| 1. |
- Hartmann, Martin, et al.
(författare)
-
Significant and persistent impact of timber harvesting on soil microbial communities in Northern coniferous forests
- 2012
-
Ingår i: The ISME Journal. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1751-7362 .- 1751-7370. ; 6:12, s. 2199-2218
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Forest ecosystems have integral roles in climate stability, biodiversity and economic development. Soil stewardship is essential for sustainable forest management. Organic matter (OM) removal and soil compaction are key disturbances associated with forest harvesting, but their impacts on forest ecosystems are not well understood. Because microbiological processes regulate soil ecology and biogeochemistry, microbial community structure might serve as indicator of forest ecosystem status, revealing changes in nutrient and energy flow patterns before they have irreversible effects on long-term soil productivity. We applied massively parallel pyrosequencing of over 4.6 million ribosomal marker sequences to assess the impact of OM removal and soil compaction on bacterial and fungal communities in a field experiment replicated at six forest sites in British Columbia, Canada. More than a decade after harvesting, diversity and structure of soil bacterial and fungal communities remained significantly altered by harvesting disturbances, with individual taxonomic groups responding differentially to varied levels of the disturbances. Plant symbionts, like ectomycorrhizal fungi, and saprobic taxa, such as ascomycetes and actinomycetes, were among the most sensitive to harvesting disturbances. Given their significant ecological roles in forest development, the fate of these taxa might be critical for sustainability of forest ecosystems. Although abundant bacterial populations were ubiquitous, abundant fungal populations often revealed a patchy distribution, consistent with their higher sensitivity to the examined soil disturbances. These results establish a comprehensive inventory of bacterial and fungal community composition in northern coniferous forests and demonstrate the long-term response of their structure to key disturbances associated with forest harvesting.
|
|
| 2. |
- Englund, Oskar, 1982
(författare)
-
On Sustainability of Biomass for Energy and the Governance Thereof
- 2016
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Due to concerns about climate change, energy security, and resource scarcity, non- renewable resources are increasingly being displaced by biomass. As with most human activities, the production of biobased products can be associated with negative impacts. Primarily, this relates to the biomass supply systems, i.e., agriculture and forestry, which currently are major causes of biodiversity loss and degradation of ecosystem services. Developing sustainable production systems when transitioning from non-renewable resources to biomass is imperative. This thesis aims to clarify the meaning of sustainability in the context of biomass for bioenergy, and contribute to our understanding of how different forms of governance can promote sustainably sourced biomass for bioenergy. The thesis is based on five appended papers: Paper I analyses to what extent, where, and under what conditions oil palm for biodiesel in Brazil can be produced profitably, and what risks and opportunities that can be associated with introducing large-scale oil palm production in Brazil. Paper II lays the foundation for understanding how new biomass production can be introduced into landscapes while supporting rather than compromising the ability of the landscape to supply other ecosystem services. Paper III describes different forms of governance and shows how these can play different roles in promoting sustainable bioenergy in different countries. Paper IV focuses on how short rotation coppice production systems are affected by EU policy and how different governance forms can assist in adapting production systems to conform to the corresponding sustainability requirements. Finally, Paper V assesses how sustainability certification (private governance) addresses biodiversity conservation and contributes to our understanding of possible improvements.
|
|
| 3. |
- Englund, Oskar, et al.
(författare)
-
Beneficial land use change: Strategic expansion of new biomass plantations can reduce environmental impacts from EU agriculture
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Global Environmental Change. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-3780 .- 1872-9495. ; 60
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Society faces the double challenge of increasing biomass production to meet the future demands for food, materials and bioenergy, while addressing negative impacts of current (and future) land use. In the discourse, land use change (LUC) has often been considered as negative, referring to impacts of deforestation and expansion of biomass plantations. However, strategic establishment of suitable perennial production systems in agricultural landscapes can mitigate environmental impacts of current crop production, while providing biomass for the bioeconomy. Here, we explore the potential for such “beneficial LUC” in EU28. First, we map and quantify the degree of accumulated soil organic carbon losses, soil loss by wind and water erosion, nitrogen emissions to water, and recurring floods, in ∼81.000 individual landscapes in EU28. We then estimate the effectiveness in mitigating these impacts through establishment of perennial plants, in each landscape. The results indicate that there is a substantial potential for effective impact mitigation. Depending on criteria selection, 10–46% of the land used for annual crop production in EU28 is located in landscapes that could be considered priority areas for beneficial LUC. These areas are scattered all over Europe, but there are notable “hot-spots” where priority areas are concentrated, e.g., large parts of Denmark, western UK, The Po valley in Italy, and the Danube basin. While some policy developments support beneficial LUC, implementation could benefit from attempts to realize synergies between different Sustainable Development Goals, e.g., “Zero hunger”, “Clean water and sanitation”, “Affordable and Clean Energy”, “Climate Action”, and “Life on Land”.
|
|
| 4. |
- Cintas Sanchez, Olivia, 1982, et al.
(författare)
-
Geospatial supply-demand modeling of lignocellulosic biomass for electricity and biofuels in the European Union
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Biomass and Bioenergy. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-2909 .- 0961-9534. ; 144
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bioenergy can contribute to achieving European Union (EU) climate targets while mitigating impacts from current agricultural land use. A GIS-based modeling framework (1000 m resolution) is employed to match biomass supply (forest and agricultural residues, complemented by lignocellulosic energy crops where needed) with biomass demand for either electricity or bio-oil production on sites currently used for coal power in the EU-28, Norway, and Switzerland. The framework matches supply and demand based on minimizing the field-to-gate costs and is used to provide geographically explicit information on (i) plant-gate supply cost; (ii) CO2 savings; and (iii) potential mitigation opportunities for soil erosion, flooding, and eutrophication resulting from the introduction of energy crops on cropland. Converting all suitable coal power plants to biomass and assuming that biomass is sourced within a transport distance of 300 km, would produce an estimated 150 TW h biomass-derived electricity, using 1365 PJ biomass, including biomass from energy crops grown on 6 Mha. Using all existing coal power sites for bio-oil production in 100-MW pyrolysis units could produce 820 PJ of bio-oil, using 1260 PJ biomass, including biomass from energy crops grown on 1.8 Mha. Using biomass to generate electricity would correspond to an emissions reduction of 135 MtCO2, while using biomass to produce bio-oil to substitute for crude oil would correspond to a reduction of 59 MtCO2. In addition, energy crops can have a positive effect on soil organic carbon in most of the analyzed countries. The mitigation opportunities investigated range from marginal to high depending on location.
|
|
| 5. |
- Englund, Oskar, et al.
(författare)
-
Multifunctional perennial production systems for bioenergy: performance and progress
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. - : Wiley. - 2041-8396 .- 2041-840X.
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As the global population increases and becomes more affluent, biomass demands for food and biomaterials will increase. Demand growth is further accelerated by the implementation of climate policies and strategies to replace fossil resources with biomass. There are, however, concerns about the size of the prospective biomass demand and the environmental and social consequences of the corresponding resource mobilization, especially concerning impacts from the associated land-use change. Strategically integrating perennials into landscapes dominated by intensive agriculture can, for example, improve biodiversity, reduce soil erosion and nutrient emissions to water, increase soil carbon, enhance pollination, and avoid or mitigate flooding events. Such ?multifunctional perennial production systems? can thus contribute to improving overall land-use sustainability, while maintaining or increasing overall biomass productivity in the landscape. Seven different cases in different world regions are here reviewed to exemplify and evaluate (a) multifunctional production systems that have been established to meet emerging bioenergy demands, and (b) efforts to identify locations where the establishment of perennial crops will be particularly beneficial. An important barrier towards wider implementation of multifunctional systems is the lack of markets, or policies, compensating producers for enhanced ecosystem services and other environmental benefits. This deficiency is particularly important since prices for fossil-based fuels are low relative to bioenergy production costs. Without such compensation, multifunctional perennial production systems will be unlikely to contribute to the development of a sustainable bioeconomy.
|
|
| 6. |
- Egeskog, Andrea, 1981, et al.
(författare)
-
Actions and opinions of Brazilian farmers who shift to sugarcane : an interview-based assessment with discussion of implications for land-use change
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Land use policy. - Kidlington : Elsevier. - 0264-8377 .- 1873-5754. ; 57, s. 594-604
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sugarcane ethanol systems can deliver large greenhouse gas emissions savings if emissions associated with land-use change are kept low. This qualitative study documents and analyzes actions and opinions among Brazilian farmers who shift to sugarcane production. Semi-structured interviews were held with 28 actors associated with sugarcane production in three different regions: one traditional sugarcane region and two regions where sugarcane is currently expanding. Most farmers considered sugarcane a land diversification option with relatively low economic risk, although higher risk than their previous land use. Beef production was considered a low-risk option, but less profitable than sugarcane. In conjunction with converting part of their land to sugarcane, most farmers maintained and further intensified their previous agricultural activity, often beef production. Several farmers invested in expanded production in other regions with relatively low land prices. Very few farmers in the expansion regions shifted all their land from the former, less profitable, use to sugarcane. Very few farmers in this study had deforested any land in connection with changes made when shifting to sugarcane. The respondents understand "environmental friendliness" as compliance with the relevant legislation, especially the Brazilian Forest Act, which is also a requirement for delivering sugarcane to the mills. Indirect land-use change is not a concern for the interviewed farmers, and conversion of forests and other native vegetation into sugarcane plantations is uncontroversial if legal. We derive hypotheses regarding farmers' actions and opinions from our results. These hypotheses aim to contribute to better understanding of what takes place in conjunction with expansion of sugarcane and can, when tested further, be of use in developing, e.g., policies for iLUC-free biofuel production.
|
|
| 7. |
- Berndes, Göran, 1966, et al.
(författare)
-
Is it possible to avoid bad impacts by using good fuel ethanol?
- 2010
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Much of the global production of biofuels is considered to be non-sustainable. Brazilian sugarcane ethanol, on the other hand, is normally judged to be “good”. Swedes are anxious only to use fuel ethanol with the best climate characteristics in a life-cycle perspective, and the bulk of ethanol used in Sweden comes from Brazil. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has identified some crucial issues which often are left out from discussions. These might be of extra importance for the Swedish ethanol use: - Might Swedish demand for good ethanol indirectly raise the demand for “bad” ethanol, such as US maize ethanol with fossil energy input? Or is it possible to encourage the production of exclusively “good” ethanol by choosing such (certified) ethanol? This depends on how the international market for fuel ethanol works. - To what extent does increased Swedish, or European, demand encourage the long-term supply of ethanol? What supply elasticities are there in Brazil and globally? If increased European use only means that we take hold of a fixed supply, the climate benefit compared to fossil fuels will not occur. The analyses are further complicated by the fact that there might be land-use competition between fuel, feedstuffs and food. When available land becomes more limited, increased production might necessitate breaking new soil, which could lead to emissions of climate-changing gases elsewhere. Consequently it is not only the fuel market itself that needs to be analysed.
|
|
| 8. |
- Mc Conville, Jennifer R, 1978, et al.
(författare)
-
Closing the food loops: Guidelines and criteria for improving nutrient management
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1548-7733. ; 11:2, s. 33-43
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As global consumption expands, the world is increasingly facing threats to resource availability and food security. To meet future food demands, agricultural resource efficiency needs to be optimized for both water and nutrients. Policy makers should start to radically rethink nutrient management across the entire food chain. Closing the food loop by recycling nutrients in food waste and excreta is an important way of limiting the use of mineral nutrients, as well as improving national and global food security. This article presents a framework for sustainable nutrient management and discusses the responsibility of four key stakeholder groups—agriculture, the food industry, consumers, and waste management—for achieving an effective food loop. In particular, we suggest a number of criteria, policy actions, and supporting strategies based on a cross-sectoral application of the waste hierarchy.
|
|
| 9. |
- Einarsson, Rasmus, 1988, et al.
(författare)
-
Estimating the EU biogas potential from manure and crop residues — A spatial analysis
- 2015
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Anaerobic fermentation of agricultural wastes such as crop residues and animal manure, producing biogas, is an example of an advanced biofuel that can contribute to the EU target of a minimum 10% of transport fuels from renewable sources in 2020. Producing biogas from residues has received increasing attention following the debate on the impact conventional biofuel production has on food prices, poverty and land-use change. The EU, as well as major producers of biogas such as Germany and Italy, are currently revising their policy framework to incentivize the sourcing of biogas substrates from waste streams.Given these developments it is important to improve our understanding of how large the potential is for producing biogas and biomethane from agricultural wastes in the EU, how that potential is distributed across member states, and what the main limitations to this potential are. Previous studies on the potential for producing biogas from agricultural wastes in the EU, however, have either been local cases studies that account for a host of detailed economic and technical constraints, an approach that is almost impossible to scale up to the EU level, or top-down assessments of gross substrate potentials that do not account for any of the technical and economic limitations specific to biogas production.In this report we present a spatially explicit approach for estimating the availability of agricultural wastes - crop residues and animal manure - across the EU, which also allows for an analysis of how key economic and technical constraints such as minimum viable plant size, maximum collection distances for substrates, and substrate composition affects the total potential for biogas production.Our main results from this analysis can be summarized as follows:* Total annually available biogas substrates from agricultural wastes in the EU28 amounts to roughly 80 million tonnes of crop residues (dry matter) and 110 million tonnes (dry matter) of animal manure.* In our base case scenario, three quarters of the manure and a fifth of the crop residues are technically and economically exploitable for biogas production, yielding a total biogas potential from agricultural wastes of almost 700 PJ (HHV) per year.* Animal production and arable farming are spatially highly segregated in some parts of the EU28. This leads to some areas having considerable surpluses of either dry, carbon-rich crop residues or nitrogen-rich manures which cannot be fully utilized due to technical constraints on dry matter content and carbon-to-nitrogen ratios. There are, however, potential ways to relax these constraints, for example using dry fermentation technology or adding wet, carbon-rich co-substrates, such as energy crops.* If we assume a larger minimum viable biogas plant size of 8 MW, typical if the biogas is to be upgraded to vehicle fuel quality, the potential decreases by about a quarter. However, the base case potential can still be reached or even surpassed under this constraint if one allows for a somewhat increased collection radius for substrates or if the constraint on maximum dry matter content is relaxed.
|
|
| 10. |
- Dale, Virginia H., et al.
(författare)
-
Status and prospects for renewable energy using wood pellets from the southeastern United States
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Global Change Biology Bioenergy. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1757-1693 .- 1757-1707. ; 9:8, s. 1296-1305
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ongoing debate about costs and benefits of wood-pellet based bioenergy production in the southeastern United States (SE USA) requires an understanding of the science and context influencing market decisions associated with its sustainability. Production of pellets has garnered much attention as US exports have grown from negligible amounts in the early 2000s to 4.6 million metric tonnes in 2015. Currently, 98% of these pellet exports are shipped to Europe to displace coal in power plants. We ask, 'How is the production of wood pellets in the SE USA affecting forest systems and the ecosystem services they provide?' To address this question, we review current forest conditions and the status of the wood products industry, how pellet production affects ecosystem services and biodiversity, and what methods are in place to monitor changes and protect vulnerable systems. Scientific studies provide evidence that wood pellets in the SE USA are a fraction of total forestry operations and can be produced while maintaining or improving forest ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are protected by the requirement to utilize loggers trained to apply scientifically based best management practices in planning and implementing harvest for the export market. Bioenergy markets supplement incomes to private rural landholders and provide an incentive for forest management practices that simultaneously benefit water quality and wildlife and reduce risk of fire and insect outbreaks. Bioenergy also increases the value of forest land to landowners, thereby decreasing likelihood of conversion to nonforest uses. Monitoring and evaluation are essential to verify that regulations and good practices are achieving goals and to enable timely responses if problems arise. Conducting rigorous research to understand how conditions change in response to management choices requires baseline data, monitoring, and appropriate reference scenarios. Long-term monitoring data on forest conditions should be publicly accessible and utilized to inform adaptive management.
|
|
