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This research explains what happened to agricultural soil fertility during the “Campanha do Trigo” (Wheat Campaign) in Portugal, which began in 1929. It is commonly understood that the excessive expansion of wheat crops during the fascist “Estado Novo” (New State) regime led to the degradation of soils in the southern half of Portugal. This relationship, however, has never been questioned before. This article extends the narrative back into the last half of the nineteenth century in search of the origin of processes that gradually intensified throughout the country. In short, expansion of the cultivated area in association with the inadequate intensification of crop rotations over about 80 years, from the 1870s onward, including in non-wheat areas, strongly accentuated soil erosion and made organic fertilization progressively less effective. These transformations were only partially offset by chemical fertilization. Nitrogen and phosphorus were the key factors in this historical process. Focusing on the cultivation system and soil dynamics allows the successive integration of various kinds of historical evidence and sources. From an environmental question—why did agricultural soil degrade?—this article explores soil degradation over time and space, and assesses its social and biophysical impacts. At the same time, it addresses the history of agriculture in Portugal and its disciplinary foundations.
Miguel Carmo; Tiago Domingos. Agricultural Expansion, Soil Degradation, and Fertilization in Portugal, 1873–1960: From History to Soil and Back Again. Social Science History 2021, 1 -28.
AMA StyleMiguel Carmo, Tiago Domingos. Agricultural Expansion, Soil Degradation, and Fertilization in Portugal, 1873–1960: From History to Soil and Back Again. Social Science History. 2021; ():1-28.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMiguel Carmo; Tiago Domingos. 2021. "Agricultural Expansion, Soil Degradation, and Fertilization in Portugal, 1873–1960: From History to Soil and Back Again." Social Science History , no. : 1-28.
The Montado is an agro-silvo-pastoral ecosystem characteristic of the Mediterranean region. Pasture productivity and, consequently, the possibilities for intensifying livestock production depend on soil fertility. Soil organic matter (SOM) and phosphorus (P2O5) are two indicators of the evolution of soil fertility in this ecosystem. However, their conventional analytical determination by reference laboratory methods is costly, time consuming, and laborious and, thus, does not meet the needs of current production systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate an alternative approach to estimate SOM and soil P2O5 based on near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) combined with multivariate data analysis. For this purpose, 242 topsoil samples were collected in 2019 in eleven fields. These samples were subjected to reference laboratory analysis and NIRS analysis. For NIRS, 165 samples were used during the calibration phase and 77 samples were used during the external validation phase. The results of this study showed significant correlation between NIRS calibration models and reference methods for quantification of these soil parameters. The coefficient of determination (R2, 0.85 for SOM and 0.76 for P2O5) and the residual predictive deviation (RPD, 2.7 for SOM and 2.2 for P2O5) obtained in external validation indicated the potential of NIRS to estimate SOM and P2O5, which can facilitate farm managers’ decision making in terms of dynamic management of animal grazing and differential fertilizer application.
João Serrano; Shakib Shahidian; José Marques da Silva; Luís Paixão; Mário de Carvalho; Francisco Moral; Julio Nogales-Bueno; Ricardo Teixeira; Marjan Jongen; Tiago Domingos; Ana Rato. Evaluation of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) for Estimating Soil Organic Matter and Phosphorus in Mediterranean Montado Ecosystem. Sustainability 2021, 13, 2734 .
AMA StyleJoão Serrano, Shakib Shahidian, José Marques da Silva, Luís Paixão, Mário de Carvalho, Francisco Moral, Julio Nogales-Bueno, Ricardo Teixeira, Marjan Jongen, Tiago Domingos, Ana Rato. Evaluation of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) for Estimating Soil Organic Matter and Phosphorus in Mediterranean Montado Ecosystem. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (5):2734.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJoão Serrano; Shakib Shahidian; José Marques da Silva; Luís Paixão; Mário de Carvalho; Francisco Moral; Julio Nogales-Bueno; Ricardo Teixeira; Marjan Jongen; Tiago Domingos; Ana Rato. 2021. "Evaluation of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) for Estimating Soil Organic Matter and Phosphorus in Mediterranean Montado Ecosystem." Sustainability 13, no. 5: 2734.
The territory-based conception of environmental commitments disregards the crucial role of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the global generation of greenhouse gases. Such a misconception discourages MNEs from pledging own emissions reduction goals as global agents and exempts their origin country of any responsibility for the emissions they generate abroad. We propose a new allocation criterion based on who has the ability to take MNEs’ decisions called the control-based accounting. We apply it for the first time to the MNEs’ foreign affiliates operating in the EU and estimate the CO2 emissions responsibility of EU countries under the control-based criterion, that is, assigning emissions generated by foreign-controlled companies to the origin country of the firms (controlling country) instead of the host country (as in the territory-based approach). We found that Germany and France are the EU countries with the highest control-based responsibilities; whereas Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary bear significantly less responsibility under this approach compared to other allocation methods. The United States is the non-EU country with the greatest responsibility for emissions physically generated within the EU's territory through foreign affiliates. Targeting climate policies towards inducing parent companies and controlling countries to calculate and reduce the carbon footprint of their affiliates would place MNEs at the forefront of the fight against climate change.
Mateo Ortiz; Luis-Antonio López; María‐Ángeles Cadarso. EU carbon emissions by multinational enterprises under control-based accounting. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 2020, 163, 105104 .
AMA StyleMateo Ortiz, Luis-Antonio López, María‐Ángeles Cadarso. EU carbon emissions by multinational enterprises under control-based accounting. Resources, Conservation and Recycling. 2020; 163 ():105104.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMateo Ortiz; Luis-Antonio López; María‐Ángeles Cadarso. 2020. "EU carbon emissions by multinational enterprises under control-based accounting." Resources, Conservation and Recycling 163, no. : 105104.
Although European countries have made great efforts to reduce their territorial carbon emissions, global emissions are still growing. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating within Europe, as transnational institutions, can make significant contributions in translating European efforts into global emissions reduction. Here, we estimate the carbon footprint of the foreign multinationals’ affiliates (FMNEs) operating within the European Union (EU) in 2015 as a first assessment of the MNEs’ potential regarding European and global carbon emissions reduction targets. Our findings show that FMNEs generate 17% of the total carbon footprint of the EU but only 12% of the total value added. Thus, the net impacts of FMNE are considered to be in environmental deficit because their adverse environmental impacts are relatively higher than their positive economic ones. Calculations are made under the assumption that FMNEs produce using the same technology as their domestic peers; therefore, the carbon/economic imbalance found is attributed to the FMNEs’ distribution across sectors. The participation of FMNEs in carbon‐intensive industrial sectors are remarkably high in low‐income EU members; therefore, the effective reduction of the carbon footprint in those countries is largely conditioned by the decisions of foreign MNEs’ headquarters. Furthermore, those countries are more vulnerable to capital leakages in the case where a European carbon tax was to be imposed. We conclude by discussing the economic and policy implications of the country‐level inequality of MNEs’ environmental impacts within the EU.
Mateo Ortiz; María-Ángeles Cadarso; Luis-Antonio López. The carbon footprint of foreign multinationals within the European Union. Journal of Industrial Ecology 2020, 24, 1 .
AMA StyleMateo Ortiz, María-Ángeles Cadarso, Luis-Antonio López. The carbon footprint of foreign multinationals within the European Union. Journal of Industrial Ecology. 2020; 24 (6):1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMateo Ortiz; María-Ángeles Cadarso; Luis-Antonio López. 2020. "The carbon footprint of foreign multinationals within the European Union." Journal of Industrial Ecology 24, no. 6: 1.
We propose a combination of a structural path analysis (SPA) with the complex network analysis to capture the existence of different sector or industry clusters in the transmission of carbon emissions from China to the rest of world's economy through imports. We used OECD-ICIO input-output framework and identified different types of communities as boosts and suppliers of carbon emissions by type of industry, type of final demand, and the different stages of production. We have found that some worldwide industries, such as consumption of textiles and wholesale and retail trade, could reduce the emissions generated in China by collaborating with their direct suppliers since they receive a large part of their emissions from the first and second stage of production. However, it is not so easy for other consumption industries, such as food, computers, motor vehicles and most of the service industries, which are more diffuse ones, and incorporate most of their carbon emissions from China from furthest stages of production (3 to 9). In terms of economic policy, this imply that if these industries (or firms) that supply the final demand of the world economy want to reduce a significant part of their emissions generated in China, it should be through establishing collaboration agreements with the suppliers in China that are in the remote stages of the production process, which entails higher transaction costs.
Luis Antonio López; Guadalupe Arce; Xuemei Jiang. Mapping China's flows of emissions in the world's carbon footprint: A network approach of production layers. Energy Economics 2020, 87, 104739 .
AMA StyleLuis Antonio López, Guadalupe Arce, Xuemei Jiang. Mapping China's flows of emissions in the world's carbon footprint: A network approach of production layers. Energy Economics. 2020; 87 ():104739.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLuis Antonio López; Guadalupe Arce; Xuemei Jiang. 2020. "Mapping China's flows of emissions in the world's carbon footprint: A network approach of production layers." Energy Economics 87, no. : 104739.
Sown Biodiverse Pastures (SBP) are the basis of a high-yield grazing system tailored for Mediterranean ecosystems and widely implemented in Southern Portugal. The application of precision farming methods in SBP requires cost-effective monitoring using remote sensing (RS). The main hurdle for the remote monitoring of SBP is the fact that the bulk of the pastures are installed in open Montado agroforestry systems. Sparsely distributed trees cast shadows that hinder the identification of the underlaying pasture using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) imagery. Image acquisition in the Spring is made difficult by the presence of flowers that mislead the classification algorithms. Here, we tested multiple procedures for the geographical, object-based image classification (GEOBIA) of SBP, aiming to reduce the effects of tree shadows and flowers in open Montado systems. We used remotely sensed data acquired between November 2017 and May 2018 in three Portuguese farms. We used three machine learning supervised classification algorithms: Random Forests (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). We classified SBP based on: (1) a single-period image for the maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) epoch in each of the three farms, and (2) multi-temporal image stacking. RF, SVM and ANN were trained using some visible (red, green and blue bands) and near-infrared (NIR) reflectance bands, plus NDVI and a Digital Surface Model (DSM). We obtained high overall accuracy and kappa index (higher than 79% and 0.60, respectively). The RF algorithm had the highest overall accuracy (more than 92%) for all farms. Multitemporal image classification increased the accuracy of the algorithms. as it helped to correctly identify as SBP the areas covered by tree shadows and flower patches, which would be misclassified using single image classification. This study thus established the first workflow for SBP monitoring based on remotely sensed data, suggesting an operational approach for SBP identification. The workflow can be applied to other types of pastures in agroforestry regions to reduce the effects of shadows and flowering in classification problems.
Pedro Vilar; Tiago G. Morais; Nuno R. Rodrigues; Ivo Gama; Marta L. Monteiro; Tiago Domingos; Ricardo F. M. Teixeira. Object-Based Classification Approaches for Multitemporal Identification and Monitoring of Pastures in Agroforestry Regions using Multispectral Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Products. Remote Sensing 2020, 12, 814 .
AMA StylePedro Vilar, Tiago G. Morais, Nuno R. Rodrigues, Ivo Gama, Marta L. Monteiro, Tiago Domingos, Ricardo F. M. Teixeira. Object-Based Classification Approaches for Multitemporal Identification and Monitoring of Pastures in Agroforestry Regions using Multispectral Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Products. Remote Sensing. 2020; 12 (5):814.
Chicago/Turabian StylePedro Vilar; Tiago G. Morais; Nuno R. Rodrigues; Ivo Gama; Marta L. Monteiro; Tiago Domingos; Ricardo F. M. Teixeira. 2020. "Object-Based Classification Approaches for Multitemporal Identification and Monitoring of Pastures in Agroforestry Regions using Multispectral Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Products." Remote Sensing 12, no. 5: 814.
Assessments of the global carbon (C) cycle typically rely on simplified models which consider large areas as homogeneous in terms of the response of soils to land use or consider very broad land classes. For example, "cropland" is typically modelled as an aggregation of distinct practices and individual crops over large regions. Here, we use the process-based Rothamsted soil Carbon Model (RothC model), which has a history of being successfully applied at a global scale, to calculate attainable SOC stocks and C mineralization rates for each of c. 17,000 regions (combination of soil type and texture, climate type, initial land use and country) in the World, under near-past climate conditions. We considered 28 individual crops and, for each, multiple production practices, plus 16 forest types and 1 grassland class (total of 80 classes). We find that conversion to cropland can result in SOC increases, particularly when the soil remains covered with crop residues (an average gain of 12 t C/ha) or using irrigation (4 t C/ha), which are mutually reinforcing effects. Attainable SOC stocks vary significantly depending on the land use class, particularly for cropland. Common aggregations in global modelling of a single agricultural class would be inaccurate representations of these results. Attainable SOC stocks obtained here were compared to long-term experiment data and are well aligned with the literature. Our results provide a regional and detailed understanding of C sequestration that will also enable better greenhouse gas reporting at national level as alternatives to IPCC tier 2 defaults.
Tiago G. Morais; Ricardo F.M. Teixeira; Tiago Domingos. Detailed global modelling of soil organic carbon in cropland, grassland and forest soils. PLOS ONE 2019, 14, e0222604 .
AMA StyleTiago G. Morais, Ricardo F.M. Teixeira, Tiago Domingos. Detailed global modelling of soil organic carbon in cropland, grassland and forest soils. PLOS ONE. 2019; 14 (9):e0222604.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTiago G. Morais; Ricardo F.M. Teixeira; Tiago Domingos. 2019. "Detailed global modelling of soil organic carbon in cropland, grassland and forest soils." PLOS ONE 14, no. 9: e0222604.
The year 2016 marked the 10-year anniversary of the publication of the “Livestock’s Long Shadow” FAO report
Ricardo F.M. Teixeira; Tiago Domingos. Current Practice and Future Perspectives for Livestock Production and Industrial Ecology. Sustainability 2019, 11, 4210 .
AMA StyleRicardo F.M. Teixeira, Tiago Domingos. Current Practice and Future Perspectives for Livestock Production and Industrial Ecology. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (15):4210.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRicardo F.M. Teixeira; Tiago Domingos. 2019. "Current Practice and Future Perspectives for Livestock Production and Industrial Ecology." Sustainability 11, no. 15: 4210.
Biodiversity monitoring at simultaneously fine spatial resolutions and large spatial extents is needed but limited by operational trade-offs and costs. Open-access data may be cost-effective to address those limitations. We test the use of open-access satellite imagery (NDVI texture variables) and biodiversity data, assembled from GBIF, to investigate the relative importance of variables of habitat extent and structure as indicators of bird community richness and dissimilarity in the Alentejo region (Portugal). Results show that, at the landscape scale, forest bird richness is better indicated by the availability of tree cover in the overall landscape than by the extent or structure of the forest habitats. Open-land birds also respond to landscape structure, namely to the spectral homogeneity and size of open-land patches and to the presence of perennial vegetation amid herbaceous habitats. Moreover, structure variables were more important than climate variables or geographic distance to explain community dissimilarity patterns at the regional scale. Overall, summer imagery, when perennial vegetation is more discernible, is particularly suited to inform indicators of forest and open-land bird community richness and dissimilarity, while spring imagery appears to be also useful to inform indicators of open-land bird richness.
Inês Ribeiro; Vânia Proença; Pere Serra; Jorge Palma; Cristina Domingo-Marimon; Xavier Pons; Tiago Domingos. Remotely sensed indicators and open-access biodiversity data to assess bird diversity patterns in Mediterranean rural landscapes. Scientific Reports 2019, 9, 6826 .
AMA StyleInês Ribeiro, Vânia Proença, Pere Serra, Jorge Palma, Cristina Domingo-Marimon, Xavier Pons, Tiago Domingos. Remotely sensed indicators and open-access biodiversity data to assess bird diversity patterns in Mediterranean rural landscapes. Scientific Reports. 2019; 9 (1):6826.
Chicago/Turabian StyleInês Ribeiro; Vânia Proença; Pere Serra; Jorge Palma; Cristina Domingo-Marimon; Xavier Pons; Tiago Domingos. 2019. "Remotely sensed indicators and open-access biodiversity data to assess bird diversity patterns in Mediterranean rural landscapes." Scientific Reports 9, no. 1: 6826.
Multinational enterprises (MNE) need to be a part of the solution in the fight against climate change, as claimed by investors and consumers, reducing emissions within their operations and supply chains. This paper measures the carbon footprint of U.S. MNE foreign affiliates (US-MNE) operating beyond the U.S. borders. Using a multiregional input-output model and information about US-MNE activities, the US-MNE carbon footprint ranks US-MNE as the 12th top emitter of the world. In relative terms, one dollar of value added generated by US-MNE affiliates operating abroad requires higher emissions than the domestic average and the ratio increases when only developing host countries are considered. Only 8% of total carbon footprint returns to the U.S. as virtual carbon embodied in the U.S. final consumption. Potential technology transfers between the U.S. parent company and affiliates to reduce US-MNE carbon footprint have been performed to evaluate potential rippled effects of mitigation actions. Multinational enterprises (MNE) play a key role in climate mitigation as the significance of the environmental impacts of MNE. Here the authors measured the carbon footprint of U.S. MNE affiliates throughout their global value chains and show their carbon footprint beyond borders at 0.5082 GtCO2 in 2009.
Luis-Antonio López; María-Ángeles Cadarso; Jorge Zafrilla; Guadalupe Arce. The carbon footprint of the U.S. multinationals’ foreign affiliates. Nature Communications 2019, 10, 1 -11.
AMA StyleLuis-Antonio López, María-Ángeles Cadarso, Jorge Zafrilla, Guadalupe Arce. The carbon footprint of the U.S. multinationals’ foreign affiliates. Nature Communications. 2019; 10 (1):1-11.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLuis-Antonio López; María-Ángeles Cadarso; Jorge Zafrilla; Guadalupe Arce. 2019. "The carbon footprint of the U.S. multinationals’ foreign affiliates." Nature Communications 10, no. 1: 1-11.
To account for progress towards conservation targets, monitoring systems should capture not only information on biodiversity but also knowledge on the dynamics of ecological processes and the related effects on human well-being. Protected areas represent complex social-ecological systems with strong human-nature interactions. They are able to provide relevant information about how global and local scale drivers (e.g., climate change, land use change) impact biodiversity and ecosystem services. Here we develop a framework that uses an ecosystem-focused approach to support managers in identifying essential variables in an integrated and scalable approach. We advocate that this approach can complement current essential variable developments, by allowing conservation managers to draw on system-level knowledge and theory of biodiversity and ecosystems to identify locally important variables that meet the local or sub-global needs for conservation data. This requires the development of system narratives and causal diagrams that pinpoints the social-ecological variables that represent the state and drivers of the different components, and their relationships. We describe a scalable framework that builds on system based narratives to describe all system components, the models used to represent them and the data needed. Considering the global distribution of protected areas, with an investment in standards, transparency, and on active data mobilisation strategies for essential variables, these have the potential to be the backbone of global biodiversity monitoring, benefiting countries, biodiversity observation networks and the global biodiversity community.
C.A. Guerra; L. Pendleton; E.G. Drakou; Vânia Proença; W. Appeltans; Tiago Domingos; G. Geller; S. Giamberini; M. Gill; H. Hummel; Simona Imperio; M. McGeoch; A. Provenzale; Ivette Serral; Ana Stritih; Eren Turak; P. Vihervaara; Alexander Ziemba; H.M. Pereira. Finding the essential: Improving conservation monitoring across scales. Global Ecology and Conservation 2019, 18, e00601 .
AMA StyleC.A. Guerra, L. Pendleton, E.G. Drakou, Vânia Proença, W. Appeltans, Tiago Domingos, G. Geller, S. Giamberini, M. Gill, H. Hummel, Simona Imperio, M. McGeoch, A. Provenzale, Ivette Serral, Ana Stritih, Eren Turak, P. Vihervaara, Alexander Ziemba, H.M. Pereira. Finding the essential: Improving conservation monitoring across scales. Global Ecology and Conservation. 2019; 18 ():e00601.
Chicago/Turabian StyleC.A. Guerra; L. Pendleton; E.G. Drakou; Vânia Proença; W. Appeltans; Tiago Domingos; G. Geller; S. Giamberini; M. Gill; H. Hummel; Simona Imperio; M. McGeoch; A. Provenzale; Ivette Serral; Ana Stritih; Eren Turak; P. Vihervaara; Alexander Ziemba; H.M. Pereira. 2019. "Finding the essential: Improving conservation monitoring across scales." Global Ecology and Conservation 18, no. : e00601.
We use the societal exergy analysis to identify periods and factors controlling efficiency dilution and carbon deepening of electricity in Portugal from 1900 to 2014. Besides estimating the carbon intensity of electricity production, we propose a new indicator, the carbon intensity of electricity use, which quantifies CO2/kWh of electricity derived useful exergy. Results show final to useful efficiency dilution until World War I (50% to 30%) due to a decrease in share of the high-efficiency transport sector and from mid-1940s to 1960 and mid-1990s onwards (58% to 47% and 47% to 40%) due to an increase in share of the low efficiency commercial and residential sector. Decarbonization from 1900 to mid-1960s, with carbon intensities of electricity production and use dropping respectively from 12.8 to 0.2 and from 33.6 to 0.4 kg CO2/kWh due to an increase in thermoelectricity efficiencies and an increase in share of hydro. Then, a period of carbon deepening until 1990 with carbon intensities tripling due to a shift in shares from hydro to thermoelectricity and more recently a period of decarbonization with carbon intensities decreasing to 0.35 and 0.9 kg CO2/kWh, due to the increase in renewable electricity despite a dilution in final to useful efficiency.
Laura Felício; Sofia T. Henriques; André Serrenho; Tiago Domingos; Tânia Sousa. Insights from Past Trends in Exergy Efficiency and Carbon Intensity of Electricity: Portugal, 1900–2014. Energies 2019, 12, 534 .
AMA StyleLaura Felício, Sofia T. Henriques, André Serrenho, Tiago Domingos, Tânia Sousa. Insights from Past Trends in Exergy Efficiency and Carbon Intensity of Electricity: Portugal, 1900–2014. Energies. 2019; 12 (3):534.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLaura Felício; Sofia T. Henriques; André Serrenho; Tiago Domingos; Tânia Sousa. 2019. "Insights from Past Trends in Exergy Efficiency and Carbon Intensity of Electricity: Portugal, 1900–2014." Energies 12, no. 3: 534.
Animal production systems are increasingly required to co-produce meat products and other ecosystem services. Sown biodiverse pastures (SBP) were developed in Portugal as an improvement over semi-natural pastures (SNP). SBP increase yields and animal intake during grazing, are substantial carbon sinks, and the abundance of legumes in the mixtures provides plants with a biological source of nitrogen. However, the data available and the data demands of most models make integrated modelling of these effects difficult. Here, we developed “BalSim”, a mass balance approach for the estimation of carbon and nitrogen flows and the direct greenhouse gas (GHG) balance of the two production systems. Results show that, on average, the on-farm GHG balance is −2.6 and 0.8 t CO2e/ha.yr for SBP and SNP, respectively. Ignoring the effects of carbon sequestration, and taking into account only non-CO2 emissions, the systems are responsible for 17.0 and 16.3 kg CO2e/kg live weight.yr. The annual analysis showed that non-CO2 emissions were highest in a drought year due to decreased yield and stocking rate. We also showed through scenario analysis that matching the grazing level to the yield is crucial to minimize emissions and ensure reduced feed supplementation while maintaining high soil carbon stocks.
Ricardo F.M. Teixeira; Lúcia Barão; Tiago G. Morais; Tiago Domingos. “BalSim”: A Carbon, Nitrogen and Greenhouse Gas Mass Balance Model for Pastures. Sustainability 2018, 11, 53 .
AMA StyleRicardo F.M. Teixeira, Lúcia Barão, Tiago G. Morais, Tiago Domingos. “BalSim”: A Carbon, Nitrogen and Greenhouse Gas Mass Balance Model for Pastures. Sustainability. 2018; 11 (1):53.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRicardo F.M. Teixeira; Lúcia Barão; Tiago G. Morais; Tiago Domingos. 2018. "“BalSim”: A Carbon, Nitrogen and Greenhouse Gas Mass Balance Model for Pastures." Sustainability 11, no. 1: 53.
Grasslands are a crucial resource that supports animal grazing and provides other ecosystem services. We estimated the main properties of Portuguese sown biodiverse permanent pastures rich in legumes (SBP) starting from measured data for soil organic carbon (SOC) and using the Rothamsted Carbon Model. Starting from a dataset of SOC, aboveground production (AGP) and stocking rates (SR) in SBP, we used an inverse approach to estimate root to shoot (RS) ratios, livestock dung (LD), livestock intake (LI) and the ratio between easily decomposable and resistant plant material. Results for the best fit show that AGP and belowground productivity is approximately the same (RS is equal to 0.96). Animals consume 61% of the AGP, which is within the acceptable range of protein and energy intake. Carbon inputs from dung are also within the range found in the literature (1.53 t C/livestock unit). Inputs from litter are equally distributed between decomposable and resistant material. We applied these parameters in RothC for a dataset from different sites that only comprises SOC to calculate AGP and SR. AGP and SR were consistently lower in this case, because these pastures did not receive adequate technical support. These results highlight the mechanisms for carbon sequestration in SBP.
Tiago G. Morais; Ricardo F. M. Teixeira; Nuno R. Rodrigues; Tiago Domingos. Characterizing Livestock Production in Portuguese Sown Rainfed Grasslands: Applying the Inverse Approach to a Process-Based Model. Sustainability 2018, 10, 4437 .
AMA StyleTiago G. Morais, Ricardo F. M. Teixeira, Nuno R. Rodrigues, Tiago Domingos. Characterizing Livestock Production in Portuguese Sown Rainfed Grasslands: Applying the Inverse Approach to a Process-Based Model. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (12):4437.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTiago G. Morais; Ricardo F. M. Teixeira; Nuno R. Rodrigues; Tiago Domingos. 2018. "Characterizing Livestock Production in Portuguese Sown Rainfed Grasslands: Applying the Inverse Approach to a Process-Based Model." Sustainability 10, no. 12: 4437.
Feed production is an important contributor to the environmental impacts caused by livestock production. In Portugal, non-dairy cattle are commonly fed with a mixture of grazing and forages/concentrate feed. Sown biodiverse permanent pastures rich in legumes (SBP) were introduced to provide quality animal feed and offset concentrate consumption. SBP also sequester large amounts of carbon in soils. Here, we used a comparative life cycle assessment approach to test the substitution of concentrate through installation of high-yield SBP. Using field data for the Alentejo region in Portugal, we compare the global warming potential of a baseline scenario where cattle is fed in low-yield, semi-natural pastures supplemented with feeds that vary in the ratio of silage to concentrate, and a second scenario where the feed is substituted with high-yield SBP. Although SBP use more fertilizers and machinery, this replacement avoids the emission of about 3 t CO2eq/ha even after SBP stop sequestering carbon. Using crude fiber to establish the equivalence between scenarios leads to higher avoided impact, owing to the fact that the fiber content of SBP is also higher. SBP can avoid 25% emissions from beef production per kg of live animal weight.
Tiago G. Morais; Ricardo F. M. Teixeira; Tiago Domingos. The Effects on Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Ecological Intensification of Meat Production with Rainfed Sown Biodiverse Pastures. Sustainability 2018, 10, 4184 .
AMA StyleTiago G. Morais, Ricardo F. M. Teixeira, Tiago Domingos. The Effects on Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Ecological Intensification of Meat Production with Rainfed Sown Biodiverse Pastures. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (11):4184.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTiago G. Morais; Ricardo F. M. Teixeira; Tiago Domingos. 2018. "The Effects on Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Ecological Intensification of Meat Production with Rainfed Sown Biodiverse Pastures." Sustainability 10, no. 11: 4184.
Land use is increasingly important for impact assessment in life cycle assessment (LCA). Its impacts on biodiversity and provision of ecosystem services are crucial to depict the environmental performance of products. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) models are commonly selected by consensus through processes frequently misinformed by the absence of practical application studies. Here, we performed an assessment of all free and peer-reviewed LCIA models for land use. We started with spatial correlation analysis at the country scale. Models that use the same indicators are strongly correlated, suggesting that regionalization is no longer a decisive issue in model selection. We applied these models in a case study for cattle production where feeds are replaced by sown biodiverse pastures (SBP). We tested (1) a non-regionalized inventory from an LCA database and, (2) a regionalized inventory that explicit considered the locations of land occupation and transformation. We found the same qualitative result: the installation of SBP avoids impacts due to feed substitution. Each hectare of SBP installed avoids the occupation of 0.5 hectares per year for feed ingredient production. Adding inventory regionalization for 70% of land use flows leads to a change of 15% in results, suggesting limited spatial differentiation between country-level characterization factors.
Ricardo F. M. Teixeira; Tiago G. Morais; Tiago Domingos. A Practical Comparison of Regionalized Land Use and Biodiversity Life Cycle Impact Assessment Models Using Livestock Production as a Case Study. Sustainability 2018, 10, 4089 .
AMA StyleRicardo F. M. Teixeira, Tiago G. Morais, Tiago Domingos. A Practical Comparison of Regionalized Land Use and Biodiversity Life Cycle Impact Assessment Models Using Livestock Production as a Case Study. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (11):4089.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRicardo F. M. Teixeira; Tiago G. Morais; Tiago Domingos. 2018. "A Practical Comparison of Regionalized Land Use and Biodiversity Life Cycle Impact Assessment Models Using Livestock Production as a Case Study." Sustainability 10, no. 11: 4089.
The dairy sector is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Pasture-based dairy production is sometimes credited as environmentally friendlier but is less studied than more intensive production systems. Here we characterize and calculate the carbon footprint (CF), using life cycle assessment, of the “Vacas Felizes” pasture-based milk production system, in the Azores archipelago. Impacts were determined for multiple functional units: mass, energy and nutritional content, farm, area and animal. We performed multivariate analysis to assess the contribution of production parameters to the CF. Finally, we performed a literature review to compare these results with other production systems. Results show that emissions from enteric fermentation, concentrated feed production and (organic and mineral) fertilizer application are the three main sources of impact. Milk yield is a key production feature for the determination of emissions. The average CF is 0.83 kg CO2/kg raw milk. At each milk yield level, the farms are approximately homogeneous. Compared with other studies, “Vacas Felizes” milk has a lower CF than 80 (out of 84) published CFs and on average it is approximately 32% lower.
Tiago G. Morais; Ricardo F. M. Teixeira; Nuno R. Rodrigues; Tiago Domingos. Carbon Footprint of Milk from Pasture-Based Dairy Farms in Azores, Portugal. Sustainability 2018, 10, 3658 .
AMA StyleTiago G. Morais, Ricardo F. M. Teixeira, Nuno R. Rodrigues, Tiago Domingos. Carbon Footprint of Milk from Pasture-Based Dairy Farms in Azores, Portugal. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (10):3658.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTiago G. Morais; Ricardo F. M. Teixeira; Nuno R. Rodrigues; Tiago Domingos. 2018. "Carbon Footprint of Milk from Pasture-Based Dairy Farms in Azores, Portugal." Sustainability 10, no. 10: 3658.
Proximity and in-season consumption criteria have been suggested as solutions for fruits and vegetables consumers to drive the economy to a more sustainable development. Using a new concept, seasonal avoided footprint by imports, we disentangle the role of period and country of origin. Although, as a general rule, consumers could reduce its footprint by choosing domestic produce, this is not always the case. Due to the high efficiency of Spanish domestic production in terms of both CO2e and water use (except for scarce water), imports from some regions, like Africa (green beans, pepper, tomato, banana, strawberry, oranges), contribute to significantly increase both water and carbon impacts. However, a monthly-basis analysis shows unsustainable hotspots for domestic production. Importing from France (apple, potato) or Portugal (tomato, strawberry) reduces both footprints, so Spanish local consumption would be bad for the environment. Hotspots are mainly concentrated in scarce water and, especially, for out-of-season vegetables during eleven months a year (savings up to 389%), nine months for out-of-season fruits and five months for in-season fruits. The results suggest the difficulty to generalize an easy environmental recommendation based on buying local fruits and vegetables: consumption must be analyzed on monthly/seasonal, products and countries basis.
Maria Angeles Tobarra; Luis Antonio López; Maria Angeles Cadarso; Nuria Gómez; Ignacio Cazcarro. Is Seasonal Households’ Consumption Good for the Nexus Carbon/Water Footprint? The Spanish Fruits and Vegetables Case. Environmental Science & Technology 2018, 52, 12066 -12077.
AMA StyleMaria Angeles Tobarra, Luis Antonio López, Maria Angeles Cadarso, Nuria Gómez, Ignacio Cazcarro. Is Seasonal Households’ Consumption Good for the Nexus Carbon/Water Footprint? The Spanish Fruits and Vegetables Case. Environmental Science & Technology. 2018; 52 (21):12066-12077.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMaria Angeles Tobarra; Luis Antonio López; Maria Angeles Cadarso; Nuria Gómez; Ignacio Cazcarro. 2018. "Is Seasonal Households’ Consumption Good for the Nexus Carbon/Water Footprint? The Spanish Fruits and Vegetables Case." Environmental Science & Technology 52, no. 21: 12066-12077.
Land occupation and transformation change soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, which are a priority indicator for biotic production potential (BPP) in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). SOC is a potential umbrella indicator for land use-related impacts but global LCIA characterization models have never been sufficiently regionalized. Regeneration times required for the calculation of transformation impacts are unknown and can only be estimated through expert judgment or using additional assumptions. In this paper, we calculate global midpoint characterization factors (CF) for SOC depletion following land use and land use change using data from the European Soil Data Center with a resolution of 30 arc second. We used three possible calculation procedures to determine regeneration times: (1) estimations based on literature; (2) equal regeneration duration for all land uses; (3) equal regeneration rates for all land uses. We then propose an innovative approach for LCIA that combines all CFs in this paper as well as prior models using a spatial consolidation approach to arrive at a single set of CFs. We show that this procedure combines the strengths of each individual model and dilutes their shortcomings, and recommend the use of these consolidated CFs rather than individual sets of factors. For endpoints, we applied a nutrient replacement method using fertilizer input to compensate for organic matter depletion and obtained monetary CFs for SOC-related damages caused by land use on BPP.
Ricardo F. M. Teixeira; Tiago G. Morais; Tiago Domingos. Consolidating Regionalized Global Characterization Factors for Soil Organic Carbon Depletion Due to Land Occupation and Transformation. Environmental Science & Technology 2018, 52, 12436 -12444.
AMA StyleRicardo F. M. Teixeira, Tiago G. Morais, Tiago Domingos. Consolidating Regionalized Global Characterization Factors for Soil Organic Carbon Depletion Due to Land Occupation and Transformation. Environmental Science & Technology. 2018; 52 (21):12436-12444.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRicardo F. M. Teixeira; Tiago G. Morais; Tiago Domingos. 2018. "Consolidating Regionalized Global Characterization Factors for Soil Organic Carbon Depletion Due to Land Occupation and Transformation." Environmental Science & Technology 52, no. 21: 12436-12444.
Extended exergy accounting (EEA) is a methodology which estimates the extended exergy cost (EEC) of a product or a service or the extended exergy efficiency (EEE) of a country or economic sector taking into account materials, energy, labour, capital, and environmental impact. The use of EEA results for policy or planning purposes has been hampered by: (1) the lack of data to quantify the EEC of most of the inputs, making it almost impossible to quantify the EEC of a product or service and (2) the lack of a conceptual framework to quantify in a consistent way the exergy of labour and capital. In this paper, we make a review of past studies to identify, synthesize, and discuss the different EEA methods. We identified 3 different EEA methods, that we further compare using the Portuguese Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery (AFF) sector from 2000 to 2012. The equivalent exergies of labour and capital estimated for the AFF sector vary widely among the three EEA methodologies. We propose and test a new EEA methodology to estimate EEE which accounts for these fluxes in a more restricted scope but more consistently and that includes the Environmental Benefit (EB) that represents the capability of the forestry to capture carbon dioxide. Results show that the EEE of the Portuguese AFF sector has increased by 32% from 2000 to 2012.
Ricardo Manso; Tânia Sousa; Tiago Domingos. The Way Forward in Quantifying Extended Exergy Efficiency. Energies 2018, 11, 2522 .
AMA StyleRicardo Manso, Tânia Sousa, Tiago Domingos. The Way Forward in Quantifying Extended Exergy Efficiency. Energies. 2018; 11 (10):2522.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRicardo Manso; Tânia Sousa; Tiago Domingos. 2018. "The Way Forward in Quantifying Extended Exergy Efficiency." Energies 11, no. 10: 2522.