Social–ecological memory in urban gardens—Retaining the capacity for management of ecosystem services

Many ecosystem services are in decline. Local ecological knowledge and associated practice are essential to sustain and enhance ecosystem services on the ground. Here, we focus on social or collective memory in relation to management practice that sustains ecosystem services, and investigate where and how ecological practices, knowledge and experience are retained and transmitted. We analyze such social–ecological memory of allotment gardens in the Stockholm urban area, Sweden. Allotment gardens support ecosystem services such as pollination, seed dispersal and pest regulation in the broader urban landscape. Surveys and interviews were preformed over a four-year period with several hundreds of gardeners. We found that the allotment gardens function as communities-of-practice, where participation and reification interact and social–ecological memory is a shared source of resilience of the community by being both emergent and persistent. Ecological practices and knowledge in allotment gardens are retained and transmitted by imitation of practices, oral communication and collective rituals and habits, as well as by the physical gardens, artifacts, metaphors and rules-in-use (institutions). Finally, a wider social context provides external support through various forms of media, markets, social networks, collaborative organizations, and legal structures. We exemplify the role of urban gardens in generating ecosystem services in times of crisis and change and conclude that stewards of urban green areas and the social memory that they carry may help counteract further decline of critical ecosystem services.     

Solubility of KFe(CrO4)2·2H2O at 4–75°C

The solubility of KFe(CrO₄)₂·2H₂O, a precipitate recently identified in a Cr(VI)-contaminated soil, was studied in dissolution and precipitation experiments. Ten dissolution experiments were conducted at 4–75°C and initial pH values between 0.8 and 1.2 using synthetic KFe(CrO₄)₂·2H₂O. Four precipitation experiments were conducted at 25°C with final pH values between 0.16 and 1.39. The log K_SP for the reaction

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Preprocessing of gravity gradients at the GOCE high-level processing facility

One of the products derived from the gravity field and steady-state ocean circulation explorer (GOCE) observations are the gravity gradients. These gravity gradients are provided in the gradiometer reference frame (GRF) and are calibrated in-flight using satellite shaking and star sensor data. To use these gravity gradients for application in Earth scienes and gravity field analysis, additional preprocessing needs to be done, including corrections for temporal gravity field signals to isolate the static gravity field part, screening for outliers, calibration by comparison with existing external gravity field information and error assessment. The temporal gravity gradient corrections consist of tidal and nontidal corrections. These are all generally below the gravity gradient error level, which is predicted to show a 1/f behaviour for low frequencies. In the outlier detection, the 1/f error is compensated for by subtracting a local median from the data, while the data error is assessed using the median absolute deviation. The local median acts as a high-pass filter and it is robust as is the median absolute deviation. Three different methods have been implemented for the calibration of the gravity gradients. All three methods use a high-pass filter to compensate for the 1/f gravity gradient error. The baseline method uses state-of-the-art global gravity field models and the most accurate results are obtained if star sensor misalignments are estimated along with the calibration parameters. A second calibration method uses GOCE GPS data to estimate a low-degree gravity field model as well as gravity gradient scale factors. Both methods allow to estimate gravity gradient scale factors down to the 10⁻³ level. The third calibration method uses high accurate terrestrial gravity data in selected regions to validate the gravity gradient scale factors, focussing on the measurement band. Gravity gradient scale factors may be estimated down to the 10⁻² level with this method.     

Interannual Variability in Pollen Dispersal and Deposition on the Tropical Quelccaya Ice Cap*

Pollen collected from snow samples on the Quelccaya Ice Cap in 2000 and 2001 reveals significant interannual variability in pollen assemblage, concentration, and provenance. Samples from 2000, a La Niña year, contain high pollen concentrations and resemble samples from the Andean forests (Yungas) to the east. Samples from 2001, an El Niño year, contain fewer pollen and resemble those from the Altiplano. We suggest that varying wind patterns under different El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions may affect the processes of pollen transport over the Altiplano and on the ice cap, although confounding variables such as flowering phenology and sublimation should also be considered     

Tsunami hazard and exposure on the global scale

In the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, a large increase in the activity of tsunami hazard and risk mapping is observed. Most of these are site-specific studies with detailed modelling of the run-up locally. However, fewer studies exist on the regional and global scale. Therefore, tsunamis have been omitted in previous global studies comparing different natural hazards. Here, we present a first global tsunami hazard and population exposure study. A key topic is the development of a simple and robust method for obtaining reasonable estimates of the maximum water level during tsunami inundation. This method is mainly based on plane wave linear hydrostatic transect simulations, and validation against results from a standard run-up model is given. The global hazard study is scenario based, focusing on tsunamis caused by megathrust earthquakes only, as the largest events will often contribute more to the risk than the smaller events. Tsunamis caused by non-seismic sources are omitted. Hazard maps are implemented by conducting a number of tsunami scenario simulations supplemented with findings from literature. The maps are further used to quantify the number of people exposed to tsunamis using the Landscan population data set. Because of the large geographical extents, quantifying the tsunami hazard assessment is focusing on overall trends.     

Jari: A pulp plantation in the Brazilian Amazon

Jari plantation is the largest pulp growing operation in the humid tropics, and occupies about 1000 sqkm previously covered by tropical forest. A study of five sites at Jari in 1980 indicated declining soil fertility, and low productivity of pulpwood. Low pulp production at Jari was caused by several factors, one of which appeared to be low soil fertility. The sams sites were re-evaluated in 1987. There was no discernable trend in either nutrients or productivity since 1980.Although productivity and nutrient stocks may have stabilized, low profitability caused by low pulp production resulted in the sale of Jari in 1982, for a $ 720 million loss. Despite growth rates at Jari which were too low to produce a profit on original investment, another plantation is planned for the eastern Amazon which is 10 times the size of Jari.     

Landscape controls on long‐term runoff in subhumid heterogeneous Boreal Plains catchments

We compared median runoff (R) and precipitation (P) relationships over 25 years from 20 mesoscale (50 to 5,000 km²) catchments on the Boreal Plains, Alberta, Canada, to understand controls on water sink and source dynamics in water‐limited, low‐relief northern environments. Long‐term catchment R and runoff efficiency (RP^?1) were low and varied spatially by over an order of magnitude (3 to 119 mm/year, 1 to 27%). Intercatchment differences were not associated with small variations in climate. The partitioning of P into evapotranspiration (ET) and R instead reflected the interplay between underlying glacial deposit texture, overlying soil‐vegetation land cover, and regional slope. Correlation and principal component analyses results show that peatland‐swamp wetlands were the major source areas of water. The lowest estimates of median annual catchment ET (321 to 395 mm) and greatest R (60 to 119 mm, 13 to 27% of P) were observed in low‐relief, peatland‐swamp dominated catchments, within both fine‐textured clay‐plain and coarse‐textured glacial deposits. In contrast, open‐water wetlands and deciduous‐mixedwood forest land covers acted as water sinks, and less catchment R was observed with increases in proportional coverage of these land covers. In catchments dominated by hummocky moraines, long‐term runoff was restricted to 10 mm/year, or 2% of P. This reflects the poor surface‐drainage networks and slightly greater regional slope of the fine‐textured glacial deposit, coupled with the large soil‐water and depression storage and higher actual ET of associated shallow open‐water marsh wetland and deciduous‐forest land covers. This intercatchment study enhances current conceptual frameworks for predicting water yield in the Boreal Plains based on the sink and source functions of glacial landforms and soil‐vegetation land covers. It offers the capability within this hydro‐geoclimatic region to design reclaimed catchments with desired hydrological functionality and associated tolerances to climate or land‐use changes and inform land management decisions based on effective catchment‐scale conceptual understanding.     

Boundary-layer structure near the cold front of a marine cyclone during “ERICA”

The boundary layer in the warm sector of a moderately deepening winter cyclone during the Experiment on Rapidly Intensifying Cyclones over the Atlantic (ERICA) is studied near the cold front. Data from the National Center for Atmospheric Research Electra research aircraft are used to examine mean and turbulence quantities. The aircraft data and supplemental data from ships, drifting buoys and moored buoys reveal an equivalent-barotropic pressure field. The area is found to be dominated by gradients in temperature and in turbulent fluxes, with changes occurring over 100 km horizontally being comparable to changes over 350 m vertically. The horizontal components of the gradients are found to be a maximum in a direction perpendicular to the front. Cross-sections perpendicular to the front are used to illustrate boundary-layer structure. Profiles of wind speed, stress, wind direction and stress direction are estimated from an Ekman model that is modified to take into account the equivalent-barotropic pressure field. Comparison of profiles from the model to the aircraft-measured data show reasonable agreement far from the front (100 km) when the model uses a constant eddy viscosity of approximately 6 kg m^–1 s^–1. Near the front there is less agreement with the model. Profiles of turbulent fluxes of momentum, heat and latent heat are divergent, with along-wind momentum flux negative and decreasing upward, cross-wind momentum flux positive and increasing upward, and heat flux and latent heat flux small, positive and decreasing upward. Far from the front, the turbulent kinetic energy budget shows that dissipation balances shear production. However, near-front behavior has an imbalance at low altitude, with shear production appearing as a TKE sink.