2019 Jan 8.

Department of Geography, King's College London, Bush House (NE) 4.01, 40 Aldwych, London, WC2B 4BG, UK.

This paper synthesizes current knowledge on the impacts of the Gibe III dam and associated large-scale commercial farming in the Omo-Turkana Basin, based on an expert elicitation coupled with a scoping review and the collective knowledge of an multidisciplinary network of researchers with active data-collection programs in the Basin. We use social-ecological systems and political ecology frameworks to assess the impacts of these interventions on hydrology and ecosystem services in the Basin, and cascading effects on livelihoods, patterns of migration, and conflict dynamics for the people of the region. A landscape-scale transformation is occurring in which commodities, rather than staple foods for local consumption, are becoming the main output of the region. Read More

Ambio 2019 Jan 8. Epub 2019 Jan 8.

Geography Department, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin, Germany.

Dam construction and operation modify land systems. We synthesized 178 observations of dam-induced land system changes from 54 peer-reviewed case studies. Changing extents of forests (23%), agricultural land (21%), and built-up areas (11%) were reported frequently, alongside alterations in land use intensity (23%). Read More

Ambio 2019 Jan 5. Epub 2019 Jan 5.

Urban and Regional Planning Community, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Previous studies assessed cultural ecosystem services (CES) at the local scale but often ignored them in national assessments. This paper explores CES relationships in Switzerland using web-based participatory mapping. We identified the spatial relationships between CES, the drivers of negative change and solutions to mitigate it. Read More

Ambio 2019 Jan 4. Epub 2019 Jan 4.

Stanford University, Encina Hall East 404, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.

Indonesia's oil palm expansion during the last two decades has resulted in widespread environmental and health damages through land clearing by fire and peat conversion, but it has also contributed to rural poverty alleviation. In this paper, we examine the role that decentralization has played in the process of Indonesia's oil palm development, particularly among independent smallholder producers. We use primary survey information, along with government documents and statistics, to analyze the institutional dynamics underpinning the sector's impacts on economic development and the environment. Read More

Ambio 2019 Jan 4. Epub 2019 Jan 4.

Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Kalø, Grenåvej 14, 8410, Rønde, Denmark.

This review presents evidence of lead exposure and toxicity to wildlife and humans from spent shotgun and rifle ammunition and fishing weights, and the barriers and bridges to completing the transition to non-lead products. Despite the international availability of effective non-lead substitutes, and that more jurisdictions are adopting suitable policies and regulations, a broader transition to non-lead alternatives is prevented because resolution remains divided among disparate human user constituencies. Progress has occurred only where evidence is most compelling or where a responsible public authority with statutory powers has managed to change mindsets in the wider public interest. Read More

Ambio 2018 Dec 19. Epub 2018 Dec 19.

Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, 2801 Sharon Turnpike, Millbrook, NY, 12545, USA.

Integrated modeling is a critical tool to evaluate the behavior of coupled human-freshwater systems. However, models that do not consider both fast and slow processes may not accurately reflect the feedbacks that define complex systems. We evaluated current coupled human-freshwater system modeling approaches in the literature with a focus on categorizing feedback loops as including economic and/or socio-cultural processes and identifying the simulation of fast and slow processes in human and biophysical systems. Read More

Ambio 2018 Dec 19. Epub 2018 Dec 19.

Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway.

Through the construction of a socio-ecological timeline for the Porsanger fjord ecosystem, this article illustrates the different ways in which environmental and social-ecological changes have influenced the adaptations of rural households in coastal Sami communities in Finnmark, north Norway. The main finding is that, although environmental change in the form of seal invasions and dwindling fish stocks directly impacted the fisheries, the introduction of a new vessel quota system decisively changed adaptive capacity and coastal Sami household adaptation strategies. These changes represented a tipping point for the social-ecological system in the period between 1986 and 1990. Read More

Ambio 2018 Dec 19. Epub 2018 Dec 19.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 502 E. 9th St., Des Moines, IA, 50319, USA.

Growth and consolidation in the livestock industry in the past 30 years have resulted in more total farm animals being raised on fewer Iowa farms. The effects of this on stream water quality at the landscape scale have largely gone unexplored. The main objective of this work was to quantify the effects on stream nitrate levels of livestock concentration in two western Iowa watersheds relative to seven other nearby watersheds. Read More

Ambio 2018 Dec 19. Epub 2018 Dec 19.

Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Lennart Hjälmsv. 9, P.O. Box 7050, 75007, Uppsala, Sweden.

Concentrations of phosphorus (P), the main limiting nutrient in freshwater ecosystems, need to be reduced, but this is difficult due to high spatial and temporal variations and limited resources. Reliable targeting of critical source areas, such as erosion-prone fields and parts of fields, is necessary to improve the cost efficiency of mitigation measures. We used high-resolution (2 m × 2 m) distributed modelling to calculate erosion risk for a large area (202 279 km) covering > 90% of Swedish arable land. Read More

Ambio 2018 Dec 13. Epub 2018 Dec 13.

Department of Integrative Biology, College of Biological Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada.

The chemical composition of non-lead, non-toxic, gunshot used for hunting waterfowl is regulated only in Canada and the USA. No nation regulates the composition of non-lead fishing weights, rifle bullets, and gunshot used for upland game hunting. Compositional criteria for these non-lead products are proposed here, based on established experimental toxicity protocols. Read More

Ambio 2018 Dec 6. Epub 2018 Dec 6.

Department of Aquatic Resources, Institute of Coastal Research, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skolgatan 6, 742 42, Öregrund, Sweden.

Understanding the relative impacts of pressures on coastal ecosystems is central for implementing relevant measures to reach environmental management objectives. Here, survey data on the species and size composition of coastal fish are evaluated in relation to fishing and eutrophication, by comparing a long-standing no-take area to an environmental gradient in the Baltic Sea. The no-take area represents an intermediate eutrophication level, but the species composition resembles that seen at low eutrophication in areas with fishing. Read More

Ambio 2018 Dec 8. Epub 2018 Dec 8.

Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, Campus Frescati, Svante Arrhenius väg 20 F, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden.

Seal populations are recovering in many regions around the world and, consequently, they are increasingly interacting with fisheries. We used an Ecopath with Ecosim model for the offshore Central Baltic Sea to investigate the interactions between the changes in fish stocks and grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) population under different fishing and environmental scenarios for the twenty-first century. The assumed climate, eutrophication and cod (Gadus morhua) fisheries scenarios modified seal predation impacts on fish. Read More

Ambio 2018 Dec 1. Epub 2018 Dec 1.

Department of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, 40530, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Ocean temperatures are rising; species are shifting poleward, and pH is falling (ocean acidification, OA). We summarise current understanding of OA in the brackish Baltic-Skagerrak System, focussing on the direct, indirect and interactive effects of OA with other anthropogenic drivers on marine biogeochemistry, organisms and ecosystems. Substantial recent advances reveal a pattern of stronger responses (positive or negative) of species than ecosystems, more positive responses at lower trophic levels and strong indirect interactions in food-webs. Read More