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There is broad scientific consensus that current food systems are neither sustainable nor resilient: many agricultural practices are very resource-intensive and responsible for a large share of global emissions and loss of biodiversity. Consequently, current systems put large pressure on planetary boundaries. According to economic theory, food prices form when there is a balance between supply and demand. Yet, due to the neglect of negative external effects, effective prices are often far from representing the ‘true costs’. Current studies show that especially animal-based foodstuff entails vast external costs that currently stay unaccounted for in market prices. Against this background, we explore how informational campaigning on agricultural externalities can contribute to consumer awareness and tolerance of this matter. Further, we investigate the socially just design of monetary incentives and their implementation potentials and challenges. This study builds on the informational campaign of a German supermarket displaying products with two price tags: one of the current market price and the other displaying the ‘true’ price, which includes several environmental externalities calculated with True Cost Accounting (TCA). Based on interpretations of a consumer survey and a number of expert interviews, in this article we approach the potentials and obstacles of TCA as a communication tool and the challenges of its factual implementation in agri-food networks. Our results show that consumers are generally interested in the topic of true food pricing and would to a certain extent be willing to pay ‘true prices’ of the inquired foods. However, insufficient transparency and unjust distribution of wealth are feared to bring about communication and social justice concerns in the implementation of TCA. When introducing TCA into current discourse, it is therefore important to develop measures that are socially cautious and backed by relevant legal framework conditions. This poses the chance to create a fair playing (‘polluter pays’) with a clear assignment of responsibilities to policy makers, and practitioners in addition to customers.
Pilot sites are currently used to test the performance of bentonite barriers for sealing high-level radioactive waste repositories, but the degree of mineral stability under enhanced thermal conditions remains a topic of debate. This study focuses on the SKB ABM5 experiment, which ran for 5 years (2012 to 2017) and locally reached a maximum temperature of 250 °C. Five bentonites were investigated using XRD with Rietveld refinement, SEM-EDX and by measuring pH, CEC and EC. Samples extracted from bentonite blocks at 0.1, 1, 4 and 7 cm away from the heating pipe showed various stages of alteration related to the horizontal thermal gradient. Bentonites close to the contact with lower CEC values showed smectite alterations in the form of tetrahedral substitution of Si4+ by Al3+ and some octahedral metal substitutions, probably related to ferric/ferrous iron derived from corrosion of the heater during oxidative boiling, with pyrite dissolution and acidity occurring in some bentonite layers. This alteration was furthermore associated with higher amounts of hematite and minor calcite dissolution. However, as none of the bentonites showed any smectite loss and only displayed stronger alterations at the heater–bentonite contact, the sealants are considered to have remained largely intact.
According to a basic model, the formation of the coastal barriers in the southwestern Baltic can be divided into four evolutionary stages which are characterized by different rates of sea-level rise and varying relations between sediment supply and accommodation space. This model is tested using the example of a strandplain of the island Usedom, along with a local sea-level curve that reflects even smaller fluctuations of the water table and a detailed chronostratigraphy based on OSL measurements that allows the correlation of the morphodynamics with specific climatic phases. The resulting evolution scheme generally confirms the basic model but the timing of the stages depends on the inherited relief and has to be adjusted locally. A comparison with barriers from the W and SW Baltic region shows that the development during the past 5000 years was controlled by climate fluctuations which caused minor variations of the rather stable sea level and consequential changes in sediment supply, accommodation space and foredune deposition. Progradation decline can mainly be related to cool and windy climate phases which centered around 4.2, 2.8, 1.1, and 0.3 ka b2k, while increasing progradation correlated with warmer climate around 3.5, 2.0, and 0.9 ka b2k. The climate warming and the increasing sea-level rise in the recent past, however, led to shrinking progradation rates and may indicate a critical point beyond which the main progradation trend of the past turns into erosion.
Abstract
Peatlands are lands with a peat layer at the surface, containing a large proportion of organic carbon. Such lands cover ≈1 000 000 km2 in Europe, which is almost 10% of the total surface area. In many countries, peatlands have been artificially drained over centuries, leading to not only enormous emissions of CO2 but also soil subsidence, mobilization of nutrients, higher flood risks, and loss of biodiversity. These problems can largely be solved by stopping drainage and rewetting the land. Wet peatlands do not release CO2, can potentially sequester carbon, help to improve water quality, provide habitat for rare and threatened biodiversity, and can still be used for production of biomass (“paludiculture”). Wisely adjusted land use on peatlands can substantially contribute to low‐emission goals and further benefits for farmers, the economy, society, and the environment.
Toarciconiopteryx dipterosimilis gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Lower Toarcian of Grimmen (Western Pomerania, Germany) based on a hind wing. This enigmatic wing superficially resembles a dipteran forewing, but analysis in detail establishes that it belongs to the Neuroptera. We assign it to the Coniopterygidae with great confidence by its great concordance with the hind wings of that family, but a small possibility remains that it might belong to the Dipteromantispidae, although the very derived haltere-like hind wings of all its known members are entirely unlike it. We, therefore, consider it to be the oldest record of Coniopterygidae. We create the new subfamily Toarciconiopteryginae subfam. nov. for it, which is distinguished from other Coniopterygidae by its hind wings possessing two branches of RP and a proximal forking of M. These conditions are also known in some Sialidae (Megaloptera), supporting the hypothesis that Coniopterygidae is the sister group of all other Neuroptera, as Megaloptera is considered by most authors to be sister to Neuroptera. New interpretations of some aspects of the Coniopterygidae venation are proposed.
The Müritzeum is a nature discovery centre and a museum in the heart of the Mecklenburg Lake District. It is the first natural history museum in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with natural history collections that are over 150 years old, and are still growing today. The collections contain about 290 000 specimens from the fields of botany, zoology and geology. An extensive library and an archive are also
part of the museum. Collecting, preserving and researching natural history are our main spheres of activity. The exhibition in the Müritzeum offers the visitor a comprehensive insight into the development of the nature and landscape of northeastern Germany and of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Lake Müritz region in particular. The largest aquarium for indigenous freshwater species in Germany enables visitors to imagine themselves in the underwater world of the Mecklenburg Lake District.
Based on extensive investigations along the coast and in the coastal waters of NE Germany, a lithostratigraphic classification of the Holocene coastal deposits is presented. Their characteristics, i.e. the lithofacies, reflect the spatial change in hydrodynamics, sediment supply, salinity, bioproduction, etc. in the accumulation space. The displacement of the facies associated with the sea-level rise of the Baltic Sea led to the formation of regularly occurring vertical depositional sequences. From these regular profiles, four lithostratigraphic formations and two subformations of the coastal deposits can be delineated as approximately homogeneous sedimentary bodies, which are described in detail, defined in terms of their spatial extent and classified with regard to the time of accumulation.
Archaeological discoveries in the Tollense Valley represent remains of a Bronze Age battle of ca.1300–1250 BCE, documenting a violent group conflict hitherto unimagined for this period of time in Europe, changing the perception of the Bronze Age. Geoscientific, geoarchaeological and palaeobotanical investigations have reconstructed a tree- and shrubless mire characterised by sedges, reed and semiaquatic conditions with a shallow but wide river Tollense for the Bronze Age. The exact river
course cannot be reconstructed, but the distribution of fluvial deposits traces only a narrow corridor, in which the Tollense meandered close to the current riverbed. The initial formation of the valley mire dates to the transition from the Weichselian Late Glacial to the early Holocene.
A hydroxy-sodalite/cancrinite zeolite composite was synthesized from low-grade calcite-bearing kaolin by hydrothermal alkali-activation method at 160 C for 6 h. The effect of calcite addition on the formation of the hydroxy-sodalite/cancrinite composite was investigated
using artificial mixtures. The chemical composition and crystal morphology of the synthesized zeolite composite were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and N2 adsorption/desorption analyses. The average specific surface area is around 17–20 m2g-1, whereas the average pore size lies in the mesoporous range (19–21 nm). The synthesized zeolite composite was used as an adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals in aqueous solutions. Batch experiments were employed to study the influence of adsorbent dosage on heavy metal removal eciency. Results demonstrate the effective removal of significant quantities of Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn from aqueous media. A comparative study of synthesized hydroxy-sodalite and
hydroxy-sodalite/cancrinite composites revealed the latter was 16–24% more effcient at removing heavy metals from water. The order of metal uptake effciency for these zeolites was determined to be Pb > Cu > Zn > Ni. These results indicate that zeolite composites synthesized from natural calcite-bearing kaolin materials could represent effective and low-cost adsorbents for heavy metal removal using water treatment devices in regions of water hortage.
Growth corridors have been an instrument of
economic development for decades but have gained new
attention in regional economic development policies in recent years, e.g., in Sub-Saharan Africa or Southeast Asia.
They are seen by policy makers and private businesses as
catalysts of regional economic integration, pushing traditional businesses into increasingly complex international
value chains. However, the outcomes of such development
initiatives are still barely understood. Critics argue that development policies are based on simplified models that are
unable to sufficiently address the complexity of regional
development. Policies on value-chain development, for
example, can lead to conflicts, external dependencies,
land rush, and a polarization of wealth. Growth corridors
often go hand-in-hand with socio-economic transformations and land-use conflicts. This paper first discusses the
theoretically possible desired and undesired regional socio-economic effects of modern corridors. Second, we illustrate the potential and challenges to realize integrative
(or inclusive) development by contrasting three growth
corridors: the SAGCOT growth corridor in Tanzania, the
Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Corridor
(WBNLDC) in Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and the
growth corridors in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)
Multiproxy investigations of lacustrine sediments from Laguna Azul (52 °S) document multi-millennial Holocene influences of Southern Hemispheric Westerlies (SHW) on the hydroclimatic variability of south-eastern Patagonia. During the last 4000 years, this hydroclimatic variability is overprinted by centennial warm/dry periods. A cool/wet period from 11,600 to 10,100 cal. BP is succeeded by an early Holocene dry period (10,100–8300 cal. BP) with a shallow lake, strong anoxia, methanogenesis and high salinity. Between 8300 and 4000 cal. BP the influence of SHW weakened, resulting in a freshwater lake considered to be related to less arid conditions. Since 4000 cal. BP, regional temperature decreased accompanied by re-intensification of SHW reaching full strength since 3000 cal. BP. Centred around 2200, 1000 cal. BP and in the 20th century, Laguna Azul experienced century-long warm/dry spells. Between these dry periods, two pronounced moist periods are suggested to be contemporaneous to the ‘Dark Age Cold Period’ and the ‘Little Ice Age’. Different from millennial SHW variations, centennial fluctuations appear to be synchronous for South America and the Northern Hemisphere. Changes in solar activity, large volcanic eruptions and/or modulations of ocean circulation are potential triggers for this synchronicity.
Open and analysis-ready data, as well as methodological and technical advancements have resulted in an unprecedented capability for observing the Earth’s land surfaces. Over 10 years ago, Landsat time series analyses were inevitably limited to a few expensive images from carefully selected acquisition dates. Yet, such a static selection may have introduced uncertainties when spatial or inter-annual variability in seasonal vegetation growth were large. As seminal pre-open-data-era papers are still heavily cited, variations of their workflows are still widely used, too. Thus, here we quantitatively assessed the level of agreement between an approach using carefully selected images and a state-of-the-art analysis that uses all available images. We reproduced a representative case study from the year 2003 that for the first time used annual Landsat time series to assess long-term vegetation dynamics in a semi-arid Mediterranean ecosystem in Crete, Greece. We replicated this assessment using all available data paired with a time series method based on land surface phenology metrics. Results differed fundamentally because the volatile timing of statically selected images relative to the phenological cycle introduced systematic uncertainty. We further applied lessons learned to arrive at a more nuanced and information-enriched vegetation dynamics description by decomposing vegetation cover into woody and herbaceous components, followed by a syndrome-based classification of change and trend parameters. This allowed for a more reliable interpretation of vegetation changes and even permitted us to disentangle certain land-use change processes with opposite trajectories in the vegetation components that were not observable when solely analyzing total vegetation cover. The long-term budget of net cover change revealed that vegetation cover of both components has increased at large and that this process was mainly driven by gradual processes. We conclude that study designs based on static image selection strategies should be critically evaluated in the light of current data availability, analytical capabilities, and with regards to the ecosystem under investigation. We recommend using all available data and taking advantage of phenology-based approaches that remove the selection bias and hence reduce uncertainties in results.
Madagascar houses one of the Earth’s biologically richest, but also one of most endangered, terrestrial ecoregions. Although it is obvious that humans substantially altered the natural ecosystems during the past decades, the timing of arrival of early inhabitants on Madagascar as well as their environmental impact is still intensively debated. This research aims to study the beginning of early human impact on Malagasy natural ecosystems, specifically on Nosy Be island (NW Madagascar) by targeting the sedimentary archive of Lake Amparihibe, an ancient volcanic crater. Based on pollen, fungal spore, other non-pollen palynomorph, charcoal particle and diatom analyses combined with high-resolution sediment-physical and (in)organic geochemical data, paleoenvironmental dynamics during the past three millennia were reconstructed. Results indicate a major environmental change at ca. 1300 cal BP characterized by an abrupt development of grass (C4) dominated and fire disturbed landscape showing the alteration of natural rain forest. Further, increased soil erodibility is suggested by distinct increase in sediment accumulation rates, a strong pulse of nutrient input, higher water turbidity and contemporaneous increase in spores of mycorrhizal fungi. These parameters are interpreted to show a strong early anthropogenic transformation of the landscape from rain forest to open grassland. After ca. 1000 cal BP, fires remain frequent and vegetation is dominated by forest/grassland mosaic. While natural vegetation should be dominated by rain forest on Nosy Be, these last results indicate that human continuously impacted the landscapes surrounding the lake. At a local scale, our data support the “subsistence shift hypothesis” which proposed that population expansion with development of herding/farming altered the natural ecosystems. However, a precise regional synthesis is challenging, since high-resolution multi-proxy records from continuous sedimentary archives as well as records located further north and in the hinterland are still scarce in Madagascar. The lack of such regional synthesis also prevents precise comparison between different regions in Madagascar to detect potential (dis)similarities in climate dynamics, ecosystem responses and anthropogenic influences at the island’s scale during the (late) Holocene.