The science of European marine reserves: Status,efficacy, and future needs

The ecologically and socio-economically important marine ecosystems of Europe are facing severe threats from a variety of human impacts. To mitigate and potentially reverse some of these impacts, the European Union (EU) has mandated the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in order to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) in EU waters by 2020. The primary initiative for achieving GES is the implementation of coherent networks of marine protected areas (MPAs). Marine reserves are an important type of MPA in which no extraction is allowed, but their usefulness depends upon a number of ecological, management, and political factors. This paper provides a synthesis of the ecological effects of existing European marine reserves and the factors (social and ecological) underlying their effectiveness. Results show that existing European marine reserves foster significant positive increases in key biological variables (density, biomass, body size, and species richness) compared with areas receiving less protection, a pattern mirrored by marine reserves around the globe. For marine reserves to achieve their ecological and social goals, however, they must be designed, managed, and enforced properly. In addition, identifying whether protected areas are ecologically connected as a network, as well as where new MPAs should be established according to the MSFD, requires information on the connectivity of populations across large areas. The adoption of the MSFD demonstrates willingness to achieve the long-term protection of Europe's marine ecosystems, but whether the political will (local, regional, and continent wide) is strong enough to see its mandates through remains to be seen. Although the MSFD does not explicitly require marine reserves, an important step towards the protection of Europe's marine ecosystems is the establishment of marine reserves within wider-use MPAs as connected networks across large spatial scales.     

The Val Gabbro Plutonic Suite: A Sub-volcanic Intrusion Emplaced at the End of Flood Basalt Volcanism on the Kerguelen Archipelago

The age, petrology, major and trace element geochemistry, andSr–Nd–Hf–Pb isotopic geochemistry of basicand felsic rocks from the Val gabbro plutonic suite on the KerguelenArchipelago, Southern Indian Ocean, are used to constrain thetemporal and compositional relationships between sub-volcanicintrusions and flood basalt volcanism during the formation ofa major oceanic island. The 4 km² Val gabbro plutonic suitewas emplaced at 24·25 ± 0·15 Ma (U–Pbzircon) into 25 Ma volcanic rocks of the Southeast Province,locally producing a large zone of overlying basaltic breccia.Cumulate basic–ultrabasic rocks are the dominant lithologyin the intrusion, with horizontally layered peridotites at thebase of the exposed part of the intrusion, overlain by verticallylayered, coarse-grained plagioclase-bearing peridotites, melagabbrosand equigranular gabbros. The intrusion was formed by repeatedinjections of relatively crystal-rich and crystal-poor magmasinto an open-system magma reservoir. Strong geochemical andisotopic similarities between the fine-grained marginal microgabbrosand cross-cutting felsic rocks and the hosting mildly alkalicbasalts and trachytes of the Southeast Province indicate thatthey were derived from similar alkalic basaltic parental magmas,which were dominated by the enriched component of the Kerguelenmantle plume source. At 25 Ma, the change from tholeiitic–transitionalto mildly alkalic basalts marks the terminal stage of floodbasalt volcanism on the Kerguelen Archipelago. This compositionalchange was associated with deeper melting within the Kerguelenplume source, lower extents of melting, a decrease in magmasupply, and the emplacement of high-level intrusions such asthe Val gabbro plutonic suite. KEY WORDS: Kerguelen Archipelago; Val gabbro plutonic suite; oceanic island; gabbros; sub-volcanic intrusion; alkalinity; Sr–Nd–Hf–Pb isotopes     

Expert judgements on the response of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation to climate change

We present results from detailed interviews with 12 leading climate scientists about the possible effects of global climate change on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The elicitation sought to examine the range of opinions within the climatic research community about the physical processes that determine the current strength of the AMOC, its future evolution in a changing climate and the consequences of potential AMOC changes. Experts assign different relative importance to physical processes which determine the present-day strength of the AMOC as well as to forcing factors which determine its future evolution under climate change. Many processes and factors deemed important are assessed as poorly known and insufficiently represented in state-of-the-art climate models. All experts anticipate a weakening of the AMOC under scenarios of increase of greenhouse gas concentrations. Two experts expect a permanent collapse of the AMOC as the most likely response under a 4×CO₂ scenario. Assuming a global mean temperature increase in the year 2100 of 4 K, eight experts assess the probability of triggering an AMOC collapse as significantly different from zero, three of them as larger than 40%. Elicited consequences of AMOC reduction include strong changes in temperature, precipitation distribution and sea level in the North Atlantic area. It is expected that an appropriately designed research program, with emphasis on long-term observations and coupled climate modeling, would contribute to substantially reduce uncertainty about the future evolution of the AMOC.     

Exploring “Deep Roots”: Politics of Place and Groundwater Management Practices in the Pajaro Valley,California

Groundwater is one of the most critical natural resources in an era of climate change, yet groundwater depletion is extensive in many parts of the world. The Pajaro Valley, an agricultural region in Central California, exemplifies the common challenges to sustainably manage a groundwater basin. This article draws on materialist conceptions of power and political economy, and humanist conceptions of place identity and dependence, to illuminate how both can influence groundwater management practices. Through ethnographic observation and interviews with self-identified groundwater users, we find that social character, economic interactions, and dominant understandings of culture and community all work together to define personal and collective meanings of and attachments to place. We suggest that using a “politics of place” approach can provide a deeper understanding of why particular groundwater management practices occur, and that this can aid in shaping future sustainability efforts.     

Studies of household activity patterns and urban structure

Simonsen, Kirsten, 1973: Studies of household activity patterns and urban structure. Geografisk Tidsskrift 73: 26–35. København, juni 1, 1974.

This Paper focuses upon the daily activity patterns of individuals and households. It gives a survey of the relevant literature and discusses the possible use of activity studies. Furthermore, it treats the interrelationship between activity patterns and environment and illustrates this by a case study from a Danish provincial town.     

Lamprophyres and carbonatitic lamprophyres related to rifting in the Labrador Sea

Lamprophyre dykes intruded into the Archaean of South West Greenland are believed to coincide with the early stages of rifting in the Labrador Sea area. They yield K/Ar and fission-track ages of 150–115 m.y. which are similar to the apatite fission-track ages from the host rocks but which predate the formation of ocean floor. The strongly undersaturated, often K-rich magmas exhibit the chemical characters of modern rift volcanism with many types present, and the paragenesis and their mineral chemistry reflect the composition and the different physical conditions in the evolution of the lamprophyres. Crystal fractionation and carbonate unmixing are believed to be the main factors in the evolution of the lamprophyre dykes from a primary mantle derived magma. However, the most undersaturated and evolved lamprophyre types cannot be explained in this way, and more complex models must be considered.     

Reconstructing past eutrophication trends from diatoms and biogenic silica in the sediment and the pelagic zone of Lake Constance, Germany

In Lake Constance, phosphorus concentrations and the seasonal development of phytoplankton communities in water samples from the pelagic zone were regularly recorded since the 1950's. Before the 1950's, there were occasional investigations of plankton communities since 1896. We compared these data with the sedimentary record in two sediment cores. Then, the eutrophication history of Lake Constance was inferred from diatoms. The record of biogenic silica in the cores is discussed with respect to diatom biomass increase.Diatom assemblages in the sediment cores precisely reflected the pelagic diatom development for the period 1971--1992. Both sediment cores and the water samples have a high interannual variability of diatom assemblages. Below a sediment depth of 27 cm (AD 1920), more than 50% of the diatoms were partly corroded, and we limited the reconstruction of trophic state changes to the interval of 1920--1993. Oligotrophic conditions of Lake Constance were indicated by the dominance of various Cyclotella taxa from 1920 to 1940. Since 1939/1940, increasing abundance of it Tabellaria fenestrata showed oligotrophic to mesotrophic conditions. Between 1953 and 1956, increasing Stephanodiscus hantzschii and disappearing Cyclotella indicated advanced eutrophication and total phosphorus values ranged between 8--10 mg m-3 during turnover in late winter. Further eutrophication was shown by disappearing T. fenestrata and increasing S. minutulus in 1963. Maximum TP concentrations of 87 mg m-3 occurred in 1979/80 and was accompanied by increasing abundances of Aulacoseira granulata. From 1986 to 1992, reoccurrence of Tabellaria fenestrata and Cyclotella indicate some recovery of Lake Constance.Biogenic silica and diatom abundances were similar among cores but indicate a 3--4 fold increase of diatom biomass only. This was far below the estimate of biomass increase from sedimentary pigment data (25 fold) and the estimate of phytoplankton data from the literature (70 fold).     

The simulation of European heat waves from an ensemble of regional climate models within the EURO-CORDEX project

The ability of a large ensemble of regional climate models to accurately simulate heat waves at the regional scale of Europe was evaluated. Within the EURO-CORDEX project, several state-of-the art models, including non-hydrostatic meso-scale models, were run for an extended time period (20 years) at high resolution (12 km), over a large domain allowing for the first time the simultaneous representation of atmospheric phenomena over a large range of spatial scales. Eight models were run in this configuration, and thirteen models were run at a classical resolution of 50 km. The models were driven with the same boundary conditions, the ERA-Interim re-analysis, and except for one simulation, no observations were assimilated in the inner domain. Results, which are compared with daily temperature and precipitation observations (ECA&D and E-OBS data sets) show that, even forced by the same re-analysis, the ensemble exhibits a large spread. A preliminary analysis of the sources of spread, using in particular simulations of the same model with different parameterizations, shows that the simulation of hot temperature is primarily sensitive to the convection and the microphysics schemes, which affect incoming energy and the Bowen ratio. Further, most models exhibit an overestimation of summertime temperature extremes in Mediterranean regions and an underestimation over Scandinavia. Even after bias removal, the simulated heat wave events were found to be too persistent, but a higher resolution reduced this deficiency. The amplitude of events as well as the variability beyond the 90th percentile threshold were found to be too strong in almost all simulations and increasing resolution did not generally improve this deficiency. Resolution increase was also shown to induce large-scale 90th percentile warming or cooling for some models, with beneficial or detrimental effects on the overall biases. Even though full causality cannot be established on the basis of this evaluation work, the drivers of such regional differences were shown to be linked to changes in precipitation due to resolution changes, affecting the energy partitioning. Finally, the inter-annual sequence of hot summers over central/southern Europe was found to be fairly well simulated in most experiments despite an overestimation of the number of hot days and of the variability. The accurate simulation of inter-annual variability for a few models is independent of the model bias. This indicates that internal variability of high summer temperatures should not play a major role in controlling inter-annual variability. Despite some improvements, especially along coastlines, the analyses conducted here did not allow us to generally conclude that a higher resolution is clearly beneficial for a correct representation of heat waves by regional climate models. Even though local-scale feedbacks should be better represented at high resolution, combinations of parameterizations have to be improved or adapted accordingly.     

Differences in preferential flow with antecedent moisture conditions and soil texture: Implications for subsurface P transport

Preferential flowpaths transport phosphorus (P) to agricultural tile drains. However, if and to what extent this may vary with soil texture, moisture conditions, and P placement is poorly understood. This study investigated (a) interactions between soil texture, antecedent moisture conditions, and the relative contributions of matrix and preferential flow and (b) associated P distributions through the soil profile when fertilizers were applied to the surface or subsurface. Brilliant blue dye was used to stain subsurface flowpaths in clay and silt loam plots during simulated rainfall events under wet and dry conditions. Fertilizer P was applied to the surface or via subsurface placement to plots of different soil texture and moisture condition. Photographs of dye stains were analysed to classify the flow patterns as matrix dominated or macropore dominated, and soils within plots were analysed for their water‐extractable P (WEP) content. Preferential flow occurred under all soil texture and moisture conditions. Dye penetrated deeper into clay soils via macropores and had lower interaction with the soil matrix, compared with silt loam soil. Moisture conditions influenced preferential flowpaths in clay, with dry clay having deeper infiltration (92 ± 7.6 cm) and less dye–matrix interaction than wet clay (77 ± 4.7 cm). Depth of staining did not differ between wet (56 ± 7.2 cm) and dry (50 ± 6.6 cm) silt loam, nor did dominant flowpaths. WEP distribution in the top 10 cm of the soil profile differed with fertilizer placement, but no differences in soil WEP were observed at depth. These results demonstrate that large rainfall events following drought conditions in clay soil may be prone to rapid P transport to tile drains due to increased preferential flow, whereas flow in silt loams is less affected by antecedent moisture. Subsurface placement of fertilizer may minimize the risk of subsurface P transport, particularily in clay.     

Catchments as reactors: a comprehensive approach for water fluxes and solute turnover

Sustainable water quality management requires a profound understanding of water fluxes (precipitation, run-off, recharge, etc.) and solute turnover such as retention, reaction, transformation, etc. at the catchment or landscape scale. The Water and Earth System Science competence cluster (WESS, http://www.wess.info/) aims at a holistic analysis of the water cycle coupled to reactive solute transport, including soil–plant–atmosphere and groundwater–surface water interactions. To facilitate exploring the impact of land-use and climate changes on water cycling and water quality, special emphasis is placed on feedbacks between the atmosphere, the land surface, and the subsurface. A major challenge lies in bridging the scales in monitoring and modeling of surface/subsurface versus atmospheric processes. The field work follows the approach of contrasting catchments, i.e. neighboring watersheds with different land use or similar watersheds with different climate. This paper introduces the featured catchments and explains methodologies of WESS by selected examples.