Measuring ecosystem services from soil health. Vermont Payment for Ecosystem Services Technical Research Report #1

There are a multitude of approaches to evaluating soil health and the soil processes influenced by soil health. As the state of Vermont explores innovative programs that compensate farmers for soil health and associated ecosystem services, the selection of soil health indicators and quantification methods is a foundational first step that influences other aspects of program design. What is measured determines the ecosystem services that can be inferred, the accuracy of data that informs decisions, and programmatic transaction costs. Simply put, what is measured matters. The PES Working Group identified organic matter, bulk density, aggregate stability, greenhouse gas flux from the soil surface and soil biodiversity as the soil health indicators that would be most closely related to the desired ecosystem services, and contracted with UVM to provide more information on the measurement considerations for these indicators. In this report, the available methods and costs of measurement for these soil health indicators are discussed in detail. In addition, modeling options are identified. Finally an index that could combine multiple soil health indicators is explored as an option. Overall, this foundational research identified the need for the PES program to integrate both soil health measurements with modeling to validate soil health. Costs for laboratory analysis and labor for these selected metrics were approximately $250 per field, and we identified three analytical laboratories that could provide the soil health analysis. The contents of this report are intended to support decision-making on the part of the Vermont Soil Health and Payment for Ecosystem Services Working Group about what will be measured in a PES, but do not constrain the group from adding other metrics should they so desire. This decision must balance accuracy and complexity with the cost of measuring the best indicators of performance. These decisions are foundational to other aspects of PES program design

Field scale soil health scenarios. Vermont Payment for Ecosystem Services Technical Report #2

This report illustrates how changes in management on Vermont farms can influence soil health metrics at the field scale. We’ve used regionally relevant science-based scenarios to demonstrate how selected soil health metrics that are associated with ecosystem services could change on farms in response to management practices at the field scale. These field scale management scenarios demonstrate that many practices in use by farmers in Vermont can have positive impacts on the soil health indicators of interest to the Vermont Soil Health & Payment for Ecosystem Services Working Group. The scenarios document potential for tradeoffs among soil health properties. Specifically, some of the scenarios illustrate how bulk density and compaction can worsen in instances when other soil health properties improve. Long-term research that measures multiple indicators of soil health and ecosystem services on recommended soil health management practices in Vermont is needed to support the evidence-base for soil health and ecosystem services incentive programs

Climate variability differentially impacts thermal fitness traits in three coprophagic beetle species

While the impacts of extreme and rising mean temperatures are well documented, increased thermal variability associated with climate change may also threaten ectotherm fitness and survival, but remains poorly explored. Using three wild collected coprophagic species Copris elphenor, Metacatharsius opacus and Scarabaeus zambezianus, we explored the effects of thermal amplitude around the mean on thermal tolerance. Using standardized protocols, we measured traits of high- (critical thermal maxima [CTmax] and heat knockdown time [HKDT]) and -low temperature tolerance (critical thermal minima [CTmin], chill coma recovery time [CCRT] and supercooling points [SCPs]) following variable temperature pulses (δ0, δ3, δ6 and δ9°C) around the mean (27°C). Our results show that increased temperature variability may offset basal and plastic responses to temperature and differs across species and metrics tested. Furthermore, we also show differential effects of body mass, body water content (BWC) and body lipid content (BLC) on traits of thermal tolerance. For example, body mass significantly influenced C. elphenor and S. zambezianus CTmax and S. zambezianus HKDT but not CTmin and CCRT. BWC significantly affected M. opacus and C. elphenor CTmax and in only M. opacus HKDT, CTmin and CCRT. Similarly, BLC only had a significant effect for M opacus CTmin. These results suggest differential and species dependent effects of climate variability of thermal fitness traits. It is therefore likely that the ecological services provided by these species may be constrained in the face of climate change. This implies that, to develop more realistic predictions for the effects of climate change on insect biodiversity and ecosystem function, thermal variability is a significant determinant

Reimagining the place of nature in education: photographic provocations for relational becoming

This essay advances a posthuman relational approach to climate change education by using eight images as provocations. We argue that an embedded, holistic and interdisciplinary nature relations approach is a fundamental element of the educational response to the climate emergency; one which is based in the natural world and that is creative, embodied and transformative