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Biomassfu els currently (1994) supplya round1 4% of the world’se nergy,b ut most of this is in the form of traditional fuelwood, residuesa ndd ung, which is often inefficienta nd can be environmentallyd etrimental.B iomassc an supplyh eat and electricity, liquid and gaseousfu els. A numbero f developedc ountriesd erive a significanta mounto f their primary energy from biomassU: SA 4%, Finland 18%, Sweden1 6%a ndA ustria 13%.P resentlyb iomasse nergy suppliesa t least2 EJ year-’ in WesternE uropew hich is about4 % of primarye nergy (54 ET). Estimates howa likely potentiali n Europei n 2050o f 9.0-13.5 El dependingo n land areas(1 0%o f useablela nd, 33 Mha), yields (lo-15 oven-dry tonnes( ODt) ha-‘), and recoverabler...
The generation of electricity modifies the physical environment of the globe more than any other industrial activity. Indeed, the industry may already create more long-term economic costs than benefits in terms of associated environmental repercussions. This negative economic equation could become even worse unless long-term and programmed investments into energy supply and conservation strategies are made with proper care for all indentifiable environmental effects. The present publiclyowned electricity industry in the UK has an environmental track record that is patchy but generally unsatisfactory, despite some improvements in recent years. The key issue facing the privatized industry is how comprehensive and...
In an earlier article the author has argued that the turbulent history of nuclear power in Britain and the USA stems from the technology itself, and has little to do with the very different institutional arrangements made for the new technology in the two countries. Nuclear plant has various features which make its planning extraordinarily difficult. Its long lead time, large unit size, capital intensity and dependence on complex infrastructure combine to ensure that mistakes are likely to be made in planning the technology and that what mistakes do occur are expensive. This article aims to expand on the earlier one in two ways; by looking at the apparent success of the French nuclear programme which seems to run...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation; Tags: crisis, ecology, environment, society
Energy, economics, and the environment are interdependent. Land, water, atmospheric, and biological resources #are being degraded by current high energy consumption. U.S. energy consumption is the highest in the world and the U.S. Department of Energy reports that the United States has only about 10 years of known and potentially 1,discoverable oil reserves. The U.S. should reduce its energy consumption by one half to help restore the quality of ithe environment while improving the American standard of living by strengthening the economy and increasing the Inumber of jobs. Because of the interdependence of energy, economics, and the environment, energy efficiency and 1:ransition to renewable energy sources are critical....
Stabilising the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere at a level of 450 ppm in order to keep global temperature increase below 2 °C requires an ambitious climate policy. This study analyses the role of different technologies in the EU-27 with regard to efficiency improvements, fuel switching and energy saving measures under such a climate policy target. The analysis is carried out using the regionalised Pan-European TIMES energy system model, a technology oriented, linear optimisation model. Thereby limited resources and import potentials of various energy carriers, competition among different sectors and the country-specific differences in energy demand are taken into account. As a result, it turns out that the...
Ecological and economic systems are open systems that require energy to change the thermodynamic states of materials from naturally occurring to more valued forms. These changes are accompanied by information flows and changes in the order of systems and their surroundings. In this paper, thermodynamics is used to assess these system changes and relate them to the knowledge present in a system. Particular emphasis is given to (1) the fundamental relationships among material, energy and information flows, and changes in order and knowledge, (2) the role of equilibrium and non-equilibrium thermodynamics in assessing system change, (3) the increasing role of material and energy flows through economic systems, and (4)...
The food webs of littoral, pelagic, and littoral-pelagic ecotone (interface) regions of a large subtropical lake were investigated using stable isotope ratio methods, expanding the focus of a previous fish-only study to include other food web components such as primary producers and invertebrates. In these food webs, delta13C increased approximately 4 per thousand and delta15N increased approximately 10 per thousand from primary producers to fish. The delta15N of fish was approximately 9 per thousand in the littoral zone, approximately 10 per thousand in the ecotone, and approximately 12 per thousand in the pelagic zone. The cross-habitat enrichment in fish 15N corresponded with both an increase in the size of fish...
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The Yukon North Slope is an arctic “hot spot” of climate change-induced effects with profound significance for the Inuvialuit and the larger region. In 1984, the Inuvialuit entered into a land claim agreement – the Inuvialuit Final Agreement (IFA) – with the governments of Canada, Yukon and Northwest Territories. A co-management body formed to make a plan, which was developed in 2003 but never ratified and is now considered out-of-date. Round River Conservation Studies is assisting WMAC(NS) in the collection, development and synthesis of spatial data, models and analyses of cultural and ecological values of the YNS.The project is a collaboration among the NWB LCC, Round River Conservation Studies, and the Arctic...
The purpose of this volume is to create a resource for regional land and resource managers and researchers by synthesizing the latest research on the 1) historical/current status of landscape-scale drivers and ecosystem processes, including anthropogenic activities, 2) future projected changes of each, and 3) the impacts of changes on important resources. The individual sections can be informative alone, but when combined we can see a holistic picture of the drivers of landscape change in our region. The sections are short but contain a wealth of information and resources for more in-depth knowledge, and they highlight key findings and key information gaps so the most important information is easy to find and digest....
If conservation of biodiversity is the goal, then the protected areas network of the continental US may be one of our best conservation tools for safeguarding ecological systems (i.e., vegetation communities). We evaluated representation of ecological systems in the current protected areas network and found insufficient representation at three vegetation community levels within lower elevations and moderate to high productivity soils. We used national-level data for ecological systems and a protected areas database to explore alternative ways we might be able to increase representation of ecological systems within the continental US. By following one or more of these alternatives it may be possible to increase the...
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We collected snow density measurements at camera sites from December 2020 - April 2021, at the same time as snow hardness measurements. We took measurements every few weeks as logistics allowed. We took samples near the camera site in snow visually similar to the snow in the camera viewshed (the geographical area that is visible from a location) to prevent snow conditions from being disturbed beyond normal camera deployment. We took snow density samples using a homemade prairie sampler in snow depths < 100 cm and using a federal snow sampler in snow depths > 100 cm. The sampler was inserted into the snow to remove a snow core. We retained the core if the depth of snow in the sampler was at least 90% of the actual...
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This raster represents a continuous surface of sage-grouse habitat suitability index (HSI,created using ArcGIS 10.2.2) values for Nevada during the breeding season.
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Within the time frame of the longevity of tree species, climate change will change faster than the ability of natural tree migration. Migration lags may result in reduced productivity and reduced diversity in forests under current management and climate change. We evaluated the efficacy of planting climate-suitable tree species (CSP), those tree species with current or historic distributions immediately south of a focal landscape, to maintain or increase aboveground biomass, productivity, and species and functional diversity. We modeled forest change with the LANDIS-II forest simulation model for 100 years (2000–2100) at a 2-ha cell resolution and five-year time steps within two landscapes in the Great Lakes region...
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The Williston Basin, located in the NorthernGreat Plains, is experiencing rapid energy developmentwith North Dakota and Montana being the epicenter ofcurrent and projected development in the USA. Theaverage single-bore well pad is 5 acres with an estimated58,485 wells in North Dakota alone. This landscapeleveldisturbance may provide a pathway for the establishmentof non-native plants. To evaluate potentialinfluences of energy development on the presence andabundance of non-native species, vegetation surveyswere conducted at 30 oil well sites (14 ten-year-oldand 16 five-year-old wells) and 14 control sites in nativeprairie environments across the Williston Basin. Nonnativespecies richness and cover were recorded...
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The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of the north-central U.S. and south-central Canada contains millions of small prairie wetlands that provide critical habitat to many migrating and breeding waterbirds. Due to their small size and the relatively dry climate of the region, these wetlands are considered at high risk for negative climate change effects as temperatures increase. To estimate the potential impacts of climate change on breeding waterbirds, we predicted current and future distributions of species common in the PPR using species distribution models (SDMs). We created regional-scale SDMs for the U.S. PPR using Breeding Bird Survey occurrence records for 1971–2011 and wetland, upland, and climate variables....
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Full life-cycle vulnerability assessments are identifying the effects of climate change on nongame migratory birds that are of conservation concern and breed in the upper Midwest and Great Lakes region. Full life-cycle analyses are critical, as current efforts likely underestimate the vulnerability of migratory land birds due to a focus on assessing only one component of the annual cycle. The approach provides a framework for integrating exposure to climate changes, sensitivity to these changes, and the potential for adaptation in both winter and summer seasons, and accounts for carry-over effects from one season to another. The results of this work will inform regional management by highlighting both local and...
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NOTE: This download link includes Fish Regions, Freshwater Ecoregions, and Freshwater Resilience. Freshwater ecoregions provide a global biogeographic regionalization of the Earth's freshwater biodiversity. These units are distinguished by patterns of native fish distribution resulting from large-scale geoclimatic processes and evolutionary history. The freshwater ecoregion boundaries generally, though not always, correspond with those of watersheds. Within individual ecoregions there will be turnover of species, such as when moving up or down a river system, but taken as a whole an ecoregion will typically have a distinct evolutionary history and/or suite of ecological processes (Abell et al. 2008). The WWF defined...
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Resilient stream systems are those that will support a full spectrum of biodiversity and maintain their functional integrity even as species compositions and hydrologic properties change in response to shifts in ambient conditions due to climate change. We examined all connected stream networks in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic for seven characteristics correlated with resilience. These included four physical properties (network length, number of size classes, number of gradients classes and number of temperature classes), and three condition characteristics (risk of hydrologic alterations, natural cover in the floodplain, and amount of impervious surface in the watershed). A network was defined as a continuous...
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Abstract Unpaved forest roads remain a pervasive disturbance on public lands and mitigating sediment from road networks remains a priority for management agencies. Restoring roaded landscapes is becoming increasingly important for many native coldwater fishes that disproportionately rely on public lands for persistence. However, effectively targeting restoration opportunities requires a comprehensive understanding of the effects of roads across different ecosystems. Here, we combine a review and a field study to evaluate the status of knowledge supporting the conceptual framework linking unpaved forest roads with streambed sediment. Through our review, we specifically focused on those studies linking measures of...
map background search result map search result map Freshwater Resilience, All Streams, Stratified by Fish Region and Freshwater Ecoregion, Northeast U.S. Freshwater Ecoregions, Northeast Spring Season Habitat Suitability Index raster dataset Linkages between unpaved forest roads and streambed sediment: why context matters in directing road restoration Publication: A blind spot in climate change Publication: Measuring and managing resistance and resilience under climate change in northern Great Lake forests Vulnerability of Breeding Waterbirds to Climate Change in the Prairie Pothole Region Presence and abundance of non-native plant species associated with recent energy development in the Williston Basin Yukon North Slope Wildlife Management Plan Snow Density Measurements at Remote Camera Stations on Moscow Mountain in Latah County, ID (12/1/20-4/30/21) Snow Density Measurements at Remote Camera Stations on Moscow Mountain in Latah County, ID (12/1/20-4/30/21) Linkages between unpaved forest roads and streambed sediment: why context matters in directing road restoration Yukon North Slope Wildlife Management Plan Spring Season Habitat Suitability Index raster dataset Presence and abundance of non-native plant species associated with recent energy development in the Williston Basin Publication: Measuring and managing resistance and resilience under climate change in northern Great Lake forests Vulnerability of Breeding Waterbirds to Climate Change in the Prairie Pothole Region Freshwater Resilience, All Streams, Stratified by Fish Region and Freshwater Ecoregion, Northeast U.S. Publication: A blind spot in climate change Freshwater Ecoregions, Northeast