Multidisciplinary, cross-border collaboration and stable levels of funding extend knowledge of the oceans

The authors analyzed 300 projects completed since 1972, of which 46 were supported under the auspices of the FAPESP Research Program for Biodiversity Characterization, Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use (BIOTA-FAPESP).

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

 

IMAGE: LOW TIDE AT PRAIA DA FORTALEZA, UBATUBA, SÃO PAULO STATE: MOST OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH FOCUSES ON COASTAL AREAS view more 

CREDIT: MARIANA CABRAL DE OLIVEIRA/USP

The oceans are still less known than the Moon, but scientists have been exploring them more intensely in recent decades. Much of the research has been conducted with FAPESP’s support, as shown by a review of the literature produced by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP), the Federal University of the ABC (FABC) and São Paulo State University (UNESP), and published in the journal Biota Neotropica. The article is part of a special issue dedicated to FAPESP’s sixtieth anniversary, which was commemorated in 2022. 

The authors analyzed 300 projects completed since 1972, of which 46 were supported under the auspices of the FAPESP Research Program for Biodiversity Characterization, Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use (BIOTA-FAPESP). Launched in 1999, BIOTA has significantly increased the number of ocean exploration research projects. The increase has been particularly strong since 2010, thanks to a 2009 call for proposals in this area.  

Another important contribution has come from 13 projects funded by the FAPESP Research Program on Global Climate Change (RPGCC), launched in 2008. 

“We can’t claim to have reviewed the state of the art in Brazilian ocean research. We focused on a specific angle. We didn’t analyze all the oceanographic studies conducted in Brazil, or even in São Paulo state, because we didn’t include projects funded by CNPq [the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, an agency of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, MCTI] or by other funding agencies. On the other hand, to some extent the review does reflect all the work done in São Paulo and the rest of Brazil,” said Mariana Cabral de Oliveira, last author of the article. Oliveira is a professor at USP’s Institute of Biosciences and a former member of BIOTA’s steering committee (2009-18). 

As the oldest university in the state, USP already existed when FAPESP was set up, in 1962. It still accounts for a majority of the oceanographic projects funded by FAPESP: 66%, followed by UNESP and the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), with 9% each; and the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), with 6%.

Until the 1980s, however, the differences were greater, with USP accounting for 82% of the total. The increase in the share of other institutions was partly due to the creation of new centers, such as UNESP’s São Paulo State Coast Campus (CLP) at São Vicente, established in 2002; UFABC, established in 2005; and UNIFESP’s Institute of Marine Sciences (IMAR), established in 2007. Historically, 47 public and private institutions have had marine research projects funded by FAPESP. 

Future challenges 

For the authors, FAPESP’s importance to oceanographic research reflects its strength in all research areas in São Paulo state and its influence on science nationally and globally, thanks to its commitment to multidisciplinary and cross-border collaboration, provision of research infrastructure, and relatively stable levels of funding. 

“The launch of a funding line for Thematic Projects in 1990 was important because it provided support for long-term projects involving larger networks of researchers who seek answers to questions that can’t be addressed by regular projects, which last two years,” Oliveira said.  

This vision, which was also reflected by the Genome Project (1997-2008), BIOTA, and RPGCC, together with bilateral cooperation agreements with foreign institutions, helped change the incremental approach prevalent hitherto by fostering an approach that was more ambitious both theoretically and in terms of being oriented to problem-solving. The most noteworthy feature of BIOTA, for example, is its integrated view of biodiversity as connecting biological and cultural elements.

For the future, the authors identify deep-sea research as a gap to be filled. Brazil has one of the world’s largest marine economic exclusive zones, mostly in waters deeper than 1,000 meters, and urgently needs a comprehensive program to support research projects targeting this enormous and complex ecosystem in all its dimensions. Most ongoing research projects focus on coastal waters. 

Although FAPESP has funded two oceanographic research vessels (the Alpha Crucis and Alpha Delphini), they are used less than they should be owing to high running costs. The problem could be solved by more collaboration among researchers from different institutions to share the expenses and train more people to do oceanographic research.  

Besides Oliveira (20/09406-3), the authors of the article are Antonio C. Marques (IB-USP), Alvaro Migotto and Marcelo V. Kitahara, (Center for Marine Biology, CEBIMAR-USP) (21/06866-6); Gustavo Muniz Dias (Center for Natural and Human Sciences CCNH-UFABC) (19/15628-1); and Tânia Marcia Costa (Institute of Biosciences, CLP-UNESP) (20/03171-4).  

About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe

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JOURNAL

Biota Neotropica

DOI

10.1590/1676-0611-BN-2022-1385 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Systematic review

ARTICLE TITLE

Marine and coastal biodiversity studies, 60 years of research funding from FAPESP, what we have learned and future challenges

Map of ancient ocean ‘dead zones’ could predict future locations, impacts

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: GLOBORATALOIDES HEXAGONUS SHELL RECOVERED FROM A DEEP-SEA SEDIMENT CORE IN THE TROPICAL PACIFIC OCEAN. view more 

CREDIT: CATHERINE DAVIS

Researchers have created a map of oceanic “dead zones” that existed during the Pliocene epoch, when the Earth’s climate was two to three degrees warmer than it is now. The work could provide a glimpse into the locations and potential impacts of future low oxygen zones in a warmer Earth’s oceans.

Oxygen minimum zones, or OMZs, are areas in the ocean where oxygen levels in the mid-waters (from 100 to 1000 meters below the surface) are too low to support most marine life. These dead zones play an important role in the ocean’s overall health.

“OMZs are very important for geochemical cycling in the ocean,” says Catherine Davis, assistant professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences at North Carolina State University and corresponding author of the research. “They occur in areas where sunlight and atmospheric oxygen don’t reach. Their locations dictate where carbon and nitrogen (an essential nutrient for all life on Earth) are available in the ocean – so they’re important drivers of nutrient cycles.”

Being able to predict the location of OMZs is important not only for understanding nutrient cycling, but also because of their effects on marine life. Oceanic dead zones restrict the range of animals to the shallow surface ocean where oxygen is more plentiful.

Davis and her colleagues wanted to figure out how a warmer climate might impact future OMZs. So they looked to the Pliocene epoch, (5.3 to 2.6 million years ago) when the Earth’s atmospheric CO2 levels were close to what they are now.

“The Pliocene is the last time that we had a stable, warm climate globally, and the average global temperature was 2 C to 3 C warmer than it is now – which is what scientists predict could be the case in about 100 years,” Davis says.

To determine where Pliocene OMZs were located, the researchers used tiny fossilized plankton called foraminifera. Foraminifera are single-celled organisms about the size of a large grain of sand. They form hard, calcium carbonate shells, which can stay in marine sediments.

One species in particular – Globorotaloides hexagonus – is found only in low oxygen zones. By combing through databases of Pliocene sediments to locate that species, the team was able to map Pliocene OMZs. They overlaid their map onto a computer model of Pliocene oxygen levels, and found that the two agreed with each other.

The OMZ map showed that during the Pliocene, low-oxygen waters were much more widespread in the Atlantic Ocean – particularly in the North Atlantic. The North Pacific, on the other hand, had fewer low-oxygen areas.

“This is the first global spatial reconstruction of oxygen minimum zones in the past,” Davis says. “And it’s in line with what we’re already seeing in the Atlantic in terms of lower oxygen levels. Warmer water holds less oxygen. This dead zone map from the Pliocene could give us a glimpse into what the Atlantic might look like 100 years from now on a warmer Earth.”

What would a future with much less oxygen in the Atlantic mean? According to Davis, it could have a big impact on everything from carbon storage and nutrient cycling in the ocean to how fisheries and marine species are managed.

“OMZs act as a ‘floor’ for marine animals – they get squished to the surface,” Davis says. “So fishermen may suddenly see a lot of fish, but it doesn’t mean that there are actually more than normal – they’re just being forced into a smaller space. Fisheries will need to take the effects of OMZs into account when managing populations.

“We may also see subtle but far-reaching changes concerning the amounts of nutrients available for life in those surface waters, as well as where CO2 taken up by the ocean is stored.”

The research appears in Nature Communications and was supported by the National Science Foundation (grant OCE-1851589). Davis began the research while a postdoctoral researcher at Yale. Postdoctoral researcher Elizabeth Sibert, Associate Professor of Geology and Geophysics Pincelli Hull, former Ph.D. student Peter Jacobs and Associate Professor of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences Natalie Burls, also contributed to the work. Sibert and Hull are at Yale, Burls is at George Mason University, and Jacobs, formerly at George Mason, is at NASA.

-peake-

Note to editors: An abstract follows.

“Intermediate water circulation drives distribution of Pliocene Oxygen Minimum Zones”

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35083-x

Authors: Catherine Davis, Elizabeth Sibert, Pincelli Hull, Yale University; Peter Jacobs, Natalie Burls, George Mason University
Published: Jan. 4, 2023 in Nature Communications

Abstract:
Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) play a critical role in global biogeochemical cycling and act as barriers to dispersal for marine organisms. OMZs are currently expanding and intensifying with climate change, however past distributions of OMZs are relatively unknown. Here we present evidence for widespread pelagic OMZs during the Pliocene (5.3-2.6 Mya), the most recent epoch with atmospheric CO2 analogous to modern (~ 400-450 ppm). The global distribution of OMZ-affiliated planktic foraminifer, Globorotaloides hexagonus, and Earth System and Species Distribution Models show that the Indian Ocean, Eastern Equatorial Pacific, eastern South Pacific, and eastern North Atlantic all supported OMZs in the Pliocene, as today. By contrast, low-oxygen waters were reduced in the North Pacific and expanded in the North Atlantic in the Pliocene. This spatially explicit perspective reveals that a warmer world can support both regionally expanded and contracted OMZs, with intermediate water circulation as a key driver.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-022-35083-x 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

ntermediate water circulation drives distribution of Pliocene Oxygen Minimum Zones

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

4-Jan-2023

New method helps understand the global organic carbon cycle

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MARUM - CENTER FOR MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF BREMEN

Oceans serve as a sink for carbon. This means that carbon from the atmosphere is stored in the oceans. However, a distinction is made between organic and inorganic carbon. The organic carbon bound in marine sediments is also a source of oxygen. Until now, it has been common practice to determine the mass balance between inorganic and organic carbon – but this method is considered inaccurate. A team from the USA, Great Britain and Germany has now developed a different approach. Their goal was to be able to better determine the rate of carbon over a longer period of time.

To do this, they used data from deep-sea drilling at 81 global sites to determine the history of organic carbon burial during the Neogene (about 23 to 3 million years ago). This approach makes it possible to better determine the variability over such a long period of time.

”Our results support the assumption that rates were high in the early Miocene and Pliocene and low in the middle Miocene,” explains first author Dr. Ziye Li from MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen. “We calculated the mass accumulation rate of organic carbon directly from the organic carbon content of marine sediments. This is possible thanks to standardized measurements combined with well validated age models from sites from the international drilling program IODP and its predecessors DSDP and ODP. Traditionally, estimates have been based on the isotopic composition of carbon, which requires, among other things, a number of assumptions about carbon sources and key fluxes within the carbon cycle,” says Li, who works at MARUM in the Low Latitude Climate Variability group.

“Our new results are very different – they are the opposite of what the isotope calculations are suggesting,” says co-author Benjamin Mills from the University of Leeds, an expert on the established isotope methods. “I was really surprised how wrong our current ideas might be.”

Li and her colleagues assume that carbon sequestration, or rather its absence, is related to temperature-dependent bacterial decomposition of organic matter during the warm period of the middle Miocene. Thus, this feedback mechanism would be expected to play out during other warming intervals in Earth's history, as well as in any future warming of the global ocean.

“As we warm up the ocean, it will make it harder for organic carbon to find its way to be buried in the marine sediment system, and that is what we have found in our study – the lowest rates of carbon sequestration happen when the planet was warm”, said co-author Yige Zhang of Texas A&M University. “So that’s not helping from this perspective, in terms of the issues that we’re facing in the present day.”

However, the team's research suggests that this respiration-like process prevents organic carbon sequestration from reducing carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere. When bacteria process the organic carbon, it is returned to its original form as CO2.

First author Ziye Li calls the team's work the beginning of a potentially significant new method for data analysis that can help understand climate change and mitigate its effects.

Original publication:
Ziye Li, Yi Ge Zhang, Mark Torres and Benjamin J. W. Mills: Neogene burial of organic carbon in the global ocean. Nature 2023. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05413-6

MARUM produces fundamental scientific knowledge about the role of the ocean and the ocean floor in the total Earth system. The dynamics of the ocean and the ocean floor significantly impact the entire Earth system through the interaction of geological, physical, biological and chemical processes. These influence both the climate and the global carbon cycle, and create unique biological systems. MARUM is committed to fundamental and unbiased research in the interests of society and the marine environment, and in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. It publishes its quality-assured scientific data and makes it publicly available. MARUM informs the public about new discoveries in the marine environment and provides practical knowledge through its dialogue with society. MARUM cooperates with commercial and industrial partners in accordance with its goal of protecting the marine environment.

 

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JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-022-05413-6 

DRI leading $5 million regional climate adaptation project

DRI is partnering with Scripps Institution of Oceanography to build climate resiliency through the California Nevada Adaptation Program (CNAP)

Business Announcement

DESERT RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Reno, Nev. (January 4, 2023) - The impacts of climate change have been acute in California and Nevada, with most of the last two decades spent in extended drought conditions and 2021 wildfires producing Reno’s worst recorded air quality in the 21st century. Adapting to these challenges will require not only focused research to better predict climatic events, but will also depend on empowering local communities to use this knowledge to make informed decisions in the face of adversity. With $5 million in funding from NOAA’s Climate Adaptation Partners initiative, the California Nevada Adaptation Program (CNAP) will spend the next five years bringing together researchers, community members, and practitioners to cooperatively conduct research and identify solutions.

For the first time, CNAP will be hosted in Nevada under the leadership of DRI’s Tamara Wall, Ph.D., research professor of atmospheric science and deputy director of the Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC). DRI’s long-standing partnership with Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego will continue, with Dan Cayan, Ph.D., regional climate researcher and CNAP lead since its founding in 1999, and Julie Kalansky, Ph.D., who has served as CNAP program manager for six years, joining Wall to lead the project.

“The goal of CNAP has always been to expand more fully across the California and Nevada region,” Wall says. “This is the first time that DRI is leading CNAP, and it’s also the first time that CNAP is a system-wide effort. Bringing on partners from UNLV and UNR is important for meeting that goal and will help us address climate change impacts across the state.”

California and Nevada have partnered for the CNAP program since 2011, producing research and results that include: the first Nevada Climate Assessment; California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment; recommendations for updating red flag warnings and the fire weather watch system; and analyses of water use and supply in California’s agricultural communities.

The next five years will focus on adaptation, with an intentional transition from statewide climate research toward preparing communities for local-level action to address regional climate hazards. Six projects will support adaptation needs to address four of the most pressing climate issues in the region: extreme heat, wildfire smoke, coastal flooding, and water scarcity.

As part of the project’s commitment to equity and diversity, it will include a mentorship program within community colleges to prepare the future’s workforce to address climate impacts. In addition, a small grants program, Building Capacity through Reciprocity with Tribal Communities, will work to enact community-identified solutions for tribal communities by supporting a Leaders Indigenous Climate Fellowship Program.

“Centering CNAP’s research on adaptation allows us to focus on producing community-centered solutions,” Wall says. “Impacts from climate change are expected to amplify in the coming decades, and disadvantaged communities are the least able to manage those impacts without additional support. Our research includes community partners so that we can adequately understand community needs and concerns and actually improve people’s lives.”

 

Research Focus Areas

Extreme Heat

Highlights for planned research include creating the Southern Nevada Heat Resilience Lab (SNHRL), a regionally focused program that will bring together public service providers, including emergency responders and social services workers, with scientific experts on extreme heat. Real-time air temperature sensors will be installed in at-risk neighborhoods within Las Vegas, targeting locations such as public transit stops and buses, cooling centers, places with outdoor laborers, and unhoused communities. Following a trial period in Las Vegas, the project aims to expand local heat sensor networks to rural and Indigenous communities, where heat impacts are less well studied and understood.

Water Resiliency

In order to help California prepare a more resilient workforce in the face of growing issues with water availability, CNAP will partner with community colleges in the San Joaquin Valley to create climate-related workforce training opportunities. The goal is to create a more climate-technical workforce to support community adaptation to changes in water availability and climate extremes. 

Coastal Erosion

Southern California is lined with some of the most heavily used beaches on the West coast, and this region is likely to experience increased flooding and erosion due to sea-level rise. CNAP will partner with collaborators to explore nature-based solutions and Indigenous stewardship as coastal adaptation strategies.

Public Health in the Face of Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke

California and Northern Nevada are increasingly experiencing extreme weather conditions with overlapping heat waves and intense wildfires. CNAP will explore the public health impacts of these events by directly assessing a sample of households in Washoe County, Nevada. Research will include installing air sensors to monitor heat exposure and air pollution, conducting interviews to understand decision-making under environmentally challenging conditions, and baseline health monitoring.

Understanding Burnout in Climate Change Professionals

Previous CNAP research has shown that climate change professionals are experiencing high rates of burnout, and institutional support isn’t yet providing adequate resources to this population. CNAP will continue this line of study by evaluating the traits and communities that lead to more psychological resiliency and developing training materials based on the results for the CNAP team and partner networks.

State Climate Assessments

Both California and Nevada will likely produce new statewide climate assessments within the next five years, and CNAP will continue to coordinate among state and local efforts. CNAP will also pilot a mentoring program focused on early career faculty at universities and colleges in California and Nevada.

“NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnerships (CAP, formerly Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments, or ‘RISA’) advances equitable adaptation through sustained regional research and community engagement,” says Caitlin Simpson, program manager, NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnerships. “Climate affects every part of society, and this is most visible to us when we see long-term changes in social and environmental conditions, increased unpredictability, and extreme weather events. We seek to help people plan for and adjust to a changing climate by supporting long-lasting partnerships among scientists, decision makers, and communities. The result is a shared understanding about society’s needs and the co-generation of credible and actionable knowledge to support community solutions. We work within regions composed of multiple U.S. state/territory jurisdictions which share similar climates and cultures.” 

“CNAP’s long history in the CAP/RISA program dates from 1997, and features many accomplishments, including substantial scientific contributions to all five of California’s climate assessments in close partnership with the state government,” continued Simpson. “CNAP has achieved deep expertise on sea level rise, drought, water resources, and wildfire planning issues and has closely partnered with a number of federal and nonfederal partners to advance local, state, and regional planning around these issues. The NOAA Climate Program Office is thrilled to fund the California-Nevada Climate Applications Program (CNAP) team for another five years as a part of the CAP/RISA Network.”

 

More information:

For additional information about CNAP visit: https://www.dri.edu/cnap/

CNAP Principal Investigators include Tamara Wall (DRI), Julie Kalansky (Scripps), and Daniel Cayan (Scripps).

###

About DRI

The Desert Research Institute (DRI) is a recognized world leader in basic and applied environmental research. Committed to scientific excellence and integrity, DRI faculty, students who work alongside them, and staff have developed scientific knowledge and innovative technologies in research projects around the globe. Since 1959, DRI’s research has advanced scientific knowledge on topics ranging from humans’ impact on the environment to the environment’s impact on humans. DRI’s impactful science and inspiring solutions support Nevada’s diverse economy, provide science-based educational opportunities, and inform policymakers, business leaders, and community members. With campuses in Las Vegas and Reno, DRI serves as the non-profit research arm of the Nevada System of Higher Education. For more information, please visit www.dri.edu.

 

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

Nature conservation needs to incorporate the human approach 

A study led by Victoria Reyes-García of ICTA-UAB advocates a biocultural perspective in biodiversity protection policies

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA

An international study led by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) stresses the need to apply a biocultural approach in nature conservation programs.  

When deciding which aspects of nature to protect, conservationists have largely relied on ecological criteria that define the vulnerability and resilience of species. However, there is a growing call to broaden conservation criteria to include human aspects as well. 

A new article led by ICREA Professor at ICTA-UAB Victoria Reyes-García and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) argues that new biocultural approaches are needed to introduce means to connect humans and other components of nature in order to achieve nature stewardship.  

"The focus on ecological criteria alone has failed to halt our biodiversity crisis," says Victoria Reyes-García, who explains that "this has also created unintended injustices on Indigenous peoples and local communities worldwide.  

According to the researchers, the purely ecological approach, sans humans, risks perpetuating existing inequalities. For example, while proposals to safeguard 30-50% of the planet against extraction or development is sound conservation math, such proposals “face opposition”, on the grounds that they might increase the negative social impacts of conservation actions and pose immediate risks for people whose livelihoods directly depend on nature”, they say. 

“Conservation is designed to reduce or remove human impacts on species to give some breathing room to those species to recover,” noted Ben Halpern, coauthor on the study and Director of UC Santa Barbara’s National Center for Ecological Analysis & Synthesis (NCEAS). "However, if taking those actions limits opportunities for people to engage with the species that define their culture and their values, the conservation will have no sticking power and can actually harm those cultures and people.” 

To help implement this biocultural approach, the research team compiled the most comprehensive list thus far of culturally important species: 385 wild species (mostly plants) that have a recognized role in supporting cultural identity, as they are generally the basis for religious, spiritual and social cohesion, and provide a common sense of place, purpose and belonging. 

The list of species is part of a proposed framework and metric — a “biocultural status” — that combines information on the biological as well as the cultural conservation status of different components of nature. 

“We realized that prevailing classifications based on how vulnerable species are did not consider any of their cultural importance to people,” says Sandra Díaz, a researcher at CONICET and the National University of Córdoba. "Without the acknowledgement and protection of local, special relationships to nature that sustain some populations — often Indigenous — we risk losing an important dimension of conservation,” she adds. 

“When the human cultures that use and value an animal or plant species are lost, a whole body of values, of knowledge about that species is lost too, even if the organism itself does not go extinct. Our relationship with the natural world becomes impoverished,” notes Diaz. 

Conversely, according to the authors, recognizing the connections between people and nature and incorporating them into decision-making could enable actions based on both ecological conservation priorities and cultural values, while aligning with local priorities. The study’s focus on culturally important species could pave the way for mechanisms to enable the adoption of biocultural approaches, which has so far proven difficult.  

The paper comes at a timely moment, as the Convention on Biological Diversity prepares for the next set of biodiversity goals such as the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. 

“As the conservation community increasingly seeks to include diverse worldviews, knowledge and values in nature management and restoration, the framework and metric proposed here offer a concrete mechanism that combines local perspectives on which species are culturally important, with scientific assessments of the biological and cultural status of those species,” Reyes-García says. “Together, they provide an actionable way to guide decisions and operationalize global actions oriented to enhance place-based practices, such as those of Indigenous people, that have supported the conservation of social-ecological systems over the long term.” To sustain culturally important species, according to the authors, society will need a more complete list of these species’ conservation status, and ultimately, direct greater support to the cultures that value them. 

According to co-author Rodrigo Cámara-Leret of the University of Zurich, one of the most important messages in this study is that conservation assessments have largely overlooked species that matter to local cultures, underscoring a big communication gap between local people and the academic community, and even between the natural and social sciences. 

“To close this communication gap and foster more equitable conservation, we need to promote more long-term engagement with local communities to develop and maintain truly collaborative conservation partnerships,” he says. “For this to happen, there are growing calls for academic institutions to recalibrate how they judge impact, and for donor agencies to step up to the challenge of supporting longer research projects that take time, but which are highly effective in knowledge generation and promoting biocultural conservation.” 

 

ICTA-UABs strategic research program, promoted within the framework of the María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence 2020-2023, granted by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, is structured around 5 interrelated Societal Challenges, focused on Oceans. Land. Cities, Consumption and Policies. Investigating these Societal Challenges is critical to envision a transition towards a sustainable Earth. This research is part of the Societal Challenges Land and Policy.
 

 

 

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2217303120 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Biocultural vulnerability exposes threats of culturally important species

Using machine learning to forecast amine emissions

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE

 

IMAGE: A POWER PLANT MADE WITH AI. view more 

CREDIT: KEVIN MAIK JABLONKA (EPFL)

Global warming is partly due to the vast amount of carbon dioxide that we release, mostly from power generation and industrial processes, such as making steel and cement. For a while now, chemical engineers have been exploring carbon capture, a process that can separate carbon dioxide and store it in ways that keep it out of the atmosphere.

This is done in dedicated carbon-capture plants, whose chemical process involves amines, compounds that are already used to capture carbon dioxide from natural gas processing and refining plants. Amines are also used in certain pharmaceuticals, epoxy resins, and dyes.

The problem is that amines could also be potentially harmful to the environment as well as a health hazard, making it essential to mitigate their impact. This requires accurate monitoring and predicting of a plant’s amine emissions, which has proven to be no easy feat since carbon-capture plants are complex and differ from one another.

A group of scientists has come up with a machine learning solution for forecasting amine emissions from carbon-capture plants using experimental data from a stress test at an actual plant in Germany. The work was led by the groups of Professor Berend Smit at EPFL’s School of Basic Sciences and Professor Susana Garcia at The Research Centre for Carbon Solutions of Heriot-Watt University in Scotland.

“The experiments were done in Niederhauẞen, on one of the largest coal-fired power plants in Germany,” says Berend Smit.  “And from this power plant, a slipstream is sent into a carbon capture pilot plant, where the next generation of amine solution has been tested for over a year. But one of the outstanding issues is that amines can be emitted with flue gas, and these amine emissions need to be controlled.”

Professor Susana Garcia, together with the plant’s owner, RWE, and TNO in the Netherlands, developed a stress test to study amine emissions under different process conditions. Professor Garcia describes how the test went: “We developed an experimental campaign to understand how and when amine emissions would be generated. But some of our experiments also caused interventions of the plant’s operators to ensure the plant was operating safely.”

These interventions led to the question of how to interpret the data. Are the amine emissions the result of the stress test itself, or have the interventions of the operators indirectly affected the emissions? This was further complicated by our general lack of understanding of the mechanisms behind amine emissions. “In short, we had an expensive and successful campaign that showed that amine emissions can be a problem, but no tools to further analyze the data,” says Smit.

He continues: “When Susana Garcia mentioned this to me, it sounded indeed like an impossible problem to solve. But she also mentioned that they measured everything every five minutes, collecting many data. And, if there is anybody in my group that can solve impossible problems with data, it is Kevin.” Kevin Maik Jablonka, a PhD student, developed a machine learning approach that turned the amine emissions puzzle into a pattern-recognition problem.

“We wanted to know what the emissions would be if we did not have the stress test but only the operators' interventions,” explains Smit. This is a similar issue as we can have in finance; for example, if you want to evaluate the effect of changes in the tax code, you would like to disentangle the effect of the tax code from, say, interventions caused by the crisis in Ukraine.”

In the next step, Jablonka used powerful machine learning to predict future amine emissions from the plant’s data. He says: “With this model, we could predict the emissions caused by the interventions of the operators and then disentangle them from those induced by the stress test. In addition, we could use the model to run all kinds of scenarios on reducing these emissions.”

The conclusion was described as “surprising”. As it turned out, the pilot plant had been designed for pure amine, but the measuring experiments were carried out on a mixture of two amines: 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol and piperazine (CESAR1). The scientists found out that those two amines actually respond in opposite ways: reducing the emission of one actually increases the emissions of the other.

“I am very enthusiastic about the potential impact of this work; it is a completely new way of looking at a complex chemical process,” says Smit. “This type of forecasting is not something one can do with any of the conventional approaches, so it may change the way we operate chemical plants.”

Reference

Kevin Maik Jablonka, Charithea Charalambous, Eva Sanchez Fernandez, Georg Wiechers, Peter Moser, Juliana Monteiro, Berend Smit, Susana Garcia. Machine learning for industrial processes: Forecasting amine emissions from a carbon capture plant. Science Advances 04 January 2023. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adc9576

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JOURNAL

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adc9576 

ARTICLE TITLE

Machine learning for industrial processes: Forecasting amine emissions from a carbon capture plant.

Leveraging machine learning to help predict ship exhaust gas emissions

Researchers build an AI model that can prediction emissions under different air-to-fuel ratios

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NATIONAL KOREA MARITIME AND OCEAN UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: NKMOU RESEARCHERS HAVE DEVELOPED A MACHINE LEARNING MODEL THAT CAN PREDICT THE LEVEL OF EXHAUST GAS EMISSIONS RELEASED BY SHIPS; THIS WILL HELP REDUCE THE AIR POLLUTION IN PORTS view more 

CREDIT: DR. WON-JU LEE, NATIONAL KOREA MARITIME AND OCEAN UNIVERSITY

Ships are a major means of commercial transport, contributing to 80% of global goods and energy trade. However, they emit exhaust gases—from the engines when they are sailing, and from the engines and boiler when they dock in ports. These emissions negatively affect not only human health, but also the environment. Therefore, the International Maritime Organization has imposed regulations on the type of fuel used in ships. While efforts are being made to reduce the level of emissions from ships, a completely eco-friendly fuel is yet to be developed. In the meantime, assessing and predicting the level of exhaust emissions from ships is of paramount importance.

Given this background, a group of researchers from the National Korea Maritime and Ocean University (NKMOU) led by Dr. Won-Ju Lee, an Associate Professor in the institute’s Division of Marine System Engineering, have measured the emissions of a continuously operating oil-fired boiler in a training ship under different air-to-fuel ratios. “The exhaust data for CO2, NOx, and SO2 gases were collected for 18 cases and used for predicting emissions through data-driven modeling,” explains Dr. Lee.

Their work was made available online on 18 September 2022 and published in Volume 375 of the Journal of Cleaner Production on 15 November 2022.

The researchers employed unsupervised learning to compress the original data for generating three new datasets. They combined them to create an ensemble dataset. The performance of these five datasets was evaluated – in terms of CO2, NOx, and SO2 predictions – using four base models. The Support Vector Machine-based models with the original and ensemble datasets produced the best results.

Then, the researchers merged the base models to develop four base ensemble models. These models, in turn, were used to build double ensemble models. As expected, the double ensemble models made the most accurate emission predictions for all three gases.

Lastly, the researchers applied the developed models to a new dataset, verifying the results and establishing the models’ superiority and generalizability.

How can this work help the shipping industry reduce its carbon footprint, though? Dr. Lee discusses the future implications of their work. “The results of this study can be used to predict emissions of exhaust gases and will be applied to marine boilers soon. It shall enable the marine engineers to take action to reduce emissions, curbing air pollution in port areas. Since installing expensive equipment such as gas analyzers in boilers is not economically feasible for shipping companies, the proposed technology will prove indispensable. Furthermore, the ensemble data generation and double ensemble model techniques can enhance the performance of various other machine learning applications.”

Here’s to achieving carbon neutrality, enabled by technology and artificial intelligence models!

 

***

 

Reference

Authors: Min-Ho Park1,2, Jae-Jung Hur3, Won-Ju Lee2,3

Title of original paper: Prediction of oil-fired boiler emissions with ensemble methods considering variable combustion air conditions

Journal: Journal of Cleaner Production

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134094

Affiliations:

1Division of Marine Engineering, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Republic of Korea

2Interdisciplinary Major of Maritime and AI Convergence, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Republic of Korea

3Division of Marine System Engineering, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Republic of Korea

 

About National Korea Maritime & Ocean University 

South Korea’s most prestigious university for maritime studies, transportation science and engineering, the National Korea Maritime & Ocean University is located on an island in Busan. The university was established in 1945 and since then has merged with other universities to currently being the only post-secondary institution that specializes in maritime sciences and engineering. It has four colleges that offer both undergraduate and graduate courses.  

Website: http://www.kmou.ac.kr/english/main.do 

 

About Dr. Won-Ju Lee

Dr. Won-Ju Lee is an Associate Professor at the Division of Marine System Engineering at Korea Maritime and Ocean University, South Korea. His research focuses on diesel engine, marine environment, combustion, recycling emission, and marine engine CBM. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Korea Maritime and Ocean University in 2017. Prior to completing the Ph.D., he worked as a chief engineer for an observation ship and as a gas engineer for LNG carriers.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Cleaner Production

DOI

10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134094 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Prediction of oil-fired boiler emissions with ensemble methods considering variable combustion air conditions

From water sources of the Tibetan Plateau to the ocean: State of nutrients of the Changjiang linked to the land-use changes and climate variability

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

 

IMAGE: LOW CONCENTRATIONS WERE FOUND IN THE QINGHAI-TIBETAN PLATEAU, AND THEN NUTRIENTS INCREASE IN THE RIVER AT 3500 KM-3000 KM UPSTREAM THE RIVER MOUTH AND FURTHER DOWNWARDS TO THE RIVER MOUTH. VERTICAL ARROWS SHOW THE CONFLUENCE OF MAJOR TRIBUTARIES, AND HORIZONTAL ARROW INDICATES THE LOCATION OF THE THREE GORGES RESERVOIR. view more 

CREDIT: ©SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

This study has examined the state changes of nutrients (N, P, and Si) from one of the top ten largest world river system, Changjiang, based on field expeditions and time-series data since early 1980s. The study covers an area of ca. 80% of the whole drainage basin (i.e. 1.8×106 km2) and 70% of water course, including main stream and 15 major tributaries.

A considerable increase in anthropogenic nutrients (e.g. N and P) appears when the river lefts the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and changes in species ratio have been identified from some of the major tributaries draining through high population and extensive agriculture areas. This influence can be tracked further downstream and all way to the estuary.

Different from the previous studies, the present study provides evidence that Three Gorges Dam and the reservoir have a rather limited impact on the so called “Trapping of Nutrients”. Examination of data in 2003-2016 indicates that there is a lack of systematics (i.e. trend) between upstream the reservoir and downstream the dam, even though for dissolved silicates.

Time-series data at the river mouth since 1980s indicate a continuous increasing mode for dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus. Particularly, nitrogen in the river started to be high in early 1980s, while a considerable increase in phosphate appeared later in mid-1990s with higher rate than that for nitrogen. This makes the Changjiang outstanding in terms of loadings and species ratio for anthropogenic nutrients compared to other top-ten world river systems.

Furthermore, the present study reveals that tidal-influenced deltaic area has an important but previously ignored role in regulating seaward flux of the Changjiang. Remobilization of nutrients from the tidal-influenced deltaic area contribute additional 5%-10% for dissolve inorganic nitrogen and silicates, but up to 20% for phosphate. Such an amount of nutrients is not related to the agriculture but to coastal urbanization.

In comparison to other rivers, watersheds of the Changjiang is still in the accumulation phase for anthropogenic nutrients, and a “legacy” source can sustain relatively high concentrations in the river even in the period of reduction of application of chemical fertilizers in agriculture. Hence, management strategy needs to take into consideration of the potential of legacy source.

At drainage basin scale, the continuous increase of anthropogenic nutrients in the Changjiang is mainly regulated by the human activities, while the influence of climate variability is rather limited and not systematic based on the current data sets.

Concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphate increase both over last three decades, while dissolved silicates remain rather stable. Beside the annual trend, fluxes in flood (July) and dry (January) periods are also compared.

Major source and sink terms are compared and summarized for anthropogenic nutrients (i.e. N and P) based on expeditions and data compilation in the literature for the period of 2003-2015. In comparison to the retention of nutrients in the watersheds, seaward riverine flux is rather minor.

CREDIT

©Science China Press

Zhang J, Zhang G, Du Y, Zhang A, Chang Y, Zhou Y, Zhu Z, Wu Y, Zhang Z, Liu S. 2022. From the water sources of the Tibetan Plateau to the ocean: State of nutrients in the Changjiang linked to land use changes and climate variability. Science China Earth Sciences, 65(11): 2127–2174, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-021-9969-0

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JOURNAL

Science China Earth Sciences

DOI

10.1007/s11430-021-9969-0