Downloaded from orbit.dtu.dk on: Oct 09, 2021 Contribution of waterborne nitrogen emissions to hypoxia-driven marine eutrophication: modelling of damage to ecosystems in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) Cosme, Nuno Miguel Dias Publication date: 2016 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link back to DTU Orbit Citation (APA): Cosme, N. M. D. (2016). Contribution of waterborne nitrogen emissions to hypoxia-driven marine eutrophication: modelling of damage to ecosystems in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Technical University of Denmark. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Contribution of waterborne nitrogen emissions to hypoxia-driven marine eutrophication: modelling of damage to ecosystems in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) Nuno Miguel Dias Cosme PhD Thesis May 2016 Division for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment Department of Management Engineering Technical University of Denmark Cosme N. 2016. Contribution of waterborne nitrogen emissions to hypoxia-driven marine eutrophication: modelling of damage to ecosystems in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). PhD Thesis. Technical University of Denmark Preface This PhD thesis presents the work conducted and the results obtained during the PhD project “Impacts of waterborne nitrogen emissions to hypoxia-driven marine eutrophication: modelling of damage to ecosystems in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA)”. The research work was completed at the Division for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment of the Department of Management Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark from December 2012 to May 2016. The project was internally funded and supervised by Professor Michael Zwicky Hauschild, as principal supervisor, Associate Professor Morten Birkved, and by former Associate Professor Ralph Klaus Rosenbaum, now Director at Irstea – France. The thesis is a synopsis of six scientific articles of original research published or submitted for publication in international scientific journals. The articles’ manuscripts, of which two have been published and four submitted at the time of the thesis completion, are included as appendices. The articles are referred herein by adding roman numerals from I to VI to the citation – e.g. Article II: Cosme et al. (2015), and listed below: Article I: Cosme, N., Mayorga, E. & Hauschild, M.Z. Spatially explicit fate factors for waterborne nitrogen emissions at the global scale. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, submitted in 2016 – manuscript in pre-print version. Article II: Cosme, N., Koski, M. & Hauschild, M.Z. (2015). Exposure factors for marine eutrophication impacts assessment based on a mechanistic biological model. Ecological Modelling 317:50–63. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2015.09.005 – published, manuscript in post-print version. i Cosme N. 2016. Contribution of waterborne nitrogen emissions to hypoxia-driven marine eutrophication: modelling of damage to ecosystems in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). PhD Thesis. Technical University of Denmark Article III: Cosme, N. & Hauschild, M.Z. (2016). Effect factors for marine eutrophication in LCIA based on species sensitivity to hypoxia. Ecological Indicators 69:453-462, DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind. 2016.04.006 – published, manuscript in post-print version. Article IV: Cosme, N., Jones, M.C., Cheung, W.W.L. & Larsen, H.F. Spatial differentiation of marine eutrophication damage indicators based on species density. Ecological Indicators, submitted in 2016 – manuscript in pre-print version. Article V: Cosme, N. & Hauschild M.Z. Characterization of waterborne nitrogen emissions for marine eutrophication modelling in life cycle impact assessment at the damage level and global scale. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, submitted in 2016 – manuscript in pre-print version. Article VI: Cosme, N. & Niero, M. Modelling the influence of changing climate in present and future marine eutrophication impacts from spring barley production. Journal of Cleaner Production, submitted in 2016 – reviewed, manuscript in pre-print version R1. ii Cosme N. 2016. Contribution of waterborne nitrogen emissions to hypoxia-driven marine eutrophication: modelling of damage to ecosystems in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). PhD Thesis. Technical University of Denmark Acknowledgments When I embarked in this PhD voyage I was erroneously confident on the simplicity of the task ahead – ‘read and investigate, write and publish’! I could not have been more mistaken. Not only the task was formidably more complex but, more importantly, I had underestimated the necessary time to live and contribute – live a healthy day-to-day office and social life with colleagues and friends, enjoy family time, enjoy time off, and contribute back to DTU, to the department and the division that so generously had received me. I see now that the joy of being part of something bigger has made me, at times, forget about the main objective. I had the valuable support of many to bring me back on the right track. I am grateful to my principal supervisor Michael Zwicky Hauschild for his mighty pen, all the challenging and fruitful discussions, and for sharing his patience, time and knowledge with me. Wise to make me add the necessary structure and logic to my research, wise to let me pursue my own approaches. I think we balanced it well. I would like to extend my appreciation to my co- supervisors Morten Birkved for his friendship and guidance all-round, and Ralph K. Rosenbaum, a skilful educator, for his confidence on me and generous, although brief, collaboration. I also wish to thank the my co-authors for keeping up with my ideas, both the good and the bad, for engaging in constructive sessions, and reading my long paragraphs: Marja Koski, Monia Niero, Emilio Mayorga, Henrik F. Larsen, William W. L. Cheung, Miranda Jones, Michael Z. Hauschild. Also, to all of those I contacted to help me making ideas into numbers or numbers into meaningful ideas: Alexis Laurent, Morten Ryberg, Stig. I. Olsen, Peter Fantke, Colin Stedmon, Andre Visser, Jane Behrens, Torkel G. Nielsen, Ligia B. Azevedo, Jørgen L.S. Hansen, Guy Claireaux, and to anyone else I might have inadvertently forgotten. iii Cosme N. 2016. Contribution of waterborne nitrogen emissions to hypoxia-driven marine eutrophication: modelling of damage to ecosystems in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). PhD Thesis. Technical University of Denmark I am in debt to all my past and current colleagues and friends at the Division for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment (QSA) for the enthusiastic, informal and informed work environment. Fellow PhD students, faculty and administrative staff, postdocs and researchers, MSc and BSc students – only diversity makes us better. I will not name them all for the risk of forgetting someone. My thanks also to the LC-IMPACT team with whom I have learned about new developments in impact assessment indicators. It has truly opened a door into the LCIA network for me. A word of appreciation to my fellow members of the KPBT PhD Committee in 2014 and 2015, for the interesting discussions and views into DTU’s functioning. Although labelled as ‘mandatory work’, my participation in the committee’s tasks and duties was undeniably rewarding. Finally, and above all, I want to express my profound gratitude to my wife Cristina, unconditional and tireless partner in crime, for her continuous encouragement and support, and to my devoted children Rodrigo mini-me and princess Maria for their unfailing enthusiasm and patience – my three best friends. Thank you for being there for me even when I was not available for you – I will be eternally in your debt. Words are immensely vague to fully express your contribution, and for that, this is also your achievement. A todos, muito obrigado! Nuno Cosme iv Cosme N. 2016. Contribution of waterborne nitrogen emissions to hypoxia-driven marine eutrophication: modelling of damage to ecosystems in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). PhD Thesis. Technical University of Denmark Who wants an easy challenge anyway? “(…) eutrophication is an intellectually rich problem that weaves together plant, animal, and microbial physiology, physics, climatology, hydrology, biogeochemistry, soil science, agriculture, forestry, urban infrastructure, demography, and nutrition. It involves every level of the ecosystem from abiotic factors to top carnivores. It draws on our skills of observation across wide scales of time and space. The eutrophication literature is full of the results of studies using microscopes, satellite images, sediment cores, stable and radioactive isotopes, analyses of shells and scales and bones, field surveys, buoy sensor data records, mesocosm experiments, long time-series analyses, historical documents, field manipulations, physiological rate measurements,