Ecological Thresholds: The Key to Successful Environmental Management or an Important Concept with No Practical Application?

Groffman, Peter M.; Baron, Jill S.; Blett, Tamara; Gold, Arthur J.; Goodman, Iris A.; Gunderson, Lance; Levinson, Barbara; Palmer, Margaret A.; Paerl, Hans W.; Peterson, Garry D.; Poff, N. LeRoy; Rejeski, David; Reynolds, James F.; Turner, Monica G.; Weathers, Kathleen C.; Wiens, John A.

doi:10.1007/s10021-003-0142-z

Cited by 943 publications

(679 citation statements)

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“…The concept of ecological threshold emerged in the 1970s and is defined as the point at which there is an abrupt change in an ecosystem quality, property, or phenomenon or where small changes in an environmental driver may produce large responses in the ecosystem (Groffman et al 2006). An important application of ecological thresholds is to determine the critical loads of pollutant that an ecosystem can safely assimilate before there is a change in ecosystem state (Groffman et al 2006).…”

Section: Responsible Editor: Thomas Heinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An important application of ecological thresholds is to determine the critical loads of pollutant that an ecosystem can safely assimilate before there is a change in ecosystem state (Groffman et al 2006). One of the best-studied state shifts is the sudden loss of water transparency and submerged plants when human-induced eutrophication occurs (Scheffer et al 2001).…”

Section: Responsible Editor: Thomas Heinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have shown that eutrophication thresholds of total phosphorus (TP) for freshwaters are from 0.02 to 0.10 mg P L −1 and of total nitrogen (TN) are from 0.50 to 1.00 mg N L −1 (Xu et al 2010). Abundant evidence has proven that understanding and applying ecological thresholds is the key to successful environmental management (Groffman et al 2006). Keeping a nutrient concentration below its threshold is a more practical and economical basis for setting nutrient criteria than reducing nutrient concentrations to as low levels as possible.…”

Section: Responsible Editor: Thomas Heinmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Critical nutrient thresholds needed to control eutrophication and synergistic interactions between phosphorus and different nitrogen sources

Zeng

Qin

Bao

et al. 2016

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Eutrophication is one of the greatest threats to global freshwater ecosystems. The phytoplankton responses to nutrient inputs vary in different water bodies, so it is particularly important to determine the nutrient thresholds and synergistic interactions between nutrients in different freshwater ecosystems. Field sampling and bioassay experiments were conducted to determine the thresholds of soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), nitrate-nitrogen (NO 3 -N), and ammonium-nitrogen (NH 4 -N) in Miyun Reservoir. A separate nutrient addition bioassay was designed to assess the synergistic interactions between these nutrients. Chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentrations were used to estimate phytoplankton biomass. The results showed the following: (1) nutrient threshold bioassay indicated that eutrophication thresholds of SRP, NO 3 -N, and NH 4 -N should be targeted at below 0.04 mg P L −1 , 0.5 mg N L −1 , and 0.3 mg N L −1 , respectively, to limit the growth of phytoplankton. (2) The stimulatory effect of BNH 4 -N plus P^on phytoplankton biomass was greater than (4) Ammonium was an important factor for the growth of phytoplankton and inputs of both NH 4 -N and NO 3 -N should be reduced to control bloom formation. Our findings imply that although P load reduction is important, appropriate reductions of all forms of N in watershed is recommended in the nutrient management strategy for Miyun Reservoir.

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Section: Responsible Editor: Thomas Heinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Responsible Editor: Thomas Heinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Responsible Editor: Thomas Heinmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Critical nutrient thresholds needed to control eutrophication and synergistic interactions between phosphorus and different nitrogen sources

Zeng

Qin

Bao

et al. 2016

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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“…Because adaptive cycles operate over specific ranges of scale, a system's resilience is dependent upon the interactions between structure and dynamics at multiple scales (Gunderson and Holling 2002). Panarchy was developed to specifically address issues of scale, as well as cross-scale dynamics (Groffman et al 2006). …”

Section: Resilience and Panarchymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Framework for Resilience-based Governance of Social-Ecological Systems

Garmestani¹,

Benson²

2013

E&S

226

150

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ABSTRACT. Panarchy provides a heuristic to characterize the cross-scale dynamics of social-ecological systems and a framework for how governance institutions should behave to be compatible with the ecosystems they manage. Managing for resilience will likely require reform of law to account for the dynamics of social-ecological systems and achieve a substantive mandate that accommodates the need for adaptation. In this paper, we suggest expansive legal reform by identifying the principles of reflexive law as a possible mechanism for achieving a shift to resilience-based governance and leveraging cross-scale dynamics to provide resilience-based responses to increasingly challenging environmental conditions.

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“…This concept has been applied in pollution evaluation as ''critical loads,'' which represent the amount of a contaminant that an ecosystem can safely absorb before there is a change in ecosystem state and/or in a particular ecosystem function (Groffman et al 2006). Critical loads have been extensively used in air pollution control in long-term monitoring programs in Europe (Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution: http://www.unece.org/env/lrtap/) and in the United States (National Atmospheric Deposition Program: http:// nadp.isws.illinois.edu/).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%