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Soil Erosion Modelling: from European to Global Scale

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Soil Erosion Modelling: from European to Global Scale 2 Keynotes 3 TERRAENVISION Abstracts Vol. 1, TNV2018-Keynote-312, 2018 © Author(s) 2018. CC Attribution 3.0 License Ecosystem Services: Connections to Soils and Human Health Eric Brevik Dickensen state University, Department of Natural Sciences, Dickinson State University, Dickinson, ND, USA From providing nutritious food products to the filtration of water, exchange of gases, and regulation of the soil biome, soils are now recognized as providing a number of services that are critical to human health and well-being. The 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment recognized four categories of ecosystem services: 1) provisioning, 2) regulating, 3) cultural, and 4) supporting. Each of these categories exhibit strong ties to the soil-human health nexus. The provisioning services are crucial in the supply of adequate food and fresh water for human consumption as well as wood, fiber, and fuel for shelter, clothing, and heat that are required to provide safe living conditions. The regulating services are important in erosion regulation to avoid soil degradation, sequestration and/or neutralization of contaminants that might harm human health, regulation of pathogenic organisms, control of floods that may damage crops and properties or spread disease, and in gas exchanges with the atmosphere that can influence climate change issues. Cultural services are important to human health through recreation, which can promote good physical health, as well as through the provision of aesthetic landscapes that can assist both physical and mental health. Finally, the supporting services are important through nutrient cycling which is critical to provide nutritionally complete food products and support of biodiversity that is critical in the control of soil pathogens. Therefore, the ecosystem services provided by soils are vital to overall human health. Keywords: ecosystem services; soil and human health; soil degradation; climate change; physical health; mental health 4 TERRAENVISION Abstracts Vol. 1, TNV2018-Keynote-313, 2018 © Author(s) 2018. CC Attribution 3.0 License Greenhouse gas removal through carbon sequestration in vegetation and soils Pete Smith Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, 23 St Machar Drive, Aberdeen, AB24 3UU, Scotland, UK A majority of IPCC scenarios show that often very significant amounts (20 Gt CO2e/yr) of Greenhouse Gas Removal technologies (GGRs) are required to reach a 2°C target by 2100. Given that most models fail to reach a 2°C target without GGRs, it seems impossible that the aspirational target of 1.5°C of the Paris Agreement could be met without GGRs. The global potential, feasibility, barriers and impacts of GGRs need to be assessed. The global implications of widespread implementation of GGRs on land competition, greenhouse gas emissions, physical climate feedbacks (e.g. albedo), water requirements, nutrient use, energy and cost, have recently been assessed. It appears that sequestration in soils and vegetation have significant potential for GGR, and may do so with much less competition for land, water and nutrients than, for example, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). In addition, soil and vegetation-based GGRs could help deliver other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly 1, 2, 13 and 15 (poverty, hunger, climate and life on land). Yet constraints due to high uncertainties about the level of GGR achievable, the need for site-specific options and incentives, social and ecological impacts, and the risk of impermanence have limited the implementation of soil and vegetation- based GGR to date. In this paper I will provide an introduction to the issues that will be covered by talks in a conference session examining some of the challenges and opportunities presented by land-based GGR options. Keywords: Soil Climate change, carbon sequestration 5 TERRAENVISION Abstracts Vol. 1, TNV2018-Keynote-314, 2018 © Author(s) 2018. CC Attribution 3.0 License The EU Globaqua Project on Multiple Stressors in Rivers under Water Scarcity and Global Change. A Reconnaissance Study in Selected European River Basins and the Water- Energy-Food Nexus Damia Barcelo Culleres Catalan Institute for water Research, ICRA, Girona, Spain and IDAEA-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain Most ecosystems are exposed simultaneously to several stressors, in the so-called multiple-stress situations. Some stressors such as water scarcity can limit biodiversity and economic activities in entire regions. In addition of being a stressor on its own, water scarcity can drive the effects of other stressors acting upon river ecosystems. It leads to intermittency in water flow, and therefore has implications for hydrologic connectivity, negative side-effects on biodiversity, water quality, and river ecosystem functioning. Water scarcity can amplify the effects of water pollution by reducing the natural diluting capacity of rivers Interactions between stressors may be exacerbated by climate change. For instance, warmer temperatures and reduced river flows will likely increase the physiological burden of pollution on the aquatic biota, and biological feedback between stressors (e.g. climate change and nutrient pollution) may produce unexpected outcomes. Degradation of drainage basins, destruction of natural habitats, over-exploitation of fish populations and other natural resources, or the establishment of invasive species, are factors whose impacts combine and may give rise to synergistic effects, especially during periods of water shortage. The effects of these stressors are very relevant for the chemical and ecological status of water bodies as well as for the sustainability of ecosystem services they provide Water scarcity is a key stressor with direct and indirect effects. The relevance of water scarcity as a stressor is most important in semi-arid regions such as the Mediterranean basin, characterized by highly variable river flows and the periodic occurrence of low flows and even no-flows. Climate change previsions forecast an increase in the frequency and magnitude of extreme events Although extremes are part of the normal hydrologic behaviour in Mediterranean-type rivers, many already show a consistent trend towards decreased discharge. This presentation will show different examples on the risk of emerging contaminants and nanomaterials in Mediterranean river catchments affected by water scarcity. For example the relevance of environmental factors (light, temperature, water flow) and chemical stressors (nutrients, pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors, pesticides, perfluorinated compounds and heavy metals) in the structure and functioning of epilithic biofilms in four Mediterranean watersheds, Ebro, Gualdalquivir, Jucar, Llobregat and Evrotas will be shown. Relevant data en Emerging 6 TERRAENVISION Abstracts Vol. 1, TNV2018-Keynote-314, 2018 © Author(s) 2018. CC Attribution 3.0 License Contaminants and Nanomaterials on three other European river catchments; Adige , Sava and Evrotas will be reported too. Stressors co-occur and interact in specific manners, and the respective relevance of one or another in the response of the biota may be altered also by the flow regime. Finally, new tools like MALDI-TOF MS were used to better understand the river functioning. The experiments start using standard polymeric materials exponed to natural aquatic envrionments . Afterwards structural changes related to degradation process of the polymeric surface are monitored by MALDI TOF IMAGING. Keywords: Water Scarcity, global change, Rivers 7 TERRAENVISION Abstracts Vol. 1, TNV2018-Keynote-315, 2018 © Author(s) 2018. CC Attribution 3.0 License Wildfire in a Changing World: Climate, Human Activities and Adaptation Deborah A. Martin U.S. Geological Survey, Emeritus Recent analyses have highlighted warming temperatures and recurrent droughts as key climate- related drivers of increasing wildfire size, severity and frequency in some regions. Human activities such as land use, ignitions, and management decisions play a critical role in the enhancement of wildfires and their impacts on humans and ecosystems in many parts of the globe. A growing cadre of scientists, decision makers and citizens are advocating new approaches to increase adaptations and resilience to the new realities of wildfire in our landscapes and built environment. These approaches require (1) clear definitions of values at risk and potential outcomes that result from the interaction of wildfire and humans, (2) insights into where gaps exist in our understanding of processes, complex interactions among disturbances, spatial and temporal scales and the persistence of wildfire effects, and (3) of paramount importance, the ability to convey clear information to decision makers and the public. This talk will explore proposed mitigations and adaptations that increase our resilience to wildfire in the context of a world transformed by changes in climate and human activities. Keywords: Wildfire, climate, land use, adaptations, resilience, communication 8 TERRAENVISION Abstracts Vol. 1, TNV2018-Keynote-316, 2018 © Author(s) 2018. CC Attribution 3.0 License When the smoke clears the waters muddy – vegetation fire impacts on water resources and how science can help. 1Stefan H. Doerr, 2Joao P Nunes, 3Gary Sheridan, 1Jonay Neris, 1Cristina Santín, 4Monica B. Emelko, 5Uldis Silins, 6Peter R. Robichaud, 6William J. Elliot and 7Jacob Keizer 1Swansea University, UK 2University of Lisbon, Portugal 3University of Melbourne, Australia 4University of Waterloo, Canada 5University
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