Suchergebnisse

In the United States, the Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes water quality standards important for maintaining healthy freshwater ecosystems. Within the CWA framework, states define their own water quality criteria, leading to a potential fragmentation of standards between states. This fragmentation can influence the management of shared water resources and produce spillover effects of pollutants crossing state lines and other political boundaries. We used numerical simulations to test the null prediction of no difference in impairment between watersheds that cross political boundaries (i.e. state lines, national or coastal borders, hereafter termed "transboundary") and watersheds that cross no boundaries (hereafter "internal"). We found that transboundary watersheds are more likely to be impaired than internal watersheds. Further, we examined possible causes for this relationship based on both geographic and sociopolitical drivers. Though geographic variables such as human-modified land cover and the amount of upstream catchment area are associated with watershed impairment, the number and type of agencies managing land within a watershed better explained the different impairment levels between transboundary and internal watersheds. Watersheds primarily consisting of public lands are less impaired than watersheds consisting of private lands. Similarly, watersheds primarily managed by federal agencies are less impaired than state-managed watersheds. Our results highlight the importance of considering Integrated Watershed Management strategies for water resources within a fragmented policy framework.

The term Blue Carbon (BC) was first coined a decade ago to describe the disproportionately large contribution of coastal vegetated ecosystems to global carbon sequestration. The role of BC in climate change mitigation and adaptation has now reached international prominence. To help prioritise future research, we assembled leading experts in the field to agree upon the top-ten pending questions in BC science. Understanding how climate change affects carbon accumulation in mature BC ecosystems and during their restoration was a high priority. Controversial questions included the role of carbonate and macroalgae in BC cycling, and the degree to which greenhouse gases are released following disturbance of BC ecosystems. Scientists seek improved precision of the extent of BC ecosystems; techniques to determine BC provenance; understanding of the factors that influence sequestration in BC ecosystems, with the corresponding value of BC; and the management actions that are effective in enhancing this value. Overall this overview provides a comprehensive road map for the coming decades on future research in BC science. ; P.I.M. and C.E.L. were supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Project (LP160100242). C.M.D. was supported by baseline funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. T.K. and K.W. were supported by JSPS KAKENHI (18H04156) and the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (S-14) of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan. B.D.E. was supported by Australian Research Council grants DP160100248 and LP150100519. D.A.S. was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NE/K008439/1), and D.K.J. was supported by the CARMA project (8021-00222B), funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark. Funding was provided to P.M. by the Generalitat de Catalunya (MERS, 2017SGR 1588) and an Australian Research Council LIEF Project (LE170100219). This work is contributing to the ICTA 'Unit of Excellence' (MinECo, MDM2015-0552). O.S. was supported by an ARC DECRA (DE170101524). N.M. was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MedShift project). N.B. was supported by the UK Research Councils under Natural Environment Research Council award NE/N013573/1. J.W.F. was supported by the US National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Grant No. DEB-1237517. R.S. had the support of FCT, project FCT UID/MAR/00350/2018. I.E.H. was supported by Ramon y Cajal Fellowship RYC2014-14970, co-funded by the Conselleria d'Innovació, Recerca i Turisme of the Balearic Government and the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. The University of Dundee is a registered Scottish charity, no. 015096. J.P.M. was supported by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation Long-Term Research in Environmental Biology Program (DEB-0950080, DEB-1457100, DEB-1557009).

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper. ; P.I.M. and C.E.L. were supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Project (LP160100242). C.M.D. was supported by baseline funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. T.K. and K.W. were supported by JSPS KAKENHI (18H04156) and the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (S-14) of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan. B.D.E. was supported by Australian Research Council grants DP160100248 and LP150100519. D.A.S. was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NE/K008439/1), and D.K.J. was supported by the CARMA project (8021-00222B), funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark. Funding was provided to P.M. by the Generalitat de Catalunya (MERS, 2017SGR 1588) and an Australian Research Council LIEF Project (LE170100219). This work is contributing to the ICTA 'Unit of Excellence' (MinECo, MDM2015-0552). O.S. was supported by an ARC DECRA (DE170101524). N.M. was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MedShift project). N.B. was supported by the UK Research Councils under Natural Environment Research Council award NE/N013573/1. J.W.F. was supported by the US National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Grant No. DEB-1237517. R.S. had the support of FCT, project FCT UID/MAR/00350/2018. I.E.H. was supported by Ramon y Cajal Fellowship RYC2014-14970, co-funded by the Conselleria d'Innovació, Recerca i Turisme of the Balearic Government and the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. The University of Dundee is a registered Scottish charity, no. 015096. J.P.M. was supported by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation Long-Term Research in Environmental Biology Program (DEB-0950080, DEB-1457100, DEB-1557009).

Policies aiming to preserve vegetated coastal ecosystems (VCE; tidal marshes, mangroves and seagrasses) to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions require national assessments of blue carbon resources. Here, we present organic carbon (C) storage in VCE across Australian climate regions and estimate potential annual CO2 emission benefits of VCE conservation and restoration. Australia contributes 5-11% of the C stored in VCE globally (70-185 Tg C in aboveground biomass, and 1,055-1,540 Tg C in the upper 1 m of soils). Potential CO2 emissions from current VCE losses are estimated at 2.1-3.1 Tg CO2-e yr-1, increasing annual CO2 emissions from land use change in Australia by 12-21%. This assessment, the most comprehensive for any nation to-date, demonstrates the potential of conservation and restoration of VCE to underpin national policy development for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. ; This project was supported by the CSIRO Marine and Coastal Carbon Biogeochemical Cluster, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, the ECU Faculty Research Grant Scheme and Early Career Research Grant Schemes, UTS Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster, NSW Southeast Local Land Services, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Parks Victoria, Victorian Coastal Catchment Management Authorities (GHCMA, CCMA, PPWCMA, WGCMA, EGCMA), University of Queensland Centennial Scholarship, Hodgkin Trust Scholarship, Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Northern Territory Government Innovation Grant, Australian Research Council (DE130101084, DE140101733, DE150100581, DE160100443, DE170101524, DP150103286, DP150102092, DP160100248, DP160100248, DP180101285, LE140100083, LE170100219, LP150100519, LP160100242 and LP110200975), the Generalitat de Catalunya (MERS 2014 SGR-1356), the ICTA 'Unit of Excellence' (MinECo, MDM2015-0552), Obra Social "LaCaixa", SUMILEN, CTM 2013-47728-R, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and UKM-DIP-2017-005. The authors are grateful to G. Bastyan, D. Kyrwood, G. Davis, J. Bongiovanni, A. Jesse, Q. Hua, A. Zawadzki, J. Gudiño, P. Bray, H. Markham, M. Lepore, K-le Gómez-Cabrera, and J. Pandolfi for their help in field and/or laboratory tasks.

Este artículo contiene 10 páginas, 3 tablas, 2 figuras. ; Policies aiming to preserve vegetated coastal ecosystems (VCE; tidal marshes, mangroves and seagrasses) to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions require national assessments of blue carbon resources. Here, we present organic carbon (C) storage in VCE across Australian climate regions and estimate potential annual CO2 emission benefits of VCE conservation and restoration. Australia contributes 5–11% of the C stored in VCE globally (70–185 Tg C in aboveground biomass, and 1,055–1,540 Tg C in the upper 1m of soils). Potential CO2 emissions from current VCE losses are estimated at 2.1–3.1 Tg CO2-e yr-1, increasing annual CO2 emissions from land use change in Australia by 12–21%. This assessment, the most comprehensive for any nation to-date, demonstrates the potential of conservation and restoration of VCE to underpin national policy development for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. ; This project was supported by the CSIRO Marine and Coastal Carbon Biogeochemical Cluster, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, the ECU Faculty Research Grant Scheme and Early Career Research Grant Schemes, UTS Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster, NSW Southeast Local Land Services, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Parks Victoria, Victorian Coastal Catchment Management Authorities (GHCMA, CCMA, PPWCMA, WGCMA, EGCMA), University of Queensland Centennial Scholarship, Hodgkin Trust Scholarship, Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Northern Territory Government Innovation Grant, Australian Research Council (DE130101084, DE140101733, DE150100581, DE160100443, DE170101524, DP150103286, DP150102092, DP160100248, DP160100248, DP180101285, LE140100083, LE170100219, LP150100519, LP160100242 and LP110200975), the Generalitat de Catalunya (MERS 2014 SGR-1356), the ICTA 'Unit of Excellence' (MinECo, MDM2015-0552), Obra Social "LaCaixa", SUMILEN, CTM 2013-47728-R, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and UKM-DIP-2017- 005. ; Peer reviewed