A simple approach to modelling the soil water budget in cool temperate mineral topsoils

Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Rural and Environmental Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) Division of the Scottish Government [grant number RG13483]. RESAS played no further part in the study.Peer reviewedPostprin

Wells Fargo: Administrative evil and the pressure to conform

Corporate corruption has become a pervasive problem in our society as scandals erupt with disheartening regularity. These unethical business practices result not only in financial disaster but also in the disillusionment and loss of trust on the part of consumers and shareholders alike. Unethical behavior often originates with top management. However, these bad actors cannot act alone. They must have the complicit support of others within the organization. In this installment of Business Law & Ethics Corner, we examine the pressures and motives of people deep within the corporation; the ordinary people who, by just going about their everyday jobs, enable these scandals to take place. Administrative evil is an explanatory framework to understand the tendency toward dehumanization and the rationalization of unethical behaviors. Using the Wells Fargo account scandal as an illustration, we integrate administrative evil with theories from organizational psychology which strive to understand group pressure for social conformity. We conclude with recommendations to prevent unethical attitudes and behaviors from permeating the organization

Using isotopes to understand the evolution of water ages in disturbed mixed land‐use catchments

Funding Information: Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen The Macaulay Development Trust Rural and Environment Sciences Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. Grant Number: 70112 Royal Society. Grant Number: RG140402 Macaulay Development Trust and the School of Geosciences, University of AberdeenPeer reviewedPostprin

Dependence of ombrotrophic peat nitrogen on phosphorus and climate

Nitrogen (N) is a key, possibly limiting, nutrient in ombrotrophic peat ecosystems, and enrichment by pollutant N in atmospheric deposition (Ndep, g m-2 a-1) is of concern with regard to peatland damage. We collated data on the N content of surface (depth ≤ 25 cm, mean 15 cm) ombrotrophic peat (Nsp) for 215 sites in the UK and 62 other sites around the world, including boreal, temperate and tropical locations (wider global data), and found Nsp to range from 0.5 % to 4%. We examined the dependences of Nsp on surface peat phosphorus (P) content (Psp), mean annual precipitation (MAP), mean annual temperature (MAT) and Ndep. Linear regression on individual independent variables showed highly significant (p < 0.001) correlations of Nsp with Psp (r2 = 0.23) and MAP (r2 = 0.14), and significant (p < 0.01) but weaker correlations with MAT (r2 = 0.03) and Ndep (r2 = 0.03). A multiple regression model using log-transformed values explained 36% of the variance of the UK data, 84% of the variance of the wider global data, and 47% of the variance of the combined data, all with high significance (p < 0.001). In all three cases, most of the variance was explained by Psp and MAP, but in view of a positive correlation between MAP and MAT for many of the sites, a role for MAT in controlling Nsp cannot be ruled out. There is little evidence for an effect of Ndep on Nsp. The results point to a key role of P in N fixation, and thereby C fixation, in ombrotrophic peats

Monitoring soil health in Scotland by land use category – a scoping study

Monitoring of soil health in a changing climate is a priority issue for Scottish Government. In 2020, CXC published a baseline report that pulled together existing research on the vulnerability of Scottish soils to climate change. This scoping study takes the thirteen potential indicators that were previously identified and considers their strategic relevance to monitoring soil health in the context of existing land use Scotland. Ten pre-defined land use categories were considered. We have also considered how soil monitoring might be managed to inform our understanding of cross-cutting issues such as biodiversity and climate change

Opportunities and challenges in using catchment-scale storage estimates from cosmic ray neutron sensors for rainfall-runoff modelling

Acknowledgements We thank the Macaulay Development Trust and School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen for KDPs scholarship. JG would like to acknowledge funding from the Royal Society and the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland (project 70112). JG and LV acknowledge funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (project NE/N007611/1 and CC13_080). MW was supported by the Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government. RR received funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (projects NE/M003086/1, NE/R004897/1 and NE/T005645/1) and from the International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations (IAEA/UN) (project CRP D12014). Special thanks to Carol Taylor, Jessica Fennell, Alice Poli and many more for assistance with fieldwork. Finally, we would like to acknowledge Kenneth Loades for providing us with essential equipment for soil sampling and thank David Finlay and his team for enabling land access in Elsick.Peer reviewedPostprin

The riparian reactive interface: a climate-sensitive gatekeeper of global nutrient cycles

Riparian zones are critical interfaces to freshwater systems, acting as gateways for the conveyance and modification of macronutrient fluxes from land to rivers and oceans. In this paper, we propose that certain riparian conditions and processes (conceptually 'Riparian Reactive Interfaces') may be susceptible to environmental change with consequences of accelerating local nutrient cycling cascading to global impacts on the cycles of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P). However, we argue that this concept is insufficiently understood and that research has not yet established robust baseline data to predict and measure change at the key riparian ecosystem interface. We suggest one contributing factor as lack of interdisciplinary study of abiotic and biotic processes linking C, N, and P dynamics and another being emphasis on riparian ecology and restoration that limits frameworks for handling and scaling topography-soil-water-climate physical and biogeochemical observations from plot to large catchment scales. Scientific effort is required now to evaluate riparian current and future controls on global nutrient cycles through multi-nutrient (and controlling element) studies, grounded in landscape frameworks for dynamic riparian behaviour variation, facilitating scaling to catchment predictions

Understanding carbon sequestration from nature-based solutions

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines nature-based solutions (NBS) as “actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits”. We assessed evidence for the greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potential of four nature-based solutions in Scotland (agroforestry, hedgerows, un-cultivated riparian buffer zones and the restoration of species-rich grasslands) and how these can help mitigate the impacts of climate change and reduce biodiversity loss. In addition, we provided a synthesis of the strength of evidence for including these as part of Net Zero policy objectives and carbon codes