Suchergebnisse

Purpose
Nowadays, several higher education institutions around the world are integrating sustainability topics into their daily operations, functionality and education systems. This paper presents a case study from a pilot project implemented by the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald (hereafter, Greifswald University), Germany on its way towards a "carbon-neutral university". The purpose of this paper is to share an institutional process targeting a gradual transformation towards achieving carbon neutrality. This might be relevant to other higher education institutions striving for a systematic and progressive change from a traditional system to a low emission or carbon-neutral pathway.


Design/methodology/approach
To achieve carbon neutrality, three major transformative strategies were adopted: carbon reduction, carbon offsetting and mainstreaming sustainable actions via teaching and research.


Findings
A locally adaptable institutional framework on sustainability was successfully developed to: promote changes in daily operations, implement interdisciplinary research, incorporate sustainability into teaching and education and enhance outreach programs. Strong commitment from all stakeholders resulted in reduction of the university's carbon footprint from 8,985 to 4,167 tCO2e year−1. Further, the unavoidable emissions could be locally offset through enhanced carbon sequestration on the university-owned forests.


Originality/value
Based on the experiences of Greifswald University, this paper presents major challenges and success lessons learned during the process of gradual institutional transformation to achieve the target of carbon neutrality.

Alaska, Baumgrenze, Dendrochronologie, Klimawandel, Picea glauca, Waldgrenze, Waldökologie, Weißfichte, climate change, climate sensitivity, climate signal age effects, dendrochronology, dendroecology, forest ecology, tree size, white spruce

Annual rings, Climate Change, Ecosystem Dynamics, Shrubs, Vegetation Ecology, Juniperus communis, dendrochronology, ecology, wood anatomy

About 60% of the European wetlands are located in the European part of Russia. Nevertheless, data on methane emissions from wetlands of that area are absent. Here we present results of methane emission measurements for two climatically different years from a boreal peatland complex in European Russia. Winter fluxes were well within the range of what has been reported for the peatlands of other boreal regions before, but summer fluxes greatly exceeded the average range of 5–80 mgCH4m−2 d−1 for the circumpolar boreal zone. Half of the measured fluxes ranged between 150 and 450 mgCH4m−2 d−1. Extrapolation of our data to the whole boreal zone of European Russia shows that theses emissions could amount to up to 2.7±1.1 TgCH4 a−1, corresponding to 69% of the annual emissions from European wetlands or 33% of the total annual natural European methane emission. In 2008, climatic conditions corresponded to the long term mean, whereas the summer of 2011 was warmer and noticeably drier. Counterintuitively, these conditions led to even higherCH4 emissions, with peaks up to two times higher than the values measured in 2008. As Russian peatlands dominate the areal extend of wetlands in Europe and are characterized by very high methane fluxes to the atmosphere, it is evident, that sound European methane budgeting will only be achieved with more insight into Russian peatlands. ; peerReviewed

Altres ajuts europeus: P.A.W. was additionally supported by the European Union Fourth Environment and Climate Framework Programme (Project Number ENV4-CT970586)P.A.W. was additionally supported by the European Union Fourth Environment and Climate Framework Programme (Project Number ENV4-CT970586). ; The tundra is warming more rapidly than any other biome on Earth, and the potential ramifications are far-reaching because of global feedback effects between vegetation and climate. A better understanding of how environmental factors shape plant structure and function is crucial for predicting the consequences of environmental change for ecosystem functioning. Here we explore the biome-wide relationships between temperature, moisture and seven key plant functional traits both across space and over three decades of warming at 117 tundra locations. Spatial temperature-trait relationships were generally strong but soil moisture had a marked influence on the strength and direction of these relationships, highlighting the potentially important influence of changes in water availability on future trait shifts in tundra plant communities. Community height increased with warming across all sites over the past three decades, but other traits lagged far behind predicted rates of change. Our findings highlight the challenge of using space-for-time substitution to predict the functional consequences of future warming and suggest that functions that are tied closely to plant height will experience the most rapid change. They also reveal the strength with which environmental factors shape biotic communities at the coldest extremes of the planet and will help to improve projections of functional changes in tundra ecosystems with climate warming.