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Full-Text Articles in Sustainability
From The Household To Watershed: A Cross-Scale Analysis Of Residential Intention To Adopt Green Stormwater Infrastructure, Sarah Coleman, Stephanie Hurley, Donna Rizzo, Christopher Koliba, Asim Zia
From The Household To Watershed: A Cross-Scale Analysis Of Residential Intention To Adopt Green Stormwater Infrastructure, Sarah Coleman, Stephanie Hurley, Donna Rizzo, Christopher Koliba, Asim Zia
College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications
Improved stormwater management for the protection of water resources requires bottom-up stewardship from landowners, including adoption of Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI). We use a statewide survey of Vermont paired with a cross-scale and spatial analysis to evaluate the influence of interacting spatial, social, and physical factors on residential intention to adopt GSI across a complex social-ecological landscape. Specifically, we focus on how three GSI practices, (“rain garden (bio retention),” “infiltration trenches,” and “actively divert roof runoff to a rain barrel/lawn/garden instead of the street/sewer”) vary with barriers to adoption, and household attributes across stormwater contexts from the household to watershed …
Similarity Of Introduced Plant Species To Native Ones Facilitates Naturalization, But Differences Enhance Invasion Success, Jan Divíšek, Milan Chytrý, Brian Beckage, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Zdeňka Lososová, Petr Pyšek, David M. Richardson, Jane Molofsky
Similarity Of Introduced Plant Species To Native Ones Facilitates Naturalization, But Differences Enhance Invasion Success, Jan Divíšek, Milan Chytrý, Brian Beckage, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Zdeňka Lososová, Petr Pyšek, David M. Richardson, Jane Molofsky
College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications
The search for traits associated with plant invasiveness has yielded contradictory results, in part because most previous studies have failed to recognize that different traits are important at different stages along the introduction–naturalization–invasion continuum. Here we show that across six different habitat types in temperate Central Europe, naturalized non-invasive species are functionally similar to native species occurring in the same habitat type, but invasive species are different as they occupy the edge of the plant functional trait space represented in each habitat. This pattern was driven mainly by the greater average height of invasive species. These results suggest that the …
From The Household To Watershed: A Cross-Scale Analysis Of Residential Intention To Adopt Green Stormwater Infrastructure, Sarah Coleman, Stephanie Hurley, Donna Rizzo, Christopher Koliba, Asim Zia
From The Household To Watershed: A Cross-Scale Analysis Of Residential Intention To Adopt Green Stormwater Infrastructure, Sarah Coleman, Stephanie Hurley, Donna Rizzo, Christopher Koliba, Asim Zia
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications
Improved stormwater management for the protection of water resources requires bottom-up stewardship from landowners, including adoption of Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI). We use a statewide survey of Vermont paired with a cross-scale and spatial analysis to evaluate the influence of interacting spatial, social, and physical factors on residential intention to adopt GSI across a complex social-ecological landscape. Specifically, we focus on how three GSI practices, (“rain garden (bio retention),” “infiltration trenches,” and “actively divert roof runoff to a rain barrel/lawn/garden instead of the street/sewer”) vary with barriers to adoption, and household attributes across stormwater contexts from the household to watershed …
Similarity Of Introduced Plant Species To Native Ones Facilitates Naturalization, But Differences Enhance Invasion Success, Jan Divíšek, Milan Chytrý, Brian Beckage, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Zdeňka Lososová, Petr Pyšek, David M. Richardson, Jane Molofsky
Similarity Of Introduced Plant Species To Native Ones Facilitates Naturalization, But Differences Enhance Invasion Success, Jan Divíšek, Milan Chytrý, Brian Beckage, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Zdeňka Lososová, Petr Pyšek, David M. Richardson, Jane Molofsky
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications
The search for traits associated with plant invasiveness has yielded contradictory results, in part because most previous studies have failed to recognize that different traits are important at different stages along the introduction–naturalization–invasion continuum. Here we show that across six different habitat types in temperate Central Europe, naturalized non-invasive species are functionally similar to native species occurring in the same habitat type, but invasive species are different as they occupy the edge of the plant functional trait space represented in each habitat. This pattern was driven mainly by the greater average height of invasive species. These results suggest that the …
National Contributions To Climate Change Mitigation From Agriculture: Allocating A Global Target, Meryl Breton Richards, Eva Wollenberg, Detlef Van Vuuren
National Contributions To Climate Change Mitigation From Agriculture: Allocating A Global Target, Meryl Breton Richards, Eva Wollenberg, Detlef Van Vuuren
Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications
Globally, agriculture and related land use change contributed about 17% of the world’s anthropogenic GHG emissions in 2010 (8.4 GtCO2e yr−1), making GHG mitigation in the agriculture sector critical to meeting the Paris Agreement’s 2°C goal. This article proposes a range of country-level targets for mitigation of agricultural emissions by allocating a global target according to five approaches to effort-sharing for climate change mitigation: responsibility, capability, equality, responsibility-capability-need and equal cumulative per capita emissions. Allocating mitigation targets according to responsibility for total historical emissions or capability to mitigate assigned large targets for agricultural emission reductions to North America, Europe and …
Seizing Opportunities To Diversify Conservation, Rachelle K. Gould, Indira Phukan, Mary E. Mendoza, Nicole M. Ardoin, Bindu Panikkar
Seizing Opportunities To Diversify Conservation, Rachelle K. Gould, Indira Phukan, Mary E. Mendoza, Nicole M. Ardoin, Bindu Panikkar
Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications
Conservation Letters published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This article identifies, and offers several ways to address, a serious, persistent issue in conservation: low levels of diversity in thought and action. We first describe the lack of diversity and highlight the continued separation of the environmental conservation and environmental justice movements. We then offer—based on previous research and our collective experience—two suggestions for how to increase inclusivity (a step farther than increasing diversity) in holistic ways. We suggest that embracing narrative, including historical narrative that can be profound and painful, may be essential to addressing this deeply rooted issue. We also …
Boundary Spanning At The Science–Policy Interface: The Practitioners’ Perspectives, A. T. Bednarek, C. Wyborn, C. Cvitanovic, R. Meyer, R. M. Colvin, P. F.E. Addison, S. L. Close, K. Curran, M. Farooque, E. Goldman, D. Hart, H. Mannix, B. Mcgreavy, A. Parris, S. Posner, C. Robinson, M. Ryan, P. Leith
Boundary Spanning At The Science–Policy Interface: The Practitioners’ Perspectives, A. T. Bednarek, C. Wyborn, C. Cvitanovic, R. Meyer, R. M. Colvin, P. F.E. Addison, S. L. Close, K. Curran, M. Farooque, E. Goldman, D. Hart, H. Mannix, B. Mcgreavy, A. Parris, S. Posner, C. Robinson, M. Ryan, P. Leith
Peer-Reviewed Studies
Cultivating a more dynamic relationship between science and policy is essential for responding to complex social challenges such as sustainability. One approach to doing so is to “span the boundaries” between science and decision making and create a more comprehensive and inclusive knowledge exchange process. The exact definition and role of boundary spanning, however, can be nebulous. Indeed, boundary spanning often gets conflated and confused with other approaches to connecting science and policy, such as science communication, applied science, and advocacy, which can hinder progress in the field of boundary spanning. To help overcome this, in this perspective, we present …
Farm Service Agency Employee Intentions To Use Weather And Climate Data In Professional Services, Rachel E. Schattman, Gabrielle Roesch-Mcnally, Sarah Wiener, Meredith T. Niles, David Y. Hollinger
Farm Service Agency Employee Intentions To Use Weather And Climate Data In Professional Services, Rachel E. Schattman, Gabrielle Roesch-Mcnally, Sarah Wiener, Meredith T. Niles, David Y. Hollinger
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications
This is a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.. Agricultural service providers often work closely with producers, and are well positioned to include weather and climate change information in the services they provide. By doing so, they can help producers reduce risks due to climate variability and change. A national survey of United States Department of …
Climate Change Mitigation Beyond Agriculture: A Review Of Food System Opportunities And Implications, Meredith T. Niles, Richie Ahuja, Todd Barker, Jimena Esquivel, Sophie Gutterman, Martin C. Heller, Nelson Mango, Diana Portner, Rex Raimond, Cristina Tirado, Sonja Vermeulen
Climate Change Mitigation Beyond Agriculture: A Review Of Food System Opportunities And Implications, Meredith T. Niles, Richie Ahuja, Todd Barker, Jimena Esquivel, Sophie Gutterman, Martin C. Heller, Nelson Mango, Diana Portner, Rex Raimond, Cristina Tirado, Sonja Vermeulen
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications
A large body of research has explored opportunities to mitigate climate change in agricultural systems; however, less research has explored opportunities across the food system. Here we expand the existing research with a review of potential mitigation opportunities across the entire food system, including in pre-production, production, processing, transport, consumption and loss and waste. We detail and synthesize recent research on the topic, and explore the applicability of different climate mitigation strategies in varying country contexts with different economic and agricultural systems. Further, we highlight some potential adaptation co-benefits of food system mitigation strategies and explore the potential implications of …
Climate-Smart Land Use Requires Local Solutions, Transdisciplinary Research, Policy Coherence And Transparency, Sarah Carter, Bas Arts, Ken E. Giller, Cinthia Soto Golcher, Kasper Kok, Jessica De Koning, Meine Van Noordwijk, Pytrik Reidsma, Mariana C. Rufino, Giulia Salvini, Louis Verchot, Eva Wollenberg, Martin Herold
Climate-Smart Land Use Requires Local Solutions, Transdisciplinary Research, Policy Coherence And Transparency, Sarah Carter, Bas Arts, Ken E. Giller, Cinthia Soto Golcher, Kasper Kok, Jessica De Koning, Meine Van Noordwijk, Pytrik Reidsma, Mariana C. Rufino, Giulia Salvini, Louis Verchot, Eva Wollenberg, Martin Herold
Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications
Successfully meeting the mitigation and adaptation targets of the Paris Climate Agreement (PA) will depend on strengthening the ties between forests and agriculture. Climate-smart land use can be achieved by integrating climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and REDD+. The focus on agriculture for food security within a changing climate, and on forests for climate change mitigation and adaptation, can be achieved simultaneously with a transformational change in the land-use sector. Striving for both independently will lead to competition for land, inefficiencies in monitoring and conflicting agendas. Practical solutions exist for specific contexts that can lead to increased agricultural output and forest protection. …
Biodiversity Offsets May Miss Opportunities To Mitigate Impacts On Ecosystem Services, Laura J. Sonter, Jesse Gourevitch, Insu Koh, Charles C. Nicholson, Leif L. Richardson, Aaron J. Schwartz, Nitin K. Singh, Keri B. Watson, Martine Maron, Taylor H. Ricketts
Biodiversity Offsets May Miss Opportunities To Mitigate Impacts On Ecosystem Services, Laura J. Sonter, Jesse Gourevitch, Insu Koh, Charles C. Nicholson, Leif L. Richardson, Aaron J. Schwartz, Nitin K. Singh, Keri B. Watson, Martine Maron, Taylor H. Ricketts
Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications
© The Ecological Society of America Biodiversity offsets are most commonly used to mitigate the adverse impacts of development on biodiversity, but some offsets are now also designed to support ecosystem services (ES) goals. Here, we assemble a global database of biodiversity offsets (n = 70) to show that 41% already take ES into consideration, with the objective of enhancing cultural, regulating, and provisioning services. We found that biodiversity offsets were more likely to consider ES when (1) development projects reported impacts on services, (2) offsets had voluntary biodiversity goals, and (3) conservation organizations were involved. However, offsets that considered …
Analyzing The Greenhouse Gas Impact Potential Of Smallholder Development Actions Across A Global Food Security Program, Uwe Grewer, Julie Nash, Noel Gurwick, Louis Bockel, Gillian Galford, Meryl Richards, Ciniro Costa Junior, Julianna White, Gillian Pirolli, Eva Wollenberg
Analyzing The Greenhouse Gas Impact Potential Of Smallholder Development Actions Across A Global Food Security Program, Uwe Grewer, Julie Nash, Noel Gurwick, Louis Bockel, Gillian Galford, Meryl Richards, Ciniro Costa Junior, Julianna White, Gillian Pirolli, Eva Wollenberg
Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications
This article analyses the greenhouse gas (GHG) impact potential of improved management practices and technologies for smallholder agriculture promoted under a global food security development program. Under 'business-as-usual' development, global studies on the future of agriculture to 2050 project considerable increases in total food production and cultivated area. Conventional cropland intensification and conversion of natural vegetation typically result in increased GHG emissions and loss of carbon stocks. There is a strong need to understand the potential greenhouse gas impacts of agricultural development programs intended to achieve large-scale change, and to identify pathways of smallholder agricultural development that can achieve food …
The Ecology And Conservation Of Cuba’S Coastal And Marine Ecosystems, Joe Roman
The Ecology And Conservation Of Cuba’S Coastal And Marine Ecosystems, Joe Roman
Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications
Cuba has some of the most well-protected coastal ecosystems in the Caribbean Sea, with strong marine policies and legislation, including a system of marine protected areas intended to cover 25% of its insular shelf. The “crown jewel” of the system, Jardines de la Reina National Park, has near pristine levels of apex predators and well-preserved coral reefs. Yet overfishing, illegal fishing, land-based pollution, and global changes, including increased bleaching events and more intense hurricanes, are widespread stressors and major threats to marine ecosystems. Limited resources have hindered Cuba’s ability to address these threats. Despite having numerous shared species and resources …
Erratum: Reducing Cascading Failure Risk By Increasing Infrastructure Network Interdependence, Mert Korkali, Jason G. Veneman, Brian F. Tivnan, James P. Bagrow, Paul D.H. Hines
Erratum: Reducing Cascading Failure Risk By Increasing Infrastructure Network Interdependence, Mert Korkali, Jason G. Veneman, Brian F. Tivnan, James P. Bagrow, Paul D.H. Hines
College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications
This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/srep44499.
Econullnetr: An R Package Using Null Models To Analyse The Structure Of Ecological Networks And Identify Resource Selection, Ian P. Vaughan, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Jane Memmott, Caitlin E. Pearson, Guy Woodward, William O.C. Symondson
Econullnetr: An R Package Using Null Models To Analyse The Structure Of Ecological Networks And Identify Resource Selection, Ian P. Vaughan, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Jane Memmott, Caitlin E. Pearson, Guy Woodward, William O.C. Symondson
College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications
Network analysis is increasingly widespread in ecology, with frequent questions asking which nodes (typically species) interact with one another and how strong are the interactions. Null models are a way of addressing these questions, helping to distinguish patterns driven by neutral mechanisms or sampling effects (e.g. relative abundance of different taxa, sampling completeness) from deterministic biological mechanisms (e.g. resource selection and avoidance), but few “off the shelf” tools are available. We present econullnetr, an r package combining null modelling and plotting functions for networks, with data-export tools to facilitate its use alongside existing network analysis packages. It models resource choices …
Effects Of Different Soil Media, Vegetation, And Hydrologic Treatments On Nutrient And Sediment Removal In Roadside Bioretention Systems, Paliza Shrestha, Stephanie E. Hurley, Beverley C. Wemple
Effects Of Different Soil Media, Vegetation, And Hydrologic Treatments On Nutrient And Sediment Removal In Roadside Bioretention Systems, Paliza Shrestha, Stephanie E. Hurley, Beverley C. Wemple
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications
Water quality performance of eight roadside bioretention cells in their third and fourth years of implementation were evaluated in Burlington, Vermont. Bioretention cells received varying treatments: (1) vegetation with high-diversity (7 species) and low-diversity plant mix (2 species); (2) proprietary SorbtiveMedia™ (SM) containing iron and aluminum oxide granules to enhance sorption capacity for phosphorus; and (3) enhanced rainfall and runoff (RR) to certain cells (including one with SM treatment) at three levels (15%, 20%, 60% more than their control counterparts), mimicking anticipated precipitation increases associated with climate change. A total of 121 storms across all cells were evaluated in 2015 …
Soil Media Co2 And N2O Fluxes Dynamics From Sand-Based Roadside Bioretention Systems, Paliza Shrestha, Stephanie E. Hurley, E. Carol Adair
Soil Media Co2 And N2O Fluxes Dynamics From Sand-Based Roadside Bioretention Systems, Paliza Shrestha, Stephanie E. Hurley, E. Carol Adair
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications
Green stormwater infrastructure such as bioretention is commonly implemented in urban areas for stormwater quality improvements. Although bioretention systems' soil media and vegetation have the potential to increase carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) storage for climate change mitigation, this storage potential has not been rigorously studied, and any analysis of it must consider the question of whether bioretention emits greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. We monitored eight roadside bioretention cells for CO2-C and N2O-N fluxes during two growing seasons (May through October) in Vermont, USA. C and N stocks in the soil media layers, microbes, and aboveground vegetation were also …
Mixed Methods Approach To Understanding Farmer And Agricultural Advisor Perceptions Of Climate Change And Adaptation In Vermont, United States, Rachel E. Schattman, V. Ernesto Méndez, Scott C. Merrill, Asim Zia
Mixed Methods Approach To Understanding Farmer And Agricultural Advisor Perceptions Of Climate Change And Adaptation In Vermont, United States, Rachel E. Schattman, V. Ernesto Méndez, Scott C. Merrill, Asim Zia
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications
The relationships among farmers’ belief in climate change, perceptions of climate-related risk, and use of climate adaptation practices is a growing topic of interest in U.S. scholarship. The northeast region is not well represented in the literature, although it is highly agricultural and will likely face climate-related risks that differ from those faced in other regions. We used a mixed methods approach to examine northeast farmers’ perceptions of climate change and climate-related risks over time, and perceived trade-offs associated with on-farm practices. Our investigation shows how northeastern farmers think about climate-risk, and what they are doing to address it.
Spatial Analysis Of Ecosystem Service Relationships To Improve Targeting Of Payments For Hydrological Services, Pierre Mokondoko, Robert H. Manson, Taylor H. Ricketts, Daniel Geissert
Spatial Analysis Of Ecosystem Service Relationships To Improve Targeting Of Payments For Hydrological Services, Pierre Mokondoko, Robert H. Manson, Taylor H. Ricketts, Daniel Geissert
Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications
Payment for hydrological services (PHS) are popular tools for conserving ecosystems and their water-related services. However, improving the spatial targeting and impacts of PHS, as well as their ability to foster synergies with other ecosystem services (ES), remain challenging. We aimed at using spatial analyses to evaluate the targeting performance of Mexico's National PHS program in central Veracruz. We quantified the effectiveness of areas targeted for PHS in actually covering areas of high HS provision and social priority during 2003-2013. First, we quantified provisioning and spatial distributions of two target (water yield and soil retention), and one non-target ES (carbon …
A Cross-Country Analysis Of Climate Shocks And Smallholder Food Insecurity, Meredith T. Niles, Jonathan D. Salerno
A Cross-Country Analysis Of Climate Shocks And Smallholder Food Insecurity, Meredith T. Niles, Jonathan D. Salerno
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications
Future climate changes will affect smallholder farmers in the developing world, posing threats to household food security. Nevertheless, there remains limited comparable evidence across multiple countries and regions regarding the global extent of climate shocks affecting smallholder food security. We examine data from 5,299 household surveys across 15 countries in Latin America, Africa and South Asia to assess the extent of climate shocks and their association with food insecurity, as well as what strategies may help buffer against climate shocks. We find that 71% of households reported experiencing a climate shock in the previous five years. Fifty-four percent reported experiencing …
Small-Scale Genotypic Richness Stabilizes Plot Biomass And Increases Phenotypic Variance In The Invasive Grass Phalaris Arundinacea, Alexandra R. Collins, Brian Beckage, Jane Molofsky
Small-Scale Genotypic Richness Stabilizes Plot Biomass And Increases Phenotypic Variance In The Invasive Grass Phalaris Arundinacea, Alexandra R. Collins, Brian Beckage, Jane Molofsky
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Botanical Society of China. All rights reserved. Aims We aim to understand how small-scale genotypic richness and genotypic interactions influence the biomass and potential invasiveness of the invasive grass, Phalaris arundinacea under two different disturbance treatments: intact plots and disturbed plots, where all the native vegetation has been removed. Specifically, we address the following questions (i) Does genotypic richness increase biomass production? (ii) Do genotypic interactions promote or reduce biomass production? (iii) Does the effect of genotypic richness and genotypic interactions differ …
Energy And Complexity, Zofia Lukszo, Ettore Bompard, Paul Hines, Liz Varga
Energy And Complexity, Zofia Lukszo, Ettore Bompard, Paul Hines, Liz Varga
College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
The Climate-Smart Village Approach: Framework Of An Integrative Strategy For Scaling Up Adaptation Options In Agriculture, Pramod K. Aggarwal, Andy Jarvis, Bruce M. Campbell, Robert B. Zougmoré, Arun Khatri-Chhetri, Sonja J. Vermeulen, Ana Maria Loboguerrero, Leocadio S. Sebastian, James Kinyangi, Osana Bonilla-Findji, Maren Radeny, John Recha, Deissy Martinez-Baron, Julian Ramirez-Villegas, Sophia Huyer, Philip Thornton, Eva Wollenberg, James Hansen, Patricia Alvarez-Toro, Andrés Aguilar-Ariza, David Arango-Londoño, Victor Patiño-Bravo, Ovidio Rivera, Mathieu Ouedraogo, Bui Tan Yen
The Climate-Smart Village Approach: Framework Of An Integrative Strategy For Scaling Up Adaptation Options In Agriculture, Pramod K. Aggarwal, Andy Jarvis, Bruce M. Campbell, Robert B. Zougmoré, Arun Khatri-Chhetri, Sonja J. Vermeulen, Ana Maria Loboguerrero, Leocadio S. Sebastian, James Kinyangi, Osana Bonilla-Findji, Maren Radeny, John Recha, Deissy Martinez-Baron, Julian Ramirez-Villegas, Sophia Huyer, Philip Thornton, Eva Wollenberg, James Hansen, Patricia Alvarez-Toro, Andrés Aguilar-Ariza, David Arango-Londoño, Victor Patiño-Bravo, Ovidio Rivera, Mathieu Ouedraogo, Bui Tan Yen
Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications
Increasing weather risks threaten agricultural production systems and food security across the world. Maintaining agricultural growth while minimizing climate shocks is crucial to building a resilient food production system and meeting developmental goals in vulnerable countries. Experts have proposed several technological, institutional, and policy interventions to help farmers adapt to current and future weather variability and to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This paper presents the climate-smart village (CSV) approach as a means of performing agricultural research for development that robustly tests technological and institutional options for dealing with climatic variability and climate change in agriculture using participatory methods. It …