Archive for the category: Impact Presentation

Mark Imhof¹, Gemma Heemskerk² and Matthew Cox³

¹ Agriculture Victoria, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources. 32 Lincoln Square Nth, Parkville, Victoria 3053. mark.imhof@ecodev.vic.gov.au 

² Agriculture Victoria, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources. 32 Lincoln Square Nth, Parkville, Victoria 3053. gemma.heemskerk@ecodev.vic.gov.au 

³ Agriculture Victoria, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources. 32 Lincoln Square Nth, Parkville, Victoria 3053. matthew.cox@ecodev.vic.gov.au 

Abstract

An interactive animation of the nitrogen (N) cycle, within the context of a dairy agroecosystem, is available on the Victorian Resources Online website at: http://vro.agriculture.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/soilhealth_nitrogen-cycle. It is one of a series of animations developed to capture and communicate soil knowledge and visually explain processes that occur in the soil and landscape. Animations were created from ‘storyboards’ (a series of hand-drawn sketches that outline all the events in the animation) developed with relevant soil scientists. This is an example of harnessing tacit knowledge of scientists, and providing context, to create an information product aimed at a broad range of users. Feedback to date has highlighted the value to users involved in agricultural extension and education. User profiling (based on IP address tracking) for a three-month period in 2013 indicated that the N cycle animation was the most extensively accessed of all animations on the website. The education and government sectors were significant user groups.

Adrian Leip¹, Claudia Marques dos Santos Cordovil² , Patrick Musinguzi³, Ina Körner⁴

¹ European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Via Fermi 2749, TP 266/040

I-21027 ISPRA (VA), Italy, https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en, adrian.leip@jrc.ec.europa.eu

² Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, LEAF, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal

³ Department of Agricultural Production, School of Agricultural Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

⁴ Hamburg University of Technology, Institute of Wastewater Management and Water Protection; Bioconversion and Emission Control Group, 21073 Hamburg, Germany

Abstract

Nitrogen neutrality is a novel concept that aims at reducing the N-footprint caused by an entity and offsetting the residual emission of reactive nitrogen (Nr). This concept had been applied to three conferences (6th International Nitrogen Conference in 2013 in Kampala, Uganda; 18th Nitrogen Workshop in 2014 in Lisbon, Portugal; 15th Ramiran Conference in Hamburg, Germany) with different concepts and different degree of willingness of the participants to contribute to the voluntary compensation fee. This paper analyses the results of surveys made among the participants of the conferences to understand their view on low-impact conferences, N-footprints, and the N-neutrality concept.

Jessica G. Ernakovich¹, Theodore A. Evans², Ben Macdonald³, Mark Farrell⁴

¹ CSIRO Agriculture & Food, PMB 2, Urrbrae, SA, 5064, http://people.csiro.au/E/J/Jessica-Ernakovich, jessica.ernakovich@csiro.au

² School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, theo.evans@uwa.edu.au

³ CSIRO Agriculture & Food, Canberra, ACT, 2601, ben.macdonald@csiro.au

⁴ CSIRO Agriculture & Food, PMB 2, Urrbrae, SA, 5064, http://people.csiro.au/F/M/Mark-Farrell.aspx, mark.farrell@csiro.au

Abstract

Ecosystem engineers—such as earthworms, termites and ants—are an important component of soil biodiversity and have been shown to contribute to aboveground productivity in native and managed ecosystems. Although their role in physical alteration of soils is appreciated, less is known about their effect on soil nutrient cycling, particularly in arid systems where termites and ants are the dominant ecosystem engineers. We explored the effect of termite reduction and tillage on soil nitrogen (N) biogeochemistry in soils from the northeasternmost wheat growing region in Western Australia. We assessed total soil N, potentially mineralizable N, and dissolved N pools, as well as soil N fluxes, such as proteolysis and N mineralization. We predicted that soils with native termite and ant populations would have greater N pools and rates of transformations between pools. While we found that many soil N pools were up to 2.5 times larger with native termite populations (e.g. dissolved organic N, NH₄⁺), we found that the rate of transformations between pools was reduced relative to the reduced termite plots. While the reason behind this trend needs further exploration, the larger soil N pools in sites with native levels of ecosystem engineers implies that the conservation of soil macrofauna, particularly those that translocate N through the soil profile, may be important in the sustainable management of cropped lands.

Jacob Kimiecik¹, Jill Baron²

 ¹ Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1499 Jacob.Kimiecik@gmail.com

² USGS, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1499 Jill.Baron@colostate.edu

Abstract

Universities are a significant source of nitrogen that is released to the environment leading to environmental harm.  Colorado State University (CSU) is a large land grant institution working toward sustainability goals, and in 2014 added a goal of reducing its nitrogen (N) footprint. The CSU released N to the environment during the period August 2014-August 2015 from utilities, transportation, housing and dining, research animals, and research farms. The N footprint came to 1,066 metric tons N, of which only 28% was caused by on-campus activities. Most of CSU’s N footprint comes from Agricultural Experiment Stations and other research facilities around Colorado. Because of agricultural activity, CSU has a higher N-footprint by an order of magnitude than other universities that are part of the Nitrogen Footprint Network. On the university campus food production, utilities, and research animals are the largest sources of released N, and we describe an active program of education, incentives, and linking N reductions to greenhouse gas reductions.

Key Words

university, abatement, nitrogen footprint network, agricultural research

Hideaki Shibata¹, Azusa Oita²

¹ Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University, Kita-9, Nishi-9, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-0809, Japan, shiba@fsc.hokudai.ac.jp

² Graduate School of Environment and Information Science, Yokohama National University, 79-7 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) footprint is a powerful parameter to understand loss of reactive N (i.e. all forms of nitrogen except N₂) to the environment by use of food, and energy in human’s daily life. The amount and composition of the N footprint differs among communities, countries and regions depending on various factors such as environment, economy, technological development and their culture. Japan is the top net importer of embodied reactive N emissions in food, feed, energy, and goods among countries, resulting in large loss of reactive N to the environment both inside and outside of Japan. Here we present updated information of N footprint in Japan by synthesizing the recent research findings. Virtual N factors (VNFs) of meat processed food in Japan are mostly higher than those in other countries while fish and seafood (especially wild-caught fish) is also important source of animal protein with generally lower VNFs than that of animal meat. It was suggested that shifting consumer preferences from meat- and dairy-intensive diets to diets with more fish and vegetables would have potential to reduce the N footprint in Japan. Increase of N use efficiency during production, processing, and consumption of food through technological improvements in agriculture and food industries with changes in personal dietary choices are needed to decrease loss of reactive N to the environment both in Japan and countries that provide food and feed to meet demand of Japan.