This page has only limited features, please log in for full access.

Dr. Angel Udías Moinelo
European Commission, Directorate D – Sustainable Resources– Joint Research Center, via E. Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra (VA), Italy

Basic Info

Basic Info is private.

Research Keywords & Expertise

0 Environmental Impact Assessment
0 Heuristics
0 Machine Learning
0 Decision Support Systems
0 water resources management

Fingerprints

Multi-criteria analyses

Honors and Awards

The user has no records in this section


Career Timeline

The user has no records in this section.


Short Biography

The user biography is not available.
Following
Followers
Co Authors
The list of users this user is following is empty.
Following: 0 users

Feed

Journal article
Published: 18 April 2021 in Ecological Indicators
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Understanding how anthropogenic pressures affect river ecological status is pivotal to designing effective management strategies. Knowledge on river aquatic habitats status in Europe has increased tremendously since the introduction of the European Union Water Framework Directive, yet heterogeneities in mandatory monitoring and reporting still limit identification of patterns at continental scale. Concurrently, several model and data-based indicators of anthropogenic pressures to freshwater that cover the continent consistently have been developed. The objective of this work was to create European maps of the probability of occurrence of river conditions, namely failure to achieve good ecological status, or to be affected by specific pervasive impacts. To this end, we applied logistic regression methods to model the river conditions as functions of continental-scale water pressure indicators. The prediction capacity of the models varied with river condition: the probability to fail achieving good ecological status, and occurrence of nutrient and organic pollution were rather well predicted; conversely, chemical (other than nutrient and organic) pollution and alteration of habitats due to hydrological or morphological changes were poorly predicted. The most important indicators explaining river conditions were the shares of agricultural and artificial land, mean annual net abstractions, share of pollution loads from point sources, and the share of upstream river length uninterrupted by barriers. The probability of failing to achieve good ecological status was estimated to be high (>60%) for 36% of the considered river network of about 1.6 M km. Occurrence of impact of nutrient pollution was estimated high (>60%) in 26% of river length and that of organic pollution 20%. The maps are built upon information reported at country level pursuant EU legal obligations, as well as indicators generated from European scale models and data: both sources are affected by epistemic uncertainty. In particular, reported information depend on data collection scoping and schemes, as well as national knowledge and interpretation of river system pressures. In turn, water pressure indicators are affected by heterogeneous biases due to incomplete or incorrect inputs and uncertainty of models adopted. Lack of effective reach- and site-scale indicators may hamper detection of locally relevant impacts, for example in explaining alteration of habitats due to morphological changes. The probability maps provide a continental snapshot of current river conditions, and offer an alternative source of information on river aquatic habitats, which may help filling in knowledge gaps. Foremost, the analysis demonstrates the need for developing more effective continental-scale indicators for hydromorphological alterations and chemical pollution.

ACS Style

Olga Vigiak; Angel Udias; Alberto Pistocchi; Michela Zanni; Alberto Aloe; Bruna Grizzetti. Probability maps of anthropogenic impacts affecting ecological status in European rivers. Ecological Indicators 2021, 126, 107684 .

AMA Style

Olga Vigiak, Angel Udias, Alberto Pistocchi, Michela Zanni, Alberto Aloe, Bruna Grizzetti. Probability maps of anthropogenic impacts affecting ecological status in European rivers. Ecological Indicators. 2021; 126 ():107684.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Olga Vigiak; Angel Udias; Alberto Pistocchi; Michela Zanni; Alberto Aloe; Bruna Grizzetti. 2021. "Probability maps of anthropogenic impacts affecting ecological status in European rivers." Ecological Indicators 126, no. : 107684.

Journal article
Published: 11 July 2020 in Science of The Total Environment
Reads 0
Downloads 0

ESPRES (Efficient Strategies for anthropogenic Pressure Reduction in European waterSheds) is a web-based Decision Support System (DSS) designed to explore management options for achieving environmental targets in European freshwaters. The tool integrates multi-objective optimization (MOO) algorithms for selecting the best management options in a river basin and models assessing the consequent changes in the water quantity (water flow) and quality (nutrient concentration). The MOO engine identifies Pareto front strategies that are trade-offs between environmental objectives for water bodies and the effort required for reducing the pressures. The web interface provides tools to set the effort perceived by different river basin stakeholders considering technical feasibility, political difficulty, and social acceptability of the alternative options. The environmental impact of management options (scenarios) is assessed with models developed at the European scale. ESPRES enables comparison of management solutions and allows quantifying environmental and socio-economic trade-offs inherent to the decision making process.

ACS Style

Angel Udias; Alberto Pistocchi; Olga Vigiak; Bruna Grizzetti; Faycal Bouraoui; Cesar Alfaro. ESPRES: A web application for interactive analysis of multiple pressures in aquatic ecosystems. Science of The Total Environment 2020, 744, 140792 .

AMA Style

Angel Udias, Alberto Pistocchi, Olga Vigiak, Bruna Grizzetti, Faycal Bouraoui, Cesar Alfaro. ESPRES: A web application for interactive analysis of multiple pressures in aquatic ecosystems. Science of The Total Environment. 2020; 744 ():140792.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Angel Udias; Alberto Pistocchi; Olga Vigiak; Bruna Grizzetti; Faycal Bouraoui; Cesar Alfaro. 2020. "ESPRES: A web application for interactive analysis of multiple pressures in aquatic ecosystems." Science of The Total Environment 744, no. : 140792.

Journal article
Published: 12 February 2020 in International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Monitoring agricultural land cover is highly relevant for global early warning systems such as ASAP (Anomaly hot Spots of Agricultural Production), because it represents the basis for detecting production deficits in food security assessment. Given the significant inconsistencies among existing land cover datasets, there is a need to obtain a more accurate representation of the spatial distribution and extent of agricultural area in Africa. In this research, we explore a fusion approach that combines the strength of individual datasets and minimises their limitations. Specifically, a semi-automatic method is developed, relying on multi-criteria analysis (MCA) complemented with manual fine-tuning using the best-rated datasets, to generate two hybrid and static agricultural masks – one for cropland and another for grassland. Following a comprehensive selection of land cover maps, each dataset is evaluated at country level according to five criteria: timeliness, spatial resolution, comparison with FAO statistics, accuracy assessment and expert evaluation. A sensitivity analysis is performed, based on an evaluation of the impact of weight settings on the resulting land cover. The proposed methodology is capable of improving agricultural characterisation in Africa. As a result, two static masks at 250 m spatial resolution for the nominal year 2016 are provided.

ACS Style

A. Pérez-Hoyos; Angel Udias; F. Rembold. Integrating multiple land cover maps through a multi-criteria analysis to improve agricultural monitoring in Africa. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 2020, 88, 102064 .

AMA Style

A. Pérez-Hoyos, Angel Udias, F. Rembold. Integrating multiple land cover maps through a multi-criteria analysis to improve agricultural monitoring in Africa. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. 2020; 88 ():102064.

Chicago/Turabian Style

A. Pérez-Hoyos; Angel Udias; F. Rembold. 2020. "Integrating multiple land cover maps through a multi-criteria analysis to improve agricultural monitoring in Africa." International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 88, no. : 102064.

Journal article
Published: 07 November 2019 in Scientific Reports
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Seawater desalination is already a largely adopted option to cope with the scarcity of natural water resources, but the increasing concerns about water availability in the future make it even more attractive. Because desalination is a highly energy-demanding process, its coupling with renewable energy sources is an essential step for the sustainable production of desalinated water at large scales. In this work we analyze the potential to deploy large-scale seawater desalination using reverse osmosis (RO) under the hypothesis that all the required energy is provided by photovoltaic (PV) production. A simulation over the extended Mediterranean area shows that securing desalinated water for up to about 200 million people in the region is technically possible using PV only, and the benefits of energy storage in batteries and/or water reservoirs are usually higher than its costs. This suggests that water management policies could consider desalination more broadly and encourage PV-based RO, as a possible win-win and cost-effective strategy to improve water and energy resources security.

ACS Style

D. Ganora; C. Dorati; T. A. Huld; Angel Udias; A. Pistocchi. An assessment of energy storage options for large-scale PV-RO desalination in the extended Mediterranean region. Scientific Reports 2019, 9, 1 -10.

AMA Style

D. Ganora, C. Dorati, T. A. Huld, Angel Udias, A. Pistocchi. An assessment of energy storage options for large-scale PV-RO desalination in the extended Mediterranean region. Scientific Reports. 2019; 9 (1):1-10.

Chicago/Turabian Style

D. Ganora; C. Dorati; T. A. Huld; Angel Udias; A. Pistocchi. 2019. "An assessment of energy storage options for large-scale PV-RO desalination in the extended Mediterranean region." Scientific Reports 9, no. 1: 1-10.

Journal article
Published: 27 September 2019 in International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
Reads 0
Downloads 0

A methodology for upscaling 3D coupled Hydro-Mechanical (HM) properties of fractured porous rocks is developed theoretically, tested on synthetic fractured rock samples, and applied to a real site. The upscaled HM equations take into account the HM coupling in the dual matrix/fracture medium, comprising the cracks system as well as the intact porous matrix, yielding the equivalent stiffness tensor and two different sets of equivalent tensorial Biot coefficients Bij(I) and Bij(II) and moduli M(I) and M(II) for the upscaled system (I and II become identical only under certain hypotheses). We provide detailed theoretical expressions in the general tensorial case,and in the particular case of statistically homogeneous and isotropic cracks. The real site application is performed in a damaged and fractured claystone around the GMR gallery (Meuse/Haute-Marne Underground Research Laboratory). The geometric structure of the fracture set around the "Excavation Damage Zone" of the GMR gallery is described by a hybrid model comprising: (i) a set of 10 000 fissures with radially inhomogeneous statistics (size, thickness and density increasing towards the wall) and; (ii) a deterministic set of large curved fractures, periodically spaced along the axis of the gallery according to a 3D chevron pattern. Both "3D" and "2D transverse" distributions of the upscaled coefficients are calculated, and displayed using spheres or ellipsoids. Global tensorial coefficients are also obtained by upscaling the entire annular fractured zone. Equivalent isotropic coefficients are extracted from these tensors: Young modulus E, bulk modulus K, Lamé shear modulus μ, Poisson ratio ν, and HM coupling coefficients: the Biot coefficient B and the Biot modulus M. In all cases considered, we discuss the impact of the degree of fissuring and fracturing on the upscaled stiffness and hydro-mechanical coefficients.

ACS Style

Israel Cañamón; Rachid Ababou; Adrien Poutrel; Ángel Udías. Upscaling 3D coupled hydro mechanical properties of fractured porous rocks. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 2019, 123, 104117 .

AMA Style

Israel Cañamón, Rachid Ababou, Adrien Poutrel, Ángel Udías. Upscaling 3D coupled hydro mechanical properties of fractured porous rocks. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences. 2019; 123 ():104117.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Israel Cañamón; Rachid Ababou; Adrien Poutrel; Ángel Udías. 2019. "Upscaling 3D coupled hydro mechanical properties of fractured porous rocks." International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 123, no. : 104117.

Chapter
Published: 23 May 2019 in Climate Change Management
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Mékrou is a transboundary river basin across Bénin, Burkina Faso, and Niger. In this area, agricultural production plays a major strategic role in guaranteeing household food security for the sustainable development of the basin. Increasing agricultural productivity is crucial for meeting the growing population demands. Climate change (CC) is already affecting agricultural production due to increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. In this paper, a systematic approach to identify the main factors that influence observed yield gaps and to evaluate the impacts of agricultural intensification on the environment and support local development plans is presented. By using a newly developed decision support system tool (E-Water) linking a geographic information system with the biophysical model EPIC, we demonstrate that the agricultural sector has a growing potential by adopting more integrated and efficient agricultural production systems. The analysis of the crop yield gap shows that the main limiting factor for crop production is low soil fertility, while water is limiting during dry years. We predict that the adoption of more intensive farming techniques and sustainable irrigation practices can increase the capacity of agriculture to efficiently mitigate the impacts of climate change and other external environmental stress factors. We confirm that irrigation can substantially increase yield and that it will be required to adapt to expected climate and increase of rainfall variability.

ACS Style

Marco Pastori; Céline Dondeynaz; Bernard Minoungou; Angel Udias; Iban Ameztoy; Mohamed Hamatan; Luigi Cattaneo; Abdou Ali; César Carmona Moreno; Paolo Ronco. Identification of Optimal Agricultural Development Strategies in the West African Sahel Mékrou Transboundary River Basin. Climate Change Management 2019, 729 -746.

AMA Style

Marco Pastori, Céline Dondeynaz, Bernard Minoungou, Angel Udias, Iban Ameztoy, Mohamed Hamatan, Luigi Cattaneo, Abdou Ali, César Carmona Moreno, Paolo Ronco. Identification of Optimal Agricultural Development Strategies in the West African Sahel Mékrou Transboundary River Basin. Climate Change Management. 2019; ():729-746.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Marco Pastori; Céline Dondeynaz; Bernard Minoungou; Angel Udias; Iban Ameztoy; Mohamed Hamatan; Luigi Cattaneo; Abdou Ali; César Carmona Moreno; Paolo Ronco. 2019. "Identification of Optimal Agricultural Development Strategies in the West African Sahel Mékrou Transboundary River Basin." Climate Change Management , no. : 729-746.

Journal article
Published: 21 February 2019 in Science of The Total Environment
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is an indicator of organic pollution in freshwater bodies correlated to microbiological contamination. High BOD concentrations reduce oxygen availability, degrade aquatic habitats and biodiversity, and impair water use. High BOD loadings to freshwater systems are mainly coming from anthropogenic sources, comprising domestic and livestock waste, industrial emissions, and combined sewer overflows. We developed a conceptual model (GREEN+BOD) to assess mean annual current organic pollution (BOD fluxes) across Europe. The model was informed with the latest available European datasets of domestic and industrial emissions, population and livestock densities. Model parameters were calibrated using 2008–2012 mean annual BOD concentrations measured in 2157 European monitoring stations, and validated with other 1134 stations. The most sensitive model parameters were abatement of BOD by secondary treatment and the BOD decay exponent of travel time. The mean BOD concentrations measured in monitored stations was 2.10 mg O2/L and predicted concentrations were 2.54 mg O2/L; the 90th percentile of monitored BOD concentration was 3.51 mg O2/L while the predicted one was 4.76 mg O2/L. The model could correctly classify reaches for BOD concentrations classes, from high to poor quality, in 69% of cases. High overestimations (incorrect classification by 2 or more classes) were 2% and large underestimations were 5% of cases. Across Europe about 12% of freshwater network was estimated to be failing good quality due to excessive BOD concentrations (>5 mg O2/L). Dominant sources of BOD to freshwaters and seas were point sources and emissions from intensive livestock systems. Comparison with previous assessments confirms a decline of BOD pollution since the introduction of EU legislation regulating water pollution.

ACS Style

Olga Vigiak; Bruna Grizzetti; Angel Udias; Michela Zanni; Chiara Dorati; Fayçal Bouraoui; Alberto Pistocchi. Predicting biochemical oxygen demand in European freshwater bodies. Science of The Total Environment 2019, 666, 1089 -1105.

AMA Style

Olga Vigiak, Bruna Grizzetti, Angel Udias, Michela Zanni, Chiara Dorati, Fayçal Bouraoui, Alberto Pistocchi. Predicting biochemical oxygen demand in European freshwater bodies. Science of The Total Environment. 2019; 666 ():1089-1105.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Olga Vigiak; Bruna Grizzetti; Angel Udias; Michela Zanni; Chiara Dorati; Fayçal Bouraoui; Alberto Pistocchi. 2019. "Predicting biochemical oxygen demand in European freshwater bodies." Science of The Total Environment 666, no. : 1089-1105.

Journal article
Published: 09 January 2019 in Ecosystem Services
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Increasing demand and the current unbalanced sectorial attribution of natural resources induce drastic depletion of natural capital. There is a need for bridging sectoral policies into interdisciplinary sustainable management strategies in the Mediterranean region. The complex interactions between ecosystems, food, energy, and water sectors are calling for an integrated approach for supporting impact assessments and decision-making. We aimed to investigate the coherence among the sectoral policies, either supporting or conflicting with each other, on cross-cutting strategies and their impacts on ecosystem and their services. We address ecosystem services as a fourth component besides energy, water, and food sectors in the nexus approach. We collected expert opinions on eleven sectoral policies that cover different disciplines (water, agriculture, energy, economy, and environment). Based on the opinion of the experts, we developed several multi-criteria analyses (MCA) to assess sectoral policy impacts on cross-sectoral strategic targets. Considerable consistency was found in ranking the eleven policies when considering using nexus or cross-cutting strategies criteria, or when considering positive or negative impacts. The EWFE nexus dimension allowed to better distinguish potential synergies or conflicts between sector policies because it provided a framework in which the role of ecosystem service was more explicit. Interestingly, restoring ecosystem and green infrastructures policy ranks among the top policies in all MCAs but according to the experts its probability of successful implementation is among the lowest. The results show that sustainable use of ecosystem services and conservation of the biodiversity are an indispensable pillar to achieve successfully sectoral development goals.

ACS Style

Armagan Aloe Karabulut; Angel Udias; Olga Vigiak. Assessing the policy scenarios for the Ecosystem Water Food Energy (EWFE) nexus in the Mediterranean region. Ecosystem Services 2019, 35, 231 -240.

AMA Style

Armagan Aloe Karabulut, Angel Udias, Olga Vigiak. Assessing the policy scenarios for the Ecosystem Water Food Energy (EWFE) nexus in the Mediterranean region. Ecosystem Services. 2019; 35 ():231-240.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Armagan Aloe Karabulut; Angel Udias; Olga Vigiak. 2019. "Assessing the policy scenarios for the Ecosystem Water Food Energy (EWFE) nexus in the Mediterranean region." Ecosystem Services 35, no. : 231-240.

Journal article
Published: 01 October 2018 in Computers and Electronics in Agriculture
Reads 0
Downloads 0

We describe in this paper the implementation of E-Water, an open software Decision Support System (DSS), designed to help local managers assess the Water Energy Food Environment (WEFE) nexus. E-Water aims at providing optimal management solutions to enhance food crop production at river basin level. The DSS was applied in the transboundary Mékrou river basin, shared among Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. The primary sector for local economy in the region is agriculture, contributing significantly to income generation and job creation. Fostering the productivity of regional agricultural requires the intensification of farming practices, promoting additional inputs (mainly nutrient fertilizers and water irrigation) but, also, a more efficient allocation of cropland. In order to cope with the heterogeneity of data, and the analyses and issues required by the WEFE nexus approach, our DSS integrates the following modules: (1) the EPIC biophysical agricultural model; (2) a simplified regression metamodel, linking crop production with external inputs; (3) a linear programming and a multiobjective genetic algorithm optimization routines for finding efficient agricultural strategies; and (4) a user-friendly interface for input/output analysis and visualization. To test the main features of the DSS, we apply it to various real and hypothetical scenarios in the Mékrou river basin. The results obtained show how food unavailability due to insufficient local production could be reduced by, approximately, one third by enhancing the application and optimal distribution of fertilizers and irrigation. That would also affect the total income of the farming sector, eventually doubling it in the best case scenario. Furthermore, the combination of optimal agricultural strategies and modified optimal cropland allocation across the basin would bring additional moderate increases in food self-sufficiency, and more substantial gains in the total agricultural income. The proposed software framework proves to be effective, enabling decision makers to identify efficient and site-specific agronomic management strategies for nutrients and water. Such practices would augment crop productivity, which, in turn, would allow to cope with increasing future food demands, and find a balanced use of natural resources, also taking other economic sectors—like livestock, urban or energy—into account.

ACS Style

Angel Udias; Marco Pastori; Céline Dondeynaz; Cesar Carmona Moreno; Abdou Ali; Luigi Cattaneo; Javier Cano. A decision support tool to enhance agricultural growth in the Mékrou river basin (West Africa). Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 2018, 154, 467 -481.

AMA Style

Angel Udias, Marco Pastori, Céline Dondeynaz, Cesar Carmona Moreno, Abdou Ali, Luigi Cattaneo, Javier Cano. A decision support tool to enhance agricultural growth in the Mékrou river basin (West Africa). Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 2018; 154 ():467-481.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Angel Udias; Marco Pastori; Céline Dondeynaz; Cesar Carmona Moreno; Abdou Ali; Luigi Cattaneo; Javier Cano. 2018. "A decision support tool to enhance agricultural growth in the Mékrou river basin (West Africa)." Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 154, no. : 467-481.

Journal article
Published: 01 August 2018 in Science of The Total Environment
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Water scarcity and droughts are a major concern in most Mediterranean countries. Agriculture is a major user of water in the region and releases significant amounts of surface and ground waters, endangering the sustainable use of the available resources. Best Management Practices (BMPs) can mitigate the agriculture impacts on quantity of surface waters in agricultural catchments. However, identification of efficient BMPs strategies is a complex task, because BMPs costs and effectiveness can vary significantly within a basin. In this study, sustainable agricultural practices were studied based on optimal allocation of irrigation water use for dominant irrigated crops in the island of Crete, Greece. A decision support tool that integrates the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) watershed model, an economic model, and multi-objective optimization routines, was used to identify and locate optimal irrigation strategies by considering crop water requirements, impact of irrigation changes on crop productivity, management strategies costs, and crop market prices. Three spatial scales (crop type, fields, and administrative regions) were considered to point out different approaches of efficient management. According to the analysis, depending on the spatial scale and complexity of spatial optimization, water irrigation volumes could be reduced by 32%–70% while preserving current agricultural benefit. Specific management strategies also looked at ways to relocate water between administrative regions (4 prefectures in the case of Crete) to optimize crop benefit while reducing global water use. It was estimated that an optimal reallocation of water could reduce irrigation water volumes by 52% (148 Mm3/y) at the cost of a 7% (48 M€) loss of agricultural income, but maintaining the current agricultural benefit (626.9 M€). The study showed how the identification of optimal, cost-effective irrigation management strategies can potentially address the water scarcity issue that is becoming crucial for the viability of agriculture in the Mediterranean region.

ACS Style

Angel Udias; Marco Pastori; Anna Malago; Olga Vigiak; Nikolaos P. Nikolaidis; Faycal Bouraoui. Identifying efficient agricultural irrigation strategies in Crete. Science of The Total Environment 2018, 633, 271 -284.

AMA Style

Angel Udias, Marco Pastori, Anna Malago, Olga Vigiak, Nikolaos P. Nikolaidis, Faycal Bouraoui. Identifying efficient agricultural irrigation strategies in Crete. Science of The Total Environment. 2018; 633 ():271-284.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Angel Udias; Marco Pastori; Anna Malago; Olga Vigiak; Nikolaos P. Nikolaidis; Faycal Bouraoui. 2018. "Identifying efficient agricultural irrigation strategies in Crete." Science of The Total Environment 633, no. : 271-284.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2018 in Journal of Cleaner Production
Reads 0
Downloads 0
ACS Style

Armagan Aloe Karabulut; Eleonora Crenna; Serenella Sala; Angel Udias. A proposal for integration of the ecosystem-water-food-land-energy (EWFLE) nexus concept into life cycle assessment: A synthesis matrix system for food security. Journal of Cleaner Production 2018, 172, 3874 -3889.

AMA Style

Armagan Aloe Karabulut, Eleonora Crenna, Serenella Sala, Angel Udias. A proposal for integration of the ecosystem-water-food-land-energy (EWFLE) nexus concept into life cycle assessment: A synthesis matrix system for food security. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2018; 172 ():3874-3889.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Armagan Aloe Karabulut; Eleonora Crenna; Serenella Sala; Angel Udias. 2018. "A proposal for integration of the ecosystem-water-food-land-energy (EWFLE) nexus concept into life cycle assessment: A synthesis matrix system for food security." Journal of Cleaner Production 172, no. : 3874-3889.

Erratum
Published: 26 July 2017 in Scientific Reports
Reads 0
Downloads 0

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML version of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper.

ACS Style

B. Grizzetti; A. Pistocchi; C. Liquete; Angel Udias; F. Bouraoui; W. Van De Bund. Erratum: Human pressures and ecological status of European rivers. Scientific Reports 2017, 7, 1 -1.

AMA Style

B. Grizzetti, A. Pistocchi, C. Liquete, Angel Udias, F. Bouraoui, W. Van De Bund. Erratum: Human pressures and ecological status of European rivers. Scientific Reports. 2017; 7 (1):1-1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

B. Grizzetti; A. Pistocchi; C. Liquete; Angel Udias; F. Bouraoui; W. Van De Bund. 2017. "Erratum: Human pressures and ecological status of European rivers." Scientific Reports 7, no. 1: 1-1.

Journal article
Published: 16 March 2017 in Scientific Reports
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Humans have increased the discharge of pollution, altered water flow regime and modified the morphology of rivers. All these actions have resulted in multiple pressures on freshwater ecosystems, undermining their biodiversity and ecological functioning. The European Union has adopted an ambitious water policy to reduce pressures and achieve a good ecological status for all water bodies. However, assessing multiple pressures on aquatic ecosystems and understanding their combined impact on the ecological status is challenging, especially at the large scale, though crucial to the planning of effective policies. Here, for the first time, we quantify multiple human pressures and their relationship with the ecological status for all European rivers. We considered ecological data collected across Europe and pressures assessed by pan-European models, including pollution, hydrological and hydromorphological alterations. We estimated that in one third of EU’s territory rivers are in good ecological status. We found that better ecological status is associated with the presence of natural areas in floodplains, while urbanisation and nutrient pollution are important predictors of ecological degradation. We explored scenarios of improvement of rivers ecological status for Europe. Our results strengthen the need to halt urban land take, curb nitrogen pollution and maintain and restore nature along rivers.

ACS Style

B. Grizzetti; A. Pistocchi; C. Liquete; Angel Udias; F. Bouraoui; W. Van De Bund. Human pressures and ecological status of European rivers. Scientific Reports 2017, 7, 1 -11.

AMA Style

B. Grizzetti, A. Pistocchi, C. Liquete, Angel Udias, F. Bouraoui, W. Van De Bund. Human pressures and ecological status of European rivers. Scientific Reports. 2017; 7 (1):1-11.

Chicago/Turabian Style

B. Grizzetti; A. Pistocchi; C. Liquete; Angel Udias; F. Bouraoui; W. Van De Bund. 2017. "Human pressures and ecological status of European rivers." Scientific Reports 7, no. 1: 1-11.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2017 in Science of The Total Environment
Reads 0
Downloads 0

The contribution illustrates an integrated assessment framework aimed at evaluating the relationships between multiple pressures and water body status for the purposes of river basin management. The framework includes the following steps. (1) Understanding how the different pressures affect the status of water bodies. This entails the characterization of biophysical state variables and the definition of a causal relationship between pressures and status. Therefore this step involves interaction between experts bearing ecological understanding and experts providing models to represent the effect of pressures. (2) Identifying the relevant pressures to be addressed through appropriate measures to improve the status of water bodies. (3) Evaluating reduction targets for the relevant pressures identified in a river basin, by weighting the effort associated to reducing individual pressures and the potential benefits in terms of water body status. (4) Designing management measures through a creative process and political discussion of alternative options, balancing costs, benefits and effectiveness based on engineering and economic analysis. (5) Simulating scenarios of implementation of a programme of measures in order to check their effectiveness and robustness against climate and land use change. We discuss the five steps of the assessment framework, and particularly the interaction between science and policy at the different stages. We review the assessment tools required at each step and, for setting optimal pressure reduction targets (step 3), we propose and illustrate a simplified multicriteria approach based on semi-quantitative assessment, which produces frontiers of optimal trade-offs between effort spent on measures, and achievements.

ACS Style

A. Pistocchi; Angel Udias; B. Grizzetti; Emiliano Gelati; P. Koundouri; R. Ludwig; A. Papandreou; I. Souliotis. An integrated assessment framework for the analysis of multiple pressures in aquatic ecosystems and the appraisal of management options. Science of The Total Environment 2017, 575, 1477 -1488.

AMA Style

A. Pistocchi, Angel Udias, B. Grizzetti, Emiliano Gelati, P. Koundouri, R. Ludwig, A. Papandreou, I. Souliotis. An integrated assessment framework for the analysis of multiple pressures in aquatic ecosystems and the appraisal of management options. Science of The Total Environment. 2017; 575 ():1477-1488.

Chicago/Turabian Style

A. Pistocchi; Angel Udias; B. Grizzetti; Emiliano Gelati; P. Koundouri; R. Ludwig; A. Papandreou; I. Souliotis. 2017. "An integrated assessment framework for the analysis of multiple pressures in aquatic ecosystems and the appraisal of management options." Science of The Total Environment 575, no. : 1477-1488.

Journal article
Published: 01 December 2016 in Ecosystem Services
Reads 0
Downloads 0

In this study we assess multiple benefits (environmental, social and economic) provided by a multi-purpose green infrastructure (a series of constructed wetlands surrounded by a park) in a peri-urban area, and compare it with the alternative grey infrastructure and with the previous situation (a poplar plantation). We apply a multi-criteria analysis as a basis for integrated valuation. We address specific policy needs (strategic objectives) for the local territorial planning in the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive. The analysis is used retrospectively (ex post evaluation) but our results could also be used prospectively to appraise new proposals of constructed wetlands under similar circumstances. The results reflect that the green infrastructure performs equal or even better than the grey infrastructure alternative for water purification and flood protection, it has a similar cost, and it provides additional benefits (like wildlife support and recreation). The most preferred alternative is the green infrastructure, followed by the grey infrastructure and the poplar plantation. This study demonstrates (a) the effectiveness of investments on nature-based solutions, (b) the potential of green infrastructures for delivering a broad range of ecosystem services, and (c) the utility of integrating different value systems and stakeholders’ viewpoints to support environmental decision-making.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

ACS Style

Camino Liquete; Angel Udias; Giulio Conte; Bruna Grizzetti; Fabio Masi. Integrated valuation of a nature-based solution for water pollution control. Highlighting hidden benefits. Ecosystem Services 2016, 22, 392 -401.

AMA Style

Camino Liquete, Angel Udias, Giulio Conte, Bruna Grizzetti, Fabio Masi. Integrated valuation of a nature-based solution for water pollution control. Highlighting hidden benefits. Ecosystem Services. 2016; 22 ():392-401.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Camino Liquete; Angel Udias; Giulio Conte; Bruna Grizzetti; Fabio Masi. 2016. "Integrated valuation of a nature-based solution for water pollution control. Highlighting hidden benefits." Ecosystem Services 22, no. : 392-401.

Journal article
Published: 30 August 2016 in Water
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Nitrogen losses in the form of Nitrate (N-NO3) from point and diffuse sources of pollution are recognized to be the leading cause of water body impairment throughout Europe. Implementation of conservation programs is perceived as being crucial for restoring and protecting the good ecological status of freshwater bodies. The success of conservation programs depends on the efficient identification of management solutions with respect to the envisaged environmental and economic objectives. This is a complex task, especially considering that costs and effectiveness of conservation strategies depend on their locations. We applied a multi-objective, spatially explicit analysis tool, the R-SWAT-DM framework, to search for efficient, spatially-targeted solution of Nitrate abatement in the Upper Danube Basin. The Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model served as the nonpoint source pollution estimator for current conditions as well as for scenarios with modified agricultural practices and waste water treatment upgrading. A spatially explicit optimization analysis that considered point and diffuse sources of Nitrate was performed to search for strategies that could achieve largest pollution abatement at minimum cost. The set of optimal spatial conservation strategies identified in the Basin indicated that it could be possible to reduce Nitrate loads by more than 50% while simultaneously provide a higher income.

ACS Style

Angel Udias; Anna Malagò; Marco Pastori; Olga Vigiak; Arnaud Reynaud; Francisco Javier Elorza; Faycal Bouraoui. Identifying Efficient Nitrate Reduction Strategies in the Upper Danube. Water 2016, 8, 371 .

AMA Style

Angel Udias, Anna Malagò, Marco Pastori, Olga Vigiak, Arnaud Reynaud, Francisco Javier Elorza, Faycal Bouraoui. Identifying Efficient Nitrate Reduction Strategies in the Upper Danube. Water. 2016; 8 (9):371.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Angel Udias; Anna Malagò; Marco Pastori; Olga Vigiak; Arnaud Reynaud; Francisco Javier Elorza; Faycal Bouraoui. 2016. "Identifying Efficient Nitrate Reduction Strategies in the Upper Danube." Water 8, no. 9: 371.

Journal article
Published: 29 August 2016 in Water
Reads 0
Downloads 0

In order to assess water efficiency options on the European scale, a multi-criteria integrative hydro-economic modeling framework has been developed. With this framework, it is possible to assess combinations of measures which could help reducing the gap between water demand and water availability, while taking into account ecological, water quality, flood risk and economic aspects. The assessed measures include water retention, water savings and nutrient reduction measures. The presented work was carried out within the framework of the “Blueprint to safeguard Europe’s waters” policy initiative of the European Commission. Contrary to earlier studies concentrating on single measures in single river basins, this study shows that this modeling environment can evaluate combinations of measures in multiple river basins that meet the considered objectives, and in general can improve various water quantity and quality indicators as compared to the baseline situation. However, additional work is needed on for example quantifying the economics of damage and benefits before the modelling environment may be used for policy advice.

ACS Style

Angel Udias; Alessandro Gentile; Peter Burek; Ad De Roo; Faycal Bouraoui; Ine Vandecasteele; Carlo LaValle; Giovanni Bidoglio. Multi-Criteria Framework to Assess Large Scale Water Resources Policy Measures. Water 2016, 8, 370 .

AMA Style

Angel Udias, Alessandro Gentile, Peter Burek, Ad De Roo, Faycal Bouraoui, Ine Vandecasteele, Carlo LaValle, Giovanni Bidoglio. Multi-Criteria Framework to Assess Large Scale Water Resources Policy Measures. Water. 2016; 8 (9):370.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Angel Udias; Alessandro Gentile; Peter Burek; Ad De Roo; Faycal Bouraoui; Ine Vandecasteele; Carlo LaValle; Giovanni Bidoglio. 2016. "Multi-Criteria Framework to Assess Large Scale Water Resources Policy Measures." Water 8, no. 9: 370.

Journal article
Published: 25 November 2015 in River Research and Applications
Reads 0
Downloads 0

The composition and structure of riparian vegetation are linked to the natural hydrological variability and variation of environmental parameters in several spatial scales. The objective of this study is to determine the relationship between the spatial distribution of the woody riparian vegetation and the variation in the riverbank topographic gradient, verifying whether this variation was significant between species and/or growth categories. Specifically, our research examined the location of the woody species with respect to the thalweg along two reaches of the Jarama River in Central Spain. The positioning variables of each individual and distance and elevation above the thalweg were evaluated for four growth categories using statistical analysis. This study revealed that the positioning of the species along reaches is not random and differs with the species and growth categories. In addition, groups of species were specified in the different growth categories using similar positioning patterns with respect to the thalweg. Examples of similar groups of species in a specifically growth category were as follows: Alnus glutinosa–Salix alba–Salix fragilis for one reach and Alnus glutinosa–Populus nigra–Salix alba–Salix salviifolia for the other one. Topographical preference ranges of the riparian species and groups of the Jarama River were also obtained. The integration of data relative to the distribution of species along the topographic gradient can be very useful in identifying species with a preference for specific locations and can also contribute to the success of the measures adopted to restore these frequently highly degraded environments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

ACS Style

A. Fernández-Santamarina; F. Magdaleno; Angel Udias. Spatial Variation of Woody Riparian Vegetation across the Riverbank Topographic Gradient in Mediterranean Rivers: Species and Growth Categories. River Research and Applications 2015, 32, 1289 -1301.

AMA Style

A. Fernández-Santamarina, F. Magdaleno, Angel Udias. Spatial Variation of Woody Riparian Vegetation across the Riverbank Topographic Gradient in Mediterranean Rivers: Species and Growth Categories. River Research and Applications. 2015; 32 (6):1289-1301.

Chicago/Turabian Style

A. Fernández-Santamarina; F. Magdaleno; Angel Udias. 2015. "Spatial Variation of Woody Riparian Vegetation across the Riverbank Topographic Gradient in Mediterranean Rivers: Species and Growth Categories." River Research and Applications 32, no. 6: 1289-1301.

Book chapter
Published: 01 January 2015 in Handbook of Metaheuristics
Reads 0
Downloads 0
ACS Style

M. Pastori; Angel Udias; Faycal Bouraoui; Alberto Aloe; G. Bidoglio. Multi-objective Optimization for Improved Agricultural Water and Nitrogen Management in Selected Regions of Africa. Handbook of Metaheuristics 2015, 241 -258.

AMA Style

M. Pastori, Angel Udias, Faycal Bouraoui, Alberto Aloe, G. Bidoglio. Multi-objective Optimization for Improved Agricultural Water and Nitrogen Management in Selected Regions of Africa. Handbook of Metaheuristics. 2015; ():241-258.

Chicago/Turabian Style

M. Pastori; Angel Udias; Faycal Bouraoui; Alberto Aloe; G. Bidoglio. 2015. "Multi-objective Optimization for Improved Agricultural Water and Nitrogen Management in Selected Regions of Africa." Handbook of Metaheuristics , no. : 241-258.

Book chapter
Published: 01 January 2014 in Econometrics for Financial Applications
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Sustainability of water resources has become a challenging problem worldwide, as the pollution levels of natural water resources particularly of rivers) have increased drastically in the last decades. Nowadays, there are many Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) technologies that provide different levels of efficiency in the removal of water pollutants, leading to a great number of combinations of different measures (PoM) or strategies. The management problem, then, involves finding which of these combinations are efficient, regarding the desired objectives (cost and quality). Therefore, decisions affecting water resources require the application of multi-objective optimization techniques which will lead to a set of tradeoff solutions, none of which is better or worse than the others, but, rather, the final decision must be one particular PoM including representative features of the whole set of solutions. Besides, there is not a universally accepted standard way to assess the water quality of a river. In order to consider simultaneously all these issues, we present in this work a hydroinformatics management tool, designed to help decision makers with the selection of a PoM that satisfies the WFD objectives. Our approach combines: 1) a Water Quality Model (WQM), devised to simulate the effects of each PoM used to reduce pollution pressures on the hydrologic network; 2) a Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA), used to identify efficient tradeoffs between PoMs’ costs and water quality; and 3) visualization of the Pareto optimal set, in order to extract knowledge from optimal decisions in a usable form. We have applied our methodology in a real scenario, the inner Catalan watersheds with promising results.JRC.H.1-Water Resource

ACS Style

Angel Udías; Andrés Redchuk; Javier Cano; Lorenzo Galbiati. Selection of Evolutionary Multicriteria Strategies: Application in Designing a Regional Water Restoration Management Plan. Econometrics for Financial Applications 2014, 311 -325.

AMA Style

Angel Udías, Andrés Redchuk, Javier Cano, Lorenzo Galbiati. Selection of Evolutionary Multicriteria Strategies: Application in Designing a Regional Water Restoration Management Plan. Econometrics for Financial Applications. 2014; ():311-325.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Angel Udías; Andrés Redchuk; Javier Cano; Lorenzo Galbiati. 2014. "Selection of Evolutionary Multicriteria Strategies: Application in Designing a Regional Water Restoration Management Plan." Econometrics for Financial Applications , no. : 311-325.