Climate change in the Carpathian-Balkan Area. Advancing research and cooperation

The Carpathian Mountains are considered to be one of Europe’s last “wilderness” areas, but are nevertheless under heavy pressure from human activities. Examples range from large-scale activities (e.g. metal and coal mining) and ecological disasters (e.g. tailing dam failures in the Toroiaga and Baia Mare areas) to cross-border pollution (e.g. Chernobyl nuclear accident). The current political thrust for economic development is accelerating the pace of industrial activities, exploitation of natural resources and tourism. Romania has just recently been integrated into the European Union and many community-based projects were initiated to evaluate problems related to climatic and anthropogenic impacts.The diversity of landforms that characterize the Carpathian region encompassing mountain ranges and large spans of adjacent lowlands and the dynamic interplay between North Atlantic, continental, and Mediterranean atmospheric circulation patterns in southeastern Europe, have resulted in extremely fragmented habitats and exceptional biodiversity (Veres and Mindrescu, 2013). However, the Carpathian Mountains remain the least studied mountain environment in Europe, as reflected for example by the low number of well-dated and high-resolution paleorecords (e.g. Buczkó et al. 2009). Rose et al. (2009) published a pollution history study from a lake in the Retezat Mountains at the western extremity of the Southern Carpathians, but no paleoenvironmental studies exist for the rest of the mountain range, despite the abundance of suitable sites (Akinyemi et al., 2013).An interdisciplinary approach to geoscience is particularly important in this vast research field (geosciences), as innovative science is increasingly stimulated by studies that cross disciplinary boundaries and thus benefit from multiple research methods and viewpoints. Grasping this concept has led us to encourage interdisciplinary cooperation by creating “meeting places” where geoscience researchers and scholars can find common grounds for discussion and collaboration (Hutchinson and Mindrescu, 2012).In this regard an international meeting was organized at the Geography Department, University of Suceava, Romania, and was cosponsored by the University of Suceava, the Applied Geography Association (GEOCONCEPT), Past Global Changes (PAGES) and the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI). The purpose of the workshop was to bring together an international group of scientists interested in the Carpathian-Balkan region to discuss research results and promote opportunities for interdisciplinary and international collaboration. The entire workshop was webcast. The program centered on 36 oral and 15 poster presentations as well as open discussions on the climatic and environmental dynamics during the Pleistocene and Holocene. The 70 participants were from Romania, Hungary, Germany, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Ukraine, Poland, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Greece and Belgium. For many young researchers and students the workshop offered an educational opportunity to present their results to an international audience and discuss their research in a multidisciplinary community.To promote follow-up activities in the region, the “Suceava working group” was created under the lead of Marcel Mindrescu, Angelica Feurdean, Eniko Magyari and Daniel Veres. A group website is currently being set up (http://atlas.usv.ro/www/climatechange/) and grant proposals will be prepared. The group will also coordinate the organization of a second regional workshop in 2014 in Romania. Further activities, such as summer camps or meetings in the field are also considered.</p

Replacing Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power with Renewable Energy: Utopia or Valid Option? A Swiss Case Study of Bioenergy

The transition towards a reliable, sustainable, low-carbon energy system is a major challenge of the 21st century. Due to the lower energy density of many renewable energy sources, a future system is expected to be more decentralized, leading to significant changes at the regional scale. This study analyzes the feasibility of the energy transition in the Swiss canton of Aargau as an illustrative example and explores different strategies to satisfy the local demand for electricity, heat, and fuel by 2035. In particular, we assess the potential contribution of biomass. Four scenarios demonstrate what energy demand proportion could be covered by bioenergy if different priorities were given to the provision of heat, electricity, and fuel. The impact of improved conversion technologies is also considered. The results show that the sustainably available renewable energy sources in canton Aargau will probably not be sufficient to cover its forecasted energy demand in 2035, neither with present nor future biomass conversion technologies. At best, 74% of the energy demand could be met by renewables. Biomass can increase the degree of autarky by a maximum of 13%. Depending on the scenario, at least 26&ndash;43% (2500&ndash;5700 GWh) of total energy demand is lacking, particularly for mobility purposes

Global Change and the World's Mountains-Research Needs and Emerging Themes for Sustainable Development A Synthesis From the 2010 Perth II Conference

The conference on Global Change and the World’s Mountains held in Perth, Scotland, in 2010 offered a unique opportunity to analyze the state and progress of mountain research and its contribution to sustainable mountain development, as well as to reflect on required reorientations of research agendas. In this paper we provide the results of a three-step assessment of the research presented by 450 researchers from around the world. First, we determined the state of the art of mountain research and categorized it based on the analytical structure of the Global Land Project (GLP 2005). Second, we identified emerging themes for future research. Finally, we assessed the contribution of mountain research to sustainable development along the lines of the Grand Challenges in Global Sustainability Research (International Council for Science 2010). Analysis revealed that despite the growing recognition of the importance of more integrative research (inter- and transdisciplinary), the research community gathered in Perth still focuses on environmental drivers of change and on interactions within ecological systems. Only a small percentage of current research seeks to enhance understanding of social systems and of interactions between social and ecological systems. From the ecological systems perspective, a greater effort is needed to disentangle and assess different drivers of change and to investigate impacts on the rendering of ecosystem services. From the social systems perspective, significant shortcomings remain in understanding the characteristics, trends, and impacts of human movements to, within, and out of mountain areas as a form of global change. Likewise, sociocultural drivers affecting collective behavior as well as incentive systems devised by policy and decision makers are little understood and require more in-depth investigation. Both the complexity of coupled social– ecological systems and incomplete data sets hinder integrated systems research. Increased understanding of linkages and feedbacks between social and ecological systems will help to identify nonlinearities and thresholds (tipping points) in both system types. This presupposes effective collaboration between ecological and social sciences. Reflections on the Grand Challenges in Sustainability Research put forth by the International Council for Science (2010) reveal the need to intensify research on effective responses and innovations. This will help to achieve sustainable development in mountain regions while maintaining the core competence of mountain research in forecasting and observation

Flow modelling within a scaffold under the influence of uni-axial and bi-axial bioreactor rotation

10.1016/j.jbiotec.2005.03.021Journal of Biotechnology1192181-196JBIT