A Scale-Explicit Framework for Conceptualizing the Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Land Use Changes

Hale, Iago; Wollheim, W. M.; Smith, Richard G.; Asbjornsen, Heidi; Brito, A.F.; Broders, Kirk; Grandy, A. Stuart; Rowe, Rebecca J.

doi:10.3390/su6128432

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 37 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…After significant floods in southeastern New Hampshire during 2006 and 2007, observed chloride concentrations across a broad range of discharge were distinctly lower, suggesting flushing of legacy chloride from the fifth‐order watershed (Daley et al, 2009). The mechanisms that control the dilution of road salt at affected reaches should be considered as an important secondary predictor of potential habitat degradation (Hale et al, 2014). Mechanisms that can influence dilution potential from clean headwaters include drinking and irrigation water abstractions in headwaters, and storage behind recreational dams.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controls of Chloride Loading and Impairment at the River Network Scale in New England

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Chloride contamination of rivers due to nonpoint sources is increasing throughout developed temperate regions due to road salt application in winter. We developed a river-network model of chloride loading to watersheds to estimate road salt application rates and investigated the meteorological factors that control riverine impairment by chloride at concentrations above thresholds protective of aquatic organisms. Chloride loading from road salt was simulated in the Merrimack River watershed in New Hampshire, which has gradients in development density. After calibration to a regional network of stream chloride data, the model captured the distribution of regional discharge and chloride observations with efficiencies of 93 and 75%, respectively. The estimate of road salt application is within uncertainties of inventoried estimates of road salt loading and is 122 to 214% greater than recommended targets. Model predictions of chloride showed seasonal variation in chloride concentrations despite a large groundwater storage pool. Interannual variation of mean summer chloride concentration near the outlet varied up to 18%, and the total river length exceeding impairment thresholds varied 12%. Annual snowfall, which drives road salt loading, correlated with chloride impairment only in headwater streams, whereas concentration variability at the outlet was driven primarily by dilution from clean runoff-draining undeveloped forested areas of the watershed. The role of summer meteorology complicates the protection of freshwater systems from chloride contamination.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controls of Chloride Loading and Impairment at the River Network Scale in New England

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Local socio-economic factors can be overlooked at a larger scale, thereby reducing the spatial heterogeneity of ES. Drivers of environmental change exhibit scale sensitivity 35 , and although anthropogenic drivers can operate at multiple administrative scales, the impact of human activity tends to attenuate across scales 65 . On the whole, physical environments generally determine the fundamental characteristics of ES supply and control their general spatial distributions, whereas socio-economic factors influence local scale ecological processes 24 and result in higher spatial heterogeneity of ES.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial multi-scale relationships of ecosystem services: A case study using a geostatistical methodology

Liu

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Adequately understanding the spatial multi-scale relationships of ecosystem services (ES) is an important step for environmental management decision-making. Here, we used spatially explicit methods to estimate five critical ES (nitrogen and phosphorous purifications, crop production, water supply and soil retention) related to non-point source (NPS) pollution in the Taihu Basin region of eastern China. Then a factorial kriging analysis and stepwise multiple regression were performed to identify the spatial multi-scale relationships of ES and their dominant factors at each scale. The spatial variations in ES were characterized at the 12 km and 83 km scales and the result indicated that the relationships of these services were scale dependent. It was inferred that at the 12 km scale, ES were controlled by anthropogenic activities and their relationships were dependent on socio-economic factors. At the 83 km scale, we suggested that ES were primarily dominated by the physical environment. Moreover, the policy implications of ES relationships and their dominant factors were discussed for the multi-level governance of NPS pollution. Overall, this study presents an optimized approach to identifying ES relationships at multiple spatial scales and illustrates how appropriate information can help guide water management.

show abstract

“…While agriculture can improve the health, economics, and energetic aspects of society, it may also result in critical consequences for the environment, either through emissions of greenhouse gas or reduction in the quantity and quality of water and soil [12][13][14][15]. According to several studies [16][17][18], higher rates of damage to the environment tend to occur in regions with low per capita income.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Along these lines, several authors (e.g., Wang and Qiu [21]) have reported that agriculture is responsible for more than 70% of deforestation. Framework and index approaches have been developed for assessing environmental sustainability in agriculture [14,15,22], in an effort to implement policies to reduce agricultural pollution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cropping System Diversification: Water Consumption against Crop Production

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This research reports on two pepper species cultivated in a pilot plot and protected under white shade nets during the 2014, 2015 and 2016 growing seasons. The goal of the study was to compare crop yield, water productivity, and economic productivity between sorghum and corn as extensive crops (ECs), and habanero peppers and bell peppers as intensive crops (ICs). The average values of crop yield, water productivity, and economic productivity were 4.8 Mg (Tons) ha −1 , 1.1 kg m −3 , and 722.00 USD ha −1 for sorghum; and 7.0 Mg ha −1 , 1.2 kg m −3 , and 1390.00 USD ha −1 for corn. Average values of 45.0 Mg ha −1 , 7.3 kg m −3 , and 85,900.00 USD ha −1 ; and 72.5 Mg ha −1 , 10.4 kg m −3 , and 66,390.00 USD ha −1 were obtained for habanero peppers and bell peppers, respectively-both were cultivated during 2014, 2015 and 2016. According to the climate conditions of this region, crop water requirements for pepper crops are 41.66% higher than for grain crops; nevertheless, the on-farm water application efficiencies are 92% and 58% respectively. Consequently, 11.97% more water is used for ICs than for ECs. The economic profitability for farmers was 72 times higher for intensive crops than for extensive crops.

show abstract

A Scale-Explicit Framework for Conceptualizing the Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Land Use Changes

Cited by 16 publications

References 37 publications

Controls of Chloride Loading and Impairment at the River Network Scale in New England

Controls of Chloride Loading and Impairment at the River Network Scale in New England

Spatial multi-scale relationships of ecosystem services: A case study using a geostatistical methodology

Cropping System Diversification: Water Consumption against Crop Production

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About