Land system science and sustainable development of the earth system: A global land project perspective

Verburg, Peter H.; Crossman, Neville D.; Ellis, Erle C.; Heinimann, Andreas; Hostert, Patrick; Mertz, Ole; Nagendra, Harini; Sikor, Thomas; Erb, Karl Heinz; Golubiewski, Nancy E.; Grau, Ricardo; Grove, J. Morgan; Konaté, Souleymane; Meyfroidt, Patrick; Parker, Dawn C.; Chowdhury, Rinku Roy; Shibata, Hideaki; Thomson, Allison M.; Zhen, Lin

doi:10.1016/j.ancene.2015.09.004

Cited by 440 publications

(277 citation statements)

References 114 publications

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“…Increasing change in land use often causes environmental damages that reach far beyond the local scope [1]. Different interests and demands as well as values and norms compete for limited land resources and the related ecosystem's services and functions (e.g., Müller et al [2], Zscheischler et al [3]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Adoption and Implementation of Transdisciplinary Research in the Field of Land-Use Science—A Comparative Case Study

2017

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Transdisciplinary research (TDR) is discussed as a promising approach in land-use science and spatial research to address complex multifaceted "real-world problems" and to design strategies and solutions for sustainable development. TDR has become a widespread research approach in sustainability science and is increasingly promoted by research programmes and agencies (e.g., Future Earth and Horizon 2020). Against this backdrop, TDR can be considered a (social) innovation in the academic system, which is currently in the midst of an up-scaling diffusion process from a rather small TDR-advocating expert community to a broader science-practice community. We argue that this up-scaling phase also places TDR in a critical state as the concept potentially risks a type of "rhetorical mainstreaming". The objectives of this study were to analyse how the challenging approach of TDR is currently adopted and implemented in the field of land-use research and to identify potential influencing factors. We studied 13 transdisciplinary research projects from Germany by performing qualitative interviews with coordinators, document analysis and participatory observation during meetings over a period of five years. Results show that the adoption level of the TDR concept varied widely among the studied projects, as did the adoption of the TDR indicators used in our analysis. In many of the investigated projects, we identified a clear lack of conceptual knowledge of TDR. In addition, we found that current academic structures limit the ability of researchers to thoroughly adapt to the requirements of TDR. We conclude that further communication and educational efforts that promote TDR are required. In addition, we advocate for the development of suitable funding instruments that support sustained research structures.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Adoption and Implementation of Transdisciplinary Research in the Field of Land-Use Science—A Comparative Case Study

2017

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“…Recent progress in land use science has provided an insightful large-scale perspective spanning centuries to millennia (19)(20)(21)(22). Additionally, European high-resolution datasets (23, 24) allow for investigations to be conducted at the scale of individual lake watersheds.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…However, only one of these studies (13) considered the temporal dynamics of land cover and use, and only a few studies (16, 17) considered modern land cover. Our current lack of knowledge of the effects arising from cumulative environmental pressures presents the potential for serious underestimation of the long-term impacts of land use changes and hinders our ability to identify the relative importance of P sources to lake ecosystems (18).Recent progress in land use science has provided an insightful large-scale perspective spanning centuries to millennia (19)(20)(21)(22). Additionally, European high-resolution datasets (23, 24) allow for investigations to be conducted at the scale of individual lake watersheds.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban point sources of nutrients were the leading cause for the historical spread of hypoxia across European lakes

Jenny

Normandeau

Francus

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

108

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Enhanced phosphorus (P) export from land into streams and lakes is a primary factor driving the expansion of deep-water hypoxia in lakes during the Anthropocene. However, the interplay of regional scale environmental stressors and the lack of long-term instrumental data often impede analyses attempting to associate changes in land cover with downstream aquatic responses. Herein, we performed a synthesis of data that link paleolimnological reconstructions of lake bottom-water oxygenation to changes in land cover/use and climate over the past 300 years to evaluate whether the spread of hypoxia in European lakes was primarily associated with enhanced P exports from growing urbanization, intensified agriculture, or climatic change. We showed that hypoxia started spreading in European lakes around CE 1850 and was greatly accelerated after CE 1900. Socioeconomic changes in Europe beginning in CE 1850 resulted in widespread urbanization, as well as a larger and more intensively cultivated surface area. However, our analysis of temporal trends demonstrated that the onset and intensification of lacustrine hypoxia were more strongly related to the growth of urban areas than to changes in agricultural areas and the application of fertilizers. These results suggest that anthropogenically triggered hypoxia in European lakes was primarily caused by enhanced P discharges from urban point sources. To date, there have been no signs of sustained recovery of bottom-water oxygenation in lakes following the enactment of European water legislation in the 1970s to 1980s, and the subsequent decrease in domestic P consumption.Anthropocene | lake hypoxia | land cover/uses | meta-analysis | varves C hanges in land cover and land use have been identified as important drivers of phosphorus (P) transfers from terrestrial to aquatic systems, resulting in significant impacts on water resources (1-3). In post-World War II Europe, changes in land cover, land use, and P utilization caused widespread eutrophication of freshwaters (3). Elevated rates of P release from point sources to surface water bodies increased in step with population increases, with the novel use of P in domestic detergents and with enhanced connectivity of households to sewage systems that generated concentrated effluents (4). The intensification of agriculture and drastic increased use of fertilizers from industrial and manure sources resulted in elevated P concentrations in runoff from diffuse sources (4). These trends have now metastasized from Europe and North America to most nations, which explains the almost global development of eutrophication problems in surface waters (1).Much of our understanding regarding the interactions between changes in land cover/use, climate, and lake eutrophication comes from detailed studies of individual lakes (5), modeling exercises (1), and/or regional-scale syntheses of instrumental data (6, 7); these studies are largely based on relatively short time series (8). Depending on the multitudinous local differences in catchment and lake mor...

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“…Trees and grass have also been planted to improve the property of land that can hardly be utilized. All of these lead to increase in the degree and complexity of land utilization, which will inevitably affect regional ecological environment and its response to global changes [46].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatio-Temporal Variation of Land-Use Intensity from a Multi-Perspective—Taking the Middle and Lower Reaches of Shule River Basin in China as an Example

Cheng

et al. 2018

Sustainability

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Abstract:The long-term human activities could influence land use/cover change and sustainability. As the global climate changes, humans are using more land resources to develop economy and create material wealth, which causes a tremendous influence on the structure of natural resources, ecology, and environment. Interference from human activities has facilitated land utilization and land coverage change, resulting in changes in land-use intensity. Land-use intensity can indicate the degree of the interference of human activities on lands, and is an important indicator of the sustainability of land use. Taking the middle and lower reaches of Shule River Basin as study region, this paper used "land-use degree (LUD)" and "human activity intensity (HAI)" models for land-use intensity, and analyzed the spatio-temporal variation of land-use intensity in this region from a multi-perspective. The results were as follows: (1) From 1987 to 2015, the land use structure in the study region changed little. Natural land was always the main land type, followed by semi-natural land and then artificial land. (2) The LUD in the study region increased by 35.36 over the 29 years. It increased the most rapidly from 1996 to 2007, and after 2007, it still increased, but more slowly. A spatial distribution pattern of "low land-use degree in east and west regions and high land-use degree in middle region" changed to "high land-use degree in east and middle regions and low land-use degree in west region". (3) The human activity intensity of artificial lands (HAI-AL) in the study region decreased from 1987 to 1996, and then increased from 1996 to 2015. The human activity intensity of semi-artificial lands (HAL-SAL) in the study region increased over the 29 years, and more rapidly after 1996.

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Land system science and sustainable development of the earth system: A global land project perspective

Cited by 440 publications

References 114 publications

The Adoption and Implementation of Transdisciplinary Research in the Field of Land-Use Science—A Comparative Case Study

The Adoption and Implementation of Transdisciplinary Research in the Field of Land-Use Science—A Comparative Case Study

Urban point sources of nutrients were the leading cause for the historical spread of hypoxia across European lakes

Spatio-Temporal Variation of Land-Use Intensity from a Multi-Perspective—Taking the Middle and Lower Reaches of Shule River Basin in China as an Example

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