Kvantitativa undersökningar av några trädlavsarter tilhörande släkterna Alectoria och Bryoria

Inom forsoksområdena beraknades de fastsittande tagellavs-forråden till mellan 0,3 - 0,2 - 34,3 - 10,8 kg/ha for garnlav (Alectoria sarmentosa) och 16,9 - 2,2 - 35,2 - 9,2 kg/ha for Bryoria spp. Linjetaxeringsmetoden gav ett kalkylerat nedfallet betesforråd varierande från 0 - 8,5 - 2,7 kg/ha per undersokningstillfalle, medan med korgforsoket ett beraknat betesforråd på 35,7 - 2,8 kg/ha under perioden 26/11 1981 till 24/6 1982 av huvudsakligen Bryoria spp. erholls. Signifikant positiv korrelasjon mellan lavbiomassa/trad (Bryoria spp.) och trådhojd, traddiameter, nedre krondiameter, grenlangd och antal grenar upp till 2,5 m hojd konstaterades

Influence of spatial differentiation in impact assessment for LCA-based decision support: Implementation of biochar technology in Indonesia

Spatial differentiation in evaluation of environmental impacts in life cycle assessment (LCA) may give more accurate and realistic results, especially in cases where impacts occur at a local or regional scale and where sensitivity of receiving ecosystems differs from generic conditions. However, from a decision maker's perspective it is of interest to investigate whether the use of spatially differentiated impact assessment methods in addition leads to better decisions. Biochar production and agricultural utilization in Indonesia is an example of a micro-level decision-support case where spatial differentiation could be relevant. To study the influence of spatial differentiation on implementation of biochar as a waste management strategy and the choice of best performing biochar production techniques, agricultural utilization systems and geographic locations, comparisons were made between four communities living on different Indonesian islands, three biochar production techniques and two types of fertilizer. Results showed that the differences in impact scores between generic and spatially differentiated impact scores were an order of magnitude different for some of the considered impact categories. These differences influenced the identification of which system performed best when considering total damage to human health, which was mainly due to differences in accounting for impacts arising from water use. By contrast, trade-offs between impact categories combined with relatively small contribution of some spatially differentiated impacts rendered spatial differentiation less relevant with regard to total damage to ecosystems. Total impact scores were influenced to a greater extent by variations in inventories determining environmental burden and benefits, than by differences between generic and spatially differentiated characterization factors. Hence, irrespective of the scenario and type of damage considered, both generic and spatially differentiated assessments showed that implementing biochar technology in Indonesia is expected to bring environmental benefits. It was shown that spatial differentiation in impact assessment did not necessary lead to better decisions in this case study. This may suggest that depending on the goal of the LCA, practitioners should consider potential benefits of implementing spatially differentiated life cycle impact assessment methods as opposed to potential benefits from collecting site-specific inventories.acceptedVersio

Use of Stochastic Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis to Support Sustainable Management of Contaminated Sediments

Sustainable management of contaminated sediments requires careful prioritization of available resources and focuses on efforts to optimize decisions that consider environmental, economic, and societal aspects simultaneously. This may be achieved by combining different analytical approaches such as risk analysis (RA), life cycle analysis (LCA), multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA), and economic valuation methods. We propose the use of stochastic MCDA based on outranking algorithms to implement integrative sustainability strategies for sediment management. In this paper we use the method to select the best sediment management alternatives for the dibenzo-<i>p</i>-dioxin and -furan (PCDD/F) contaminated Grenland fjord in Norway. In the analysis, the benefits of health risk reductions and socio-economic benefits from removing seafood health advisories are evaluated against the detriments of remedial costs and life cycle environmental impacts. A value-plural based weighing of criteria is compared to criteria weights mimicking traditional cost–effectiveness (CEA) and cost–benefit (CBA) analyses. Capping highly contaminated areas in the inner or outer fjord is identified as the most preferable remediation alternative under all criteria schemes and the results are confirmed by a probabilistic sensitivity analysis. The proposed methodology can serve as a flexible framework for future decision support and can be a step toward more sustainable decision making for contaminated sediment management. It may be applicable to the broader field of ecosystem restoration for trade-off analysis between ecosystem services and restoration costs

The Value of Information for Managing Contaminated Sediments

Effective management of contaminated sediments is important for long-term human and environmental health, but site-management decisions are often made under high uncertainty and without the help of structured decision support tools. Potential trade-offs between remedial costs, environmental effects, human health risks, and societal benefits, as well as fundamental differences in stakeholder priorities, complicate decision making. Formal decision-analytic tools such as multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) move beyond ad hoc decision support to quantitatively and holistically rank management alternatives and add transparency and replicability to the evaluation process. However, even the best decisions made under uncertainty may be found suboptimal in hindsight, once additional scientific, social, economic, or other details become known. Value of information (VoI) analysis extends MCDA by systematically evaluating the impact of uncertainty on a decision. VoI prioritizes future research in terms of expected decision relevance by helping decision makers estimate the likelihood that additional information will improve decision confidence or change their selection of a management plan. In this study, VoI analysis evaluates uncertainty, estimates decision confidence, and prioritizes research to inform selection of a sediment capping strategy for the dibenzo-<i>p</i>-dioxin and -furan contaminated Grenland fjord system in southern Norway. The VoI model extends stochastic MCDA to model decisions with and without simulated new information and compares decision confidence across scenarios with different degrees of remaining uncertainty. Results highlight opportunities for decision makers to benefit from additional information by anticipating the improved decision confidence (or lack thereof) expected from reducing uncertainties for each criterion or combination of criteria. This case study demonstrates the usefulness of VoI analysis for environmental decisions by predicting when decisions can be made confidently, for prioritizing areas of research to pursue to improve decision confidence, and for differentiating between decision-relevant and decision-irrelevant differences in evaluation perspectives, all of which help guide meaningful deliberation toward effective consensus solutions

Top-down regulation, climate and multi-decadal changes in coastal zoobenthos communities in two Baltic Sea areas

The structure of many marine ecosystems has changed substantially during recent decades, as a result of overexploitation, climate change and eutrophication. Despite of the apparent ecological and economical importance of coastal areas and communities, this aspect has received relatively little attention in coastal systems. Here we assess the temporal development of zoobenthos communities in two areas on the Swedish Baltic Sea coast during 30 years, and relate their development to changes in climate, eutrophication and top-down regulation from fish. Both communities show substantial structural changes, with a decrease in marine polychaetes and species sensitive to increased water temperatures. Concurrently, opportunistic species tolerant to environmental perturbation have increased in abundance. Species composition show a similar temporal development in both communities and significant changes in species composition occurred in both data sets in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The change in species composition was associated with large scale changes in climate (salinity and water temperature) and to the structure of the local fish community, whereas we found no effects of nutrient loading or ambient nutrient concentrations. Our results suggest that these coastal zoobenthos communities have gone through substantial structural changes over the last 30 years, resulting in communities of different species composition with potentially different ecological functions. We hence suggest that the temporal development of coastal zoobenthos communities should be assessed in light of prevailing climatic conditions considering the potential for top-down effects exerted by local fish communities