- Earth Sciences, Environmental Science, Remote Sensing, Agriculture, Environmental Engineering, Ecology, and 17 moreClimate Change, Geology, Landscape Ecology, Geography, Environmental Sustainability, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Sustainable Development, Hydrology, Flood Risk Management, River Basin Management, SWAT, Water and Soil Erosion Modeling, Sustainable Water Resources Management, Watershed modeling, Decision support systems for natural resources management, Watershed Hydrology, and Soil and Water Assesment Tool (SWAT)edit
- Martin is a Professor for Physical Geography and Geoecology, working as a Co-head and working group leader of the Dep... moreMartin is a Professor for Physical Geography and Geoecology, working as a Co-head and working group leader of the Department for Computational Landscape Ecology (since 2004), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany. He received a diploma in Physical Geography at the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen (1990), with student placements at the University of Calgary, Canada (1988) and ETH Zurich in Switzerland (1989). He got his PhD in geosciences and physical geography in 1996 (Justus-Liebig-University Giessen), and received a postdoctoral degree in 2010 at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, where he is now a Professor (apl., 2015). Martin gained also experiences as an employee at a geotechnical engineering company in Bad Duerrenberg, Germany (1994-1996).
He gives lectures on environmental modelling, environmental sciences, geomorphology, and scientific project management at the Martin-Luther-University of Halle, Germany. Martin is supervisor and reviewer for academic theses. Martin is leader of the working group “Integrated modelling and optimization”. His research focuses on scale appropriate analysis, assessment and management of landscape water and matter dynamics (systems research, landscape models, river basin management). He is further working on methods for quantification of Ecosystem Services and Trade-Offs as well as on model development (SWAT, IHACRES, erosion models) and scale appropriate application of integrated model systems. Martin is involved in several national and international research projects, acts as member of journal editoral boards and reviewer for numerous journals and collaborates with universities and research institutes in Europe, USA, Canada, South America and Australia. His work is documented in numerous books (editor and authors), reviewed journal papers, reports and conference proceedings.edit
The Mediterranean region is highly vulnerable to climate change. Longer and more intense heatwaves and droughts are expected. The Gordes Dam in Turkey provides drinking water for Izmir city and irrigation water for a wide range of crops... more
The Mediterranean region is highly vulnerable to climate change. Longer and more intense heatwaves and droughts are expected. The Gordes Dam in Turkey provides drinking water for Izmir city and irrigation water for a wide range of crops grown in the basin. Using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), this study examined the effects of projected climate change (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) on the simulated streamflow, nitrogen loads, and crop yields in the basin for the period of 2031–2060. A hierarchical approach to define the hydrological response units (HRUs) of SWAT and the Fast Automatic Calibration Tool (FACT) were used to reduce computational time and improve model performance. The simulations showed that the average annual discharge into the reservoir is projected to increase by between 0.7 m3/s and 4 m3/s under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 climate change scenarios. The steep slopes and changes in precipitation in the study area may lead to higher simulated streamflow. In addition, the rising temperatures predicted in the projections could lead to earlier spring snowmelt. This could also lead to increased streamflow. Projected nitrogen loads increased by between 8.8 and 25.1 t/year. The results for agricultural production were more variable. While the yields of poppy, tobacco, winter barley, and winter wheat will increase to some extent because of climate change, the yields of maize, cucumbers, and potatoes are all predicted to be negatively affected. Non-continuous and limited data on water quality and crop yields lead to uncertainties, so that the accuracy of the model is affected by these limitations and inconsistencies. However, the results of this study provide a basis for developing sustainable water and land management practices at the catchment scale in response to climate change. The changes in water quality and quantity and the ecological balance resulting from changes in land use and management patterns for economic benefit could not be fully demonstrated in this study. To explore the most appropriate management strategies for sustainable crop production, the SWAT model developed in this study should be further used in a multi-criteria land use optimization analysis that considers not only crop yields but also water quantity and quality targets.
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Pathways to eradicate global hunger while bending the curve of biodiversity loss unanimously suggest changing to less energy-rich diets, closing yield gaps through agroecological principles, adopting modern breeding technologies to foster... more
Pathways to eradicate global hunger while bending the curve of biodiversity loss unanimously suggest changing to less energy-rich diets, closing yield gaps through agroecological principles, adopting modern breeding technologies to foster stress resilience and yields, as well as minimizing harvest losses and food waste. Against the background of a brief history of global agriculture, we review the available evidence on how the global food system might look given a global temperature increase by 3. We show that a moderate gain in the area suitable for agriculture is confronted with substantial yield losses through strains on crop physiology, multitrophic interactions, and more frequent extreme events. Selfamplifying feedback are unresolved and might lead to further losses. In light of these uncertainties, we see that complexity is underestimated and more systemic research is needed. Efficiency gains in agriculture, albeit indispensable, will not be enough to achieve food security under severe climate change.
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Efforts are increasing to integrate the sustainable provision of ecosystem services into land management decision-making. These efforts, however, are challenged by (1) the variety of methods to map and quantify ecosystem services, and (2)... more
Efforts are increasing to integrate the sustainable provision of ecosystem services into land management decision-making. These efforts, however, are challenged by (1) the variety of methods to map and quantify ecosystem services, and (2) the scarcity of knowledge on how environmental policies and management decisions affect relationships among ecosystem services. A better understanding of relationships among ecosystem services is therefore much needed. This chapter introduces the part of the Atlas framework that focuses on relationships among ecosystem services. It contains a typology and common definitions of different types of relationships, provides a brief overview of the diversity of methods and approaches used, includes a summary of empirical evidence, and, finally, discusses implications for planning and management.
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Pathways to eradicate global hunger while bending the curve of biodiversity loss unanimously suggest changing to less energy-rich diets, closing yield gaps through agroecological principles, adopting modern breeding technologies to foster... more
Pathways to eradicate global hunger while bending the curve of biodiversity loss unanimously suggest changing to less energy-rich diets, closing yield gaps through agroecological principles, adopting modern breeding technologies to foster stress resilience and yields, as well as minimizing harvest losses and food waste. Against the background of a brief history of global agriculture, we review the available evidence on how the global food system might look given a global temperature increase by 3. We show that a moderate gain in the area suitable for agriculture is confronted with substantial yield losses through strains on crop physiology, multitrophic interactions, and more frequent extreme events. Selfamplifying feedback are unresolved and might lead to further losses. In light of these uncertainties, we see that complexity is underestimated and more systemic research is needed. Efficiency gains in agriculture, albeit indispensable, will not be enough to achieve food security under severe climate change.
Research Interests:
Humanity builds upon scientific findings, but the credibility of science might be at risk in a "post-factual" era of advanced information technologies. In the Paper Pushed in Trends in Ecology and Evolution (doi) we propose a... more
Humanity builds upon scientific findings, but the credibility of science might be at risk in a "post-factual" era of advanced information technologies. In the Paper Pushed in Trends in Ecology and Evolution (doi) we propose a systemic change for science, to turn away from a growth paradigm and to refocus on quality, characterized by curiosity, surprise, discovery, and societal relevance. at this osf.iop project wi provide background material and slides free to use for presenting, communicating and discussing the ideas of this publication.
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The increasing incidence of droughts and heavy rainfall events is exacerbating conflicts between human and environmental demands for water. However, through providing multiple water-related ecosystem services and benefits simultaneously,... more
The increasing incidence of droughts and heavy rainfall events is exacerbating conflicts between human and environmental demands for water. However, through providing multiple water-related ecosystem services and benefits simultaneously, Natural/Small Water Retention Measures (NSWRM) can mitigate such competing claims. Thus, they also contribute to the achievement of various Sustainable Development Goals and environmental targets set out in water- and agriculture-related policies of the European Union. In particular, NSWRM provide for the sound management of watersheds, which can significantly contribute to improved water quality and availability—as well as improving the resilience of agriculture and society. This paper demonstrates how NSWRM fit into the framework of ecosystem-based concepts, including Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM), Green Infrastructure (GI), Sustainable Land Management (SLM), Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), and Nature-based Solutions (NbS). NSWRM, as a distinct concept, bring added value to the other concepts by focussing on easy-to-implement, modestly sized, localised technical solutions to problems associated with water management, sediment, and nutrient loss. Through experience under the EU Horizon 2020 project OPTAIN (“OPtimal strategies to retAIN and re-use water and nutrients in small agricultural catchments across different soil-climatic regions in Europe”), we show what NSWRM are, how they are linked to each of the ecosystem-based concepts, and how they can help add value to these concepts. Fourteen case studies are drawn upon from diverse countries across Europe. As a result of this analysis, we present the potential for the application of NSWRM in the context of these concepts, while helping to identify planning tools, the expertise required, and potential funding mechanisms.
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Mediterranean waterways are commonly non-perennial; they are vulnerable to climate change (CC). Their management is particularly complex due to limited data availability. This work aims to develop a methodology for setting an... more
Mediterranean waterways are commonly non-perennial; they are vulnerable to climate change (CC). Their management is particularly complex due to limited data availability. This work aims to develop a methodology for setting an Environmental Flow regime (E-Flows) for a temporary river (Locone, Italy) under limited data availability and under CC. As observed longterm time series of streamflow under natural conditions were not available, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool model (SWAT+) was applied to simulate the daily streamflow for the baseline period (1980-2010) and future (2020-2050) based on observed and model climate projections, respectively. A specific workflow was developed for model calibration focusing on the low flows. The hydrological regime was characterized by means of Indicators of Hydrological Alteration (IHAs), whereas the Range of Variability Approach (RVA) was applied to define the E-Flows. New hydrological insights for the region: The basin is experiencing a statistically significant increase in the air temperatures observed from 1971 to 2020, which is also predicted to continue in the future. Consequently, the average annual streamflow and monthly streamflow in winter and spring is expected to decrease. The calibration, based on a multi-objective model evaluation, improved the low-flow simulation. The detected differences in IHAs for the predicted periods should be considered in future water management when setting E-Flows for temporary rivers.
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This review investigates the potential of the emergy analysis (EMA) as a new perspective and approach to the worldwide used ecosystem services (ESs) framework to quantify and analyse the potential benefits people obtain from ecosystems.... more
This review investigates the potential of the emergy analysis (EMA) as a new perspective and approach to the worldwide used ecosystem services (ESs) framework to quantify and analyse the potential benefits people obtain from ecosystems. Based on bibliometric analysis method, the study systematically investigates the latest developments and issues of application of EMA in ESs in conjunction with thematic analysis. The analysis includes an evaluation of its application in nine different types of ESs. The results show that the number of publications and cited frequency in this field grows exponentially. The application of emergy analysis is relatively well established for agriculture, urban, industrial and wetland ecosystems, but the application for forest, grassland, costal, marine and other ecosystems has yet to be advanced. Finally, current limitations and future research directions, including policy and strategy are further discussed. This study found that addressing incomplete data and parameterization, improving the accuracy of emergy accounting for different ecosystems in changing environments, and combining emergy with other methods and policy scenarios remain the long-term directions in the future related studies. These results can pave the way for further use of EMA in ESs research and provide guidance for decision-makers in the future.
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With accelerated warming, mountain glaciers in most parts of the world have been in a state of continuous retreat in recent decades. Assessing glacier change and analyzing its influencing factors are essential for developing climate... more
With accelerated warming, mountain glaciers in most parts of the world have been in a state of continuous retreat in recent decades. Assessing glacier change and analyzing its influencing factors are essential for developing climate change mitigation and adaptation measures for a given region. This study provides a spatially explicit assessment and quantification of glacier changes in the early 21st century on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) at individual glacier and basin scales. We established a one-to-one correspondence between the Second Chinese Glacier Inventory (CGI-2, collected from 2004 to 2011) and a dataset of glacier inventory in Western China during 2017-2018 (CGI-2018). The majority of TP's glaciers decreased in size with a mean area retreat rate during the investigated period of 4.1%/decade. In addition, a mean change of the median elevation of the glaciers of 6.7 m/decade was detected. Approximately 2.5% of the total number of glaciers mapped in CGI-2 disappeared, while 681 of them divided to 1758 glaciers as they retreated. The observed variations follow local trends and have different regional characteristics. Generally, the glaciers with the lowest retreat rates are found in the Karakorum and Kunlun Mountains, while those with high retreat rates are concentrated along the Gangdis and Tangula ranges. The observed changes in glaciers are mainly attributed to a significant increase in temperature. Other factors including glacier size, debris cover, orientation and mean elevation also contribute to the heterogeneity of glacier variability. This study provides for the first time a detailed spatially explicit analysis of the glacial changes on the TP in the early 21st century, substantially improving the understanding of glacier response patterns and supporting more sustainable utilization of regional water resources in the TP in the context of climate warming in the 21st century.
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The increasing incidence of droughts and heavy rainfall events is exacerbating conflicts between human and environmental demands for water. However, through providing multiple water-related ecosystem services and benefits simultaneously,... more
The increasing incidence of droughts and heavy rainfall events is exacerbating conflicts between human and environmental demands for water. However, through providing multiple water-related ecosystem services and benefits simultaneously, Natural/Small Water Retention Measures (NSWRM) can mitigate such competing claims. Thus, they also contribute to the achievement of various Sustainable Development Goals and environmental targets set out in water- and agriculture-related policies of the European Union. In particular, NSWRM provide for the sound management of watersheds, which can significantly contribute to improved water quality and availability—as well as improving the resilience of agriculture and society. This paper demonstrates how NSWRM fit into the framework of ecosystem-based concepts, including Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM), Green Infrastructure (GI), Sustainable Land Management (SLM), Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), and Nature-based Solutions (NbS). NSWRM, as a distinct concept, bring added value to the other concepts by focussing on easy-to-implement, modestly sized, localised technical solutions to problems associated with water management, sediment, and nutrient loss. Through experience under the EU Horizon 2020 project OPTAIN (“OPtimal strategies to retAIN and re-use water and nutrients in small agricultural catchments across different soil-climatic regions in Europe”), we show what NSWRM are, how they are linked to each of the ecosystem-based concepts, and how they can help add value to these concepts. Fourteen case studies are drawn upon from diverse countries across Europe. As a result of this analysis, we present the potential for the application of NSWRM in the context of these concepts, while helping to identify planning tools, the expertise required, and potential funding mechanisms.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Landscape is part of the uninterrupted global wrap defined as one of the axioms of geography by Neef (1956, see Chapter 1.1). At every single spot of the earth’s surface landscape can be regarded as a very complex phenomenon with one... more
Landscape is part of the uninterrupted global wrap defined as one of the axioms of geography by Neef (1956, see Chapter 1.1). At every single spot of the earth’s surface landscape can be regarded as a very complex phenomenon with one vertical dimension (vertical to the surface). In this first geographical dimension the landscape sphere (Haase 1979) is analyzed as to its vertical differentiation and interconnections of sub-spheres and compartment spheres. The subdivision of the landscape sphere into a natural sphere (Naturraum) and an anthroposphere (Kulturraum) shows that landscape disposes of a physical body within a mental and spiritual surrounding structured by different compartment spheres (see Chapter 1.3). The compartment spheres are intensively influencing each other by means of functional interchange and are partly overlapping and integrating each other.
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Research Interests: Environmental Science, Land management, Agriculture, Multidisciplinary, Organic Farming, and 15 moreNutrient Management, Land Use, Nitrogen, Data Access, River Basin, Soil and Water Assessment Tool, Land Use Policy, Common Agricultural Policy, SWAT Model, Total Nitrogen, Point of View, Arable Land, Simulation Model, Policy Instrument, and Model simulation
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Research Interests: Management, Environmental Science, Modeling, Forest Ecology And Management, Forest Ecology, and 15 moreLand Use Change, Biological Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Resource Management, River Basin Management, Land Use, Forests, Stream, Spatial Distribution, River Basin, Forest ecosystem, Cross Section, Water Quality, Land Use Pattern, and Spatially Explicit Model
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Research Interests: Computer Science, Genetic Algorithms, Prediction, Neural Networks, Multidisciplinary, and 15 moreEarth and Environmental Sciences, Optimization, Model Identification, Species Distribution Modelling, River Pollution, Biotic interactions, Macroinvertebrates, Simple Genetic Algorithm, Conceptual Models, Ecological Water Quality, Elsevier, Freshwater Ecosystem management, Input Variable Selection, Data Driven, and Freshwater Management
Research Interests: Environmental Science, Agricultural Policy, Risk Management, Risk assessment, Multidisciplinary, and 15 moreSoil Erosion, Erosion, Sediment transport, Scales, Land Use Policy, Drainage, Conservation Management, Sediment Transport, Risk Assessment, Large Scale, Process Model, Model Complexity, K means Clustering, Statistical Method, and Drainage basin
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Landforms and landscape context are of particular importance in understanding the processes of soil genesis and soil formation in the spatial domain. Consequently, many approaches for soil generation are based on classifications of... more
Landforms and landscape context are of particular importance in understanding the processes of soil genesis and soil formation in the spatial domain. Consequently, many approaches for soil generation are based on classifications of commonly available digital elevation models (DEM). However, their application is often restricted by the lack of transferability to other, more heterogeneous, landscapes. Part of the problem is the lack of broadly accepted definitions of topographic location based on landscape context. These issues arise because of: (1) the scale dependencies of landscape pattern and processes, (2) different DEM qualities, and (3) different expert perceptions. To address these problems, we suggest a hierarchical terrain‐classification procedure for defining landscape context. The classification algorithm described in this paper handles object detection and classification separately. Landscape objects are defined at multiple scales using a region‐based segmentation algorithm which allows each object to be placed into a hierarchical landscape context. The classification is carried out using the terrain attribute mass‐balance index across a range of scales. Soil genesis and transport processes at established field sites were used to guide the classification process. The method was tested in Saxony‐Anhalt (Germany), an area that contains heterogeneous land surfaces and soil substrates. The resulting maps represent adaptation degrees between classifications and 191 semantically identified random samples. The map with the best adaptation has an overall accuracy of 89%.
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Research Interests: Environmental Science, Ecosystem Services, Ecology, Biodiversity, Ecosystems Services, and 13 moreBiological Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Random Forest, Ecological Indicators, Carbon Storage, Species Richness, Trade Offs, CHEMICAL SCIENCES, Afforestation, Deciduous, Species richness modelling, Plant species richness, and Land use change simulation
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<p>Despite the benefits of riparian vegetation, they are limitedly implemented in water management – which is partly due to the lack of information on their effectiveness. In this context, social... more
<p>Despite the benefits of riparian vegetation, they are limitedly implemented in water management – which is partly due to the lack of information on their effectiveness. In this context, social learning is valuable to inform stakeholders of the efficacy of riparian vegetation in mitigating stream degradation. Tools used in social learning activities are of paramount importance in the learning process. We developed a Bayesian belief network (BBN) model as a learning tool to simulate and assess the reach- and segment-scale effects of riparian vegetation properties and subcatchment-scale land use on instream invertebrates. We surveyed reach-scale riparian conditions, extracted segment-scale riparian and land use information from geographic information system (GIS) data and collected macroinvertebrate samples from four catchments in Europe (Belgium, Norway, Romania and Sweden). We modelled the ecological water quality, expressed as Average Score Per Taxon, as a function of different riparian variables using the BBN modelling approach. The collected data were used to populate the conditional probability table of the BBN model. The model simulations provided insights into the usefulness of both reach- and segment-scale riparian vegetation attributes in enhancing ecological water quality. We assessed the strengths and limitations of the BBN model for application as a learning tool. Despite some weaknesses, the BBN model has great potential in workshop activities to stimulate key learning processes that help inform the management of riparian zones.</p>
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The ability to transfer processes, local conditions and assessment methods between different spatial scales plays an important role in various fields of environmental sciences and planning practice. Besides a fundamental lack of general... more
The ability to transfer processes, local conditions and assessment methods between different spatial scales plays an important role in various fields of environmental sciences and planning practice. Besides a fundamental lack of general scaling theories different approaches are currently used and investigated. First, local scale process understanding is simply used at larger scales and spatial explicit information are derived by suitable indicators or transfer functions. In order to represent small scale spatial variability at larger scales sophisticated aggregation methods have been developed, but due to very restrictive assumptions, have only successfully been applied in very few areas (e.g. groundwater hydrology). In some application down-scaling methods are needed in order to disaggregate coarser information (e.g. from remote sensing or climate forecasting. A second approach currently explored is the derivation of scale dependent process formulation and parameterisation from inf...
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Agricultural production needs to generate economic profits and contributes to the social welfare of a society. At the same time, it is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity. While from a narrowly economic viewpoint land should be... more
Agricultural production needs to generate economic profits and contributes to the social welfare of a society. At the same time, it is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity. While from a narrowly economic viewpoint land should be allocated in a way that best fulfils the demand for agricultural products, ecological disciplines aim to protect nature, e.g. biodiversity. Thus, a socially optimal land use strategy should combine both perspectives. However, in the field of spatial land use allocation, there is a lack of studies that consider both aspects simultaneously. Therefore, we developed a method that finds biophysically optimal land use strategies with the highest social welfare by combining methods from mathematics, ecology and economics. We used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and a biodiversity model to evaluate the biophysical outcomes of different land uses. Additionally, we calculated the profit contribution of agricultural production and the willingness to pay...
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Research Interests: Sociology, Geography, Inorganic Chemistry, Climate Change, Science Policy, and 15 morePlant Biology, Cancer, Ecology, Environmental Planning, Space Science, Research, Medicine, Multidisciplinary, Climate Change Impacts, Livelihood, Environmental Resource Management, Temperature, Rain, PLoS one, and integrative assessment
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This review investigates the potential of the emergy analysis (EMA) as a new perspective and approach to the worldwide used ecosystem services (ESs) framework to quantify and analyse the potential benefits people obtain from ecosystems.... more
This review investigates the potential of the emergy analysis (EMA) as a new perspective and approach to the worldwide used ecosystem services (ESs) framework to quantify and analyse the potential benefits people obtain from ecosystems. Based on bibliometric analysis method, the study systematically investigates the latest developments and issues of application of EMA in ESs in conjunction with thematic analysis. The analysis includes an evaluation of its application in nine different types of ESs. The results show that the number of publications and cited frequency in this field grows exponentially. The application of emergy analysis is relatively well established for agriculture, urban, industrial and wetland ecosystems, but the application for forest, grassland, costal, marine and other ecosystems has yet to be advanced. Finally, current limitations and future research directions, including policy and strategy are further discussed. This study found that addressing incomplete data and parameterization, improving the accuracy of emergy accounting for different ecosystems in changing environments, and combining emergy with other methods and policy scenarios remain the long-term directions in the future related studies. These results can pave the way for further use of EMA in ESs research and provide guidance for decision-makers in the future.
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT Political agendas worldwide include increased production of biofuel, which multiplies the trade-offs among conflicting objectives, including food and fodder production, water quantity, water quality, biodiversity, and ecosystem... more
ABSTRACT Political agendas worldwide include increased production of biofuel, which multiplies the trade-offs among conflicting objectives, including food and fodder production, water quantity, water quality, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Quantification of trade-offs among objectives in bioenergy crop production is most frequently accomplished by a comparison of a limited number of plausible scenarios. Here we analyze biophysical trade-offs among bioenergy crop production based on rape seed, food crop production, water quantity, and water quality in the Parthe catchment in Central Germany. Based on an integrated river basin model (SWAT) and a multi-objective genetic algorithm (NSGA-II), we estimated Pareto optimal frontiers among multiple objectives. Results indicate that the same level of bioenergy crop production can be achieved at different costs with respect to the other objectives. Intermediate rapeseed production does not lead to strong trade-offs with water quality and low flow if a reduction of food and fodder production can be accepted. Compared to solutions focused on maximizing food and fodder yield, solutions with intermediate rapeseed production even improve with respect to water quality and low flow. If rapeseed production is further increased, negative effects on low flow prevail. The major achievement of the optimization approach is the quantification of the functional trade-offs for the feasible range of all objectives. The application of the approach provides the results of what is in effect an infinite number of scenarios. We offer a general methodology that may be used to support recommendations for the best way to achieve certain goals, and to compare the optimal outcomes given different policy preferences. In addition, visualization options of the resulting non-dominated solutions are discussed.
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The degree of success of river water diversion planning decisions is affected by uncertain environmental conditions. The adaptive water management framework incorporates this uncertainty at all stages of management. While the most... more
The degree of success of river water diversion planning decisions is affected by uncertain environmental conditions. The adaptive water management framework incorporates this uncertainty at all stages of management. While the most effective form of adaptive management requires experimental comparison of practices, the use of optimization modeling is convenient for conducting exploratory simulations to evaluate the spatiotemporal implications of current water diversion management decisions under future environmental changes. We demonstrate such an explorative modeling approach by assessing river water availability for diversion in a river basin in Northern Spain under two future environmental scenarios that combine climate and land use change. An evolutionary optimization method is applied to identify and reduce trade-offs with Supporting Ecosystem Services linked to environmental flow requirements for relevant local freshwater species. The results show that seasonal shifts and spatial heterogeneity of diversion volumes are the main
challenges for the future diversion management of the Pas River. Basin-scale diversion management should take into account the seasonal planning horizon and the setting of tailored diversion targets at the local-level to promote the implementation of adaptive management. The presented assessment can help with strategic placement of diversion points and timing of withdrawals, but it also provides deeper insight into how optimisation can support decision-making in managing water diversion under uncertain future environmental conditions.
challenges for the future diversion management of the Pas River. Basin-scale diversion management should take into account the seasonal planning horizon and the setting of tailored diversion targets at the local-level to promote the implementation of adaptive management. The presented assessment can help with strategic placement of diversion points and timing of withdrawals, but it also provides deeper insight into how optimisation can support decision-making in managing water diversion under uncertain future environmental conditions.
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Regional assessments of soil organic carbon (SOC) trends and the carbon sequestration potential of alternative management practices (AMP) are highly relevant for developing climate change mitigation strategies for the agricultural sector.... more
Regional assessments of soil organic carbon (SOC) trends and the carbon sequestration potential of alternative management practices (AMP) are highly relevant for developing climate change mitigation strategies for the agricultural sector. Such studies could benefit from simplified SOC modeling approaches on the scale of administrative units as this often corresponds to the level of policy-making and data availability. However, there is a risk of systematic errors in such scaling operations. To overcome this problem, we performed a scaling experiment where we simulated the SOC dynamics of the arable soils of the State of Saxony (Germany) across a series of scales using the CANDY Carbon Balance (CCB) model. Specifically, we developed model set-ups on four different administrative levels (NUTS1, NUTS2, NUTS3, and LAU) and evaluated the simulation results of the upscaled models against a 500 m grid-based reference model. Furthermore, we quantified the carbon sequestration potential of s...
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Regional assessments of soil organic carbon (SOC) trends and the carbon sequestration potential of alternative management practices (AMP) are highly relevant for developing climate change mitigation strategies for the agricultural sector.... more
Regional assessments of soil organic carbon (SOC) trends and the carbon sequestration potential of alternative management practices (AMP) are highly relevant for developing climate change mitigation strategies for the agricultural sector. Such studies could benefit from simplified SOC modeling approaches on the scale of administrative units as this often corresponds to the level of policy-making and data availability. However, there is a risk of systematic errors in such scaling operations. To overcome this problem, we performed a scaling experiment where we simulated the SOC dynamics of the arable soils of the State of Saxony (Germany) across a series of scales using the CANDY Carbon Balance (CCB) model. Specifically, we developed model set-ups on four different
administrative levels (NUTS1, NUTS2, NUTS3, and LAU) and evaluated the simulation results of the upscaled models against a 500 m grid-based reference model. Furthermore, we quantified the carbon sequestration potential of selected AMP scenarios (addressing field grass, cover crops, and conservation tillage) across all scales. The upscaled model set-ups adequately simulated the SOC trends of Saxon arable land compared to the grid-based reference simulation (scaling error: 0.8–3.8%), while providing significant benefits for model application, data availability and runtime. The carbon sequestration potential of the AMP scenarios (1.33 Mt C until 2050) was slightly overestimated (+0.07–0.09 Mt C) by the upscaled model set-ups. Regardless of the scale of model set-up, we showed that the use of aggregated statistical input data could lead to a systematic underestimation of SOC trends. LAU and NUTS3 levels were shown to be a suitable compromise for effectively quantifying SOC dynamics and allowed for an acceptable spatial prioritization of AMPs. Such simplified, scale-adapted assessments are valuable for cross-regional comparisons and for communication to and among decision-makers, and might provide a quantitative basis for discussions on the effectiveness of AMPs in various stakeholder processes.
administrative levels (NUTS1, NUTS2, NUTS3, and LAU) and evaluated the simulation results of the upscaled models against a 500 m grid-based reference model. Furthermore, we quantified the carbon sequestration potential of selected AMP scenarios (addressing field grass, cover crops, and conservation tillage) across all scales. The upscaled model set-ups adequately simulated the SOC trends of Saxon arable land compared to the grid-based reference simulation (scaling error: 0.8–3.8%), while providing significant benefits for model application, data availability and runtime. The carbon sequestration potential of the AMP scenarios (1.33 Mt C until 2050) was slightly overestimated (+0.07–0.09 Mt C) by the upscaled model set-ups. Regardless of the scale of model set-up, we showed that the use of aggregated statistical input data could lead to a systematic underestimation of SOC trends. LAU and NUTS3 levels were shown to be a suitable compromise for effectively quantifying SOC dynamics and allowed for an acceptable spatial prioritization of AMPs. Such simplified, scale-adapted assessments are valuable for cross-regional comparisons and for communication to and among decision-makers, and might provide a quantitative basis for discussions on the effectiveness of AMPs in various stakeholder processes.
Research Interests:
Pathways to eradicate global hunger while bending the curve of biodiversity loss unanimously suggest changing to less energy-rich diets, closing yield gaps through agroecological principles, adopting modern breeding technologies to foster... more
Pathways to eradicate global hunger while bending the curve of biodiversity loss unanimously suggest changing to less energy-rich diets, closing yield gaps through agroecological principles, adopting modern breeding technologies to foster stress resilience and yields, as well as minimizing harvest losses and food waste. Against the background of a brief history of global agriculture, we review the available evidence on how the global food system might look given a global temperature increase by 3. We show that a moderate gain in the area suitable for agriculture is confronted with substantial yield losses through strains on crop physiology, multitrophic interactions, and more frequent extreme events. Selfamplifying feedback are unresolved and might lead to further losses. In light of these uncertainties, we see that complexity is underestimated and more systemic research is needed. Efficiency gains in agriculture, albeit indispensable, will not be enough to achieve food security under severe climate change.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for... more
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Research Interests: Ecosystem Services, Agroforestry, Ecology, Agriculture, Biodiversity, and 11 moreApplied Ecology, Spatial planning, Reforestation, Multi objective optimization, Trade Offs, Ecosystem, Riparian Management, Ecological Applications, Ecosystems Functioning, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT, and Riparian Forest Buffer
Remote sensing (RS) enables a cost-effective, extensive, continuous and standardized monitoring of traits and trait variations of geomorphology and its processes, from the local to the continental scale. To implement and better understand... more
Remote sensing (RS) enables a cost-effective, extensive, continuous and standardized monitoring of traits and trait variations of geomorphology and its processes, from the local to the continental scale. To implement and better understand RS techniques and the spectral indicators derived from them in the monitoring of geomorphology, this paper presents a new perspective for the definition and recording of five characteristics of geomorphodiversity with RS, namely: geomorphic genesis diversity, geomorphic trait diversity, geomorphic structural diversity, geomorphic taxonomic diversity, and geomorphic functional diversity. In this respect, geomorphic trait diversity is the cornerstone and is essential for recording the other four characteristics using RS technologies. All five characteristics are discussed in detail in this paper and reinforced with numerous examples from various RS technologies. Methods for classifying the five characteristics of geomorphodiversity using RS, as well ...