A new approach to optimal discretization of plant functional types in a process-based ecosystem model with forest management : a case study for temperate conifers

Aim. Dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) use a discretization of forest vegetation based on plant functional types (PFTs). The physiological and ecological parameters used to model a given PFT are usually fixed, being defined from point-based observations, while model applications are often grid-based. This rigid approach causes spatial biases in the results of DGVM-simulated productivity and biomass-related variables. We aim to overcome this limitation with a new approach that uses a hierarchical classification of forest PFT parameters from traits retrieved from the literature and from the TRY global database of plant traits. This approach is applied to temperate conifers in the ORCHIDEE-FM DGVM, which has previously been shown to produce systematic biases in the simulation of biomass and biomass increments. Location. Temperate coniferous forests in France. Methods. The five major coniferous species in France, Abies alba, Picea abies, Pinus pinaster, Pinus sylvestris and Pseudotsuga menziesii, were grouped objectively into PFTs within the ORCHIDEE-FM DGVM using a hierarchical classification based on 12 key attributes related to photosynthesis, phenology and allometric relationships. Results. We show that the single PFT covering all temperate coniferous forests used by default in ORCHIDEE-FM could be replaced by two representative subcategories defined by grouping species-level data without necessarily having to adopt a set of parameters for each species. The definition of new temperate conifer PFTs with this approach allows us to reduce the spatial heterogeneity by 40% on average in model-measurement misfit for stand volume, growth and stand density at the regional scale. Main conclusions. The proposed approach to improve the representation of PFTs in DGVMs, while keeping the number of different PFTs manageable, is promising for application to regions where a single PFT can correspond to a number of different species

Sustainability Performance of Certified and Non-certified Food: Social and Economic History

Abstract The dataset Sustainability performance of certified and non-certified food (https://www.doi.org/10.15454/OP51SJ) contains 25 indicators of economic, environmental, and social performance, estimated for 27 certified food value chains and their 27 conventional reference products. The indicators are estimated at different levels of the value chain: farm level, processing level, and retail level. It also contains the raw data based on which the indicators are estimated, its source, and the completed spreadsheet calculators for the following indicators: carbon footprint and food miles. This article describes the common method and indicators used to collect data for the twenty-seven certified products and their conventional counterparts. It presents the assumptions and choices, the process of data collection, and the indicator estimation methods designed to assess the three sustainability dimensions within a reasonable time constraint. That is: three person-months for each food quality scheme and its non-certified reference product. Several prioritisations were set regarding data collection (indicator, variable, value chain level) together with a level of representativeness specific to each variable and product type (country and sector). Technical details on how relatively common variables (e.g., number of animals per hectare) are combined into indicators (e.g., carbon footprint) are provided in the full documentation of the dataset.Publishe

Do food quality schemes and net price premiums go together?

This article addresses the issue of the profitability of Food Quality Scheme (FQS) products as compared to reference products, which are defined as analogous products without quality label. We approach this question by taking into account the level of the value chain (upstream, processing, and downstream), the sector (vegetal, animal, seafood) and the type of FQS (PGI, PDO, Organic). We collected original data for several products produced in selected European countries, as well as in Thailand and Vietnam. Comparisons depending on value chain level, sector and FQS are possible by using two comparable indicators: price premium and net price premium (including cost differential). The following principal conclusions were reached: 1) Price is higher for FQS products than for the reference products, regardless of the production level, the type of FQS or the sector; 2) Price premiums generated by FQS do not differ along the value chain, nor between sectors (vegetal, animal or seafood/fish); 3) Price premium for organic products is significantly higher than for PGI products, and this conclusion holds at upstream and processing levels, taking into account the costs directly related to production; 4) All organic products and almost all PDO and PGI products analysed benefit from a positive quality rent; 5) At upstream level and processing level, the relative weight of intermediate consumption in the cost structure is lower for organic products than for reference products.Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::12 - Producció i Consum ResponsablesPostprint (published version

Sustainability Performance of Certified and Non-certified Food

The dataset Sustainability performance of certified and non-certified food (https://www.doi.org/10.15454/OP51SJ) contains 25 indicators of economic, environmental, and social performance, estimated for 27 certified food value chains and their 27 conventional reference products. The indicators are estimated at different levels of the value chain: farm level, processing level, and retail level. It also contains the raw data based on which the indicators are estimated, its source, and the completed spreadsheet calculators for the following indicators: carbon footprint and food miles. This article describes the common method and indicators used to collect data for the twenty-seven certified products and their conventional counterparts. It presents the assumptions and choices, the process of data collection, and the indicator estimation methods designed to assess the three sustainability dimensions within a reasonable time constraint. That is: three person-months for each food quality scheme and its non-certified reference product. Several prioritisations were set regarding data collection (indicator, variable, value chain level) together with a level of representativeness specific to each variable and product type (country and sector). Technical details on how relatively common variables (e.g., number of animals per hectare) are combined into indicators (e.g., carbon footprint) are provided in the full documentation of the dataset

Are certified supply chains more socially sustainable? A bargaining power analysis

Food quality schemes (FQS: organic and geographical indication products) are often supposed to be more sustainable by their political advocates. We explore the social sustainability advantage of FQS through the lens of supply chains’ bargaining power (BP) distribution. We propose an indicator synthesizing different sources underlying BP (competition-based, transactional, institutional) and counting two dimensions (fair BP distribution and adaptation capacity), that we apply to 18 FQS supply chains and corresponding reference. FQS perform better than their reference products on both dimensions. This better performance is due to a combination of sources.Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::12 - Producció i Consum ResponsablesPostprint (published version

Sustainability performance of certified and non-certified food social and economic history

Related data set “Sustainability performance of certified and non-certified food” with doi www.doi.org/10.15454/OP51SJ in repository “Data inrae”The dataset Sustainability performance of certified and non-certified food (https://www.doi.org/10.15454/OP51SJ) contains 25 indicators of economic, environmental, and social performance, estimated for 27 certified food value chains and their 27 conventional reference products. The indicators are estimated at different levels of the value chain: farm level, processing level, and retail level. It also contains the raw data based on which the indicators are estimated, its source, and the completed spreadsheet calculators for the following indicators: carbon footprint and food miles.Article signat per 14 autors/es Valentin Bellassen, Filippo Arfini, Federico Antonioli, Antonio Bodini, Michael Boehm, Ružica Brečić, Sara Chiussi, Peter Csillag, Michele Donati, Liesbeth Dries, Marion Drut, Matthieu Duboys de Labarre, Hugo Ferrer, Jelena Filipović, Lisa Gauvrit, José M. Gil, Matthew Gorton, Viet Hoàng, Mohamed Hilal, Kamilla Knutsen Steinnes, Apichaya Lilavanichakul, Agata Malak-Rawlikowska, Edward Majewski, Sylvette Monier-Dilhan, Paul Muller, Orachos Napasintuwong, Kalliroi Nikolaou, Mai Nguyen, An Nguyễn Quỳnh, Ioannis Papadopoulos, Jack Peerlings, Aron Török, Thomas Poméon, Bojan Ristic, Burkhard Schaer, Zaklina Stojanovic, Barbara Tocco, Marina Tomic Maksan, Mario Veneziani, and Gunnar VittersoPostprint (published version

Bio-energy retains its mitigation potential under elevated CO2

Background If biofuels are to be a viable substitute for fossil fuels, it is essential that they retain their potential to mitigate climate change under future atmospheric conditions. Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration [CO2] stimulates plant biomass production; however, the beneficial effects of increased production may be offset by higher energy costs in crop management. Methodology/Main findings We maintained full size poplar short rotation coppice (SRC) systems under both current ambient and future elevated [CO2] (550 ppm) and estimated their net energy and greenhouse gas balance. We show that a poplar SRC system is energy efficient and produces more energy than required for coppice management. Even more, elevated [CO2] will increase the net energy production and greenhouse gas balance of a SRC system with 18%. Managing the trees in shorter rotation cycles (i.e. 2 year cycles instead of 3 year cycles) will further enhance the benefits from elevated [CO2] on both the net energy and greenhouse gas balance. Conclusions/significance Adapting coppice management to the future atmospheric [CO2] is necessary to fully benefit from the climate mitigation potential of bio-energy systems. Further, a future increase in potential biomass production due to elevated [CO2] outweighs the increased production costs resulting in a northward extension of the area where SRC is greenhouse gas neutral. Currently, the main part of the European terrestrial carbon sink is found in forest biomass and attributed to harvesting less than the annual growth in wood. Because SRC is intensively managed, with a higher turnover in wood production than conventional forest, northward expansion of SRC is likely to erode the European terrestrial carbon sink

Gestion forestière et cycle du carbone : apports de la modélisation à large échelle et de la télédétection

A forest management module (FMM), inspired from the stand-scale FAGACEES model has been developed, together with miscellaneous add-ins to the core of the ORCHIDEE global vegetation model. The coupling of both into ORCHIDEE-FM allows the simulation of forest carbon stocks and fluxes at a large scale, taking into account forest age structure and biomass exports related to forest management. ORCHIDEE-FM has been assessed at the different spatial and temporal scales relevant to the processes it simulates: from the heterogeneity of trees within an average stand to carbon stocks and fluxes at continental scale, and from annual fluxes to changes in stocks over the typical 100 to 200 years of a forest rotation. Three applications of the model are presented. The reconstruction of the European forest carbon sink between 1950 and 2000 concludes to a significant impact (13%) of age structure change in the simulated increase in this sink. The simulation of poplar short rotation coppices allows the economical and ecological assessment of this type of practice under a current and a future climate. Finally, the assimilation of biomass and height data, estimated from remote sensing, is found to decrease the error on simulated fluxes by 30% to 50%