Test and application of a vegetation-based CO2 and CH4 flux estimate from three ombrogenic and topogenic peatlands in Southern Germany

A stabilisation and restoration of peatlands is seen as a sustainable strategie for climate change mitigation. To find the most suitable target areas, greenhouse gas fluxes have to be quantified. A vegetation-based flux estimate is seen as cost-effective alternative to avoid time consuming and expensive flux measurements. The present study aims to define current obstacles and limitations to a vegetation-based flux estimate and define a possible scope for vegetation-based flux estimates in Baden-Württemberg. A case study was performed in three ombrogenic and topogenic mires in Southern Germany using the tools Greenhouse Gas Emission Site Type (GEST) for non-forest sites and IPCC’s ‘Good Practise Guidance for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry’(GPG-LULUCF) for forest sites. The study was limited to carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes, shown as CO2 equivalents (CO2e). Based on 115 vegetation relevés, three vegetation classification systems on non-forest sites ‘vegetation forms’, ‘phytosociological plant communities’ and ‘Biotope types of Baden-Württemberg’ were compared to test if they can replace each other in a flux estimate. Calculation parameters for forest-sites were chosen for the study area. A greenhouse gas balance was established for the study area. The reviewed vegetation classification systems showed inconsistent overlaps. Hence, the vegetation classification systems were considered to be not completely compatible. As descripition of vegetation forms was considered to be insufficient for Southern Germany, an application of vegetation-based CO2 and CH4 flux estimates was considered to be difficult in Baden-Württemberg. Mean CO2 and CH4 emissions of 9,7 t CO2e ha-1 yr-1 were estimated in the study area. Emissions from forested peat were smaller than from mire and from grassland on peat. However, the selection of parameters for GPG-LULUCF and associated inaccuracies influenced the estimate. Footpaths and roads, watercourses and lakes, pastures, cropland and clearcut were not considered and N2O emissions were excluded from the estimate. Considering these limitations of the estimate, vegetation-based carbon estimates should be verified and refined before a statewide application

„Acting as a Moral Human Being - Neglecting Economic Studies“. Situation, Concepts and Challenges of Economic Studies at German Primary Schools

Children are affected by poverty, unemployment and pollution; they are a target group for firms. Without doubt they have to deal with the problems of economic allocation, distribution and stabilisation. But children are also individuals with needs and purchasing power, who make economic decisions themselves and influence those of others. Children interpret and construct their own explanations for these phenomena and build their own problem-solving strategies. Do shops create goods themselves? Do banks produce money? Is the function of a bank the protection of money against theft? Does the government tell people which job to do? Can everybody choose what he or she wants? Is a car more expensive than a jumper because it is bigger or because it can be driven? If school is supposed to help children understand and act in the world they are living in, then even at primary school economic world can not be blanked out. The main aim of this contribution is to analyse, if German curricula for primary schools as well as the main association of primary school attach importance to the economic phenomena in a child's world. As these concepts are not developed by experts of economic education but by experts of primary education, I want to contrast these aims with three concepts respectively aims of economic education at primary school developed by experts of economic education. So the extremes can be shown: Which importance could economic education get und which is currently attached. However, also the concepts and aims of constructors of concepts for economic education do not satisfy totally. Either they derive their aims directly from economics as a science or from economic situations children take part or should know about. They draw out what children should know about or what children could do to learn about, seldom is pointed out, what children should be able to understand and responsibly act. Therefore an understanding of children's construction of economic world is necessary. These constructs are analysed by economic psychologists. These results allow referring to the children's naive theories in order to help them understand and act in their economic world. As pure analysis does not satisfy by discovering lacks, I will discuss competences which should be related to the approach of experts of children's education as well as to experts of economic education, taking into account the results of economic psychologists. Finally, without winning the teacher children will not learn anything about economics at school, so I will finish with an approach to win the teachers

On approximate cores of non-convex economies

Grodal B, Trockel W, Weber S. On approximate cores of non-convex economies. Economics letters. 1984;15(3-4):197-202.In this note we investigate, for non-convex finite economies, the relationship between the existence of approximate core allocations and the size of an economy