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Dr. Jeroen Meersmans
Centre for Environment and Agricultural Informatics, Soil and Agrifood Institute, School of Water, Energy and Environment, Cranfield University, UK

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0 Climate Change
0 Ecosystem Services
0 Landscape Ecology
0 Soil Science
0 soil organic carbon

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Journal article
Published: 02 June 2021 in Journal of Cleaner Production
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Greenhouse gas removal technologies are needed to reach the targets of the UNFCCC Paris Agreement. Among existing technologies, the use of biochar is considered promising, particularly biochar derived from the large quantities of sugarcane residues available in South America and elsewhere. However, the net greenhouse gas removal potential of sugarcane biochar has not been assessed hitherto. We use a scenario-based anticipatory life cycle assessment to investigate the emissions associated with a change from the combustion of sugarcane residues in a combined heat and power plant to the pyrolysis of these residues for biochar production and field application in São Paulo State, Brazil. We define scenarios based on different mean marginal electricity production and biochar production share. The results indicate that emissions from covering the electricity deficit generated by partial combustion of biomass during biochar production is the main emitting process. Overall, the processes associated with biochar production lower the net greenhouse gas benefits of the biochar by around 25%. Our analysis suggests that allocating 100% of the available sugarcane residues to biochar production could sequester 6.3 ± 0.5 t CO2eq ha−1 yr−1 of sugarcane in São Paulo State. Scaled up to the entire State, the practice could lead to the removal of 23% of the total amount of GHGs emitted by the State in 2016.

ACS Style

David Lefebvre; Adrian Williams; Guy J.D. Kirk; Jeroen Meersmans; Saran Sohi; Pietro Goglio; Pete Smith. An anticipatory life cycle assessment of the use of biochar from sugarcane residues as a greenhouse gas removal technology. Journal of Cleaner Production 2021, 312, 127764 .

AMA Style

David Lefebvre, Adrian Williams, Guy J.D. Kirk, Jeroen Meersmans, Saran Sohi, Pietro Goglio, Pete Smith. An anticipatory life cycle assessment of the use of biochar from sugarcane residues as a greenhouse gas removal technology. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2021; 312 ():127764.

Chicago/Turabian Style

David Lefebvre; Adrian Williams; Guy J.D. Kirk; Jeroen Meersmans; Saran Sohi; Pietro Goglio; Pete Smith. 2021. "An anticipatory life cycle assessment of the use of biochar from sugarcane residues as a greenhouse gas removal technology." Journal of Cleaner Production 312, no. : 127764.

Editorial
Published: 31 May 2021 in Landscape Ecology
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ACS Style

Jian Peng; Yanxu Liu; Ronald Corstanje; Jeroen Meersmans. Promoting sustainable landscape pattern for landscape sustainability. Landscape Ecology 2021, 36, 1839 -1844.

AMA Style

Jian Peng, Yanxu Liu, Ronald Corstanje, Jeroen Meersmans. Promoting sustainable landscape pattern for landscape sustainability. Landscape Ecology. 2021; 36 (7):1839-1844.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jian Peng; Yanxu Liu; Ronald Corstanje; Jeroen Meersmans. 2021. "Promoting sustainable landscape pattern for landscape sustainability." Landscape Ecology 36, no. 7: 1839-1844.

Preprint content
Published: 03 March 2021
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Quantifying organic carbon (OC) levels and the processes altering them is key in unlocking soils potential as a mediator of climate change through sequestration of atmospheric CO2. In areas of high soil erosion increased fluxes of OC across the terrestrial-aquatic interface are likely and understanding these fluxes is crucial in integrating lateral OC fluxes within the carbon cycle. For this study of a small UK catchment, OC mapping and Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) based erosion modelling provided estimates of proportional soil OC loss coming from each land use. Sediment fingerprinting using n-alkane biomarkers and a Bayesian unmixing model provided a comparison of streambed OC proportions by land use to assess which processes were dominating OC input to streams. Results showed that RUSLE-based soil OC loss proportions exhibited disconnect with sediment fingerprinting OC composition and the river corridor and riparian environment were key zones in regulating terrestrial to aquatic fluxes of OC.

ACS Style

Katy Wiltshire; Miriam Glendell; Toby Waine; Robert Grabowski; Barry Thornton; Jeroen Meersmans. From field to stream: Tracing streambed organic carbon origins at a catchment scale. 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

Katy Wiltshire, Miriam Glendell, Toby Waine, Robert Grabowski, Barry Thornton, Jeroen Meersmans. From field to stream: Tracing streambed organic carbon origins at a catchment scale. . 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Katy Wiltshire; Miriam Glendell; Toby Waine; Robert Grabowski; Barry Thornton; Jeroen Meersmans. 2021. "From field to stream: Tracing streambed organic carbon origins at a catchment scale." , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 11 November 2020 in Remote Sensing
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During the past decade, imagery data acquired from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), thanks to their high spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions, have attracted increasing attention for discriminating healthy from diseased plants and monitoring the progress of such plant diseases in fields. Despite the well-documented usage of UAV-based hyperspectral remote sensing for discriminating healthy and diseased plant areas, employing red-green-blue (RGB) imagery for a similar purpose has yet to be fully investigated. This study aims at evaluating UAV-based RGB imagery to discriminate healthy plants from those infected by stripe and wheat leaf rusts in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), with a focus on implementing an expert system to assist growers in improved disease management. RGB images were acquired at four representative wheat-producing sites in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Diseased leaf areas were determined based on the digital numbers (DNs) of green and red spectral bands for wheat stripe rust (WSR), and the combination of DNs of green, red, and blue spectral bands for wheat leaf rust (WLR). WSR and WLR caused alterations in the typical reflectance spectra of wheat plants between the green and red spectral channels. Overall, good agreements between UAV-based estimates and observations were found for canopy cover, WSR, and WLR severities, with statistically significant correlations (p-value (Kendall) < 0.0001). Correlation coefficients were 0.92, 0.96, and 0.86 for WSR severity, WLR severity, and canopy cover, respectively. While the estimation of canopy cover was most often less accurate (correlation coefficients < 0.20), WSR and WLR infected leaf areas were identified satisfactorily using the RGB imagery-derived indices during the critical period (i.e., stem elongation and booting stages) for efficacious fungicide application, while disease severities were also quantified accurately over the same period. Using such a UAV-based RGB imagery method for monitoring fungal foliar diseases throughout the cropping season can help to identify any new disease outbreak and efficaciously control its spread

ACS Style

Ramin Heidarian Dehkordi; Moussa El Jarroudi; Louis Kouadio; Jeroen Meersmans; Marco Beyer. Monitoring Wheat Leaf Rust and Stripe Rust in Winter Wheat Using High-Resolution UAV-Based Red-Green-Blue Imagery. Remote Sensing 2020, 12, 3696 .

AMA Style

Ramin Heidarian Dehkordi, Moussa El Jarroudi, Louis Kouadio, Jeroen Meersmans, Marco Beyer. Monitoring Wheat Leaf Rust and Stripe Rust in Winter Wheat Using High-Resolution UAV-Based Red-Green-Blue Imagery. Remote Sensing. 2020; 12 (22):3696.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ramin Heidarian Dehkordi; Moussa El Jarroudi; Louis Kouadio; Jeroen Meersmans; Marco Beyer. 2020. "Monitoring Wheat Leaf Rust and Stripe Rust in Winter Wheat Using High-Resolution UAV-Based Red-Green-Blue Imagery." Remote Sensing 12, no. 22: 3696.

Journal article
Published: 04 August 2020 in Remote Sensing
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Remote sensing data play a crucial role in monitoring crop dynamics in the context of precision agriculture by characterizing the spatial and temporal variability of crop traits. At present there is special interest in assessing the long-term impacts of biochar in agro-ecosystems. Despite the growing body of literature on monitoring the potential biochar effects on harvested crop yield and aboveground productivity, studies focusing on the detailed crop performance as a consequence of long-term biochar enrichment are still lacking. The primary objective of this research was to evaluate crop performance based on high-resolution unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery considering both crop growth and health through RGB and multispectral analysis, respectively. More specifically, this approach allowed monitoring of century-old biochar impacts on winter wheat crop performance. Seven Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and six multispectral flights were executed over 11 century-old biochar patches of a cultivated field. UAV-based RGB imagery exhibited a significant positive impact of century-old biochar on the evolution of winter wheat canopy cover (p-value = 0.00007). Multispectral optimized soil adjusted vegetation index indicated a better crop development over the century-old biochar plots at the beginning of the season (p-values < 0.01), while there was no impact towards the end of the season. Plant height, derived from the RGB imagery, was slightly higher for century-old biochar plots. Crop health maps were computed based on principal component analysis and k-means clustering. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to quantify century-old biochar effects on crop performance during the entire growing period using remotely sensed data. Ground-based measurements illustrated a significant positive impact of century-old biochar on crop growth stages (p-value of 0.01265), whereas the harvested crop yield was not affected. Multispectral simplified canopy chlorophyll content index and normalized difference red edge index were found to be good linear estimators of harvested crop yield (p-value(Kendall) of 0.001 and 0.0008, respectively). The present research highlights that other factors (e.g., inherent pedological variations) are of higher importance than the presence of century-old biochar in determining crop health and yield variability.

ACS Style

Ramin Heidarian Dehkordi; Victor Burgeon; Julien Fouche; Edmundo Placencia Gomez; Jean-Thomas Cornelis; Frederic Nguyen; Antoine Denis; Jeroen Meersmans. Using UAV Collected RGB and Multispectral Images to Evaluate Winter Wheat Performance Across a Site Characterized by Century-Old Biochar Patches in Belgium. Remote Sensing 2020, 12, 2504 .

AMA Style

Ramin Heidarian Dehkordi, Victor Burgeon, Julien Fouche, Edmundo Placencia Gomez, Jean-Thomas Cornelis, Frederic Nguyen, Antoine Denis, Jeroen Meersmans. Using UAV Collected RGB and Multispectral Images to Evaluate Winter Wheat Performance Across a Site Characterized by Century-Old Biochar Patches in Belgium. Remote Sensing. 2020; 12 (15):2504.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ramin Heidarian Dehkordi; Victor Burgeon; Julien Fouche; Edmundo Placencia Gomez; Jean-Thomas Cornelis; Frederic Nguyen; Antoine Denis; Jeroen Meersmans. 2020. "Using UAV Collected RGB and Multispectral Images to Evaluate Winter Wheat Performance Across a Site Characterized by Century-Old Biochar Patches in Belgium." Remote Sensing 12, no. 15: 2504.

Journal article
Published: 24 July 2020 in Remote Sensing
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High-frequency Earth observation (EO) data have been shown to be effective in identifying crops and monitoring their development. The purpose of this paper is to derive quantitative indicators of crop productivity using synthetic aperture radar (SAR). This study shows that the field-specific SAR time series can be used to characterise growth and maturation periods and to estimate the performance of cereals. Winter wheat fields on the Rothamsted Research farm in Harpenden (UK) were selected for the analysis during three cropping seasons (2017 to 2019). Average SAR backscatter from Sentinel-1 satellites was extracted for each field and temporal analysis was applied to the backscatter cross-polarisation ratio (VH/VV). The calculation of the different curve parameters during the growing period involves i) fitting of two logistic curves to the dynamics of the SAR time series, which describe timing and intensity of growth and maturation, respectively; ii) plotting the associated first and second derivative in order to assist the determination of key stages in the crop development; and iii) exploring the correlation matrix for the derived indicators and their predictive power for yield. The results show that the day of the year of the maximum VH/VV value was negatively correlated with yield (r = −0.56), and the duration of “full” vegetation was positively correlated with yield (r = 0.61). Significant seasonal variation in the timing of peak vegetation (p = 0.042), the midpoint of growth (p = 0.037), the duration of the growing season (p = 0.039) and yield (p = 0.016) were observed and were consistent with observations of crop phenology. Further research is required to obtain a more detailed picture of the uncertainty of the presented novel methodology, as well as its validity across a wider range of agroecosystems.

ACS Style

Nikolaos-Christos Vavlas; Toby W. Waine; Jeroen Meersmans; Paul J. Burgess; Giacomo Fontanelli; Goetz M. Richter. Deriving Wheat Crop Productivity Indicators Using Sentinel-1 Time Series. Remote Sensing 2020, 12, 2385 .

AMA Style

Nikolaos-Christos Vavlas, Toby W. Waine, Jeroen Meersmans, Paul J. Burgess, Giacomo Fontanelli, Goetz M. Richter. Deriving Wheat Crop Productivity Indicators Using Sentinel-1 Time Series. Remote Sensing. 2020; 12 (15):2385.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Nikolaos-Christos Vavlas; Toby W. Waine; Jeroen Meersmans; Paul J. Burgess; Giacomo Fontanelli; Goetz M. Richter. 2020. "Deriving Wheat Crop Productivity Indicators Using Sentinel-1 Time Series." Remote Sensing 12, no. 15: 2385.

Journal article
Published: 24 June 2020 in Biogeosciences
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Soils represent the largest reservoir of organic carbon (OC) on land. Upon mobilization, this OC is either returned to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2) or transported and ultimately locked into (marine) sediments, where it will act as a long-term sink of atmospheric CO2. These fluxes of soil OC are, however, difficult to evaluate, mostly due to the lack of a soil-specific tracer. In this study, a suite of branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs), which are membrane lipids of soil bacteria, is tested as specific tracers for soil OC from source (soils under arable land, ley, grassland, and woodland) to sink (Loe Pool sediments) in a small catchment located in southwest England (i.e. Carminowe Creek draining into Loe Pool). The analysis of brGDGTs in catchment soils reveals that their distribution is not significantly different across different land use types (p>0.05) and thus does not allow land-use-specific soil contributions to Loe Pool sediments to be traced. Furthermore, the significantly higher contribution of 6-methyl brGDGT isomers in creek sediments (isomerization ratio (IR) = 0.48±0.10, mean ± standard deviation (SD); p

ACS Style

Jingjing Guo; Miriam Glendell; Jeroen Meersmans; Frédérique Kirkels; Jack J. Middelburg; Francien Peterse. Assessing branched tetraether lipids as tracers of soil organic carbon transport through the Carminowe Creek catchment (southwest England). Biogeosciences 2020, 17, 3183 -3201.

AMA Style

Jingjing Guo, Miriam Glendell, Jeroen Meersmans, Frédérique Kirkels, Jack J. Middelburg, Francien Peterse. Assessing branched tetraether lipids as tracers of soil organic carbon transport through the Carminowe Creek catchment (southwest England). Biogeosciences. 2020; 17 (12):3183-3201.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jingjing Guo; Miriam Glendell; Jeroen Meersmans; Frédérique Kirkels; Jack J. Middelburg; Francien Peterse. 2020. "Assessing branched tetraether lipids as tracers of soil organic carbon transport through the Carminowe Creek catchment (southwest England)." Biogeosciences 17, no. 12: 3183-3201.

Preprint content
Published: 23 March 2020
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Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is sensitive to the surface structure as well as dielectric properties, so can be used to quantify the canopy characteristics and surface moisture. High temporal frequency SAR backscatter data are useful in terms of quantifying crop phenological development, growth and yield formation. The aim of this research is to identify the growth dynamics of winter wheat from SAR at field scale, validated using farm sites with different productivity between two years (2018-2019). We identify and explore the parameters which characterize crop performance from SAR temporal curves and use these to improve and automate the monitoring of wheat fields. Our novel methodology includes the extraction of crop indicators using the VH/VV ratio temporal curve from Sentinel-1. Sigmoid curve fitting is used to simulate the VH/VV response and the extracted parameters are related to the field development. The results show that specific indicators, such as the duration of the high vegetation (stem elongation to dough development) as well as the timing of the booting stage of wheat significantly correlate with the final yield. Other indicators can provide information about the canopy characteristics of wheat (e.g. above ground biomass and plant water content). The combination of selected indicators can provide a more robust analysis of the fields. These results demonstrate the potential of SAR to remotely quantify yield without using any management data from the farm.

ACS Style

Nikolaos-Christos Vavlas; Toby Waine; Jeroen Meersmans; Goetz Richter. Winter wheat growth dynamics and their relationship with the field productivity using Sentinel-1 SAR polarimetry. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Nikolaos-Christos Vavlas, Toby Waine, Jeroen Meersmans, Goetz Richter. Winter wheat growth dynamics and their relationship with the field productivity using Sentinel-1 SAR polarimetry. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Nikolaos-Christos Vavlas; Toby Waine; Jeroen Meersmans; Goetz Richter. 2020. "Winter wheat growth dynamics and their relationship with the field productivity using Sentinel-1 SAR polarimetry." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 23 March 2020
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Although fine-grained sediment (FGS) is a natural component of river systems, increased fluxes can impact FGS levels to such an extent they cause detrimental, irreversible changes in the way rivers function intensifying flood risk and negatively affecting water quality.

Previous catchment scale studies indicate there is no simple link between areas of sediment loss and the organic carbon (OC) load in waterways; areas with a high soil loss rate may not contribute most sediment to the rivers and areas that contribute the most sediment may not contribute the most OC. Anthropogenic and climate changes can accelerate soil erosion and the role of soil OC transported by erosional processes in the fluxes of C between land, water and atmosphere is still debated. Tracing sediment pathways, likely depositional areas and connections to streams leads to better assumptions about control processes and better estimation of OC fluxes.

In this innovative study OC fingerprinting of sediment reaching a catchment’s waterbodies is combined with OC stock and erosion modelling of the terrestrial catchment. Initial results show disconnect between catchment OC loss erosion modelling and fingerprinting results, which could be due to failure to model connectivity between the land and river channel. The current soil erosion model RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation) calculates only the spatial pattern of mean annual soil erosion rates. Using the WaTEM SEDEM model, which in includes routing (and possible en route deposition) of eroded sediments to river channels, we aim to determine the dominant source of OC within catchment streams by identification of both the land-use specific areas with the highest OC loss and the transport pathways between the sources and river channel.

ACS Style

Katy Wiltshire; Toby Waine; Bob Grabowski; Miriam Glendell; Steve Addy; Nikki Baggaley; Barry Thornton; Jeroen Meersmans; Fiona Napier. Sediment origins across the terrestrial-aquatic continuum: climate threat mitigation and promotion of water quality. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Katy Wiltshire, Toby Waine, Bob Grabowski, Miriam Glendell, Steve Addy, Nikki Baggaley, Barry Thornton, Jeroen Meersmans, Fiona Napier. Sediment origins across the terrestrial-aquatic continuum: climate threat mitigation and promotion of water quality. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Katy Wiltshire; Toby Waine; Bob Grabowski; Miriam Glendell; Steve Addy; Nikki Baggaley; Barry Thornton; Jeroen Meersmans; Fiona Napier. 2020. "Sediment origins across the terrestrial-aquatic continuum: climate threat mitigation and promotion of water quality." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 23 March 2020
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Electrical resistivity and induced polarization tomography and electromagnetic induction are widely used in hydrogeophysical applications. In this work we perform a multi-scale analysis of DC-resistivity, spectral induced polarization (SIP) and electromagnetic induction (EMI) measurements to evaluate soil water dynamics of a century-old biochar enriched agroecosystem. Our study aims at comparing the spatio-temporal variations of the electrical signature (resistivity or conductivity) between the natural (reference) soil and soil enriched with biochar visible as black patches ( 0.30 m thick x 20 m of diameter) in the study area and relate this signature to a soil moisture status. In this first overall and qualitative approach we combine 1) field large-scale time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) transects (12.6 m) and EMI conductivity maps covering the whole study area (13 ha), 2) intermediate-scale ERT/SIP profiles from on-site pits (2 m L x 1 m W x 1 m D), and 3) laboratory columns-scale (0.10 m L x 0.044 m ID) SIP signatures of undisturbed soil samples.

Large-scale results show a heterogeneous-resistive soil top horizon in both soil types, but with similar hydrodynamic behaviour following precipitation events. The column scale SIP signatures reveal that texture and pore structure are the main driver of soil moisture dynamics with insignificant role of the biochar content. Large and intermediate scale monitoring campaigns during the entire growing season of two different crops are planned for the current and next year. The ultimate objective is to quantify the effect of century-old biochar on soil water dynamics and root water uptake.

ACS Style

Edmundo Placencia-Gomez; Victor Burgeon; Ramin Heidarian-Dehkordi; Jeroen Meersmans; Mihai Cimpoiasu; Julien Fouché; Frederic Nguyen; Jean-Thomas Cornelis; Sarah Garré. Integrated analysis of multi-scale electrical signatures for characterizing soil water dynamics in century-old biochar enriched agroecosystems. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Edmundo Placencia-Gomez, Victor Burgeon, Ramin Heidarian-Dehkordi, Jeroen Meersmans, Mihai Cimpoiasu, Julien Fouché, Frederic Nguyen, Jean-Thomas Cornelis, Sarah Garré. Integrated analysis of multi-scale electrical signatures for characterizing soil water dynamics in century-old biochar enriched agroecosystems. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Edmundo Placencia-Gomez; Victor Burgeon; Ramin Heidarian-Dehkordi; Jeroen Meersmans; Mihai Cimpoiasu; Julien Fouché; Frederic Nguyen; Jean-Thomas Cornelis; Sarah Garré. 2020. "Integrated analysis of multi-scale electrical signatures for characterizing soil water dynamics in century-old biochar enriched agroecosystems." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 11 March 2020
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Soils represent the largest reservoir of organic carbon (OC) on land. Upon mobilization, this OC is either returned to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2), or transported and ultimately locked into (marine) sediments, where it will act as a long-term sink of atmospheric CO2. These fluxes of soil OC are, however, poorly quantified, mostly due to the lack of a soil-specific tracer. In this study, a suite of branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs), which are membrane lipids of soil bacteria, is tested as specific tracers for soil OC from source (soils under arable land, ley, grassland and woodland) to sink (Lake Loe Pool sediments) considering a small catchment located in southwest England (i.e. Carminowe Creek draining into Lake Loe Pool). The analysis of brGDGTs in catchment soils reveals that their distribution is not significantly different across different land use types (p > 0.05), and thus does not allow tracing land use-specific soil contributions to Lake Loe Pool sediments. Furthermore, the significantly higher contribution of 6-methyl brGDGT isomers in creek sediments (isomerization ratio (IR) = 0.48 ± 0.10; mean ± s.d., standard deviation; p

ACS Style

Jingjing Guo; Miriam Glendell; Jeroen Meersmans; Frédérique Kirkels; Jack J. Middelburg; Francien Peterse. Assessing branched tetraether lipids as tracers of soil organic carbon transport through the Carminowe Creek catchment (southwest England). 2020, 2020, 1 -29.

AMA Style

Jingjing Guo, Miriam Glendell, Jeroen Meersmans, Frédérique Kirkels, Jack J. Middelburg, Francien Peterse. Assessing branched tetraether lipids as tracers of soil organic carbon transport through the Carminowe Creek catchment (southwest England). . 2020; 2020 ():1-29.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jingjing Guo; Miriam Glendell; Jeroen Meersmans; Frédérique Kirkels; Jack J. Middelburg; Francien Peterse. 2020. "Assessing branched tetraether lipids as tracers of soil organic carbon transport through the Carminowe Creek catchment (southwest England)." 2020, no. : 1-29.

Preprint content
Published: 11 March 2020
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ACS Style

Jingjing Guo; Miriam Glendell; Jeroen Meersmans; Frédérique Kirkels; Jack J. Middelburg; Francien Peterse. Supplementary material to "Assessing branched tetraether lipids as tracers of soil organic carbon transport through the Carminowe Creek catchment (southwest England)". 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Jingjing Guo, Miriam Glendell, Jeroen Meersmans, Frédérique Kirkels, Jack J. Middelburg, Francien Peterse. Supplementary material to "Assessing branched tetraether lipids as tracers of soil organic carbon transport through the Carminowe Creek catchment (southwest England)". . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jingjing Guo; Miriam Glendell; Jeroen Meersmans; Frédérique Kirkels; Jack J. Middelburg; Francien Peterse. 2020. "Supplementary material to "Assessing branched tetraether lipids as tracers of soil organic carbon transport through the Carminowe Creek catchment (southwest England)"." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 09 March 2020
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Harvesting sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) produces large quantities of biomass residues. We investigated the potential for converting these residues into biochar (recalcitrant carbon rich material) for soil carbon (C) sequestration. We modified a version of the RothC soil carbon model to follow changes in soil C stocks considering different amounts of fresh sugarcane residues and biochar (including recalcitrant and labile biochar fractions). We used Sao Paulo State (Brazil) as a case study due to its large sugarcane production and associated soil C sequestration potential.

Mechanical harvesting of sugarcane fields leaves behind > 10 t dry matter of trash (leaves) ha-1 year-1. Although trash blanketing increases soil fertility, an excessive amount is detrimental and reduces the subsequent crop yield. After the optimal trash blanketing amount, sugarcane cultivation still produces 5.9 t C ha-1 year-1 of excess trash and bagasse (processing residues) which are available for subsequent use.

The available residues could produce 2.5 t of slow-pyrolysis (550°C) biochar C ha-1 year-1. The model predicts this could increase sugarcane field soil C stock on average by 2.4 ± 0.4 t C ha‑1 year‑1, after accounting for the climate and soil type variability across the State. Comparing different scenarios, we found that applying fresh residues into the field results in a smaller increase in soil C stock compared to the biochar because the soil C approaches a new equilibrium. For instance, adding 1.2 t of biochar C ha‑1 year‑1 along with 3.2 t of fresh residue C ha‑1 year‑1 increased the soil C stock by 1.8 t C ha‑1 year‑1 after 10 years of repeated applications. In contrast, adding 0.62 t of biochar C ha‑1 year‑1 with 4.5 t of fresh sugarcane residues C ha‑1 year‑1 increased the soil carbon soil stock by 1.4 t C ha‑1 year‑1 after 10 years of application. These are reductions 25% and 40% of the potential soil C accumulation rates compared with applying available residues as biochar.   

We also tested the sensitivity of the model to biochar-induced positive priming (i.e. increased mineralization of soil organic C) using published values. This showed that the C sequestration balance remains positive over the long term, even considering an extremely high positive-priming factor. Upscaling our results to the total 5 Mha of sugarcane in Sao Paulo State, biochar application could sequester up to 50 Mt of CO2 equivalent per year, representing 31% of the emissions attributed to the State in 2016.

This study provides first insights into the sequestration potential of biochar application on sugarcane fields. Measurements of changes in soil C stocks in sugarcane field experiments are needed to further validate the model, and the emissions to implement the practice at large scale need to be taken into account. As the climate crisis grows, the need for greenhouse gas removal technologies becomes crucial. Assessing the net effectiveness of readily available technologies is essential to guide policy makers.  

ACS Style

David Lefebvre; Jeroen Meersmans; Guy Kirk; Adrian Williams. Biochar from sugarcane residues: An overview of its sequestration potential in Sao Paulo, Brazil. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

David Lefebvre, Jeroen Meersmans, Guy Kirk, Adrian Williams. Biochar from sugarcane residues: An overview of its sequestration potential in Sao Paulo, Brazil. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

David Lefebvre; Jeroen Meersmans; Guy Kirk; Adrian Williams. 2020. "Biochar from sugarcane residues: An overview of its sequestration potential in Sao Paulo, Brazil." , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 08 April 2019 in Geosciences
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Monthly meteorological data from 27 observation stations provided by the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) of Saudi Arabia were used to analyze the spatial and temporal distribution of atmospheric dust in Saudi Arabia between 2000 and 2016. These data were used to analyze the effects of environmental forcing on the occurrence of dust storms across Saudi Arabia by considering the relationships between dust storm frequency and temperature, precipitation, and wind variables. We reveal a clear seasonality in the reported incidence of dust storms, with the highest frequency of events during the spring. Our results show significant positive relationships (p < 0.005) between dust storm occurrence and wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation. However, we did not detect a significant relationship with temperature. Our results reveal important spatial patterns, as well as seasonal and inter-annual variations, in the occurrence of dust storms in Saudi Arabia. For instance, the eastern part of the study area experienced an increase in dust storm events over time, especially in the region near Al-Ahsa. Similarly, an increasing trend in dust storms was also observed in the west of the study area near Jeddah. However, the occurrence of dust storm events is decreasing over time in the north, in areas such as Hail and Qaisumah. Overall, the eastern part of Saudi Arabia experiences the highest number of dust storms per year (i.e., 10 to 60 events), followed by the northern region, with the south and the west having fewer dust storm events (i.e., five to 15 events per year). In addition, our results showed that the wind speeds during a dust storm are 15–20 m/s and above, while, on a non-dust day, the wind speeds are approximately 10–15 m/s or lower. Findings of this study provide insight into the relationship between environmental conditions and dust storm occurrence across Saudi Arabia, and a basis for future research into the drivers behind these observed spatio-temporal trends.

ACS Style

Sarah Albugami; Steven Palmer; Jonathan Cinnamon; Jeroen Meersmans. Spatial and Temporal Variations in the Incidence of Dust Storms in Saudi Arabia Revealed from In Situ Observations. Geosciences 2019, 9, 162 .

AMA Style

Sarah Albugami, Steven Palmer, Jonathan Cinnamon, Jeroen Meersmans. Spatial and Temporal Variations in the Incidence of Dust Storms in Saudi Arabia Revealed from In Situ Observations. Geosciences. 2019; 9 (4):162.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sarah Albugami; Steven Palmer; Jonathan Cinnamon; Jeroen Meersmans. 2019. "Spatial and Temporal Variations in the Incidence of Dust Storms in Saudi Arabia Revealed from In Situ Observations." Geosciences 9, no. 4: 162.

Research article
Published: 09 January 2019 in Land Degradation & Development
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How to effectively prevent land degradation and ecosystem deterioration in the process of urbanization, has been the focus of land degradation researches in urban areas. Urban ecological land can be defined as the natural base on which a city relies to ecologically survive. It closely links the social economy with the natural eco‐environment, providing an important integrated approach to resolve the contradiction between urban expansion and natural ecosystems conservation in the process of urbanization. The research question addressed in this study is how to accurately identify the conservation priority areas for urban ecological land. Taking Zhuhai City, located in China, as an example, an approach based on seven kinds of water ecosystem services was put forward, combining social demand and natural supply for the services to determine service targets and conservation priority areas. The results showed that the conservation priority areas in Zhuhai City covered 868 km2, accounting for 51.03% of the total land area, which were mainly covered by woodlands or paddy fields and fish ponds. In addition, by synthesizing ecological importance and ecological sensitivity, management zones for urban ecological land were delineated, including 510 km2 of primary control areas and 358 km2 of secondary control areas. In the supply and demand view of water ecosystem services, this study put forward an integrated ecosystem‐based approach for conservation priority area identification of urban ecological land, aiming to prevent land degradation and achieve urban ecological sustainability.

ACS Style

Jian Peng; An Wang; Lingwei Luo; Yanxu Liu; Huilei Li; Yi'na Hu; Jeroen Meersmans; Jiansheng Wu. Spatial identification of conservation priority areas for urban ecological land: An approach based on water ecosystem services. Land Degradation & Development 2019, 30, 683 -694.

AMA Style

Jian Peng, An Wang, Lingwei Luo, Yanxu Liu, Huilei Li, Yi'na Hu, Jeroen Meersmans, Jiansheng Wu. Spatial identification of conservation priority areas for urban ecological land: An approach based on water ecosystem services. Land Degradation & Development. 2019; 30 (6):683-694.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jian Peng; An Wang; Lingwei Luo; Yanxu Liu; Huilei Li; Yi'na Hu; Jeroen Meersmans; Jiansheng Wu. 2019. "Spatial identification of conservation priority areas for urban ecological land: An approach based on water ecosystem services." Land Degradation & Development 30, no. 6: 683-694.

Journal article
Published: 04 January 2019 in Science of The Total Environment
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Multifunctional landscape has become a new discipline growth point in landscape ecology. Globally mountainous areas occupy about one fifth of Earth's surface. However, few studies focused on landscape multifunctionality in mountainous areas. Taking Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, China, as a case study area, five typical landscape functions (net primary productivity, soil retention, water yield, crop production, and residential support) were quantified and mapped. Hotspots of multiple landscape functions were identified using spatial overlap tools, interaction between each landscape function pair was discussed through Spearman's rank correlation analysis, and development zoning was conducted based on landscape function bundle. The results showed that, about 61% of the study area had at least one kind of landscape function hotspot, with only 2.7% covering three or more kinds of landscape function hotspots. Significant trade-offs or synergies existed between all pairs of landscape functions, except the pair of net primary productivity and residential support. With the application of Self-Organizing Feature Maps (SOFM) method, the study area was divided into four types of development zones (i.e. ecological shelter area, ecological transition area, suburban development area, and urban agglomeration area) which are all corresponding to different landscape function bundles. The study could provide spatial guidance for differentiated sustainable developing in mountain areas according to local conditions.

ACS Style

Jian Peng; Xiaoxu Hu; Sijing Qiu; Yi'na Hu; Jeroen Meersmans; Yanxu Liu. Multifunctional landscapes identification and associated development zoning in mountainous area. Science of The Total Environment 2019, 660, 765 -775.

AMA Style

Jian Peng, Xiaoxu Hu, Sijing Qiu, Yi'na Hu, Jeroen Meersmans, Yanxu Liu. Multifunctional landscapes identification and associated development zoning in mountainous area. Science of The Total Environment. 2019; 660 ():765-775.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jian Peng; Xiaoxu Hu; Sijing Qiu; Yi'na Hu; Jeroen Meersmans; Yanxu Liu. 2019. "Multifunctional landscapes identification and associated development zoning in mountainous area." Science of The Total Environment 660, no. : 765-775.

Journal article
Published: 08 December 2018 in Remote Sensing
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Sand and dust storm events (SDEs), which result from strong surface winds in arid and semi-arid areas, exhibiting loose dry soil surfaces are detrimental to human health, agricultural land, infrastructure, and transport. The accurate detection of near-surface dust is crucial for quantifying the spatial and temporal occurrence of SDEs globally. The Arabian Peninsula is an important source region for global dust due to the presence of extensive deserts. This paper evaluates the suitability of five different MODIS-based methods for detecting airborne dust over the Arabian Peninsula: (a) Normalized Difference Dust Index (NDDI); (b) Brightness Temperature Difference (BTD) (31–32); (c) BTD (20–31); (d) Middle East Dust Index (MEDI) and (e) Reflective Solar Band (RSB). We derive detection thresholds for each index by comparing observed values for ‘dust-present’ versus ‘dust-free’ conditions, taking into account various land cover settings and analyzing associated temporal trends. Our results suggest that the BTD (31–32) method and the RSB index are the most suitable indices for detecting dust storms over different land-cover types across the Arabian Peninsula. The NDDI and BTD (20–31) methods have limitations in identifying dust over multiple land-cover types. Furthermore, the MEDI has been found to be unsuitable for detecting dust in the study area across all land-cover types.

ACS Style

Sarah Albugami; Steven Palmer; Jeroen Meersmans; Toby Waine. Evaluating MODIS Dust-Detection Indices over the Arabian Peninsula. Remote Sensing 2018, 10, 1993 .

AMA Style

Sarah Albugami, Steven Palmer, Jeroen Meersmans, Toby Waine. Evaluating MODIS Dust-Detection Indices over the Arabian Peninsula. Remote Sensing. 2018; 10 (12):1993.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sarah Albugami; Steven Palmer; Jeroen Meersmans; Toby Waine. 2018. "Evaluating MODIS Dust-Detection Indices over the Arabian Peninsula." Remote Sensing 10, no. 12: 1993.

Journal article
Published: 30 November 2018 in Remote Sensing
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The agro-pastoral transitional zone (APTZ) in Northern China is one of the most important ecological barriers of the world. The commonly-used method to identify the spatial distribution of ATPZ is to apply a threshold rule on climatic or land use indicators. This approach is highly subjective, and the quantity standards vary among the studies. In this study, we adopted the spatial continuous wavelet transform (SCWT) technique to detect the spatial fluctuation in normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) sequences, and as such identify the APTZ. To carry out this analysis, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) NDVI 1-month data (MODND1M) covering the period 2006–2015 were used. Based on the spatial variation in NDVI, we identified two sub-regions within the APTZ. The temporal change of APTZ showed that although vegetation spatial pattern changed annually, certain areas appeared to be stable, while others showed higher sensitivity to environmental variance. Through correlation analysis between the dynamics of APTZ and precipitation, we found that the mean center of the APTZ moved toward the southeast during dry years and toward the northwest during humid years. By comparing the APTZ spatial pattern obtained in the present study with the outcome following the traditional approach based on mean annual precipitation data, it can be concluded that our study provides a reliable basis to advance the methodological framework to identify accurately transitional zones. The identification framework is of high importance to support decision-making in land use management in Northern China as well as other similar regions around the world.

ACS Style

Yinan Han; Jian Peng; Jeroen Meersmans; Yanxu Liu; Zhiqiang Zhao; Qi Mao. Integrating Spatial Continuous Wavelet Transform and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index to Map the Agro-Pastoral Transitional Zone in Northern China. Remote Sensing 2018, 10, 1928 .

AMA Style

Yinan Han, Jian Peng, Jeroen Meersmans, Yanxu Liu, Zhiqiang Zhao, Qi Mao. Integrating Spatial Continuous Wavelet Transform and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index to Map the Agro-Pastoral Transitional Zone in Northern China. Remote Sensing. 2018; 10 (12):1928.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yinan Han; Jian Peng; Jeroen Meersmans; Yanxu Liu; Zhiqiang Zhao; Qi Mao. 2018. "Integrating Spatial Continuous Wavelet Transform and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index to Map the Agro-Pastoral Transitional Zone in Northern China." Remote Sensing 10, no. 12: 1928.

Journal article
Published: 11 July 2018 in Science of The Total Environment
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The rapid process of urbanization, accompanied by the sharp increase of urban population and expansion of artificial surface, has resulted in the loss of natural ecosystems and the degradation of ecosystem services. Identifying and protecting key places that have high importance for ecological sustainability are great challenges. Ecological security patterns are such an integrated approach to protecting regional ecological sustainability. In this study, taking Yunnan Province, China as a case study area, ecological sources were identified through ecosystem services, and circuit theory was used to model ecosystem processes in heterogeneous landscapes via calculating the ‘resistance’ or ‘current’, and thus to identify ecological corridors and key ecological nodes. The results showed that, ecological security patterns included 66 ecological sources, 186 ecological corridors, 24 pinch-points and 10 barriers. In details, the ecological sources were mainly distributed in the southwest and northwest of Yunnan Province, with the ecological corridors locating along the high mountains, and both ecological sources and corridors were mostly covered with forest land. Pinch-points covered by forest land and cultivated land, were distributed in the middle of Yunnan Province along the rivers. Approximately 75.9% nature reserves were located in the identified ecological sources, and the remainings were mainly distributed in eastern Yunnan Province with small area, showing the effectiveness in identifying ecological security patterns. Among 81 projects of low–slope hill development carried out in Yunnan Province, 46.9% showed potential human stress on regional ecological security. Based on ecosystem services and circuit theory, this study provides a new approach to identifying the spatial range of ecological corridors and the specific location of key nodes for effective ecological conservation and restoration.

ACS Style

Jian Peng; Yang Yang; Yanxu Liu; Yi'na Hu; Yueyue Du; Jeroen Meersmans; Sijing Qiu. Linking ecosystem services and circuit theory to identify ecological security patterns. Science of The Total Environment 2018, 644, 781 -790.

AMA Style

Jian Peng, Yang Yang, Yanxu Liu, Yi'na Hu, Yueyue Du, Jeroen Meersmans, Sijing Qiu. Linking ecosystem services and circuit theory to identify ecological security patterns. Science of The Total Environment. 2018; 644 ():781-790.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jian Peng; Yang Yang; Yanxu Liu; Yi'na Hu; Yueyue Du; Jeroen Meersmans; Sijing Qiu. 2018. "Linking ecosystem services and circuit theory to identify ecological security patterns." Science of The Total Environment 644, no. : 781-790.

Chapter
Published: 25 April 2018 in Pedometrics
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Soil resources provide many important ecosystem goods and services. However, they are at risk from a variety of threats operating over a broad range of scales. Political awareness that soil is threatened by increasing pressures has been rising for several years (European Commission 2006). Indeed, the demand for soil information is increasing continuously (Richer de Forges and Arrouays 2010). Although rates of soil degradation are often slow and only detectable over long timescales, they are often irreversible. Therefore, monitoring soil quality and condition is essential in order to detect adverse changes in their status at an early stage.

ACS Style

Dominique Arrouays; Ben P. Marchant; Nicolas P. A. Saby; Jeroen Meersmans; Thomas G. Orton; Manuel P. Martin; Pat H. Bellamy; R. M. Lark; Mark Kibblewhite. Broad-Scale Soil Monitoring Schemes. Pedometrics 2018, 669 -691.

AMA Style

Dominique Arrouays, Ben P. Marchant, Nicolas P. A. Saby, Jeroen Meersmans, Thomas G. Orton, Manuel P. Martin, Pat H. Bellamy, R. M. Lark, Mark Kibblewhite. Broad-Scale Soil Monitoring Schemes. Pedometrics. 2018; ():669-691.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Dominique Arrouays; Ben P. Marchant; Nicolas P. A. Saby; Jeroen Meersmans; Thomas G. Orton; Manuel P. Martin; Pat H. Bellamy; R. M. Lark; Mark Kibblewhite. 2018. "Broad-Scale Soil Monitoring Schemes." Pedometrics , no. : 669-691.