Fra Notater Flashcards
Antropocen
The age of humans. Population growth and increased emissions.
8 important environmental pressures
Climate change Change in biodiversity Pollution Toxicity Resource depletion Waste Land use/change Water depletion
How many species go extinct every year?
1,4
How much higher are the current extinction rate than the natural background rate?
1000 times higher
Why do we care about change in biodiversity?
Irreversibly lost genetic diversity
Lost ecosystems services
Five main drivers of global biodiversity change?
Habitat change Climate change Invasive species Overexploitation Pollution
Ex. how habitat change leads to biodiversity change
Agricultural land use –> habitat loss –> species extinction
Ex. how climate change leads to biodiversity change
GHG emissions from coal-fired power plant –> climate change –> species range shift —> species extinction
Ex. how do invasive species lead to biodiversity change?
Trade per container ship –> transportation of species –> invasive species outcompetes native species —> species extinction
Ex. how do overexploitation lead to biodiversity change?
Overfishing –> species extinction
Ex. how do pollution lead to biodiversity change?
Application of pesticides –> harming insect species –> species extinction
Describe current trends of biodiversity loss?
Regional “general” trends after the living planet index show that trends are decreasing
Navne examples of pollution? (3 + 4)
Air Soil Water Point sources Non-point sources Indoor pollution Outdoor pollution
ex. on toxicants (3)
Pesticides
Herbicides
Heavy metals
Ex. on land use and land change
Logging soil erosion loss of fertility and soil productivity Change in albedo Change to hydrological cycle
What does DPSIR stand for?
Drivers Pressures State Impact Responses
Explaine DPSIR framework: Drivers Pressures State Impact Responses
Drivers - Industry and transport
Pressures - Polluting, emissions
State - Air, water and soil quality
Impact - Health, biodiversity loss, ecosystem damage
Responses - Clean production, public transport, regulations, taxes, information etc.
They work in a cicle, with responses to drivers, pressures and state.
Give ex. on drivers in the DPSIR framework?
Population growth Transport Energy production/use Industry Refining/mining Agriculture
Give ex. on tools applied to evaluate reponse from DPSIR
Footprinting
Risk Assessment
Life cycle assessment
Ecosystem service-based accounting/labeling
What is fooprinting?
A resource and emission accounting tool designed to track human demand on the biosphere’s regenerative capacity
Give ex. of different energy productions and the environmental pressures connected to them?
Fossil fuels: Extraction, pollution –> GHG emissions, oil spills
Nuclear energy: Land resource pressure from mining, Pressures from the extraction of construction materials for infrastructure, Pressures from water use for cooling, Radioactive waster and Risk of accidents
Biofuels: Land use and water use
Wind: Mortality of birds and bats, noise and pressures associated with infrastructure
Hydropower: Connectivity, Magnitude of flows, Timing of floods, Sediment, Barrier and Evaporation.
What does biological diversity mean?
“Biological diversity” means the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.”
Name the three layers in the cicle of biodiversity
Ecosystem (ytterst)
Species
Genes (innerst)
What is biodiversity?
Genes and genetic variation
No. species and species abundance
Variety of biological diversity in different ecosystems
Define species
Two organisms belong to the same species if they can interbreed and produce fertile offsprings
There can be variations in genes within species. This can be caused by different habitats.
Give ex. of ecosystem services and explain them
Food security: Insurance and coping mechanism to increase flexibility. Reduce risk. Genetic variability
Health: Balanced diet. Direct health impacts. Pharmaceuticals.
Vulnerability of humans to disasters: Increased loss of mangroves and coral reefs. Increase in the number of “big” disasters
Name the four main types of benefits obtained by people from ecosystems:
Regulating
Provisioning
Cultural
Supporting
Explain the difference between provisioning services and regulating services
Provisioning services are short-term requirements
Regulating services ensures the long-term provision of services
What are trade offs from ecosystem service provision?
Climate: GHGs, temperature, rain, wind Hydrology: Supply, drainage, storage
Pollution: retention, removal
What are ecosystem dynamics?
Biodiversity –> functional groups –> ecosystem functioning –> ecosystem services
What does high biodiversity lead to?
greater productivity
greater variation (range of responses to environmental change)
greater stability
What are the main pressures on biodiversity loss? Direct and indirect
Direct: Habitat change, overexploitation, invasive species, climate change and pollution (Fra størst til minst)
Indirect: Demographic, economic, political, cultural and technological
Give an ex. on invasive species and explain.
- Leaner spises opp av insekter i asia og dør dermed om vinteren. Når denne har blitt introdusert til andre land med mildt klima har de tatt over hele hus
- Slange som spise topp preditorer som krokodiller og geparder. I Asia holder bakterier og
- Kaniner som spiser opp sin egen mat i Australia. De kan formere seg hvert år og har en mangel på fiender.
Økosystemet har utviklet seg leeenge. Enviromental factors begrenser utspredning av arter. Geologi, mat, rovdyr/fiender. Små endringer i en faktor kan skape store ringvirkninger. Dette kan f.eks. være mennesker for fjerner eller legger til nye arter.
Vær, klimaendringer, ustormer. Men det meste er forrosaket av mennesker.
Mange myndigheter har nå kontroll på inførsel av dyr og planter til landet (f.eks. Australia)
What is an invasive species?
“Aliens” or “non-native” settle in a new non-native habitat. Only alien species harming the new ecosystem are invasive.
Invasive species can affect the ecosystem through: (5)
Preditation and trophic cascades Food and habitat competition Altering food web structure Ecosystem engineering Spreading diseases
Is habitat change a cause or an effect of climate change?
Both ;)
What are the most overexploited species?
Marin fish and invertebrates
Trees
Terrestrial animals hunted for meat
What are the main pressures to climate change?
The carbon cycle
GHGs
“Other” CO2 problems
What are the environmental consequences and effects of climate change?
Terrestrial ecosystems
o Habitat change (geographical) e.g. moving biogeographic envelopes
o Change in timing (e.g. emergence of leaves)
Aquatic ecosystems
o Decreasing amount of water (+timing)
o Temperature changes (oxygen,…)
Marine and coastal ecosystems
o Warmer temperatures (→oxygen content)
Sea level rise
o Changed Salinity
o Nutrient availabilityName processes that remove GHGs (4)
Land uptake: Photosynthesis-respiration
Ocean invasion: Seawater buffer
Reaction with calcium carbonate
Silicate weathering
What are consequences of ocean acidification?
- Metabolism change (ph change)
- Reduction of calcification
- Impacts throughout foodweb
- Changes in acoustic properties?
What is radiative forcing?
Radiative Forcing (RF) is the measurement of the capacity of a gas or other forcing agents to affect that energy balance, thereby contributing to climate change.
In more simple terms, RF expresses the change in energy in the atmosphere due to GHG emissions.
Explain positive and negative radiative forcing.
Positive radiative forcing results in an increase in Earth’s energy budget and ultimately lead to warming (WMGHGs, absorbing aerosols, decrease in albedo).
Negative radiative forcing results in a decrease in the energy budget and ultimately leads to cooling (Scattering aerosols, increase in albedo).
What are climate change causing? (5)
Habitat change Change in timing (Phenology) Change in amounts of water Temperature change Sea level rise
What are the consequences of change in timing (phenology)?
Change in migration and breeding
Leaf emergence
Potential for e.g. temporal mismatch between food demand and prey availability
Blooming –> pollination
What is the ecological footprint?
“The Ecological Footprint is a resource and emission accounting tool designed to track human demand on the biosphere’s regenerative capacity”
What is the framework for footprinting (in most of the cases)
DPS(I)R Drivers Pressure - 1 indicator State Response - easy to decide response
What is the missing information with footprinting? (5)
- Influence on the water cycle
- Regionalization!
- Pollution
- Impact on the environment
- Problem shifting
What is the carbon footprint?
The amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere as a result of the human activities (individuals, organizations, or communities) usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2
What is the water footprint?
The total volume of freshwater used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business. Water use is measured in terms of water volumes consumed (evaporated or incorporated into a product) and/or polluted per unit of time.
Include scarcity and location.
“the term ‘water footprint’ refers not only to the volume, but also to the sort of water that was used (green, blue, grey) and to when and where the water was used.”
Water footprint = BLUE + GREEN + GREY
“The water footprint of a product is thus a multidimensional indicator, whereas ‘virtual-water’ refer to a volume alone”.
What is the ecological footprint?
Tracks the use of productive surface areas. Typically these areas are: cropland, grazing land, fishing grounds, built-up land, forest area, and carbon demand on land.
A measure of land use.
How is global warming potential defined?
GWP is defined as the integrated radiative forcing (either called Absolute GWP, AGWP) of a gas between the time of emission and a chosen time horizon (TH; usually 100 years) relative to that of CO2.
It is by far the most common emission metric.
What does GTP stand for?
Global temperature change potential
What does GSP stand for?
Global sea-level rise potential
What does GPP stand for?
Global precipitation change
What are other indicators like global warming potential?
Radiative forcing (GWP) Temperature change (GTP) Sea level rise (GSR) Precipitation change (GPP)
What are territorial emissions?
Accounting for emissions caused by products produced in the country
What are consumption based emissions?
Considering the effects of trade, encompassing the emissions from domestic final consumption and those caused by the production of its imports.
What is consumptive water use?
Water that is NOT returned back to the watershed of origin after use
What are degradative water use?
Water that is used and released back to the watershed of origin after use → WITH change in water quality
What are in-situ water use/non-consumtive water use?
Water that is used and released back to the watershed of origin after use → NO change in water quality
o One ex of this can be Hydropower
What categories in our society can water use be divided into?
Describe them for Europe and the world
Agriculture, industries and municipalities
Eu: Industry (60%), agri (20%) and muni (20%)
World: Agri (70), indu (20%) and muni (10%)
Define water withdrawal?
The volume of freshwater abstraction from surface or groundwater
What is virtual water?
The volume of water consumed or polluted for producing the product
What are blue water?
Blue: fresh surface water or groundwater that can be extracted by humans
What are green water?
Green: soil moisture
What is greywater?
Grey: required volume for diluting a certain pollution in a waterbody in such a way that agreed water quality standards are met
What are the four stages in av LCA?
- Goal and scope
- Life cycle inventory
- Life cycle impact assessment
- Interpretation
What are goal and scope?
Functional unit:
o measure of the function
o Reference for comparing
What are the life cycle inventory?
Model inter-process requirements
Compile list resource use from and emissions to the environment
What is the aim goal of an LCIA?
Quantify the impact of LCI flows for different impact categories
Make different pressures of impact comparable to each other
How would you compare a DPRIR to an LCA
Goal and scope = Driver
Inventory analysis = Pressures
Impact assessment = State and impact
Interpretation = response
What are the elements of an LCIA?
- Choice of impact categories and characterization models
- Classification (allocation of emissions/resource uses to impact categories)
- Characterization (Calculation of impact category indicators)
- Results of LCIA
Talk about midpoint characterization models
- Standardise inventory flows in terms of their contribution to environment problems (that change the state of the environment)
- Midpoint impact scores are impact category specific
- Comparison within impact categories between life cycle stages
- Often (assumed to be) less uncertain
- Effect/damage missing
Talk about endpoint/damage level characterization models
contribution to damage to AoPs
- Comparison across impact categories possible
- Allow for aggregated impact scores at damage level
- Comparison within impact categories between life cycle stages
- Often more uncertain
- Can be easier to communicate
Name the three endpoint levels
Human health
Ecosystem quality
Natural resources
What is 1 DALY?
Disability-adjusted life years
1 lost year of healthy life
What does PDF stand for?
Potentially disappeared fraction of species
extinction because of unfavorable conditions
What does PNAF stand for?
Potentially not occurring fraction of species
PNOF = PDF
What does PAF stand for?
Potentially affected fraction of species
What are the three cultural perspectives in ReCiPe called?
Individualistic
Egalitarian
Hierarchist
Describe individualistic?
- impact types that are undisputed
* technological optimism with regard to human adaptation
Describe egalitarian?
- Long time horizon
- precautionary perspective
- all impact pathways for which data is available.
Describe hierarchies?
- In between “Individualistic” and “Egalitarian”
- based on scientific consensus with regard to the time frame
- and plausibility of impact mechanisms.
- Economic activity within boundaries
What is richness?
Number of species
What is abundance?
Number of individuals
Why is regionalization important for LCA?
It is important because it reduces spatial uncertainty in LCA results
Account for:
• Global supply chains
• Spatial variability in the technosphere (relevant for inventory modelling)
• Spatial variability in the natural environment (relevant for inventory modelling and impact assessment)
