Mapping eutrophication risk from climate change: future phosphorus concentrations in English rivers

Climate change is expected to increase eutrophication risk in rivers yet few studies identify the timescale or spatial extent of such impacts. Phosphorus concentration, considered the primary driver of eutrophication risk in English rivers, may increase through reduced dilution particularly if river flows are lower in summer. Detailed models can indicate change in catchment phosphorus concentrations but targeted support for mitigation measures requires a national scale evaluation of risk. In this study, a load apportionment model is used to describe the current relationship between flow and total reactive phosphorus (TRP) at 115 river sites across England. These relationships are used to estimate TRP concentrations for the 2050s under 11 climate change driven scenarios of future river flows and under scenarios of both current and higher levels of sewage treatment. National maps of change indicate a small but inconsistent increase in annual average TRP concentrations with a greater change in summer. Reducing the TRP concentration of final sewage effluent to 0.5 mg/L P for all upstream sewage treatment works was inadequate to meet existing P standards required through the EU Water Framework Directive, indicating that more needs to be done, including efforts to reduce diffuse pollution

Woodland establishment reduces nutrient losses to waterbodies in urban catchments: a review of the evidence

Systematic review of peer-reviewed literature was undertaken to establish benefits of urban forests on reducing nutrient concentrations in adjacent or downstream waterbodies. Following screening, a small number of articles (40) were found relevant, representing studies quantifying non-point source nutrient losses from urban and peri-urban environments. Evidence was split between plot- and catchment-scale. Plot-scale studies often included evaluations of engineered nature-based solutions. At catchment-scale, studies of streamwater quality typically investigated influence of contributory catchment nutrient sources. Wide ranges of beneficial reductions were apparent, and at both scales not all studies identified significant benefits. Summarizing against this backdrop, at plot (micro-) scale woodland reduces mean concentrations in runoff, soil or groundwater by an average of 44.2% for total nitrogen (TN) and 47.0% for total phosphorus (TP). At catchment (meso-) scale, evidence suggests a 20% areal addition of forest at the expense of mixed urban fabric can reduce mean concentrations by 15.7% and 12.6% for TN and TP respectively. Additionally, some articles reveal potential drawbacks reducing benefits provided specifically by street trees and riparian woodland. Leaf litter falling on impervious surfaces can heighten risk of TP leaching to streams, but has little impact on TN. Riparian woodland was found to have complex water quality impacts. Canopy cover suppresses stream channel biological nitrogen uptake, which based on all evidence appears considerable. However, unshaded headwaters can foster accelerated primary productivity with undesirable downstream consequences. Overall, gathering further evidence is encouraged, given current uncertainties, especially to address differences between impervious, permeable and riparian urban woodland settings

Comment on “The complex effects of ocean acidification on the prominent N2-fixing cyanobacterium Trichodesmium”

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2017. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here under a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license granted to WHOI. It is made available for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science 357 (2017): eaao0067, doi:10.1126/science.aao0067.Hong et al. (Reports, 5 May 2017, p. 527) suggested that previous studies of the biogeochemically significant marine cyanobacterium Trichodesmium showing increased growth and nitrogen fixation at projected future high CO2 levels suffered from ammonia or copper toxicity. They reported that these rates instead decrease at high CO2 when contamination is alleviated. We present and discuss results of multiple published studies refuting this toxicity hypothesis

How robust is the evidence for beneficial hydrological effects of urban tree planting?

Sustainable urban water management initiatives are increasingly required to combat rapid urbanisation and climate pressures. Initiatives include the role of tree planting for which there is need for strong evidence of benefits and drawbacks to support effective future planning. We report robustness of evidence from an assimilated database of urban hydrological impact studies which often had differing primary purposes. Consistent impacts were found at local level, with trees reducing runoff and infiltration. Despite the consistency of evidence, much is undermined by being somewhat lacking in robustness and scientific rigour. Many studies lack adequate controls, and models are often not strongly tested against observations. Moreover, evidence of impact at larger scales is lacking. Effects of tree characteristics were also investigated; such as maturity and species for which evidence is consistent and detailed, and arrangement for which there is less evidence. Realising the full potential of trees in urban water management decision-making would benefit from more-rigorous evidence

Mechanisms of increased Trichodesmium fitness under iron and phosphorus co-limitation in the present and future ocean

© The Author(s), 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Nature Communications 7 (2016): 12081, doi:10.1038/ncomms12081.Nitrogen fixation by cyanobacteria supplies critical bioavailable nitrogen to marine ecosystems worldwide; however, field and lab data have demonstrated it to be limited by iron, phosphorus and/or CO2. To address unknown future interactions among these factors, we grew the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Trichodesmium for 1 year under Fe/P co-limitation following 7 years of both low and high CO2 selection. Fe/P co-limited cell lines demonstrated a complex cellular response including increased growth rates, broad proteome restructuring and cell size reductions relative to steady-state growth limited by either Fe or P alone. Fe/P co-limitation increased abundance of a protein containing a conserved domain previously implicated in cell size regulation, suggesting a similar role in Trichodesmium. Increased CO2 further induced nutrient-limited proteome shifts in widespread core metabolisms. Our results thus suggest that N2-fixing microbes may be significantly impacted by interactions between elevated CO2 and nutrient limitation, with broad implications for global biogeochemical cycles in the future ocean.Grant support was provided by U.S. National Science Foundation OCE 1260490 to D.A.H., E.A.W. and F.-X.F., and OCE OA 1220484 and G.B. Moore Foundation 3782 and 3934 to M.A.S

The circular benefits of participation in nature-based solutions

Nature-based solutions (NbS) provide direct benefits to people who live in areas where these approaches are present. The degree of direct benefits (thermal comfort, reduced flood risk, and mental health) varies across temporal and spatial scales, and it can be modelled and quantified. Less clear are the indirect benefits related to opportunities to learn about the environment and its influence on personal behaviour and action. The present study, based on survey data from 1955 participants across 17 cities worldwide, addressed whether participation in NbS through two types of interactions (a passive learning experience about NbS and a more active experience based on Citizen Science) stimulates motivation and willingness to be more environmentally sustainable. Over 75% of participants improved their understanding of environmental sustainability and were highly motivated and more confident in their ability to improve sustainability in their local environment/nature. Similar percentage improvements arose from both types of activity across all cities. Those NbS that had elements of both blue and green infrastructure rated higher than those that had predominantly green NbS. Interestingly, a large percentage of the participants did not live near the NbS that were the focus of these activities. This indicated that expected spatial limitations between benefit and recipient may be overcome when dedicated programmes involve people in learning or monitoring NbS. Therefore, opportunities have arisen to expand inclusion from the immediately local to the larger community through participation and Citizen Science, with potential benefits to social cohesion and urban sustainability

Migration and Diversification of the Vagal Neural Crest

Arising within the neural tube between the cranial and trunk regions of the body axis, the vagal neural crest shares interesting similarities in its migratory routes and derivatives with other neural crest populations. However, the vagal neural crest is also unique in its ability to contribute to diverse organs including the heart and enteric nervous system. This review highlights the migratory routes of the vagal neural crest and compares them across multiple vertebrates. We also summarize recent advances in understanding vagal neural crest ontogeny and discuss the contribution of this important neural crest population to the cardiovascular system and endoderm-derived organs, including the thymus, lungs and pancreas

The lipids of the common house cricket,Acheta domesticus L. I. Lipid classes and fatty acid distribution

The lipids of the common house cricket,Acheta domesticus L., have been examined with the following results. The fatty acids associated with the lipid extracts do not change significantly from the third through the eleventh week of the crickets’ postembryonic life. The major fatty acids are linoleic (30–40%), oleic (23–27%), palmitic (24–30%), and stearic acids (7–11%). There are smaller amounts of palmitoleic (3–4%), myristic (∼1%), and linolenic acids (<1%). The fatty acid composition of the cricket lipids reflects but is not identical to the fatty acids of the dietary lipids: linoleic (53%), oleic (24%), palmitic (15%), stearic (3%), myristic (2%), and linolenic acid (2%).The amount of triglycerides present in the crickets increases steadily from the second through the seventh or eighth week of postembryonic life, then drops sharply. Other lipid classes, such as hydrocarbons, simple esters, diglycerides, monoglycerides, sterols, and free fatty acids remain about constant. The composition of the fatty acids associated with the tri‐, di‐, and monoglycerides and the free fatty acid fraction are all about the same. The fatty acids associated with the simple esters are high in stearic acid.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142007/1/lipd0247.pd

Considerations in Building and Fielding MPDV

Author Institution: National Security Technologies, LLCSlides presented at the 6th Annual Photonic Doppler Velocimetry (PDV) Workshop held at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, November 3-4, 2011

The future depends on what we do today – projecting Europe’s surface water quality into three different future scenarios

There are infinite possible future scenarios reflecting the impacts of anthropogenic multiple stress on our planet. These impacts include changes in climate and land cover, to which aquatic ecosystems are especially vulnerable. To assess plausible developments of the future state of European surface waters, we considered two climate scenarios and three storylines describing land use, management and anthropogenic development (‘Consensus’, ‘Techno’ and ‘Fragmented’, which in terms of environmental protection represent best-, intermediate- and worst-case, respectively). Three lake and four river basins were selected, representing a spectrum of European conditions through a range of different human impacts and climatic, geographical and biological characteristics. Using process-based and empirical models, freshwater total nitrogen, total phosphorus and chlorophyll-a concentrations were projected for 2030 and 2060. Under current conditions, the water bodies mostly fail good ecological status. In future predictions for the Techno and Fragmented World, concentrations further increased, while concentrations generally declined for the Consensus World. Furthermore, impacts were more severe for rivers than for lakes. Main pressures identified were nutrient inputs from agriculture, land use change, inadequately managed water abstractions and climate change effects. While the basins in the Continental and Atlantic regions were primarily affected by land use changes, in the Mediterranean/Anatolian the main driver was climate change. The Boreal basins showed combined impacts of land use and climate change and clearly reflected the climate-induced future trend of agricultural activities shifting northward. The storylines showed positive effects on ecological status by classical mitigation measures in the Consensus World (e.g. riparian shading), technical improvements in the Techno World (e.g. increasing wastewater treatment efficiency) and agricultural extensification in the Fragmented World. Results emphasize the need for implementing targeted measures to reduce anthropogenic impacts and the importance of having differing levels of ambition for improving the future status of water bodies depending on the societal future to be expected