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Gao L, Wu Q, Qiu J, Mei Y, Yao Y, Meng L, Liu P. The impact of wind energy on plant biomass production in China. Sci Rep 2023; 13:22366. [PMID: 38102187 PMCID: PMC10724281 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49650-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Global wind power expansion raises concerns about its potential impact on plant biomass production (PBP). Using a high-dimensional fixed effects model, this study reveals significant PBP reduction due to wind farm construction based on 2404 wind farms, 108,361 wind turbines, and 7,904,352 PBP observations during 2000-2022 in China. Within a 1-10 km buffer, the normalized differential vegetation and enhanced vegetation indices decrease from 0.0097 to 0.0045 and 0.0075 to 0.0028, respectively. Similarly, absorbed photosynthetically active radiation and gross primary productivity decline from 0.0094 to 0.0034% and 0.0003-0.0002 g*C/m2 within a 1-7 km buffer. Adverse effects last over three years, magnified in summer and autumn, and are more pronounced at lower altitudes and in plains. Forest carbon sinks decrease by 12,034 tons within a 0-20 km radius, causing an average economic loss of $1.81 million per wind farm. Our findings underscore the balanced mitigation strategies for renewable energy transition when transiting from fossil fuels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Gao
- School of Economics and Management, China University of Petroleum Beijing, Beijing, 102249, People's Republic of China
| | - Qingyang Wu
- Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Jixiang Qiu
- School of Economics and Management, China University of Petroleum Beijing, Beijing, 102249, People's Republic of China
| | - Yingdan Mei
- School of Applied Economics, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, People's Republic of China.
| | - Yiran Yao
- School of Economics and Management, China University of Petroleum Beijing, Beijing, 102249, People's Republic of China
| | - Lina Meng
- School of Economics and The Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, People's Republic of China
| | - Pengfei Liu
- Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Economics, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, 02881, USA
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Modelling Response of Norway Spruce Forest Vegetation to Projected Climate and Environmental Changes in Central Balkans Using Different Sets of Species. FORESTS 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/f13050666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
The structure and function of many forest ecosystems will be modified as a result of air pollution and climate change. Norway spruce (Picea abies L.) forests are among the first terrestrial ecosystems to respond to this change. We analysed how changes in climate and environmental factors will affect vegetation cover in Norway spruce forests and whether it is possible to assemble a list of diagnostically important/sensitive species that would be the first to react to changes in habitats of Norway spruce in Central Balkan. Significant changes in the vegetation cover of Norway spruce forests are mainly influenced by temperature increases (≈4 °C), and precipitation decreases (≈102 mm) by the end of the 21st century. Projections show that vegetation cover changes and future habitat conditions for Norway spruce forests on podzolic brown soils with a low base saturation and soil pH decreases, and temperature growth and precipitation decline, with the worst in the Rodope montane forest ecoregion. In Dinaric Mountain and Balkan mixed forest ecoregions, the range of natural occurrence of Norway spruce forest will shift to higher altitudes, or to the north. One of the cognitions of this paper is that, through available environmental models and their indices, species from the IUCN Red List should be recognised more properly and included in model calculations.
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The Impact of Air Pollution on the Growth of Scots Pine Stands in Poland on the Basis of Dendrochronological Analyses. FORESTS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/f12101421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate Scots pine stand degradation caused by the pollutants emitted from Zakłądy Azotowe Puławy, one of the biggest polluters of the environment in Poland for over 25 years (1966–1990). To assess the pollution stress in trees, we chose the dendrochronological analysis We outlined three directions for our research: (i) the spatio-temporal distribution of the growth response of trees to the stress associated with air pollution; (ii) the direct and indirect effects of air pollution which may have influenced the growth response of trees; and (iii) the role of local factors, both environmental and technological, in shaping the growth response of trees. Eight Scots pine stands were selected for study, seven plots located in different damage zones and a reference plot in an undamaged stand. We found that pollutant emission caused disturbances of incremental dynamics and long-term strong reduction of growth. A significant decrease in growth was observed for the majority of investigated trees (75%) from 1966 (start of factory) to the end of the 1990s. The zone of destruction extended primarily in easterly and southern directions, from the pollution source, associated with the prevailing winds of the region. At the end of the 1990s, the decreasing trend stopped and the wider tree-rings could be observed. This situation was related to a radical reduction in ammonia emissions and an improvement in environmental conditions. However, the growth of damaged trees due to the weakened health condition is lower than the growth of Scots pine on the reference plot and trees are more sensitive to stressful climatic conditions, especially to drought.
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Macro-Impacts of Air Quality on Property Values in China—A Meta-Regression Analysis of the Literature. BUILDINGS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/buildings11020048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Air pollution has received increasing attention in recent years, particularly in China, due to the rapid industrialisation that has wrought intense levels of air pollution. A number of studies, therefore, have been devoted to quantifying the impacts of air pollution on property value in China. However, the empirical results are somewhat mixed. This naturally raises questions of whether there is a significant relationship between air quality and housing prices and the plausible reasons for the mixed results in previous studies. This study aims to fill this gap by explaining the variations in the findings by a meta-regression analysis. To control for heterogeneity, a weighted least square model was used to explore the factors influencing the magnitude and significance of the air quality effect based on empirical estimates from 117 observations. This study confirms that air quality does have a discernible impact on housing prices beyond the publication bias. Besides, the types of air quality indicator and the air data source do significantly influence estimates through affecting both the magnitude of the elasticity and the partial correlation coefficient (PCC). Further, the selections of control variables and estimation approaches also have significant impacts on estimates. This study also finds that published papers tend to be biased towards more economically significant estimates. The implications of the findings have also been discussed.
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Holmberg M, Aherne J, Austnes K, Beloica J, De Marco A, Dirnböck T, Fornasier MF, Goergen K, Futter M, Lindroos AJ, Krám P, Neirynck J, Nieminen TM, Pecka T, Posch M, Pröll G, Rowe EC, Scheuschner T, Schlutow A, Valinia S, Forsius M. Modelling study of soil C, N and pH response to air pollution and climate change using European LTER site observations. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2018; 640-641:387-399. [PMID: 29860010 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2017] [Revised: 04/25/2018] [Accepted: 05/24/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Current climate warming is expected to continue in coming decades, whereas high N deposition may stabilize, in contrast to the clear decrease in S deposition. These pressures have distinctive regional patterns and their resulting impact on soil conditions is modified by local site characteristics. We have applied the VSD+ soil dynamic model to study impacts of deposition and climate change on soil properties, using MetHyd and GrowUp as pre-processors to provide input to VSD+. The single-layer soil model VSD+ accounts for processes of organic C and N turnover, as well as charge and mass balances of elements, cation exchange and base cation weathering. We calibrated VSD+ at 26 ecosystem study sites throughout Europe using observed conditions, and simulated key soil properties: soil solution pH (pH), soil base saturation (BS) and soil organic carbon and nitrogen ratio (C:N) under projected deposition of N and S, and climate warming until 2100. The sites are forested, located in the Mediterranean, forested alpine, Atlantic, continental and boreal regions. They represent the long-term ecological research (LTER) Europe network, including sites of the ICP Forests and ICP Integrated Monitoring (IM) programmes under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP), providing high quality long-term data on ecosystem response. Simulated future soil conditions improved under projected decrease in deposition and current climate conditions: higher pH, BS and C:N at 21, 16 and 12 of the sites, respectively. When climate change was included in the scenario analysis, the variability of the results increased. Climate warming resulted in higher simulated pH in most cases, and higher BS and C:N in roughly half of the cases. Especially the increase in C:N was more marked with climate warming. The study illustrates the value of LTER sites for applying models to predict soil responses to multiple environmental changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Holmberg
- Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Mechelininkatu 34a, FI-00251 Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Julian Aherne
- Environmental and Resource Studies, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8, Canada
| | - Kari Austnes
- Norwegian Institute for Water Research NIVA, Gaustadalléen 21, NO-0349 Oslo, Norway
| | - Jelena Beloica
- Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade, Kneza Viseslava 1, RS-11000 Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Alessandra De Marco
- ENEA - Casaccia Research Centre, Via Anguillarese 301, IT-00123 Santa Maria di Galeria, Rome, Italy
| | - Thomas Dirnböck
- Environment Agency Austria, Spittelauer Lände 5, A-1090, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Klaus Goergen
- Institute of Bio- and Geosciences, Agrosphere (IBG-3), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Centre for High-Performance Scientific Computing in Terrestrial Systems, Geoverbund ABC/J, Jülich, Germany
| | - Martyn Futter
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU, P.O. Box 7050, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Antti-Jussi Lindroos
- Natural Resources Institute Finland LUKE, Latokartanonkaari 9, FI-00790 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Pavel Krám
- Czech Geological Survey, Klárov 3, CZ 11821 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Johan Neirynck
- Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Gaverstraat 35, BE-9500 Geraardsbergen, Belgium
| | | | - Tomasz Pecka
- Institute of Env. Protection - National Research Institute (IOS-PIB), ul. Kolektorska 4, PL-01692 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Maximilian Posch
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
| | - Gisela Pröll
- Environment Agency Austria, Spittelauer Lände 5, A-1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Ed C Rowe
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), ECW, Bangor, LL57 3EU, UK
| | | | | | - Salar Valinia
- Norwegian Institute for Water Research NIVA, Gaustadalléen 21, NO-0349 Oslo, Norway; Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, SE-10648 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Martin Forsius
- Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Mechelininkatu 34a, FI-00251 Helsinki, Finland
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