Sources, composition and transport of fluvial suspended sediment and attached phosphorus in agricultural catchments : a cross-scale analysis

Soil loss from arable land is a major environmental issue, as well as freshwater and marine eutrophication. Both these issues are well connected, since particles often transport phosphorus (P) from agricultural areas to surface waters, causing eutrophication. The main objective of this thesis was to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between P and suspended solids (SS) in agricultural streams, to study the quantity and quality of P on SS and the role of catchment properties. By using long-term monitoring data on small agricultural catchments it was established that SS is a vector for P transport, and that SS concentrations in small streams are well correlated to clay content and share agricultural land. These relations were also up-scaled and corroborated for the tributaries to Lake Mälaren in spite of their larger size and more heterogeneous land use. Testing stream nutrient concentration trends in these catchments over the last 20 years resulted in few significant decreasing trends, due to the low degree of implementation of mitigation measures and the historical legacy effects. Catchment properties such as elevation, land use and soil type were also used as input variables in high resolution distributed dynamic modelling of SS transport from six small catchments with good agreement to observed data, which makes possible reliable modelling of similar, unmonitored catchments. Field and laboratory studies of three small catchments sampling fluvial suspended sediment showed variation in iron-bound P with seasons, with increases during summer and decreases during winter, high flow periods. Each catchment had different dominating P fractions, in spite of similar total P concentrations. To achieve water quality goals we need to focus resources where they have the highest effect

Water quality in a large complex catchment: Significant effects of land use and soil type but limited ability to detect trends

Globally, significant societal resources are devoted to mitigating negative effects of eutrophication from excessive phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) loading. Potential effectiveness of mitigation measures and possible confounding factors are often assessed using studies conducted in headwater catchments. However, success is often evaluated based on trends in river mouth water chemistry. It is not clear how transferrable insights from headwater catchments are to larger rivers. Here, relationships between P and suspended solids (SS) identified in small agricultural headwater catchments were applied to 30 larger, mixed land use catchments draining into Malaren, ¨ a Swedish great lake. Relationships identified in headwater streams between SS concentration, catchment agricultural land percentage and arable land clay content were corroborated for the larger catchments (R2 = 0.59, p-valu

Slamhalter i flodmynningar 2018- 2020 : Utvärdering av halter och möjligheter att använda turbiditet som proxy

Halten av suspenderade partiklar i vattendrag och sjöar är en viktig vattenkvalitetsparameter och ingår på flera håll i Europa i bedömningsgrunder för vattenkvalitet och ekologisk status. Mängden partiklar kan mätas på flera sätt, bland annat genom att filtrera vattenprovet och väga mängden partiklar på filtret (som benämns slamhalt) eller indirekt genom optiska mätningar där ljusspridning mäts (som benämns turbiditet). För närvarande ingår turbiditet i det nationella miljöövervakningsprogrammet för flodmynningar, men inte slamhaltsmätningar. Under åren 2018-2020 gjordes ett projekt där slamhalten analyserades månadsvis i alla flodmynningar för att undersöka om det vore motiverat att inkludera detta i miljöövvervakningen. Turbiditet, som redan ingår i övervakningsprogrammet, kan i vissa fall ha väldigt bra samband med slamhalt, och kan då användas som en proxy för slamhalt. Denna rapport har utvärderat den data som samlades in 2018-2020 för slamhalt för att se var det förekommer höga halter och transporter, och var det skulle kunna vara motiverat att inkludera slamhaltsmätningar i den nationella miljöövervakningen. Möjligheten för att använda turbiditet som en proxy för slamhalt har också undersökts. Vi har kunnat identifiera ett antal provplatser med hög slamhalt och även stationer med en betydande årlig transport till havet. För flera stationer hittades även ett bra samband mellan slamhalt och turbiditet, där turbiditet potentiellt skulle kunna användas som en proxy för slamhalt. Det finns ett samband mellan R2 -värdena och andel lerhalt samt åkermark i avrinningsområdet. Över en viss procent (2,5% lerhalt och ca 12% åkermark) är det genomgående höga R2 - värden, medan för lägre procent är det en större spridning i R2 -värden. Vi ger ett förslag på en lista med stationer som antingen har hög medianslamhalt eller hög transport till havet, samt ett mått på sambandet mellan turbiditet och slamhalt. Vi anser att en utökad provtagning kan vara motiverat på flertalet platser, med fokus på stationer med hög andel åkermark eller lerhalt, där risken för erosion och ökade förluster är större

THE CHANGING ROLE OF HUNTING IN SWEDEN-FROM SUBSISTENCE TO ECOSYSTEM STEWARDSHIP?

Although hunting served traditionally to supply game meat, and that is still important in Sweden, recreation is the most common reason for hunting moose (Alces alces) today. Hunting also serves an important management purpose in regulating moose populations to control crop and forest damage. This study used semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and officials involved in the recently implemented ecosystem-based, adaptive local moose management system where hunters and landowners become environmental stewards responsible for managing moose in context with forest damage, vehicular collisions, large carnivores, and biodiversity. Our study found that participation and collaboration in reaching management objectives was perceived as positive by stakeholders, although their stewardship is jeopardized if specific management responsibilities are not clarified regarding monitoring. Further, it is important to find long-term funding solutions for monitoring activities that are critical for adequate data collection and to support the stakeholder role as steward. The importance of monitoring must be communicated to individual hunters and landowners to achieve an ecosystem-based moose management system that effectively incorporates both social and ecological values

Increasing crop rotational diversity can enhance cereal yields

Diversifying agriculture by rotating a greater number of crop species in sequence is a promising practice to reduce negative impacts of crop production on the environment and maintain yields. However, it is unclear to what extent cereal yields change with crop rotation diversity and external nitrogen fertilization level over time, and which functional groups of crops provide the most yield benefit. Here, using grain yield data of small grain cereals and maize from 32 long-term (10–63 years) experiments across Europe and North America, we show that crop rotational diversity, measured as crop species diversity and functional richness, enhanced grain yields. This yield benefit increased over time. Only the yields of winter-sown small grain cereals showed a decline at the highest level of species diversity. Diversification was beneficial to all cereals with a low external nitrogen input, particularly maize, enabling a lower dependence on nitrogen fertilisers and ultimately reducing greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen pollution. The results suggest that increasing crop functional richness rather than species diversity can be a strategy for supporting grain yields across many environments

Increasing crop rotational diversity can enhance cereal yields

9 Pág.Diversifying agriculture by rotating a greater number of crop species in sequence is a promising practice to reduce negative impacts of crop production on the environment and maintain yields. However, it is unclear to what extent cereal yields change with crop rotation diversity and external nitrogen fertilization level over time, and which functional groups of crops provide the most yield benefit. Here, using grain yield data of small grain cereals and maize from 32 long-term (10–63 years) experiments across Europe and North America, we show that crop rotational diversity, measured as crop species diversity and functional richness, enhanced grain yields. This yield benefit increased over time. Only the yields of winter-sown small grain cereals showed a decline at the highest level of species diversity. Diversification was beneficial to all cereals with a low external nitrogen input, particularly maize, enabling a lower dependence on nitrogen fertilisers and ultimately reducing greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen pollution. The results suggest that increasing crop functional richness rather than species diversity can be a strategy for supporting grain yields across many environments.G.V., R.B. and S.H. acknowledge FORMAS grants 2018-02872 and 2018-02321. TMB acknowledges USDA AFRI grant 2017-67013-26254. LTEs managed by SRUC were supported by the Scottish Government RESAS Strategic Research Programme under project D3-, Healthy Soils for a Green Recovery. Swedish LTEs were funded by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). We thank the Lawes Agricultural Trust and Rothamsted Research for data from the e-RA database. The Rothamsted Long-term Experiments National Capability (LTE-NC) was supported by the UK BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, BBS/E/C/000J0300) and the Lawes Agricultural Trust. The Woodslee site was supported by the Agro-Ecosystem Resilience Program (Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada) and field management provided by field crews over 6 decades is appreciated. La Canaleja LTE (Spain) was supported by RTA2017-00006-C03-01 project (Ministry of Science and Innovation. El Encín LTEs were supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness funds (projects AGL2002-04186-C03-01.03, AGL2007-65698-C03-01.03, AGL2012-39929-C03-01 of which L. Navarrete was the P.I). R.A., A.G.D. and E.H.P. are also grateful to all members of the Weed Science Group from El Encín Experimental Station for their technical assistance in managing the experiments. The Brody/Poznan University of Life Sciences long-term experiments were funded by the Polish Ministry of Education and Science. We acknowledge the E-Obs dataset from the EU-FP6 project UERRA (http://www.uerra.eu) and the Copernicus Climate Change Service, and the data providers in the ECA&D project (https://www.ecad.eu/).Peer reviewe

Coffee and tea drinking in relation to the risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study.

PURPOSE: Coffee and tea constituents have shown several anti-carcinogenic activities in cellular and animal studies, including against thyroid cancer (TC). However, epidemiological evidence is still limited and inconsistent. Therefore, we aimed to investigate this association in a large prospective study. METHODS: The study was conducted in the EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) cohort, which included 476,108 adult men and women. Coffee and tea intakes were assessed through validated country-specific dietary questionnaires. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 14 years, 748 first incident differentiated TC cases (including 601 papillary and 109 follicular TC) were identified. Coffee consumption (per 100 mL/day) was not associated either with total differentiated TC risk (HRcalibrated 1.00, 95% CI 0.97-1.04) or with the risk of TC subtypes. Tea consumption (per 100 mL/day) was not associated with the risk of total differentiated TC (HRcalibrated 0.98, 95% CI 0.95-1.02) and papillary tumor (HRcalibrated 0.99, 95% CI 0.95-1.03), whereas an inverse association was found with follicular tumor risk (HRcalibrated 0.90, 95% CI 0.81-0.99), but this association was based on a sub-analysis with a small number of cancer cases. CONCLUSIONS: In this large prospective study, coffee and tea consumptions were not associated with TC risk.Cancer Research UK (14136 to EPIC-Norfolk; C570/A16491 and C8221/A19170 to EPIC-Oxford), Medical Research Council (1000143 to EPIC-Norfolk, MR/M012190/1 to EPIC-Oxford) (United Kingdom)

Consumption of fruits, vegetables and fruit juices and differentiated thyroid carcinoma risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study.

Fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake is considered as probably protective against overall cancer risk, but results in previous studies are not consistent for thyroid cancer (TC). The purpose of this study is to examine the association between the consumption of fruits, vegetables, fruit juices and differentiated thyroid cancer risk within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. The EPIC study is a cohort including over half a million participants, recruited between 1991 and 2000. During a mean follow-up of 14 years, 748 incident first primary differentiated TC cases were identified. F&V and fruit juice intakes were assessed through validated country-specific dietary questionnaires. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox regression models adjusted for potential confounding factors. Comparing the highest versus lowest quartile of intake, differentiated TC risk was not associated with intakes of total F&V (HR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.68-1.15; p-trend = 0.44), vegetables (HR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.69-1.14; p-trend = 0.56), or fruit (HR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.79-1.26; p-trend = 0.64). No significant association was observed with any individual type of vegetable or fruit. However, there was a positive borderline trend with fruit juice intake (HR: 1.23; 95% CI: 0.98-1.53; p-trend = 0.06). This study did not find any significant association between F&V intakes and differentiated TC risk; however a positive trend with fruit juice intake was observed, possibly related to its high sugar content