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Challenges and opportunities in mapping land use intensity globally
Future increases in land-based production will need to focus more on sustainably intensifying existing production systems. Unfortunately, our understanding of the global patterns of land use intensity is weak, partly because land use intensity is a complex, multidimensional term, and partly because we lack appropriate datasets to assess land use intensity across broad geographic extents. Here, we review the state of the art regarding approaches for mapping land use intensity and provide a comprehensive overview of available global-scale datasets on land use intensity. We also outline major challenges and opportunities for mapping land use intensity for cropland, grazing, and forestry systems, and identify key issues for future research.
Forschungsinformationssysteme in Hochschulen und Forschungseinrichtungen : Positionspapier
Forschungsinformationssysteme sind ein aktuelles und wichtiges Thema für Hochschulen und Forschungseinrichtungen, die einem zunehmenden Bedarf an verlässlichen und verfügbaren Informationen über die eigenen Forschungsaktivitäten begegnen. Die DINI Arbeitsgruppe Forschungsinformationssysteme will mit dem jetzt vorgelegten Papier eine erste Orientierung bieten für Leitungen, Wissenschaftsmanagement und Informationsdienstleister, die sich mit den Anforderungen an ein Forschungsinformationssystem auseinandersetzen. Angesprochen sind aber auch Träger und Förderer, denen Hochschulen und Forschungseinrichtungen rechenschaftspflichtig sind und die selbst Forschungsdokumentation betreiben, sowie unabhängige oder kommerzielle wissenschaftliche Dienstleister und Datenbankbetreiber. Die Bedeutung von elektronischer Datenübermittlung und Vernetzung von lokalen und überregionalen Forschungsdatenbanken wird langfristig steigen. Daher sind alle Mitspielder im Wissenschaftsbetrieb für den Diskurs über eine gute Praxis der Forschungsdokumentation gefordert.
A conceptual framework for analysing and measuring land-use intensity
Large knowledge gaps currently exist that limit our ability to understand and characterise dynamics and patterns of land-use intensity: in particular, a comprehensive conceptual framework and a system of measurement are lacking. This situation hampers the development of a sound understanding of the mechanisms, determinants, and constraints underlying changes in land-use intensity. On the basis of a review of approaches for studying land-use intensity, we propose a conceptual framework to quantify and analyse land-use intensity. This framework integrates three dimensions: (a) input intensity, (b) output intensity, and (c) the associated system-level impacts of land- based production (e.g. changes in carbon storage or biodiversity). The systematic development of indicators across these dimensions would provide opportunities for the systematic analyses of the trade-offs, synergies and opportunity costs of land-use intensification strategies.
Research information systems at universities and research institutions - Position Paper of DINI AG FIS
This is the English translation of a position paper published by the German DINI Working Group on Research Information Systems (DINI AG FIS) in 2015. Reporting has become a regular part of science at every level. Researchers are required to report to external funding organisations and sponsors. Management needs an overview of the multitude of research information available in order to be able to make sound decisions and compete successfully for equipment and funding. Public accountability, particularly in terms of financing, has also grown in importance over time. At the same time, universities and research institutions still face major problems when it comes to providing information on research performance. The causes of these problems are often very similar at each institution – distributed data storage without any interfaces, management systems that fail to map research contexts, and limited usability of existing systems when it comes to carrying out differentiated analyses: Specialist and funding databases are managed independently of one another, interfaces and exchange formats simply do not exist, and standardisation options are seldom used when developing such systems. The development of financeable and functional research information systems and, above all, the exchange of existing information are of equal importance as campus management or suitable HR and finance systems when it comes to IT development in scientific institutions. It is difficult to imagine institutions being able to manage processes requiring manual input and annual data requests in the long term. Reporting requirements are also likely to increase over time. This position paper describes specific strategic steps that need to be taken in order to develop long-term research reporting information management processes in German research insttutions. Common standards need to be agreed on as they are a prerequisite both for reducing the considerable amount of work required to run systems and for enabling mobile researchers to transfer their portfolio to various applications and different research institutions. The working group also devised specific practical tips on designing, choosing, introducing and running a system as well as advice with regard to project management. These tips and advice are aimed at institutions wishing to introduce or develop a research information system.
Dynamics of soil organic carbon in the steppes of Russia and Kazakhstan under past and future climate and land use
Changes in land use and climate are the main drivers of change in soil organic matter contents. We investigated the impact of the largest policy-induced land conversion to arable land, the Virgin Lands Campaign (VLC), from 1954 to 1963, of the massive cropland abandonment after 1990 and of climate change on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in steppes of Russia and Kazakhstan. We simulated carbon budgets from the pre-VLC period (1900) until 2100 using a dynamic vegetation model to assess the impacts of observed land-use change as well as future climate and land-use change scenarios. The simulations suggest for the entire VLC region (266 million hectares) that the historic cropland expansion resulted in emissions of 1.6⋅ 1015 g (= 1.6 Pg) carbon between 1950 and 1965 compared to 0.6 Pg in a scenario without the expansion. From 1990 to 2100, climate change alone is projected to cause emissions of about 1.8 (± 1.1) Pg carbon. Hypothetical recultivation of the cropland that has been abandoned after the fall of the Soviet Union until 2050 may cause emissions of 3.5 (± 0.9) Pg carbon until 2100, whereas the abandonment of all cropland until 2050 would lead to sequestration of 1.8 (± 1.2) Pg carbon. For the climate scenarios based on SRES (Special Report on Emission Scenarios) emission pathways, SOC declined only moderately for constant land use but substantially with further cropland expansion. The variation of SOC in response to the climate scenarios was smaller than that in response to the land-use scenarios. This suggests that the effects of land-use change on SOC dynamics may become as relevant as those of future climate change in the Eurasian steppes.