@article{MartinLopezLeisterCruzetal.2019, author = {Martin-Lopez, Berta and Leister, Ines and Cruz, Pedro Lorenzo and Palomo, Ignacio and Gret-Regamey, Adrienne and Harrison, Paula A. and Lavorel, Sandra and Locatelli, Bruno and Luque, Sandra and Walz, Ariane}, title = {Nature's contributions to people in mountains}, series = {PLoS one}, volume = {14}, journal = {PLoS one}, number = {6}, publisher = {PLoS}, address = {San Fransisco}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0217847}, pages = {24}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Mountains play a key role in the provision of nature's contributions to people (NCP) worldwide that support societies' quality of life. Simultaneously, mountains are threatened by multiple drivers of change. Due to the complex interlinkages between biodiversity, quality of life and drivers of change, research on NCP in mountains requires interdisciplinary approaches. In this study, we used the conceptual framework of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the notion of NCP to determine to what extent previous research on ecosystem services in mountains has explored the different components of the IPBES conceptual framework. We conducted a systematic review of articles on ecosystem services in mountains published up to 2016 using the Web of Science and Scopus databases. Descriptive statistical and network analyses were conducted to explore the level of research on the components of the IPBES framework and their interactions. Our results show that research has gradually become more interdisciplinary by studying higher number of NCP, dimensions of quality of life, and indirect drivers of change. Yet, research focusing on biodiversity, regulating NCP and direct drivers has decreased over time. Furthermore, despite the fact that research on NCP in mountains becoming more policy-oriented over time, mainly in relation to payments for ecosystem services, institutional responses remained underexplored in the reviewed studies. Finally, we discuss the relevant knowledge gaps that should be addressed in future research in order to contribute to IPBES.}, language = {en} } @article{SchoonoverGretRegameyMetzgeretal.2019, author = {Schoonover, Heather A. and Gret-Regamey, Adrienne and Metzger, Marc J. and Ruiz-Frau, Ana and Santos-Reis, Margarida and Scholte, Samantha S. K. and Walz, Ariane and Nicholas, Kimberly A.}, title = {Creating space, aligning motivations, and building trust}, series = {Ecology and society : a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability}, volume = {24}, journal = {Ecology and society : a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability}, number = {1}, publisher = {Resilience Alliance}, address = {Wolfville}, issn = {1708-3087}, doi = {10.5751/ES-10061-240111}, pages = {13}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Ecosystem services inherently involve people, whose values help define the benefits of nature's services. It is thus important for researchers to involve stakeholders in ecosystem services research. However, a simple and practicable framework to guide such engagement, and in particular to help researchers anticipate and consider key issues and challenges, has not been well explored. Here, we use experience from the 12 case studies in the European Operational Potential of Ecosystem Research Applications (OPERAs) project to propose a stakeholder engagement framework comprising three key elements: creating space, aligning motivations, and building trust. We argue that involving stakeholders in research demands thoughtful reflection from the researchers about what kind of space they want to create, including if and how they want to bring different interests together, how much space they want to allow for critical discussion, and whether there is a role for particular stakeholders to serve as conduits between others. In addition, understanding their own motivations—including values, knowledge, goals, and desired benefits—will help researchers decide when and how to involve stakeholders, identify areas of common ground and potential disagreement, frame the project appropriately, set expectations, and ensure each party is able to see benefits of engaging with each other. Finally, building relationships with stakeholders can be difficult but considering the roles of existing relationships, time, approach, reputation, and belonging can help build mutual trust. Although the three key elements and the paths between them can play out differently depending on the particular research project, we suggest that a research design that considers how to create the space in which researchers and stakeholders will meet, align motivations between researchers and stakeholders, and build mutual trust will help foster productive researcher-stakeholder relationships.}, language = {en} } @article{MusterRileyRothetal.2019, author = {Muster, Sina and Riley, William J. and Roth, Kurt and Langer, Moritz and Aleina, Fabio Cresto and Koven, Charles D. and Lange, Stephan and Bartsch, Annett and Grosse, Guido and Wilson, Cathy J. and Jones, Benjamin M. and Boike, Julia}, title = {Size distributions of arctic waterbodies reveal consistent relations in their statistical moments in space and time}, series = {Frontiers in Earth Science}, volume = {7}, journal = {Frontiers in Earth Science}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {2296-6463}, doi = {10.3389/feart.2019.00005}, pages = {15}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Arctic lowlands are characterized by large numbers of small waterbodies, which are known to affect surface energy budgets and the global carbon cycle. Statistical analysis of their size distributions has been hindered by the shortage of observations at sufficiently high spatial resolutions. This situation has now changed with the high-resolution (<5 m) circum-Arctic Permafrost Region Pond and Lake (PeRL) database recently becoming available. We have used this database to make the first consistent, high-resolution estimation of Arctic waterbody size distributions, with surface areas ranging from 0.0001 km(2) (100 m(2)) to 1 km(2). We found that the size distributions varied greatly across the thirty study regions investigated and that there was no single universal size distribution function (including power-law distribution functions) appropriate across all of the study regions. We did, however, find close relationships between the statistical moments (mean, variance, and skewness) of the waterbody size distributions from different study regions. Specifically, we found that the spatial variance increased linearly with mean waterbody size (R-2 = 0.97, p < 2.2e-16) and that the skewness decreased approximately hyperbolically. We have demonstrated that these relationships (1) hold across the 30 Arctic study regions covering a variety of (bio)climatic and permafrost zones, (2) hold over time in two of these study regions for which multi-decadal satellite imagery is available, and (3) can be reproduced by simulating rising water levels in a high-resolution digital elevation model. The consistent spatial and temporal relationships between the statistical moments of the waterbody size distributions underscore the dominance of topographic controls in lowland permafrost areas. These results provide motivation for further analyses of the factors involved in waterbody development and spatial distribution and for investigations into the possibility of using statistical moments to predict future hydrologic dynamics in the Arctic.}, language = {en} } @article{HellwigTattiSartorietal.2018, author = {Hellwig, Niels and Tatti, Dylan and Sartori, Giacomo and Anschlag, Kerstin and Graefe, Ulfert and Egli, Markus and Gobat, Jean-Michel and Broll, Gabriele}, title = {Modeling spatial patterns of humus forms in montane and subalpine forests}, series = {Sustainability}, volume = {11}, journal = {Sustainability}, number = {1}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2071-1050}, doi = {10.3390/su11010048}, pages = {15}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Humus forms are a distinctive morphological indicator of soil organic matter decomposition. The spatial distribution of humus forms depends on environmental factors such as topography, climate and vegetation. In montane and subalpine forests, environmental influences show a high spatial heterogeneity, which is reflected by a high spatial variability of humus forms. This study aims at examining spatial patterns of humus forms and their dependence on the spatial scale in a high mountain forest environment (Val di Sole/Val di Rabbi, Trentino, Italian Alps). On the basis of the distributions of environmental covariates across the study area, we described humus forms at the local scale (six sampling sites), slope scale (60 sampling sites) and landscape scale (30 additional sampling sites). The local variability of humus forms was analyzed with regard to the ground cover type. At the slope and landscape scale, spatial patterns of humus forms were modeled applying random forests and ordinary kriging of the model residuals. The results indicate that the occurrence of the humus form classes Mull, Mullmoder, Moder, Amphi and Eroded Moder generally depends on the topographical position. Local-scale patterns are mostly related to micro-topography (local accumulation and erosion sites) and ground cover, whereas slope-scale patterns are mainly connected with slope exposure and elevation. Patterns at the landscape scale show a rather irregular distribution, as spatial models at this scale do not account for local to slope-scale variations of humus forms. Moreover, models at the slope scale perform distinctly better than at the landscape scale. In conclusion, the results of this study highlight that landscape-scale predictions of humus forms should be accompanied by local- and slope-scale studies in order to enhance the general understanding of humus form patterns.}, language = {en} } @article{BarbosadeLiraRabeloCoelhoetal.2019, author = {Barbosa, Luis Romero and de Lira, Nicholas Borges and Rabelo Coelho, Victor Hugo and Bernard Passerat de Silans, Alain Marie and Gadelha, Andre Nobrega and Almeida, Cristiano das Neves}, title = {Stability of Soil Moisture Patterns Retrieved at Different Temporal Resolutions in a Tropical Watershed}, series = {Revista brasileira de ciencias do solo}, volume = {43}, journal = {Revista brasileira de ciencias do solo}, publisher = {Sociedade Brasileira de Ciencia do Solo}, address = {Vicosa}, issn = {0100-0683}, doi = {10.1590/18069657rbcs20180236}, pages = {21}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Above and underground hydrological processes depend on soil moisture (SM) variability, driven by different environmental factors that seldom are well-monitored, leading to a misunderstanding of soil water temporal patterns. This study investigated the stability of the SM temporal dynamics to different monitoring temporal resolutions around the border between two soil types in a tropical watershed. Four locations were instrumented in a small-scale watershed (5.84 km(2)) within the tropical coast of Northeast Brazil, encompassing different soil types (Espodossolo Humiluvico or Carbic Podzol, and Argissolo Vermelho-Amarelo or Haplic Acrisol), land covers (Atlantic Forest, bush vegetation, and grassland) and topographies (flat and moderate slope). The SM was monitored at a temporal resolution of one hour along the 2013-2014 hydrological year and then resampled a resolutions of 6 h, 12 h, 1 day, 2 days, 4 days, 7 days, and 15 days. Descriptive statistics, temporal variability, time-stability ranking, and hierarchical clustering revealed uneven associations among SM time components. The results show that the time-invariant component ruled SM temporal variability over the time-varying parcel, either at high or low temporal resolutions. Time-steps longer than 2 days affected the mean statistical metrics of the SM time-variant parcel. Additionally, SM at downstream and upstream sites behaved differently, suggesting that the temporal mean was regulated by steady soil properties (slope, restrictive layer, and soil texture), whereas their temporal anomalies were driven by climate (rainfall) and hydrogeological (groundwater level) factors. Therefore, it is concluded that around the border between tropical soil types, the distinct behaviour of time-variant and time-invariant components of SM time series reflects different combinations of their soil properties.}, language = {en} } @article{ParkBatallaBirgandetal.2019, author = {Park, Jungsu and Batalla, Ramon J. and Birgand, Francois and Esteves, Michel and Gentile, Francesco and Harrington, Joseph R. and Navratil, Oldrich and Lopez-Tarazon, Jos{\´e} Andr{\´e}s and Vericat, Damia}, title = {Influences of Catchment and River Channel Characteristics on the Magnitude and Dynamics of Storage and Re-Suspension of Fine Sediments in River Beds}, series = {Water}, volume = {11}, journal = {Water}, number = {5}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2073-4441}, doi = {10.3390/w11050878}, pages = {23}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Fine particles or sediments are one of the important variables that should be considered for the proper management of water quality and aquatic ecosystems. In the present study, the effect of catchment characteristics on the performance of an already developed model for the estimation of fine sediments dynamics between the water column and sediment bed was tested, using 13 catchments distributed worldwide. The model was calibrated to determine two optimal model parameters. The first is the filtration parameter, which represents the filtration of fine sediments through pores of the stream bed during the recession period of a flood event. The second parameter is the bed erosion parameter that represents the active layer, directly related to the re-suspension of fine sediments during a flood event. A dependency of the filtration parameter with the catchment area was observed in catchments smaller than 100 km(2), whereas no particular relationship was observed for larger catchments (>100 km(2)). In contrast, the bed erosion parameter does not show a noticeable dependency with the area or other environmental characteristics. The model estimated the mass of fine sediments released from the sediment bed to the water column during flood events in the 13 catchments within 23\% bias.}, language = {en} } @article{RusakTanentzapKlugetal.2018, author = {Rusak, James A. and Tanentzap, Andrew J. and Klug, Jennifer L. and Rose, Kevin C. and Hendricks, Susan P. and Jennings, Eleanor and Laas, Alo and Pierson, Donald C. and Ryder, Elizabeth and Smyth, Robyn L. and White, D. S. and Winslow, Luke A. and Adrian, Rita and Arvola, Lauri and de Eyto, Elvira and Feuchtmayr, Heidrun and Honti, Mark and Istvanovics, Vera and Jones, Ian D. and McBride, Chris G. and Schmidt, Silke Regina and Seekell, David and Staehr, Peter A. and Guangwei, Zhu}, title = {Wind and trophic status explain within and among-lake variability of algal biomass}, series = {Limnology and oceanography letters / ASLO, Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography}, volume = {3}, journal = {Limnology and oceanography letters / ASLO, Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography}, number = {6}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {2378-2242}, doi = {10.1002/lol2.10093}, pages = {409 -- 418}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Phytoplankton biomass and production regulates key aspects of freshwater ecosystems yet its variability and subsequent predictability is poorly understood. We estimated within-lake variation in biomass using high-frequency chlorophyll fluorescence data from 18 globally distributed lakes. We tested how variation in fluorescence at monthly, daily, and hourly scales was related to high-frequency variability of wind, water temperature, and radiation within lakes as well as productivity and physical attributes among lakes. Within lakes, monthly variation dominated, but combined daily and hourly variation were equivalent to that expressed monthly. Among lakes, biomass variability increased with trophic status while, within-lake biomass variation increased with increasing variability in wind speed. Our results highlight the benefits of high-frequency chlorophyll monitoring and suggest that predicted changes associated with climate, as well as ongoing cultural eutrophication, are likely to substantially increase the temporal variability of algal biomass and thus the predictability of the services it provides.}, language = {en} } @article{WebberLischeidSommeretal.2020, author = {Webber, Heidi and Lischeid, Gunnar and Sommer, Michael and Finger, Robert and Nendel, Claas and Gaiser, Thomas and Ewert, Frank}, title = {No perfect storm for crop yield failure in Germany}, series = {Environmental research letters}, volume = {15}, journal = {Environmental research letters}, number = {10}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {1748-9326}, doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/aba2a4}, pages = {14}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Large-scale crop yield failures are increasingly associated with food price spikes and food insecurity and are a large source of income risk for farmers. While the evidence linking extreme weather to yield failures is clear, consensus on the broader set of weather drivers and conditions responsible for recent yield failures is lacking. We investigate this for the case of four major crops in Germany over the past 20 years using a combination of machine learning and process-based modelling. Our results confirm that years associated with widespread yield failures across crops were generally associated with severe drought, such as in 2018 and to a lesser extent 2003. However, for years with more localized yield failures and large differences in spatial patterns of yield failures between crops, no single driver or combination of drivers was identified. Relatively large residuals of unexplained variation likely indicate the importance of non-weather related factors, such as management (pest, weed and nutrient management and possible interactions with weather) explaining yield failures. Models to inform adaptation planning at farm, market or policy levels are here suggested to require consideration of cumulative resource capture and use, as well as effects of extreme events, the latter largely missing in process-based models. However, increasingly novel combinations of weather events under climate change may limit the extent to which data driven methods can replace process-based models in risk assessments.}, language = {en} } @article{TesselaarBotzenHaeretal.2020, author = {Tesselaar, Max and Botzen, W. J. Wouter and Haer, Toon and Hudson, Paul and Tiggeloven, Timothy and Aerts, Jeroen C. J. H.}, title = {Regional inequalities in flood insurance affordability and uptake under climate change}, series = {Sustainability}, volume = {12}, journal = {Sustainability}, number = {20}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2071-1050}, doi = {10.3390/su12208734}, pages = {30}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Flood insurance coverage can enhance financial resilience of households to changing flood risk caused by climate change. However, income inequalities imply that not all households can afford flood insurance. The uptake of flood insurance in voluntary markets may decline when flood risk increases as a result of climate change. This increase in flood risk may cause substantially higher risk-based insurance premiums, reduce the willingness to purchase flood insurance, and worsen problems with the unaffordability of coverage for low-income households. A socio-economic tipping-point can occur when the functioning of a formal flood insurance system is hampered by diminishing demand for coverage. In this study, we examine whether such a tipping-point can occur in Europe for current flood insurance systems under different trends in future flood risk caused by climate and socio-economic change. This analysis gives insights into regional inequalities concerning the ability to continue to use flood insurance as an instrument to adapt to changing flood risk. For this study, we adapt the "Dynamic Integrated Flood and Insurance" (DIFI) model by integrating new flood risk simulations in the model that enable examining impacts from various scenarios of climate and socio-economic change on flood insurance premiums and consumer demand. Our results show rising unaffordability and declining demand for flood insurance across scenarios towards 2080. Under a high climate change scenario, simulations show the occurrence of a socio-economic tipping-point in several regions, where insurance uptake almost disappears. A tipping-point and related inequalities in the ability to use flood insurance as an adaptation instrument can be mitigated by introducing reforms of flood insurance arrangements.}, language = {en} } @article{PanWangLiuetal.2020, author = {Pan, Xiaohui and Wang, Weishi and Liu, Tie and Huang, Yue and De Maeyer, Philippe and Guo, Chenyu and Ling, Yunan and Akmalov, Shamshodbek}, title = {Quantitative detection and attribution of groundwater level variations in the Amu Darya Delta}, series = {Water}, volume = {12}, journal = {Water}, number = {10}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2073-4441}, doi = {10.3390/w12102869}, pages = {20}, year = {2020}, abstract = {In the past few decades, the shrinkage of the Aral Sea is one of the biggest ecological catastrophes caused by human activity. To quantify the joint impact of both human activities and climate change on groundwater, the spatiotemporal groundwater dynamic characteristics in the Amu Darya Delta of the Aral Sea from 1999 to 2017 were analyzed, using the groundwater level, climate conditions, remote sensing data, and irrigation information. Statistics analysis was adopted to analyze the trend of groundwater variation, including intensity, periodicity, spatial structure, while the Pearson correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to quantify the impact of climate change and human activities on the variabilities of the groundwater level. Results reveal that the local groundwater dynamic has varied considerably. From 1999 to 2002, the groundwater level dropped from -189 cm to -350 cm. Until 2017, the groundwater level rose back to -211 cm with fluctuation. Seasonally, the fluctuation period of groundwater level and irrigation water was similar, both were about 18 months. Spatially, the groundwater level kept stable within the irrigation area and bare land but fluctuated drastically around the irrigation area. The Pearson correlation analysis reveals that the dynamic of the groundwater level is closely related to irrigation activity within the irrigation area (Nukus: -0.583), while for the place adjacent to the Aral Sea, the groundwater level is closely related to the Large Aral Sea water level (Muynak: 0.355). The results of PCA showed that the cumulative contribution rate of the first three components exceeds 85\%. The study reveals that human activities have a great impact on groundwater, effective management, and the development of water resources in arid areas is an essential prerequisite for ecological protection.}, language = {en} }