Trading more food: Implications for land use,greenhouse gas emissions,and the food system

The volume of agricultural trade increased by more than ten times throughout the past six decades and is likely to continue with high rates in the future. Thereby, it largely affects environment and climate. We analyse future trade scenarios covering the period of 2005–2045 by evaluating economic and environmental effects using the global land-use model MAgPIE (“Model of Agricultural Production and its Impact on the Environment”). This is the first trade study using spatially explicit mapping of land use patterns and greenhouse gas emissions. We focus on three scenarios: the reference scenario fixes current trade patterns, the policy scenario follows a historically derived liberalisation pathway, and the liberalisation scenario assumes a path, which ends with full trade liberalisation in 2045.Further trade liberalisation leads to lower global costs of food. Regions with comparative advantages like Latin America for cereals and oil crops and China for livestock products will export more. In contrast, regions like the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia face the highest increases of imports. Deforestation, mainly in Latin America, leads to significant amounts of additional carbon emissions due to trade liberalisation. Non-CO₂ emissions will mostly shift to China due to comparative advantages in livestock production and rising livestock demand in the region. Overall, further trade liberalisation leads to higher economic benefits at the expense of environment and climate, if no other regulations are put in place.     

Regular habitat switch as an important feeding strategy of an opportunistic seabird species at the interface between land and sea

During deteriorated prey availability, purely pelagic, specialised seabird species have to alter their feeding strategy by extending foraging radii and/or time spent at sea or reducing feeding intervals of chicks. In contrast, more generalised species such as the opportunistic black-headed gull (Larus ridibundus) breeding at the German North Sea coast, can be assumed to react on prey shortages by switching foraging habitats. The coastal zone of the German North Sea provides a rich habitat mosaic consisting of the offshore zone, tidal flats and terrestrial habitats. Thus, we expected distinct temporal and spatial patterns of habitat switch in accordance with prey availability and environmental constraints. We carried out ship-based and aerial surveys as well as dietary analyses and observations on flight activity. We found a significant switch from terrestrial to marine feeding sites both on a daily basis (related to tidal cycle) and over the whole breeding season. Most likely, the latter switch is the result of lower prey availability in the terrestrial habitats and an increasing quality (in terms of prey abundance and energy intake) of the marine area. While there was only moderate variability in habitat use among different years, we revealed significant differences in the diet of birds from different colonies. The high dietary plasticity and flexible feeding strategy, switching between terrestrial and marine prey is certainly of major importance for the success of an opportunistic avian top predator in a complex coastal zone. It is suggested that – compared to situations elsewhere – the number of breeding pairs of black-headed gulls in the German North Sea coast are still stable due to the switch of foraging habitats performed by individuals in this region.     

Shake table testing of a miniature steel building with ductile-anchor,uplifting-column base connections for improved seismic performance

Previous research has demonstrated that uplifting-column or rocking building systems may exhibit improved seismic performance, including reductions in total base shear and decreased residual drift, when compared with systems rigidly connected to the foundation. These beneficial effects may be due to lengthened periods, activation of rocking modes, and energy dissipation of base fuse elements. In the current work, several configurations of a miniature steel building with different combinations of base connection and traditional superstructure fuse strength and stiffness were subjected to identical earthquake motions to evaluate differences in demands and performance. The uplifting base connections incorporate highly ductile concrete anchors with long stretch lengths, allowing robust connection performance and easy replacement of damaged connection elements following the seismic event, an advantage over previously tested systems. Testing and dynamic numerical analysis indicates that ductile anchor uplifting systems may reduce total base shear by over 20%, as well as reducing residual structural drift by more than 80%.     

Rock magnetics of carbonate systems–investigating palaeodune archives on Fuerteventura (Canary Islands)

The mineral magnetic properties of Pleistocene aeolian dune sands from the island of Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain) were studied in order to reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental evolution of Pleistocene climates during their formation. The palaeodunes on Fuerteventura mainly consist of carbonate sands admixed with dust and material of volcanic origin. Due to the low magnetic background caused by the diamagnetic character of carbonate sands, these archives offer a lot of potential for environmental magnetic studies to detect the imprint of dust, volcanic material and paedogenesis. Four sections of alternating palaeosurface–aeolianite sequences in palaeodune fields have been analysed by means of extensive rock magnetic measurements. These Quaternary archives consist of deposits originating from different sources. I. material blown from the shallow shelf, II. material of volcanic origin, and III. long-range transported dust. The rock magnetic findings enable a more detailed interpretation of the palaeosurfaces within the sequences. We are able to differentiate semiquantitatively between the different source materials on one hand and to distinguish on the other hand those from soil-forming processes. Soil formation is only weakly developed in the dust imprints in the palaeosol aeolianite sequences, linked to sparse vegetation cover during the Pleistocene on Fuerteventura.     

Real-time registration of airborne laser data with sub-decimeter accuracy

This paper presents a methodology for the precise registering of airborne laser data directly in flight with an accuracy that is sufficient for the majority of derived products, such as digital terrain models. We first present the strategy that integrates GPS/INS/LiDAR data for generating laser point clouds directly in flight and analyzes their accuracy. The latter requires the implementation of a functional covariance propagation on-line for all the system components (i.e. trajectory, laser, system calibration) to which influences of scanning geometry are added at the end of a flight line. The study of scanning geometry necessitates the classification of vegetation and coarse estimation of the terrain normal. This is achieved by a method that we formerly proposed for off-line quality analysis. The second part of the paper focuses on the positioning component. In high resolution scanning performed close to the terrain, the absolute accuracy of the resulting point cloud depends mainly on the quality of the trajectory which is related to the type of GPS solution (e.g. absolute positioning, DGPS, RTK). To reach sub-decimeter accuracy for the point cloud in the real-time, an RTK-GPS solution is needed. This requires the establishment of a communication link for the transmission of GPS corrections (or measurements). We analyze the usability of RTK-GPS/ALS acquired during several flights using different communication methods in the particular context of helicopter based missions. We focus mainly on the exploitation of nation-wide reference GNSS networks and confirm experimentally that the real-time registration of airborne laser data is feasible with sub-decimeter accuracy. Such quality is sufficient not only for a wide range of applications, but it also opens new opportunities for monitoring missions that require a short reaction time. Finally, we concentrate on situations when the phase and code corrections cannot be transmitted, and the quality of the differential carrier-phase positioning needs to be predicted. We validate the previously introduced indicators of positioning quality by simulated degradation of the input data.     

Shock history of the fossil ungrouped achondrite Österplana 065: Raman spectroscopy and TEM of relict chrome-spinel grains

Chrome-spinel grains from the fossil ungrouped achondrite Österplana 065 (Öst 065) recovered from Middle Ordovician limestone in Sweden were studied using Raman spectroscopy and TEM. All the studied chrome-spinel grains have a high density of planar fractures and planar features, not seen in chromites from the other L chondritic Ordovician fossil meteorites. Raman spectra of the host chrome-spinel grain and its planar features are similar and no signatures of high-pressure phases of chromite were found. The planar features occur along planar fractures, are enriched in ZnO, and are most probably produced due to enhanced leaching during terrestrial weathering in the marine sediment. Dislocation densities within two FIB sections prepared from two chrome-spinel grains from Öst 065 are similar to the dislocation densities found within chromite grains from the matrix of Tenham L6 chondrite. Using this observation and taking into account the presence of significant fracturing in all the grains, we conclude that the Öst 065 chrome-spinel grains were subjected to moderate to very strong shock corresponding to shock stages of S4–S6. This makes Öst 065 fossil achondrite the highest shocked fossil meteorite studied so far. This is consistent with the hypothesis that Öst 065 is a piece of the impactor that led to the L chondrite parent body breakup.