| 1. |
- Söderström, Bo, et al.
(författare)
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What are the effects of agricultural management on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks?
- 2014
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Ingår i: Environmental Evidence. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2047-2382. ; 3
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks significantly influence the atmospheric C concentration. Agricultural management practices that increase SOC stocks thus may have profound effects on climate mitigation. Additional benefits include higher soil fertility since increased SOC stocks improve the physical and biological properties of the soil. Intensification of agriculture and land-use change from grasslands to croplands are generally known to deplete SOC stocks. The depletion is exacerbated through agricultural practices with low return of organic material and various mechanisms, such as oxidation/mineralization, leaching and erosion. However, a systematic review comparing the efficacy of different agricultural management practices to increase SOC stocks has not yet been produced. Since there are diverging views on this matter, a systematic review would be timely for framing policies not only nationally in Sweden, but also internationally, for promoting long-term sustainable management of soils and mitigating climate change. Methods: The systematic review will examine how changes in SOC are affected by a range of soil-management practices relating to tillage management, addition of crop residues, manure or other organic -wastes-, and different crop rotation schemes. Within the warm temperate and the snow climate zones, agricultural management systems in which wheat, barley, rye, oats, silage maize or oilseed rape can grow in the crop rotation will be selected. The review will exclusively focus on studies conducted over at least 10 years. Searches will be made in 15 publication databases as well as in specialist databases. Articles found will be screened using inclusion/exclusion criteria at title, abstract and full-text levels, and screening consistency will be evaluated using Kappa tests. Data from articles that remain after critical appraisal will be extracted using a predefined spreadsheet. Subgroup analyses will be undertaken to elucidate statistical relationships that are specific to particular type of management interventions. Meta-regression within subgroups will be performed as well as sensitivity analysis to investigate the impact of removing groups of studies with low or unclear quality.
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| 2. |
- Bernes, Claes, et al.
(författare)
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What are the impacts of reindeer/caribou (Rangifer tarandus L.) on arctic and alpine vegetation? : A systematic review protocol
- 2013
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Ingår i: Environmental Evidence. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 2047-2382. ; 2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Reindeer and caribou (both belonging to the species Rangifer tarandus L.) are among the most important large herbivores in Eurasia’s and North America’s arctic, alpine and boreal zones. In Sweden, the impact of reindeer grazing on arctic and alpine vegetation has recently been re-evaluated. In the 1990s, records of grazing-related vegetation degradation helped to form a widespread perception that some mountain areas were overgrazed. However, later analyses have shown no evidence of large-scale overutilisation of reindeer ranges in the Swedish mountains.The present-day consensus is that overgrazing has been temporary and local, and that it rarely has caused permanent damage, but it is imperative to examine the scientific support for these views. Moreover, the Swedish Parliament has adopted an environmental quality objective according to which it is essential to preserve ‘a mountain landscape characterised by grazing’. No details have been given on how this goal is to be interpreted, which is another reason why the significance of reindeer grazing for arctic/alpine vegetation needs to be assessed.This protocol presents the methodology that will be used in a systematic review of the impact of reindeer herbivory in arctic and alpine ecosystems. The focus will be on Fennoscandia, but data from other parts of the range of R. tarandus will be used when deemed appropriate.Methods: The review will be based on primary field studies that compare vegetation subject to different degrees of reindeer/caribou herbivory (including grazing and browsing as well as trampling). Such comparisons can be either temporal, spatial or both. The review will cover impacts of herbivory in arctic, subarctic, alpine and subalpine areas (including the forest-tundra ecotone) across the range of R. tarandus, but not in boreal forests. Relevant aspects of vegetation include cover (abundance), biomass, diversity (e.g. species richness), structure, composition (including functional groups) and productivity.
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| 3. |
- Bernes, Claes, et al.
(författare)
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What is the impact of active management on biodiversity in forests set aside for conservation or restoration? : A systematic review protocol
- 2014
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Ingår i: Environmental Evidence. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2047-2382. ; 3:22
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundThe traditional approach to limiting impacts of forestry on biodiversity is to set aside forest areas of particular conservation interest, either as formally protected reserves or on a voluntary basis. Many set-asides are left more or less untouched, but some of them have a history of disturbances such as wildfires, forest grazing, coppicing or small-scale felling. Such areas may gradually lose the qualities that were to be safeguarded unless the disturbances are re-introduced (e.g. by burning) or replaced with alternatives (e.g. gap-felling). Active management of forest set-asides may be particularly relevant in areas where the biota has been impoverished by intensive and large-scale harvesting. Here, biodiversity may not be able to recover adequately without restoration measures such as gap-felling or creation of dead wood.In recent years, interest in active management of forest set-asides has increased, but opinions differ among conservationists on how such management should be balanced against non-intervention. The topic of the proposed systematic review has therefore met approval among stakeholders in Sweden, where it is currently an issue of high concern.MethodsThe review will examine primary field studies of how various forms of active management have affected biodiversity in boreal or temperate forests set aside for conservation or restoration. The primary focus will be on forest types represented in Sweden. In some cases, useful insights about management options may also be provided by studies of interventions in commercially managed forests. Non-intervention or alternative forms of active management will be used as comparators. Relevant outcomes include assemblage diversity (species richness, diversity indices), abundance of different functional or taxonomic groups of organisms, population viability of target species, and indicators of forest biodiversity such as forest structure and amounts of dead wood.The relevant scientific literature may turn out to be very heterogeneous, however. Numerous combinations of management forms and biodiversity outcomes can be conceived, and it remains to be seen whether any such combination is covered by sufficiently many studies to allow a meaningful meta-analysis. Nonetheless, it should be feasible to achieve a useful narrative synthesis of the available evidence.
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| 4. |
- Bernes, Claes, et al.
(författare)
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What is the influence on water quality in temperate eutrophic lakes of a reduction of planktivorous and benthivorous fish? : A systematic review protocol
- 2013
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Ingår i: Environmental Evidence. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 2047-2382. ; 2:1
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: In lakes that have become eutrophic due to sewage discharges or nutrient runoff from land, problems such as algal blooms and oxygen deficiency often persist even when nutrient supplies have been reduced. One reason is that phosphorus stored in the sediments can exchange with the water. There are indications that the high abundance of phytoplankton, turbid water and lack of submerged vegetation seen in many eutrophic lakes may represent a semi-stable state. For that reason, a shift back to more natural clear-water conditions could be difficult to achieve. In some cases, though, temporary mitigation of eutrophication-related problems has been accomplished through biomanipulation: stocks of zooplanktivorous fish have been reduced by intensive fishing, leading to increased populations of phytoplankton-feeding zooplankton. Moreover, reduction of benthivorous fish may result in lower phosphorus fluxes from the sediments. An alternative to reducing the dominance of planktivores and benthivores by fishing is to stock lakes with piscivorous fish. These two approaches have often been used in combination. The implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive has recently led to more stringent demands for measures against eutrophication, and a systematic review could clarify whether biomanipulation is efficient as a measure of that kind. Methods: The review will examine primary field studies of how large-scale biomanipulation has affected water quality and community structure in eutrophic lakes or reservoirs in temperate regions. Such studies can be based on comparison between conditions before and after manipulation, on comparison between treated and nontreated water bodies, or both. Relevant outcomes include Secchi depth, concentrations of oxygen, nutrients, suspended solids and chlorophyll, abundance and composition of phytoplankton, zooplankton and fish, and coverage of submerged macrophytes.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Land, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
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How effective are created or restored freshwater wetlands for nitrogen and phosphorus removal? A systematic review protocol
- 2013
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Ingår i: Environmental Evidence. - : BioMed Central. - 2047-2382. ; 2:16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Eutrophication of aquatic environments is a major environmental problem in large parts of the world.In Europe, EU legislation (the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive),international conventions (OSPAR, HELCOM) and national environmental objectives emphasize the need to reducethe input of plant nutrients to freshwater and marine environments. A widely used method to achieve this is to letwater pass through a constructed or restored wetland (CW). However, the large variation in measured nutrientremoval rates in such wetlands calls for a systematic review. The objective of this review is to quantify nitrogen andphosphorus removal rates in constructed or restored wetlands and relate them to wetland characteristics, loading characteristics, and climate factors. Wetlands are created to treat water from a number of different sources. Sources that will be considered in this review include agricultural runoff and urban storm water run-off, as well as aquaculture wastewater and outlets from domestic wastewater treatment plants, with particular attention to thesituation in Sweden. Although the performance of wetlands in temperate and boreal regions is most relevant tothe Swedish stakeholders a wider range of climatic conditions will be considered in order to make a thorough evaluation of climatic factors.Methods: Searches for primary studies will be performed in electronic databases as well as on the internet. Oneauthor will perform the screening of all retrieved articles at the title and abstract level. To check that the screeningis consistent and complies with the agreed inclusion/exclusion criteria, subsets of 100 articles will be screened by the other authors. When screening at full-text level the articles will be evenly distributed among the authors. Kappatests will be used to evaluate screening consistency. Data synthesis will be based on meta-regression. The nutrient removal rates will be taken as response variables and the effect modifiers will be used as explanatory variables. More specifically, the meta-regression will be performed using generalized additive models that can handle nonlinear relationships and major interaction effects. Furthermore, subgroup analyses will be undertaken to elucidate statistical relationships that are specific to particular types of wetlands.
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| 7. |
- Land, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
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What is the effect of phasing out long-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances on the concentrations of perfluoroalkyl acids and their precursors in the environment? A systematic review protocol
- 2015
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Ingår i: Environmental Evidence. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2047-2382. ; 4:1
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundThere is a growing concern in Sweden and elsewhere that continued emissions of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) may cause environmental as well as human health effects. PFASs are a broad class of man-made substances that have been produced and used in both commercial products and industrial processes for more than 60 years. Although the production and use of some PFASs has been phased-out in some parts of the world, it is not known what effect these actions to date have had on PFAS concentrations in the environment. Owing to the wide diversity of PFASs, it is difficult to generalize their properties, environmental fate and production histories. However, the strength and stability of the C-F bond renders the perfluoroalkyl moieties resistant to heat and environmental degradation. Several PFASs are now occurring even in very remote areas in large parts of the world, but the environmental transport and fate of substances within this group is not well understood. A systematic review may be able to determine whether the concentrations of these substances in different environments are changing in any particular direction with time, and whether the phase-outs have had any effects on the concentration trends.MethodsSearches for primary research studies reporting on temporal variations of PFAS concentrations in the environment will be performed in the scientific literature as well as in other reports. Relevant samples include both abiotic and biological samples including humans. No particular time, document type, language or geographical constraints will be applied. Two authors will screen all retrieved articles. Double screening of about 10% of the articles will be performed by all authors at both title/abstract and full-text levels. Kappa tests will be used to test if the screening is consistent. Relevant articles will be critically appraised by four authors (double checking of 25% of the articles). Quality assessment will focus on selection bias, dating of samples, sample integrity and analytical procedures. Data synthesis will be based on statistical analysis of temporal concentration trends.
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| 8. |
- Schindler, S., et al.
(författare)
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Floodplain management in temperate regions : Is multifunctionality enhancing biodiversity?
- 2013
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Ingår i: Environmental Evidence. - : BioMed Central Ltd.. - 2047-2382. ; 2:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Floodplains are among the most diverse, dynamic, productive and populated but also the most threatened ecosystems on Earth. Threats are mainly related to human activities that alter the landscape and disrupt fluvial processes to obtain benefits related to multiple ecosystem services (ESS). Floodplain management therefore requires close coordination among interest groups with competing claims and poses multi-dimensional challenges to policy-makers and project managers. The European Commission proposed in its recent Biodiversity Strategy to maintain and enhance European ecosystems and their services by establishing green infrastructure (GI). GI is assumed to provide multiple ecosystem functions and services including the conservation of biodiversity in the same spatial area. However, evidence for biodiversity benefits of multifunctional floodplain management is scattered and has not been synthesised. Methods/design: This protocol specifies the methods for conducting a systematic review to answer the following policy-relevant questions: a) what is the impact of floodplain management measures on biodiversity; b) how does the impact vary according to the level of multifunctionality of the measures; c) is there a difference in the biodiversity impact of floodplain management across taxa; d) what is the effect of the time since implementation on the impact of the most important measures; and e) are there any other factors that significantly modify the biodiversity impact of floodplain management measures? Within this systematic review we will assess multifunctionality in terms of ESS that are affected by an implemented intervention. Biodiversity indicators included in this systematic review will be related to the diversity, richness and abundance of species, other taxa or functional groups. We will consider if organisms are typical for and native to natural floodplain ecosystems. Specific inclusion criteria have been developed and the wide range of quality of primary literature will be evaluated with a tailor-made system for assessing susceptibility to bias and the reliability of the studies. The review is intended to bridge the science-policy interface and will provide a useful synthesis of knowledge for decision-makers at all governance levels. © 2013 Schindler et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
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| 9. |
- Andersson, Karolin
(författare)
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Effectiveness of ecotechnologies in agriculture for the recovery and reuse of carbon and nutrients in the Baltic and boreo-temperate regions: a systematic map
- 2019
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Ingår i: Environmental Evidence. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2047-2382. ; 8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Agriculture is the main sector responsible for nutrient emissions in the Baltic Sea Region and there is a growing pressure to identify cost-effective solutions towards reducing nitrogen and phosphorus loads originating from farming activities. Recycling resources from agricultural waste is central to the idea of a circular economy, and has the potential to address the most urgent problems related to nutrients use in the food chain, such as depletion of natural phosphorus reserves, water pollution and waste management. This systematic map examined what evidence exists relating to the effectiveness of ecotechnologies in agriculture for the recovery and reuse of carbon and/or nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) in the Baltic Sea region and other comparable boreo-temperate systems. Methods We searched for both academic and grey literature. English language searches were performed in 5 bibliographic databases and search platforms, and Google Scholar. Searches in 36 specialist websites were performed in English, Finnish, Polish and Swedish. The searches were restricted to the period 2013 to 2017. Eligibility screening was conducted at two levels: title and abstract (screened concurrently for efficiency) and full text. Meta-data was extracted from eligible studies including bibliographic details, study location, ecotechnology name and description, type of outcome (i.e. recovered or reused carbon and/or nutrients), type of ecotechnology in terms of recovery source, and type of reuse (in terms of the end-product). Findings are presented here narratively and in a searchable database, and are also visualised in a web-based evidence atlas (an interactive geographical information system). In addition, knowledge gaps and clusters have been identified in the evidence base and described in detail. Results We found 173 articles studying the effectiveness of 177 ecotechnologies. The majority of eligible articles were in English, originated from bibliographic databases and were published in 2016. Most studies with reported locations, and given our boreo-temperate scope, were conducted in Europe and North America. The three most prevalent ecotechnologies in the evidence base (collectively 40.7%) were; soil amendments, anaerobic digestion and (vermi)composting. Manure was the principal waste source used for recovery of nutrients or carbon, making up 55.4% of the all studies in evidence base, followed by a combination of manure and crop residues (22%). There were 51 studies with 14 ecotechnologies that reported on recovery of carbon and nutrients together, predominantly via (vermi)composting and anaerobic digestion. Only 27 studies focused on reuse of recovered nutrients and carbon through soil amendments. Conclusions This systematic map report provides an evidence base that can be useful for researchers and decision-makers in policy and practice working on transformation from linear to circular economy in the agricultural waste sector. Three potential topics for future systematic reviews are: (1) effectiveness of products recovered from different types of agricultural wastes as soil amendments or fertilizers; (2) effectiveness of anaerobic digestion as an ecotechnology used for recovery of nutrients and carbon; (3) effectiveness of composting and/or vermicomposting as ecotechnologies used for recovery of nutrients and carbon.
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| 10. |
- Barbero-Palacios, Laura, et al.
(författare)
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Herbivore diversity effects on Arctic tundra ecosystems : a systematic review
- 2024
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Ingår i: Environmental Evidence. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 2047-2382. ; 13:1
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Northern ecosystems are strongly influenced by herbivores that differ in their impacts on the ecosystem. Yet the role of herbivore diversity in shaping the structure and functioning of tundra ecosystems has been overlooked. With climate and land-use changes causing rapid shifts in Arctic species assemblages, a better understanding of the consequences of herbivore diversity changes for tundra ecosystem functioning is urgently needed. This systematic review synthesizes available evidence on the effects of herbivore diversity on different processes, functions, and properties of tundra ecosystems.Methods: Following a published protocol, our systematic review combined primary field studies retrieved from bibliographic databases, search engines and specialist websites that compared tundra ecosystem responses to different levels of vertebrate and invertebrate herbivore diversity. We used the number of functional groups of herbivores (i.e., functional group richness) as a measure of the diversity of the herbivore assemblage. We screened titles, abstracts, and full texts of studies using pre-defined eligibility criteria. We critically appraised the validity of the studies, tested the influence of different moderators, and conducted sensitivity analyses. Quantitative synthesis (i.e., calculation of effect sizes) was performed for ecosystem responses reported by at least five articles and meta-regressions including the effects of potential modifiers for those reported by at least 10 articles.Review findings: The literature searches retrieved 5944 articles. After screening titles, abstracts, and full texts, 201 articles including 3713 studies (i.e., individual comparisons) were deemed relevant for the systematic review, with 2844 of these studies included in quantitative syntheses. The available evidence base on the effects of herbivore diversity on tundra ecosystems is concentrated around well-established research locations and focuses mainly on the impacts of vertebrate herbivores on vegetation. Overall, greater herbivore diversity led to increased abundance of feeding marks by herbivores and soil temperature, and to reduced total abundance of plants, graminoids, forbs, and litter, plant leaf size, plant height, and moss depth, but the effects of herbivore diversity were difficult to tease apart from those of excluding vertebrate herbivores. The effects of different functional groups of herbivores on graminoid and lichen abundance compensated each other, leading to no net effects when herbivore effects were combined. In turn, smaller herbivores and large-bodied herbivores only reduced plant height when occurring together but not when occurring separately. Greater herbivore diversity increased plant diversity in graminoid tundra but not in other habitat types.Conclusions: This systematic review underscores the importance of herbivore diversity in shaping the structure and function of Arctic ecosystems, with different functional groups of herbivores exerting additive or compensatory effects that can be modulated by environmental conditions. Still, many challenges remain to fully understand the complex impacts of herbivore diversity on tundra ecosystems. Future studies should explicitly address the role of herbivore diversity beyond presence-absence, targeting a broader range of ecosystem responses and explicitly including invertebrate herbivores. A better understanding of the role of herbivore diversity will enhance our ability to predict whether and where shifts in herbivore assemblages might mitigate or further amplify the impacts of environmental change on Arctic ecosystems.
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