| 1. |
- Lundin, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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Soil processes and functions across an international network of Critical Zone Observatories: introduction to experimental methods and initial results
- 2012
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Ingår i: Comptes Rendus Géoscience. - : Elsevier BV. - 1631-0713. ; 344, s. 758-772
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Growth in human population and demand for wealth creates ever-increasing pressure on global soils, leading to soil losses and degradation worldwide. Critical Zone science studies the impact linkages between these pressures, the resulting environmental state of soils, and potential interventions to protect soil and reverse degradation. New research on soil processes is being driven by the scientific hypothesis that soil processes can be described along a life cycle of soil development. This begins with formation of new soil from parent material, development of the soil profile, and potential loss of the developed soil functions and the soil itself under overly intensive anthropogenic land use, thus closing the cycle. Four Critical Zone Observatories in Europe have been selected focusing research at sites * Corresponding author. E-mail address:s.a.banwart@sheffield.ac.uk (S. Banwart). Contents lists available atSciVerse ScienceDirect Comptes Rendus Geoscience w ww.s c ien ced irec t.c o m 1631-0713/$ – see front matter2012 Acade¡¦mie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crte.2012.10.007 1. Introduction Increasing global population, estimated to reach 9 billion by 2050, is placing ever-increasing pressure on natural resources, soils being no exception ( 2011 Traditionally, soils have been largely managed with a single use in mind, primarily for food, feed or fibre production. However, soils provide other important functions ( our terrestrial ecosystems, regulating the atmosphere through carbon storage, filtering water, recycling waste,Banwart,), with the need to feed, clothe and shelter so many.Blum, 2006) including supporting and sustaining that represent key stages along the hypothetical soil life cycle; incipient soil formation, productive use of soil for farming and forestry, and decline of soil due to longstanding intensive agriculture. Initial results from the research show that soil develops important biogeochemical properties on the time scale of decades and that soil carbon and the development of favourable soil structure takes place over similar time scales. A new mathematical model of soil aggregate formation and degradation predicts that set-aside land at the most degraded site studied can develop substantially improved soil structure with the accumulation of soil carbon over a period of several years. Further results demonstrate the rapid dynamics of soil carbon; how quickly it can be lost, and also demonstrate how data from the CZOs can be used to determine parameter values for models at catchment scale. A structure for a new integrated Critical Zone model is proposed that combines process descriptions of carbon and nutrient flows, a simplified description of the soil food web, and reactive transport; all coupled with a dynamic model for soil structure and soil aggregation. This approach is proposed as a methodology to analyse data along the soil life cycle and test how soil processes and rates vary within, and between, the CZOs representing different life cycle stages. In addition, frameworks are discussed that will help to communicate the results of this science into a more policy relevant format using ecosystem service approaches.
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| 2. |
- Maia De Souza, Danielle
(författare)
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Addressing biodiversity and ecosystem services in Life Cycle Assessment
- 2016
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Ingår i: Handbook on biodiversity and ecosystem services in impact assessment. - 9781783478989 ; , s. 140-163
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is to provide a quantification of the potential environmental impacts of goods and processes for the cycle of production from "cradle to grave". Eventually impacts may be translated into damage to three defined Areas of Protection (AoP): Human Health, Natural Environment and Resources. Ecosystem services and biodiversity loss have been proposed as suitable endpoints to quantify damage in the AoP of Natural Environment. Both are complex subjects difficult to be measured with simple indicators due to the different nature of damages involved as well as region specificities. The comprehensive scope of LCA requires a simplification of such complex mechanisms in order to allow evaluating impacts occurring all along the life cycle in diverse locations, hindering the definition of an ideal indicator. Significant data requirements with global coverage and yet allowing for spatial dependency result in substantive challenges for the scientific community. In the first section of this chapter, after a brief introduction to LCA, the environmental mechanisms affecting biodiversity and ecosystems services and their quantitative link to damages to the Natural Environment are presented. The second section introduces the state of the art of the different impact indicator proposals addressing biodiversity loss and change in ecosystem services in the frame of LCA. The review focuses on the effects of land use and land use change as one of the key drivers of biodiversity loss. The last section addresses the main challenges in the quest for good and harmonized indicators, such as data availability; selection of a suitable reference state; spatial differentiation; different biodiversity levels of organization (genes, species and ecosystems); biogeographical area coverage; and scales of assessment and non-linear damage relationships.
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| 3. |
- Maia De Souza, Danielle
(författare)
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Assessing biodiversity loss due to land use with Life Cycle Assessment: are we there yet?
- 2015
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 21, s. 32-47
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ecosystems are under increasing pressure from human activities, with land use and land-use change at the forefront of the drivers that provoke global and regional biodiversity loss. The first step in addressing the challenge of how to reverse the negative outlook for the coming years starts with measuring environmental loss rates and assigning responsibilities. Pinpointing the global pressures on biodiversity is a task best addressed using holistic models such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA is the leading method for calculating cradle-to-grave environmental impacts of products and services; it is actively promoted by many public policies, and integrated as part of environmental information systems within private companies. LCA already deals with the potential biodiversity impacts of land use, but there are significant obstacles to overcome before its models grasp the full reach of the phenomena involved. In this review, we discuss some pressing issues that need to be addressed. LCA mainly introduces biodiversity as an endpoint category modeled as a loss in species richness due to the conversion and use of land over time and space. The functional and population effects on biodiversity are mostly absent due to the emphasis on species accumulation with limited geographic and taxonomical reach. Current land-use modeling activities that use biodiversity indicators tend to oversimplify the real dynamics and complexity of the interactions of species among each other and with their habitats. To identify the main areas for improvement, we systematically reviewed LCA studies on land use that had findings related to global change and conservation ecology. We provide suggestion as to how to address some of the issues raised. Our overall objective was to encourage companies to monitor and take concrete steps to address the impacts of land use on biodiversity on a broader geographical scale and along increasingly globalized supply chains.
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| 4. |
- Maia De Souza, Danielle
(författare)
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Comparative life cycle assessment of ceramic brick, concrete brick and cast-in-place reinforced concrete exterior walls
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 137, s. 70-82
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The construction sector has a meaningful contribution to the global scarcity of natural resources, as well as to impacts on the natural environment Most life cycle assessments have focused on impacts associated with the energy efficiency of buildings, in particular during the operational phase. However, the construction phase of buildings accounts for a significant share of a building's embodied energy and is responsible for impacts related to resource depletion. With the aim to contribute to more all-embracing assessments in the construction sector, this study aims to compare three different wall types commonly used in Brazil, according to their environmental performances: ceramic brick, concrete brick and cast-in place reinforced concrete exterior walls. The results were analyzed with the software SimaPro 7.3 and with the life cycle impact assessment method IMPACT 2002+ (version Q2.2). Ceramic brick walls have less impact than the concrete brick and the cast-in-place reinforced concrete exterior walls on three different endpoint indicators (Climate Change, Resource Depletion and Water Withdrawal). The results were not significant regarding impacts on Human Health and Ecosystem, Quality. Different sensitivity analyses were carried out in order to test the final results, as well as uncertainty analysis, related to the variability of inventory data and the characterization of the life cycle inventory results into midpoints and/or endpoints. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 5. |
- Maia De Souza, Danielle
(författare)
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Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of ceramic versus concrete roof tiles in the Brazilian context
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 89, s. 165-173
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Brazilian ceramic industry is responsible for providing more than 90% of the roof coverings and wall bricks in the country, producing more than 15 billion pieces per year. In order to compare the life cycle impacts of ceramic versus concrete roofing tiles and identify potential improvements in ceramic products, we carried out a life cycle impact assessment of both products. This study aimed to compare the life cycle impacts of ceramic and concrete roof coverage over 1 m(2), with an assumed life time of 20 years in Brazil. Nine different sensitivity analyses were carried out followed by a Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis to verify the robustness of the study. The results show that ceramic tiles appear to have less impact than concrete tiles on Climate Change, Resource Depletion and Water Withdrawal, while for the remaining damage categories, Human Health and Ecosystem Quality, the difference between the two alternatives was too low to be considered significant. The use of wood chips led to significant impacts, mainly related to respiratory inorganics. Assessment of the data quality identified that the data is of generally high or acceptable quality. The sensitivity analysis and uncertainty assessment show that the conclusions are robust. (C) 2014 European Commission, Joint Research Centre. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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| 6. |
- Maia De Souza, Danielle, et al.
(författare)
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Ecosystem services in life cycle assessment: A synthesis of knowledge and recommendations for biofuels
- 2018
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Ingår i: Ecosystem Services. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0416. ; 30, s. 200-210
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is an increasing trend in promoting the use of biofuels for transportation as a low-fossil carbon energy source, but little knowledge on their multidimensional environmental impacts. Whole-system approaches, such as life cycle assessment (LCA), have been extensively employed to analyze the environmental performance of different biofuels. However, it remains unclear to which extent biofuels impact ecosystems and the services they provide, in particular related to different management practices. To overcome this challenge, this paper draws recommendations to better holistically address ecosystem services (ES) in LCA, with a focus on biofuels. We first pinpoint some of the challenges in accounting for the concept of ES in decision-making and review some of the existing ES classification frameworks and the usefulness of the cascade model. Second, we discuss the implications of identified context-specific aspects on the modeling of biofuel production impacts on ES in LCA. Finally, we propose a conceptual framework to link ES classification systems, the cascade model and the LCA approach. Although some challenges still remain unsolved, due to the existing life cycle impact assessment structure, existing ES frameworks and the cascade model are helpful tools to better include ES into LCA of different biofuels.
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| 7. |
- Maia De Souza, Danielle
(författare)
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How Well Does LCA Model Land Use Impacts on Biodiversity?-A Comparison with Approaches from Ecology and Conservation
- 2016
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 50, s. 2782-2795
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The modeling of land use impacts on biodiversity is considered a priority in life cycle assessment (LCA). Many diverging approaches have been proposed in an expanding literature on the topic. The UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative is engaged in building consensus on a shared modeling framework to highlight best-practice and guide model application by practitioners. In this paper, we evaluated the performance of 31 models from both the LCA and the ecology/conservation literature (20 from LCA, 11 from non-LCA fields) according to a set of criteria reflecting (i) model completeness, (ii) biodiversity representation, (iii) impact pathway coverage, (iv) scientific quality, and (v) stakeholder acceptance. We show that LCA models tend to perform worse than those from ecology and conservation (although not significantly), implying room for improvement. We identify seven best-practice recommendations that can be implemented immediately to improve LCA models based on existing approaches in the literature. We further propose building a "consensus model" through weighted averaging of existing information, to complement future development. While our research focuses on conceptual model design, further quantitative comparison of promising models in shared case studies is an essential prerequisite for future informed model choice.
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| 8. |
- Maia De Souza, Danielle
(författare)
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Soil quality, properties, and functions in life cycle assessment: an evaluation of models
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 140, s. 502-515
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Soils provide essential ecosystem services for supporting both human and ecosystem needs and has been under pressures resulting from the intensification and expansion of human activities. In the last 15 years, substantial efforts have been made to quantify the impacts on soils derived from production systems and their related supply chains. In this study, a systematic, qualitative evaluation of up-to-date models connecting land occupation and land transformation to soil impact indicators (e.g., soil properties, functions, and threats) is performed. The focus is on models that may be applied for assessing supply chains, namely in the context of life cycle assessment (LCA). A range of eleven soil-related models was selected and evaluated against different criteria, including scientific soundness, stakeholders' acceptance, reproducibility, and the applicability of models from the perspective of LCA practitioners. Additionally, this study proposes a new land use cause-effect chain to qualify the impacts of land use on soils. None of the models is fulfilling all the criteria and includes comprehensively the cause-effect impact pathways. Notably, trade-offs were most frequent between the relevance of the modeled impact processes and the models' applicability. On the one hand, models proposing multi-indicators cover several drivers of impacts and have a broader scope. On the other hand, several models just focus on one driver of impact, but may provide more relevant impact characterization. Our results provide common ground for the development and identification of models that provide a comprehensive and robust assessment of land use change and land use impacts on soils. Indeed, to ensure both a comprehensive and relevant characterization of impacts, the study identifies several research needs for further models' developments, namely: 1) adopting a common land use cause-effect chain and land use classification; 2) accounting for different land management and land use intensities; 3) expanding the inventory data beyond the accounting of the area related to a certain land use; 4) assessing the added value of multi-indicators compared to single indicators, including the reduction of possible redundancies in the impact evaluation; 5) improving consistency from midpoint to endpoint characterization, especially the link with biodiversity; 6) guiding the calculation of normalization factors; and 7) assessing systematically model's uncertainty. (C) 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.
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| 9. |
- Maia De Souza, Danielle, et al.
(författare)
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SoilTrEC: a global initiative on critical zone research and integration
- 2014
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Pollution Research. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0944-1344 .- 1614-7499. ; 21, s. 3191-3195
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Soil is a complex natural resource that is considered non-renewable in policy frameworks, and it plays a key role in maintaining a variety of ecosystem services (ES) and life-sustaining material cycles within the Earth's Critical Zone (CZ). However, currently, the ability of soil to deliver these services is being drastically reduced in many locations, and global loss of soil ecosystem services is estimated to increase each year as a result of many different threats, such as erosion and soil carbon loss. The European Union Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection alerts policy makers of the need to protect soil and proposes measures to mitigate soil degradation. In this context, the European Commission-funded research project on Soil Transformations in European Catchments (SoilTrEC) aims to quantify the processes that deliver soil ecosystem services in the Earth's Critical Zone and to quantify the impacts of environmental change on key soil functions. This is achieved by integrating the research results into decision-support tools and applying methods of economic valuation to soil ecosystem services. In this paper, we provide an overview of the SoilTrEC project, its organization, partnerships and implementation.
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| 10. |
- Maia De Souza, Danielle
(författare)
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Towards consensus on land use impacts on biodiversity in LCA: UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative preliminary recommendations based on expert contributions
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 112, s. 4283–4287-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The United Nations Environment Programme/Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (UNEP/SETAC) Life Cycle Initiative organized two consensus-building workshops regarding Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) models and indicators for land use impacts on biodiversity. This article presents a synthesis of the main recommendations drawn from the opinions of the experts present, from the Initiative's perspective. The needs of LCA practitioners are crucial to determine what characteristics biodiversity assessment models should possess. Available models are mainly apt for impact hotspot detection in supply chains. If the goal is to assess the impacts of plot-level management practices they should be accompanied by other more detailed tools beyond LCA. Site-specific data are necessary to accurately assess biodiversity loss at regional and local scale, despite known constraints imposed by life cycle inventories. Examples of datasets are provided in this article. Species richness is a promising start for these models but it must be complemented with metrics for habitat configuration and intensity-based indicators. Finally, modelling results should be better coupled with policy decisions and existing strategic plans.
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