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    DATAMAN: A global database of nitrous oxide and ammonia emission factors for excreta deposited by livestock and land-applied manure
    (Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2021) Beltran, Ignacio; van der Weerden, Tony J.; Alfaro, Marta A.; Amon, Barbara; de Klein, Cecile A. M.; Grace, Peter; Hafner, Sasha; Hassouna, MĂ©lynda; Hutchings, Nicholas; Krol, Dominika J.; Leytem, April B.; Noble, Alasdair; Salazar, Francisco; Thorman, Rachel E.; Velthof, Gerard L.
    Nitrous oxide (N2 O), ammonia (NH3 ), and methane (CH4 ) emissions from the manure management chain of livestock production systems are important contributors to greenhouse gases (GHGs) and NH3 emitted by human activities. Several studies have evaluated manure-related emissions and associated key variables at regional, national, or continental scales. However, there have been few studies focusing on the drivers of these emissions using a global dataset. An international project was created (DATAMAN) to develop a global database on GHG and NH3 emissions from the manure management chain (housing, storage, and field) to identify key variables influencing emissions and ultimately to refine emission factors (EFs) for future national GHG inventories and NH3 emission reporting. This paper describes the "field" database that focuses on N2 O and NH3 EFs from land-applied manure and excreta deposited by grazing livestock. We collated relevant information (EFs, manure characteristics, soil properties, and climatic conditions) from published peer-reviewed research, conference papers, and existing databases. The database, containing 5,632 observations compiled from 184 studies, was relatively evenly split between N2 O and NH3 (56 and 44% of the EF values, respectively). The N2 O data were derived from studies conducted in 21 countries on five continents, with New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Kenya, and Brazil representing 86% of the data. The NH3 data originated from studies conducted in 17 countries on four continents, with the United Kingdom, Denmark, Canada, and The Netherlands representing 79% of the data. Wet temperate climates represented 90% of the total database. The DATAMAN field database is available at http://www.dataman.co.nz.
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    A vital link: Water and vegetation in the anthropocene
    (Chichester : John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2013) Gerten, D.
    This paper argues that the interplay of water, carbon and vegetation dynamics fundamentally links some global trends in the current and conceivable future Anthropocene, such as cropland expansion, freshwater use, and climate change and its impacts. Based on a review of recent literature including geographically explicit simulation studies with the process-based LPJmL global biosphere model, it demonstrates that the connectivity of water and vegetation dynamics is vital for water security, food security and (terrestrial) ecosystem dynamics alike. The water limitation of net primary production of both natural and agricultural plants - already pronounced in many regions - is shown to increase in many places under projected climate change, though this development is partially offset by water-saving direct CO2 effects. Natural vegetation can to some degree adapt dynamically to higher water limitation, but agricultural crops usually require some form of active management to overcome it - among them irrigation, soil conservation and eventually shifts of cropland to areas that are less water-limited due to more favourable climatic conditions. While crucial to secure food production for a growing world population, such human interventions in water-vegetation systems have, as also shown, repercussions on the water cycle. Indeed, land use changes are shown to be the second-most important influence on the terrestrial water balance in recent times. Furthermore, climate change (warming and precipitation changes) will in many regions increase irrigation demand and decrease water availability, impeding rainfed and irrigated food production (if not CO2 effects counterbalance this impact - which is unlikely at least in poorly managed systems). Drawing from these exemplary investigations, some research perspectives on how to further improve our knowledge of human-water-vegetation interactions in the Anthropocene are outlined.