Journal articles: 'Anthropogenic pressures and impacts'

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Borchardt, D., and S. Richter. "Identification of significant pressures and impacts upon receiving waters." Water Science and Technology 48, no. 10 (November 1, 2003): 33–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2003.0532.

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This study gives a review on the process of identification of significant pressures and impacts, which is an important part of river basin planning and in particular for implementing the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC). The questions: what is a “significant pressure” in terms of the WFD? which sources and driving forces have to be regarded? which data can be used? which pressure on a water body is significant? and which implications and requirements result from the identification process? - should be considered. The European Commission requires reporting from all Member States about the status of the water bodies within a river basin district and about the risk of failing the environmental objectives by the end of 2004. Therefore, a number of prevailing projects across Europe aim to develop a guideline on a common understanding of the most effective approach towards the identification of significant anthropogenic pressures, and the analysis of potential impacts including the identification of appropriate tools and models. In such a guideline suitable and intelligent criteria have to be developed in order to enable a uniform assessment of the anthropogenic pressures within a river basin district.

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Gebremedhin, Shewit, Abebe Getahun, Wassie Anteneh, Stijn Bruneel, and Peter Goethals. "A Drivers-Pressure-State-Impact-Responses Framework to Support the Sustainability of Fish and Fisheries in Lake Tana, Ethiopia." Sustainability 10, no. 8 (August 20, 2018): 2957. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su10082957.

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Lake Tana, Ethiopia’s largest lake, has a remarkable and conservation-worthy assemblage of fish species, requiring fisheries management for sustainable exploitation. However, due to anthropogenic impacts, many of these fish species are threatened. Hence, an improved management of these resources is recommended. To allow a more sustainable exploitation of natural resources, a better understanding of the cause-effect relationships between anthropogenic impacts and environmental components is fundamental. The Drivers-Pressure-State-Impact-Responses (DPSIR) framework is a useful tool to describe these links in a meaningful way to managers and policy makers. Despite its potential, application of DPSIR is virtually lacking in developing countries. This paper assessed the potential of the DPSIR framework and used it to comprehensively describe the available knowledge and management needs in the lake catchment. Rapid population growth and the economic transformation are the main driving forces leading to various pressures such as water quality and wetlands degradation as well as declining fish community, which is detrimental to the socio-economic state and health of the local inhabitants. As feedback to the driving forces, pressures, state changes and impacts, optimal multi-level responses are developed. This study aims at providing policy makers a better understanding of the lake catchment in order to bridge the gap between science and decision-making.

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Shaney, Kyle J., Amir Hamidy, Matthew Walsh, Evy Arida, Aisyah Arimbi, and Eric N. Smith. "Impacts of anthropogenic pressures on the contemporary biogeography of threatened crocodilians in Indonesia." Oryx 53, no. 3 (November 10, 2017): 570–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0030605317000977.

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AbstractThe Greater Sunda region of South-east Asia supports a rich diversity of economically and ecologically important species. However, human pressures are reshaping contemporary biogeography across the region. Megafaunal distributional patterns have been particularly affected because of deforestation, poaching and human–wildlife conflict. Crocodilians are at the centre of these conflicts in Indonesia and yet remain poorly studied across much of the archipelago. We conducted population surveys of salt-water crocodiles Crocodylus porosus and false gharials Tomistoma schlegelii in Sumatra, and examined whether crocodile abundance and distribution are correlated with variations in human disturbance, fishing pressure, and habitat type. We then used these data to model remaining suitable habitat for T. schlegelii across South-east Asia. We found that abundance of T. schlegelii and C. porosus was correlated with distance from human settlements, and fish-trapping pressure. We recorded the presence of T. schlegelii in a river system in which it was previously unknown, thus expanding the known range of the species. We also found that the predicted remaining suitable habitat for T. schlegelii in Indonesia is largely limited to areas of low human activity. From these empirical and modelling approaches we propose several key conservation priorities: (1) eliminate the use of fish traps in remaining patches of T. schlegelii habitat, (2) prioritize crocodile population surveys in remaining suitable habitat, particularly in remote areas, (3) consider T. schlegelii to be potentially Endangered locally in Sumatra, and (4) expand existing reserves around the Lower Kampar River and Berbak National Park/Sembilang National Park areas of Sumatra.

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Tennessen, Jennifer B., Susan E. Parks, Lindsey Swierk, Laura K. Reinert, Whitney M. Holden, Louise A. Rollins-Smith, Koranda A. Walsh, and Tracy Langkilde. "Frogs adapt to physiologically costly anthropogenic noise." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 285, no. 1891 (November 21, 2018): 20182194. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2194.

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Human activities impose novel pressures on amphibians, which are experiencing unprecedented global declines, yet population-level responses are poorly understood. A growing body of literature has revealed that noise is an anthropogenic stressor that impacts ecological processes spanning subcellular to ecosystem levels. These consequences can impose novel selective pressures on populations, yet whether populations can adapt to noise is unknown. We tested for adaptation to traffic noise, a widespread sensory ‘pollutant’. We collected eggs of wood frogs ( Rana sylvatica ) from populations from different traffic noise regimes, reared hatchlings under the same conditions, and tested frogs for differences in sublethal fitness-relevant effects of noise. We show that prolonged noise impaired production of antimicrobial peptides associated with defence against disease. Additionally, noise and origin site interacted to impact immune and stress responses. Noise exposure altered leucocyte production and increased baseline levels of the stress-relevant glucocorticoid, corticosterone, in frogs from quiet sites, but noise-legacy populations were unaffected. These results suggest noise-legacy populations have adapted to avoid fitness-relevant physiological costs of traffic noise. These findings advance our understanding of the consequences of novel soundscapes and reveal a pathway by which anthropogenic disturbance can enable adaptation to novel environments.

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Moreno, Isabel, Irene Del Barrio, Ana Lloret, and Ainhoa Pérez-Puyol. "A METHOD FOR THE SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF ANTHROPOGENIC PRESSURES IN SPANISH MARINE WATERS." Coastal Engineering Proceedings 1, no. 33 (December 14, 2012): 64. http://dx.doi.org/10.9753/icce.v33.management.64.

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In 2008, the European Community adopted the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, aiming to achieve or maintain good environmental status in the European marine environment by 2020, applying an ecosystem-based approach to the management of human activities. Spatial information of the distribution of the human activities and their related pressures is essential to accomplish this task successfully. After compiling the available data from official sources, the spatial extent of the land-based and ocean-based human activities that could have an impact on the Spanish marine waters were estimated and mapped using GIS tools. In addition, a series of indexes were created in order to develop a cumulative analysis, taking into account the different relevance of pressures and that single pressures have different intensities. The identification of areas with an accumulation of pressures revealed that it is in coastal waters around big cities where the greater part of the pressures concentrates for each of the five Spanish marine districts. Human impacts emanating from the identified pressures could not be evaluated and this task is proposed to be accomplished in further projects. Nonetheless, the resulting information is considered very useful for managers and technical staff to support not only marine management but also other planning and decision making in Spain.

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Bouraï, Liess, Maxime Logez, Christophe Laplace-Treyture, and Christine Argillier. "How Do Eutrophication and Temperature Interact to Shape the Community Structures of Phytoplankton and Fish in Lakes?" Water 12, no. 3 (March 11, 2020): 779. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w12030779.

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Freshwater ecosystems are among the systems most threatened and impacted by anthropogenic activities, but there is still a lack of knowledge on how this multi-pressure environment impacts aquatic communities in situ. In Europe, nutrient enrichment and temperature increase due to global change were identified as the two main pressures on lakes. Therefore, we investigated how the interaction of these two pressures impacts the community structure of the two extreme components of lake food webs: phytoplankton and fish. We modelled the relationship between community components (abundance, composition, size) and environmental conditions, including these two pressures. Different patterns of response were highlighted. Four metrics responded to only one pressure and one metric to the additive effect of the two pressures. Two fish metrics (average body-size and biomass ratio between perch and roach) were impacted by the interaction of temperature and eutrophication, revealing that the effect of one pressure was dependent on the magnitude of the second pressure. From a management point of view, it appears necessary to consider the type and strength of the interactions between pressures when assessing the sensitivity of communities, otherwise their vulnerability (especially to global change) could be poorly estimated.

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Bekishev, Kairzan B., Sabit S. Shorin, and Leila S. Shorina. "The Impact of Anthropogenic Pressures on Urban Health." European Researcher 82, no. 9-1 (September 15, 2014): 1600–1610. http://dx.doi.org/10.13187/er.2014.82.1600.

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Rappole, John H., Charles E. Russell, James R. Norwine, and Timothy E. Fulbright. "Anthropogenic pressures and impacts on marginal, neotropical, semiarid ecosystems: The case of South Texas." Science of The Total Environment 55 (November 1986): 91–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0048-9697(86)90169-5.

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Lattuada, Matteo, Christian Albrecht, and Thomas Wilke. "Differential impact of anthropogenic pressures on Caspian Sea ecoregions." Marine Pollution Bulletin 142 (May 2019): 274–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.03.046.

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Ibisch, R. B., and D. Borchardt. "Anthropogenic pressures and their impacts on the hyporheic zone: ecological implications for gravel spawning fish." SIL Proceedings, 1922-2010 29, no. 4 (October 2006): 1895–900. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03680770.2006.11903019.

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Afghan, Afghan, Carlo Cerrano, Giorgia Luzi, Barbara Calcinai, Stefania Puce, Torcuato Pulido Mantas, Camilla Roveta, and Cristina Gioia Di Camillo. "Main Anthropogenic Impacts on Benthic Macrofauna of Sandy Beaches: A Review." Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 8, no. 6 (June 3, 2020): 405. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jmse8060405.

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Sandy beaches provide several ecosystem services such as coastal protection and resilience, water filtration and nutrient mineralization. Beaches also represent a hub for social, cultural and economic relationships as well as educational activities. Increasing urbanization, recreational activities and mechanical beach cleaning represent major anthropogenic disturbances on sandy beaches leading to loss of biodiversity as well as good and services. Information about the impacts of anthropogenic pressures on benthic macrofaunal communities could be useful to assess the environmental status of sandy beaches and to promote a sustainable use of beach ecosystem. Here, scientific articles about three major anthropogenic impacts on sandy beach macrofauna were reviewed to provide the state of knowledge about these impacts, to highlight gaps, to supply considerations about the methodologies and the used indicators and to give insights for future studies. The stressors considered in our review are: 1) trampling, 2) breakwater barriers, 3) mechanical beach cleaning. This review underlined that there are few studies regarding individual human disturbances on sandy beach macrofauna and specifically, there is a lack of sufficient indicator species for the assessment of such stressors. Similarly, the researches have covered specific regions, highlighting the need for such studies in other parts of the world. In particular, the impacts of breakwater barriers on surrounding communities has been found to be given less attention in the literature and there is enough that could be explored.

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Beaulaton, Laurent, and Cédric Briand. "Effect of management measures on glass eel escapement." ICES Journal of Marine Science 64, no. 7 (June 23, 2007): 1402–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsm071.

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Abstract Stocks of European eel (Anguilla anguilla) have declined continuously and steadily, since 1980. A model, GEMAC, namely Glass Eel Model to Assess Compliance, has been developed with the objective of assessing anthropogenic impacts on glass eels in estuaries and evaluating the effects of management measures, to support initiatives aimed at helping the eel stocks recover. The model is described and applied to two estuaries with contrasting anthropogenic pressures: the Vilaine and the Garonne. It assesses the proportion of settled glass eels relative to a non-impacted situation with current (%S/R) or pristine recruitment (%S/R0). The estimated %S/R (%S/R0) is 5.5% (1.1%) for the Vilaine and 78% (19%) for the Garonne, in accord with the different levels of anthropogenic pressure in these two estuaries. A sensitivity analysis shows that the assessment of %S/R is accurate, and that in a data-poor context, the %S/R is under-assessed, as required by the precautionary approach. Seven management scenarios are explored all aiming to halve the anthropogenic pressure, but in fact leading to different levels of glass eel escapement, from almost zero to a 13-fold increase. This variation emphasizes the need for the estuarine context of eel stock management to be carefully evaluated for effectiveness when implementing management measures.

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Leone, Chiara, Francesca De Luca, Eleonora Ciccotti, Arianna Martini, and Clara Boglione. "Monitoring Skeletal Anomalies in Big-Scale Sand Smelt, Atherina boyeri, as a Potential Complementary Tool for Early Detection of Effects of Anthropic Pressure in Coastal Lagoons." Water 13, no. 2 (January 12, 2021): 159. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w13020159.

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Mediterranean coastal lagoons are increasingly affected by several threats, all concurrently leading to habitat degradation and loss. Methods based on fish for the assessment of the ecological status are under implementation for the Water Framework Directive requirements, to assess the overall quality of coastal lagoons. Complementary tools based on the use of single fish species as biological indicators could be useful as early detection methods of anthropogenic impacts. The analysis of skeletal anomalies in the big-scale sand smelt, Atherina boyeri, from nine Mediterranean coastal lagoons in Italy was carried out. Along with the morphological examination of fish, the environmental status of the nine lagoons was evaluated using a method based on expert judgement, by selecting and quantifying several environmental descriptors of direct and indirect human pressures acting on lagoon ecosystems. The average individual anomaly load and the frequency of individuals with severe anomalies allow to discriminate big-scale sand smelt samples on the basis of the site and of its quality status. Furthermore, a relationship between skeletal anomalies and the environmental quality of specific lagoons, driven by the anthropogenic pressures acting on them, was found. These findings support the potentiality of skeletal anomalies monitoring in big-scale sand smelt as a tool for early detection of anthropogenic impacts in coastal lagoons of the Mediterranean region.

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Zaimes, George N., Valasia Iakovoglou, Dimitrios Syropoulos, Dimitrios Kaltsas, and Dimitrios Avtzis. "Assessment of Two Adjacent Mountainous Riparian Areas along Nestos River Tributaries of Greece." Forests 12, no. 9 (September 18, 2021): 1284. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f12091284.

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The riparian areas of the Mediterranean are unique but face many pressures from anthropogenic and climate change impacts. They have very rich and diverse plant communities as a result of the dynamic fluvio-geomorphologic conditions of the Mediterranean streams. In this study, the riparian areas of two adjacent mountainous tributaries (Arkoudorema and Vathirema) of the Nestos River were studied. To assess the condition of riparian areas holistically, diverse measurements are required. This is why fluvio-geomorphologic (in the field and with GIS), vegetation (surveys and visual protocols) and ground-dwelling insect (pitfall traps and indices) measurements were taken along an elevational gradient. The results of all three methodologies draw to similar conclusions, with Vathirema sub-watershed riparian areas being in better condition than Arkoudoreama. This was expected, since Vathirema has less anthropogenic pressures. In addition, the riparian areas in higher elevations were in better condition for the same reason. To implement integrated water resources management plans, fluvio-geomorphologic and biological (e.g., vegetation and insects) datasets are required to provide a holistic view on the watershed and riparian area conditions. For the studied sub-watersheds, we recommend these measurements to continue, to record the current anthropogenic pressures and based on this information to suggest best management practices that will secure long-term sustainability.

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Bouzid, Aman, Khéloufi Benabdeli, Benamar Belgharbi, and Khadidja Bouzid. "Contribution of ecological restoration in preservation of forests ecosystems in Algeria." Acta Scientifica Naturalis 8, no. 1 (March 1, 2021): 109–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/asn-2021-0009.

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Abstract Under the combined effect of anthropogenic pressures and climate change, forest ecosystems can no longer play their ecological and economic role if nothing is done to adapt them. The impacts of fires, overgrazing and overexploitation are that over 60% of forest ecosystems are in an advanced stage of degradation. It is in this context that a new strategy focused on ecological restoration must be quickly put in place. It must be based on ecological alternatives designed to adapt the composition and structure of these plant formations to environmental conditions. The concept of stable species, living space, keystone species, natural attributes and habitat identification. The ecological restoration proposed will allow preserving the vegetal cover at first time and then developing the species with resilience through a list of species that could develop under different pressures, both natural and anthropogenic.

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Garcês, Andreia, Isabel Pires, Fernando Pacheco, Luís Sanches Fernandes, Vanessa Soeiro, Sara Lóio, Justina Prada, Rui Cortes, and Felisbina Queiroga. "Impact of anthropogenic pressures on wild mammals of Northern Portugal." Veterinary World 13, no. 12 (2020): 2691–702. http://dx.doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2020.2691-2702.

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Background and Aim: Wild mammals are among the most threatened species of the world in large part due to human activity. In this work, we used the method of partial least squares-path modeling associated with a geographic information system to analyze the impact of anthropogenic pressures on the mortality of wild mammals. Materials and Methods: We collected the data related to the cause of death of native wild mammals admitted to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre of Parque Biológico de Gaia in Northern Portugal, during 10 years (2008-2017). Results: A total of 359 animals from 42 municipalities (rural and urban areas) were included in the study. The main cause of death was of traumatic origin. From the anthropogenic pressures included in the study, water reservoirs, small companies, and residential buildings were the ones that contributed the most to increase the mortality of traumatic and nontraumatic origin. This relation of cause-effect (mortality-anthropogenic pressures) was supported by the high coefficients of determination obtained (R2>0.8). Conclusion: The present results allow a general view on the reality of mammal's mortality in Northern Portugal. Furthermore, it could also constitute a valuable tool for the conservation of wild mammals in those areas.

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Facca, Chiara. "Ecological Status Assessment of Transitional Waters." Water 12, no. 11 (November 12, 2020): 3159. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w12113159.

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Transitional Waters are worldwide high valuable ecosystems that have undergone significant anthropogenic impacts. The ecological assessment is therefore of fundamental importance to protect, manage and restore these ecosystems. Numerous approaches can be used to understand the effects of human pressures, and, in case, the effectiveness of recovery plans. Eutrophication, climate change and morphological loss impacts can be assessed by means of aquatic vegetation, benthic fauna, and nekton. Moreover, before planning new infrastructures or interventions, predictive approaches and statistical analyses can provide indispensable tools for management policies.

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Mannino, Anna Maria, and Carla Micheli. "Ecological Function of Phenolic Compounds from Mediterranean Fucoid Algae and Seagrasses: An Overview on the Genus Cystoseira sensu lato and Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile." Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 8, no. 1 (January 1, 2020): 19. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jmse8010019.

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Biodiversity is undergoing rapid and worrying changes, partially driven by anthropogenic activities. Human impacts and climate change (e.g., increasing temperature and ocean acidification), which act at different spatial scales, represent the most serious threats to biodiversity and ecosystem structure and function. In the Mediterranean Sea, complex systems such as fucoid algae and seagrasses, characterized by a high associated biodiversity, are regularly exposed to natural and anthropogenic pressures. These systems, particularly sensitive to a variety of stressors, evolved several physiological and biochemical traits as a response to the different pressures which they are subjected to. For instance, they produce a huge quantity of secondary metabolites such as phenolic compounds, to adapt to different environmental stressors and to defend themselves from biological pressures. These natural products are receiving increasing attention due to their possible applications in a wide range of industrial sectors. In this paper we provide an overview on the ecological role of phenolic compounds from the genus Cystoseira sensu lato and Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile, also highlighting their potential use as ecological biomarkers.

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Bucior, Adam, Brian Rippey, Yvonne McElarney, and Richard Douglas. "Evaluating macrophytes as indicators of anthropogenic pressures in rivers in Ireland." Hydrobiologia 848, no. 5 (February 10, 2021): 1087–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10750-021-04516-x.

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AbstractThe ability of macrophytes to indicate pressures in rivers was assessed by comparing metrics for nitrate (NO3), ammonia (NH4), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), dissolved oxygen saturation (DO), pH (PH) and siltation (SUBS) with direct estimates of the pressures at 810 sites in the Republic of Ireland, supplemented with General Linear Models (GLMs). The bivariate and rank correlation coefficients using the full data range and the first and fourth quartiles of the river pressures varied between 0.22 and − 0.39 for NO3 and DO; they were smaller or not significant for the other four metrics. The GLMs provided evidence for an independent association between NO3 and the nitrate concentration and SUBS and ammonia, indicating some specificity for these metrics. Discriminating sites in the first and fourth quartiles produced Type II errors between 37 (PH) and 69% (NH4), with a mean of 50. As the pressure-impact relationships are not precise enough (low correlation coefficients) that evidence from a single macrophyte metric is reliable, combining the metric with evidence from other biological groups at one site or from three or more sites may be the most useful approach.

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Cox, B. A., and P. G. Whitehead. "Impacts of climate change scenarios on dissolved oxygen in the River Thames, UK." Hydrology Research 40, no. 2-3 (April 1, 2009): 138–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/nh.2009.096.

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A water quality model is used to assess the impact of possible climate change on dissolved oxygen (DO) in the Thames. The Thames catchment is densely populated and, typically, many pressures are anthropogenic. However, that same population also relies on the river for potable water supply and as a disposal route for treated wastewater. Thus, future water quality will be highly dependent on future activity. Dynamic and stochastic modelling has been used to assess the likely impacts on DO dynamics along the river system and the probability distributions associated with future variability. The modelling predictions indicate that warmer river temperatures and drought act to reduce dissolved oxygen concentrations in lowland river systems.

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Castilla-Beltrán, Alvaro, Lea de Nascimento, José-María Fernández-Palacios, Robert J. Whittaker, Kathy J. Willis, Mary Edwards, and Sandra Nogué. "Anthropogenic transitions from forested to human-dominated landscapes in southern Macaronesia." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118, no. 40 (September 27, 2021): e2022215118. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2022215118.

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The extinction of iconic species such as the dodo and the deforestation of Easter Island are emblematic of the transformative impact of human colonization of many oceanic islands, especially those in the tropics and subtropics. Yet, the interaction of prehistoric and colonial-era colonists with the forests and forest resources they encountered can be complex, varies between islands, and remains poorly understood. Long-term ecological records (e.g., fossil pollen) provide the means to understand these human impacts in relation to natural change and variability pre- and postcolonization. Here we analyze paleoecological archives in forested landscapes of the Canary Islands and Cabo Verde, first colonized approximately 2,400 to 2,000 and 490 y ago, respectively. We demonstrate sensitivity to regional climate change prior to human colonization, followed by divergent but gradual impacts of early human settlement. These contrast with more rapid transformation in the colonial era, associated with significant increases in anthropogenic pressures. In the Canary Islands, at least two native tree taxa became extinct and lowland thermophilous woodlands were largely converted to agricultural land, yet relictual subtropical laurel forests persisted with limited incursion of nonnative species. In Cabo Verde, in contrast, thermophilous woodlands were depleted and substituted by open landscapes and introduced woodlands. Differences between these two archipelagos reflect the changing cultural practices and societal interactions with forests and illustrate the importance of long-term data series in understanding the human footprint on island ecosystems, information that will be critically important for current and future forest restoration and conservation management practices in these two biodiversity hotspots.

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Brown, Elliot J., Rita P. Vasconcelos, Håkan Wennhage, Ulf Bergström, Josianne G. Støttrup, Karen van de Wolfshaar, Giacomo Millisenda, Francesco Colloca, and Olivier Le Pape. "Conflicts in the coastal zone: human impacts on commercially important fish species utilizing coastal habitat." ICES Journal of Marine Science 75, no. 4 (January 3, 2018): 1203–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsx237.

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Abstract Coastal ecosystems are ecologically, culturally, and economically important, and hence are under pressure from diverse human activities. We reviewed the literature for existing evidence of effects of human-induced habitat changes on exploited fish utilizing coastal habitats. We focused on fish species of the Northeast Atlantic for which fisheries advice is provided by International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and which utilize coastal habitats for at least one life-history stage (LHS). We found that 92% of these species are impacted by human activity in at least one LHS while utilizing coastal habitat and 38% in multiple stages. Anthropogenic pressures most commonly shown to impact these fish species were toxicants and pollutants (75% of species). Eutrophication and anoxia, invasive species, and physical coastal development affected about half of the species (58, 54, and 42% of species, respectively), while indirect fishing impacts affected a minority (17% of species). Moreover, 71% of the ICES advice species that utilize coastal habitats face impacts from more than one pressure, implying cumulative effects. Given that three-fourths of the commercial landings come from fish species utilizing coastal habitats, there is an obvious need for a better understanding of the impacts that human activities cause in these habitats for the development of ecosystem-based fisheries management.

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Odame Appiah, Divine, and Deborah Yankson. "Anthropogenic Drivers of the Pressures on the Ramsar Site of Sakumo Lagoon in Ghana." International Journal of Technology and Management Research 1, no. 1 (March 12, 2020): 48–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.47127/ijtmr.v1i1.7.

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This paper examines the range of human pressures on the Sakumo Lagoon. These pressures have contributed to the current state of the lagoon. The wetlands around the Ramsar site of the Sakumo Lagoon are suffering from unsustainable fishing, farming, deliberate bush burning, improper domestic solid and industrial effluents disposal as well as unregulated tourism and recreation activities. The various anthropogenic drivers-responses were examined through the 'driver-pressure- state-impact-response' (DPSIR) framework. The framework involved empirical field data collection, laboratory test and analysis of eight water quality parameters such as pH, turbidity, conductivity, total suspended solids (tss), biological oxygen demand (BOD), nitrates and ammonia. Results showed that over-exploitation of natural resources and pollution due to inappropriate agricultural and waste management practices are responsible for the wetland degradation. Institutional measures should be strengthened to curb the degradation of the Sakumo wetland. Keywords: Pollution pressures; Anthropogenic drivers-responses; Wetland socio-economic activities

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Fonseca, A. R., L. F. Sanches Fernandes, A. Fontainhas-Fernandes, S. M. Monteiro, and F. A. L. Pacheco. "From catchment to fish: Impact of anthropogenic pressures on gill histopathology." Science of The Total Environment 550 (April 2016): 972–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.01.199.

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Seydehmet, Jumeniyaz, Guang Lv, Ilyas Nurmemet, Tayierjiang Aishan, Abdulla Abliz, Mamat Sawut, Abdugheni Abliz, and Mamattursun Eziz. "Model Prediction of Secondary Soil Salinization in the Keriya Oasis, Northwest China." Sustainability 10, no. 3 (February 28, 2018): 656. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su10030656.

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Significant anthropogenic and biophysical changes have caused fluctuations in the soil salinization area of the Keriya Oasis in China. The Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) sustainability framework and Bayesian networks (BNs) were used to integrate information from anthropogenic and natural systems to model the trend of secondary soil salinization. The developed model predicted that light salinization (vegetation coverage of around 15–20%, soil salt 5–10 g/kg) of the ecotone will increase in the near term but decelerate slightly in the future, and that farmland salinization will decrease in the near term. This trend is expected to accelerate in the future. Both trends are attributed to decreased water logging, increased groundwater exploitation, and decreased ratio of evaporation/precipitation. In contrast, severe salinization (vegetation coverage of around 2%, soil salt ≥20 g/kg) of the ecotone will increase in the near term. This trend will accelerate in the future because decreased river flow will reduce the flushing of severely salinized soil crust. Anthropogenic factors have negative impacts and natural causes have positive impacts on light salinization of ecotones. In situations involving severe farmland salinization, anthropogenic factors have persistent negative impacts.

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Kasimov, Nikolay, Galina Shinkareva, Mikhail Lychagin, Natalia Kosheleva, Sergey Chalov, Margarita Pashkina, Josefin Thorslund, and Jerker Jarsjö. "River Water Quality of the Selenga-Baikal Basin: Part I—Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Dissolved and Suspended Metals." Water 12, no. 8 (July 28, 2020): 2137. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w12082137.

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Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater body on Earth, once famous for its pristine conditions. However, the lake and its drainage basin with their unique ecosystems have in recent decades been subject to both climate warming above the world average and severe anthropogenic pressures from mining and agriculture. Although previous studies have targeted various hydroclimatic, geochemical, and biological conditions of the Lake Baikal basin, the heterogeneous nature and large size of the basin leave considerable knowledge gaps regarding ongoing metal contamination of the basin’s suspended sediments and waters. To address these knowledge gaps, the main objectives of this study are to (i) determine regional background values for water and suspended sediment quality with respect to multiple metals (representing undisturbed conditions) and (ii) further evaluate spatio-temporal concentration patterns of these metals, including regions with heavy anthropogenic impacts. We synthesize data from extensive field measurements within the Selenga River basin performed between 2011 and 2016, covering over 100 sampling locations. Results show that although the background metal concentrations (of both dissolved and suspended metal forms) in the alkaline Selenga River waters were close to the world averages, metal concentrations of up to two orders of magnitude above the background values were seen for Zn, As, Cd, Cu, Mo, and Pb in regions subject to anthropogenic impacts (cities and the mining industry). Specifically, dissolved As levels within the Selenga River basin were 2–5 times higher than the world average and well above the global guideline value in several regions. Notable hotspots for anthropogenic impacts of Cd were particularly found in Zakamensk and Ulaanbaatar. Our results highlight clear anthropogenic impacts and large-scale spreading of several pollutants of concern, with risks even to downstream parts including the Selenga delta and Lake Baikal. We expect that these results will aid in increasing the understanding of large-scale metal transport processes, as well as for designing relevant measures to mitigate further spreading of metals to Lake Baikal.

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Koskimäki, Teemu, Johanna Eklund, Gabriel M. Moulatlet, and Hanna Tuomisto. "Impact of individual protected areas on deforestation and carbon emissions in Acre, Brazil." Environmental Conservation 48, no. 3 (July 1, 2021): 217–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0376892921000229.

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SummaryProtecting tropical forests from deforestation is important for mitigating both biodiversity loss and anthropogenic climate change. In Amazonia, a common approach to protected area (PA) impact studies has been to investigate differences among broad PA categories, such as strictly protected, sustainable use and indigenous areas, yet these may be insufficient for the management of PAs at local scales. We used a matching method to compare impacts and carbon emissions avoided during 2011–2016 of individual PAs in the state of Acre (Brazil). Although most PAs had a positive impact and effectively prevented forest loss, we observed substantial variation among them in terms of impacts, pressures and emissions during our study period. The impacts varied from 3.6% avoided to 15.6% induced forest loss compared to expected levels of deforestation estimated for each PA using the matching method. All but a few PAs helped avoid substantial amounts of emissions. Our results emphasize the need for more PA impact studies that compare multiple PAs at the individual level in Amazonia and beyond.

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Kulk, Gemma, Grinson George, Anas Abdulaziz, Nandini Menon, Varunan Theenathayalan, Chiranjivi Jayaram, Robert J. W. Brewin, and Shubha Sathyendranath. "Effect of Reduced Anthropogenic Activities on Water Quality in Lake Vembanad, India." Remote Sensing 13, no. 9 (April 21, 2021): 1631. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs13091631.

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The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal Life Below Water (SDG-14) aims to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development”. Within SDG-14, targets 14.1 and 14.2 deal with marine pollution and the adverse impacts of human activities on aquatic systems. Here, we present a remote-sensing-based analysis of short-term changes in the Vembanad-Kol wetland system in the southwest of India. The region has experienced high levels of anthropogenic pressures, including from agriculture, industry, and tourism, leading to adverse ecological and socioeconomic impacts with consequences not only for achieving the targets set out in SDG-14, but also those related to water quality (SDG-6) and health (SDG-3). To move towards the sustainable management of coastal and aquatic ecosystems such as Lake Vembanad, it is important to understand how both natural and anthropogenic processes affect water quality. In 2020, a unique opportunity arose to study water quality in Lake Vembanad during a period when anthropogenic pressures were reduced due to a nationwide lockdown in response to the global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 (25 March–31 May 2020). Using Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 multi-spectral remote sensing and in situ observations to analyse changes in five different water quality indicators, we show that water quality improved in large areas of Lake Vembanad during the lockdown in 2020, especially in the more central and southern regions, as evidenced by a decrease in total suspended matter, turbidity, and the absorption by coloured dissolved organic matter, all leading to clearer waters as indicated by the Forel-Ule classification of water colour. Further analysis of longer term trends (2013–2020) showed that water quality has been improving over time in the more northern regions of Lake Vembanad independent of the lockdown. The improvement in water quality during the lockdown in April–May 2020 illustrates the importance of addressing anthropogenic activities for the sustainable management of coastal ecosystems and water resources.

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Zucchetta, Matteo, Fabrizio Capoccioni, Piero Franzoi, Eleonora Ciccotti, and Chiara Leone. "Fish Response to Multiple Anthropogenic Stressors in Mediterranean Coastal Lagoons: A Comparative Study of the Role of Different Management Strategies." Water 13, no. 2 (January 8, 2021): 130. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w13020130.

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Transitional waters are among the most productive ecosystems of the world and their biotic communities show high diversity and complex mechanisms of self-regulation that provide valuable ecosystem services and societal goods and benefits. In this work a comparison of the fish assemblages of three non-tidal Mediterranean coastal lagoons is carried out in order to evaluate the impacts of alternative management strategies. The anthropogenic pressures acting on the lagoons were quantified by means of categorical indicators, while the characteristics of the fish assemblages were summarized in multi-metric indices (MMIs). Two MMIs were developed using data collected with a beach seine net and with fyke nets, following an empirical approach that selects, from a pool of 73 metrics, the combination that maximizes the MMI/pressure relationship. The two MMIs include four metrics each, most of which are based on feeding mode functional guilds and habitat use functional guilds, and they are sensitive to anthropogenic pressures. The human activities directly or indirectly affecting water quality are the ones that most influence the fish assemblage, while the presence of artisanal fisheries, a typical and relevant resource use in these lagoons, seems to play a beneficial role. Lagoon fisheries management relies on the maintenance of infrastructures that guarantee the hydraulic functioning of the lagoon, thus ensuring exchanges with the adjacent coastal sea, and therefore indirectly contributing to the habitat quality.

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Zucchetta, Matteo, Fabrizio Capoccioni, Piero Franzoi, Eleonora Ciccotti, and Chiara Leone. "Fish Response to Multiple Anthropogenic Stressors in Mediterranean Coastal Lagoons: A Comparative Study of the Role of Different Management Strategies." Water 13, no. 2 (January 8, 2021): 130. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w13020130.

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Transitional waters are among the most productive ecosystems of the world and their biotic communities show high diversity and complex mechanisms of self-regulation that provide valuable ecosystem services and societal goods and benefits. In this work a comparison of the fish assemblages of three non-tidal Mediterranean coastal lagoons is carried out in order to evaluate the impacts of alternative management strategies. The anthropogenic pressures acting on the lagoons were quantified by means of categorical indicators, while the characteristics of the fish assemblages were summarized in multi-metric indices (MMIs). Two MMIs were developed using data collected with a beach seine net and with fyke nets, following an empirical approach that selects, from a pool of 73 metrics, the combination that maximizes the MMI/pressure relationship. The two MMIs include four metrics each, most of which are based on feeding mode functional guilds and habitat use functional guilds, and they are sensitive to anthropogenic pressures. The human activities directly or indirectly affecting water quality are the ones that most influence the fish assemblage, while the presence of artisanal fisheries, a typical and relevant resource use in these lagoons, seems to play a beneficial role. Lagoon fisheries management relies on the maintenance of infrastructures that guarantee the hydraulic functioning of the lagoon, thus ensuring exchanges with the adjacent coastal sea, and therefore indirectly contributing to the habitat quality.

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Januar, Hedi Indra, Ekowati Chasanah, Dianne M. Tapiolas, Cherie A. Motti, Catherine H. Liptrot, and Anthony D. Wright. "Influence of Anthropogenic Pressures on the Bioactivity Potential of Sponges and Soft Corals in the Coral Reef Environment." Squalen Bulletin of Marine and Fisheries Postharvest and Biotechnology 10, no. 2 (August 23, 2015): 51. http://dx.doi.org/10.15578/squalen.v10i2.108.

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The wealth of marine sponges and soft corals in Indonesian waters represents a rich source of natural products. However, anthropogenic pressures potentially decrease diversity in coral reefs. Presented here are trends for tropical sponge and soft coral biodiversity and their bioactivity potential under the influence of increasing anthropogenic pressures. Samples were collected along transects (near, mid, and far) at Karimunjawa and Seribu Islands Marine National Parks and environmental parameters (salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), phosphate, nitrate, and ammonia), sponge and soft coral biodiversity, and the bioactivity potential of those organisms (50% Growth Inhibition (GI50) of cancer cell lines H460-Lung, MCF7-Breast, and SF268-CNS) are compared. The environmental conditions and biodiversity were found to be significantly different between groups of sampling sites (P<0.05). Canonical Discriminant Analysis (CDA) revealed DO was the discriminant factor driving the separation between groups (90.1%). Diversity tended to be higher in the Far group with strong and significant relation to DO (R= 0.611, P<0.05) and ammonia (R = -0.812, P<0.05). The CDA also showed that an increase in bioactivity (low % GI50) of sponge and soft coral extracts was related to a canonical function (57.21%) consisting of high DO, high pH, and low nutrients. These findings indicate the production of bioactive compounds is related to diversity and complexity of coral reef systems. Therefore, strategies for marine protection by mitigating the impacts of anthropogenic pressures needs to be optimized in order to conserve the overall environment and sustain its natural bioactivity potential indefinitely.

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Bessolitsyna, E. P. "Anthropogenic Destabilization of the Soil-Biotic Communities State’ in the Geosystems on the South of Eastern Siberia." Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series Earth Sciences 36 (2021): 16–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.26516/2073-3402.2021.36.16.

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A successful study of the anthropogenic impact on terrestrial biogeocenoses, and especially on their biotic component – zoocenoses, is ineffective without observations of the soil fauna. The paper presents a comparative analysis of the structure and diversity of zoocenoses of natural and anthropogenic disturbed soils prevailing in the region, identifies the ecological features of soil invertebrate communities and the limitations of biota functions in the transformed environment, and considers the patterns of transformation of the community structure in the landscape-zonal range under the influence of natural conditions and anthropogenic factors. Landscape-ecological analysis of the taxonomic diversity and structure of the community of soil invertebrates in geosystems was carried out at the local (biogeocenology), topological (facies) and regional levels. The negative impact of anthropogenic pressure on the number, biomass and biodiversity of mesopedobionts is considered. Data on various forms of anthropogenic impact on soil biota at the regional level are summarized. Possibilities of using integral soil-biotic indicators for environmental monitoring and forecasting in conditions of potentially dangerous anthropogenic impacts are shown.

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Cozzi, Stefano, Marina Cabrini, Martina Kralj, Cinzia De Vittor, Massimo Celio, and Michele Giani. "Climatic and Anthropogenic Impacts on Environmental Conditions and Phytoplankton Community in the Gulf of Trieste (Northern Adriatic Sea)." Water 12, no. 9 (September 22, 2020): 2652. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w12092652.

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During the last century, human activities have exerted an increasing pressure on coastal ecosystems, primarily inducing their eutrophication, with a more recent partial mitigation of this phenomenon where improvements of environmental management practices were adopted. However, a reanalysis of the pressures on coastal zones and surrounding drainage basins is needed because of the alterations induced nowadays by the climate changes. A comparative analysis of long-term oceanographic and environmental data series (1986–2018) was performed, in order to highlight the effects of anthropogenic and climatic disturbances on the phytoplankton community in the Gulf of Trieste (GoT). After the 1980s, the decline in phytoplankton abundance was matched to increasing periods of low runoff, an overall deficit of the precipitation and to a decrease in phosphate availability in the coastal waters (−0.003 µmol L−1 yr−1), even in the presence of large riverine inputs of nitrogen and silicates. This trend of oligotrophication was reversed in the 2010s by the beginning of a new and unexpected phase of climatic instability, which also caused changes of the composition and seasonal cycle of the phytoplankton community. Beyond the management of nutrient loads, it was shown that climatic drivers such as seawater warming, precipitation and wind regime affect both nutrient balance and phytoplankton community in this coastal zone.

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Mieszkowska, N., H. Sugden, L. B. Firth, and S. J. Hawkins. "The role of sustained observations in tracking impacts of environmental change on marine biodiversity and ecosystems." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 372, no. 2025 (September 28, 2014): 20130339. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2013.0339.

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Marine biodiversity currently faces unprecedented threats from multiple pressures arising from human activities. Global drivers such as climate change and ocean acidification interact with regional eutrophication, exploitation of commercial fish stocks and localized pressures including pollution, coastal development and the extraction of aggregates and fuel, causing alteration and degradation of habitats and communities. Segregating natural from anthropogenically induced change in marine ecosystems requires long-term, sustained observations of marine biota. In this review, we outline the history of biological recording in the coastal and shelf seas of the UK and Ireland and highlight where sustained observations have contributed new understanding of how anthropogenic activities have impacted on marine biodiversity. The contributions of sustained observations, from those collected at observatories, single station platforms and multiple-site programmes to the emergent field of multiple stressor impacts research, are discussed, along with implications for management and sustainable governance of marine resources in an era of unprecedented use of the marine environment.

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Raischi, Marius, Habil György Deák, Lucian Oprea, Natalia Raischi, Tiberius Dănălache, and Stelian Matei. "The impact of anthropogenic pressures on sturgeon migration in the Lower Danube." IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 616 (December 30, 2020): 012030. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/616/1/012030.

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Phair, Nikki Leanne, Robert John Toonen, Ingrid Sally Sigrid Knapp, and Sophie von der Heyden. "Anthropogenic pressures negatively impact genomic diversity of the vulnerable seagrass Zostera capensis." Journal of Environmental Management 255 (February 2020): 109831. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.109831.

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PORTZ, LUANA, JOÃO PEDRO DE MOURA JARDIM, ROGÉRIO PORTANTIOLO MANZOLLI, and NELSON SAMBAQUI GRUBER. "IMPACTS ON THE DUNES SYSTEM: NATURAL DYNAMIC VERSUS ANTHROPOGENIC INTERFERENCE." Ambiente & Sociedade 19, no. 3 (September 2016): 135–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1809-4422asoc140491v1932016.

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Abstract The shoreline of Capão da Canoa, RS, alternates densely populated areas with non urban empty spaces that still have their natural features preserved. This paperwork aimed to evaluate the foredunes vulnerability, by field evaluation along the shoreline in wintertime and summertime, using a field checklist. After rating some parameters, a Vulnerability Index was established for each profile. The highest values matched the most densely populated areas in that municipality, due to the position of the urban area that often shortens the width of the foredune ridges. The superiority of the wintertime vulnerability index when compared to summertime, changes the consensus about the human interference as the main vector of vulnerability. The major factors contributing to foredune degradation were: beach condition during winter time and use pressure, during summertime, indicating the high vulnerability associated with some profiles along the shoreline.

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Odunuga, Shakirudeen, Samuel Udofia, Opeyemi Esther Osho, and Olubunmi Adegun. "Environmental Degradation in the Ikorodu Sub-Urban Lagos - Lagoon Coastal Environment, Nigeria." Open Environmental Sciences 10, no. 1 (May 31, 2018): 16–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1876325101810010016.

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Introduction:Human activities exert great pressures on the environment which in turn cause environmental stresses of various intensities depending on the factors involved and the sensitivity of the receiving environment.Objective:This study examines the effects of anthropogenic activities along the sub-urban lagoon fragile coastal ecosystem using DPSIR framework.Results:The results show that the study area has undergone a tremendous change between 1964 and 2015 with the built up area increasing to about 1,080 ha (17.87%) in 2015 from 224 ha (1.32%) in 1964 at an average growth rate of 16.78ha per annum. The nature of the degradation includes an increasing fragility of the ecosystem through the emergence and expansion of wetlands, flooding and erosion as well as a reduction in the benefits from the ecosystem services. Population growth, between 2006 and 2015 for Ikorodu LGA, estimated at 8.84% per annum serves as the most important driving force in reducing the quality of the environment. This is in addition to Pressures emanating from anthropogenic activities. The state of the environment shows continuous resource exploitation (fishing and sand mining) with the impacts of the pressures coming from water pollution, bank erosion, biodiversity loss and flooding. Although there has been a strong policy formulation response from the government, weak implementation is a major challenge.Recommendation:The study recommends public awareness campaigns and the implementation of existing policies to ensure a sustainable sub-urban lagoon coastal environment..

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Bouahim, Siham, Laila Rhazi, Btissam Amami, Aline Waterkeyn, Mouhssine Rhazi, Er-Riyahi Saber, Abdelmjid Zouahri, et al. "Unravelling the impact of anthropogenic pressure on plant communities in Mediterranean temporary ponds." Marine and Freshwater Research 65, no. 10 (2014): 918. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/mf13194.

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Identifying the respective role of environmental, landscape and management factors in explaining the patterns in community composition is an important goal in ecology. Using a set of 32 temporary ponds in northern Morocco we studied the respective importance of local (within the pond) and regional (density of ponds in landscape) factors and the impacts of different land uses on the plant species assemblages, separating pond and terrestrial species. The main hypotheses tested were that (1) species assemblages respond to both local and regional environmental factors, (2) anthropogenic pressure has a negative influence on the number of pond species, and that (3) human activities differ in their impact on pond biodiversity. The results showed that (1) local factors explain most of the variation in plant community composition, and (2) land use impacts the communities through changing local environmental conditions, leading to a loss of typical pond species. Aside from recreation, all other activities (grazing, drainage, agriculture and partial urbanisation) significantly reduced the number of pond species. The conservation strategy for rare pond species should focus on maintaining networks of oligotrophic ponds, while allowing only low-impact activities.

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Ortiz-Urbina, Esther, Luis Diaz-Balteiro, and Carlos Iglesias-Merchan. "Influence of Anthropogenic Noise for Predicting Cinereous Vulture Nest Distribution." Sustainability 12, no. 2 (January 9, 2020): 503. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12020503.

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Natural landscapes are increasingly under anthropogenic pressures, and concern about human impacts on wildlife populations is becoming particularly relevant in the case of natural areas affected by roads. The expansion of road networks is considered among the main factors threatening biodiversity due to their potential for disturbing natural ecosystems on large scales. Indeed, traffic noise pollution reduces the quantity and the quality of natural habitats, and umbrella species are frequently used as indicators of natural ecosystem health. In this sense, there is a variety of GIS-based ecological modeling tools that allow evaluation of the factors that influence species distributions in order to accurately predict habitat selection. In this study, we have combined the use of noise modeling tools and maximum entropy modeling (MaxEnt) to evaluate the relative importance of environmental variables for Cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus) nesting habitat selection within a mountainous forest in Spain. As a result, we found that spatial negative influence of roads on wildlife due to road traffic disturbance may have been traditionally overestimated when it has been inferred from distance measurements of wildlife behavior in road surroundings instead of from considering road traffic noise level exposure. In addition, we found a potential risk threshold for cinereous vulture breeding around roads, which ties in with a Leq24h level of 40 dB(A). This may be a useful indicator for assessing the potential impact of human activities on an umbrella species such as, for instance, the cinereous vulture, whose breeding does not take place where road traffic Leq24h levels are higher than 40 dB(A).

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Rillig, Matthias C., Masahiro Ryo, Anika Lehmann, Carlos A. Aguilar-Trigueros, Sabine Buchert, Anja Wulf, Aiko Iwasaki, Julien Roy, and Gaowen Yang. "The role of multiple global change factors in driving soil functions and microbial biodiversity." Science 366, no. 6467 (November 14, 2019): 886–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aay2832.

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Soils underpin terrestrial ecosystem functions, but they face numerous anthropogenic pressures. Despite their crucial ecological role, we know little about how soils react to more than two environmental factors at a time. Here, we show experimentally that increasing the number of simultaneous global change factors (up to 10) caused increasing directional changes in soil properties, soil processes, and microbial communities, though there was greater uncertainty in predicting the magnitude of change. Our study provides a blueprint for addressing multifactor change with an efficient, broadly applicable experimental design for studying the impacts of global environmental change.

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Newbold, Tim, Lawrence N. Hudson, Helen R. P. Phillips, Samantha L. L. Hill, Sara Contu, Igor Lysenko, Abigayil Blandon, et al. "A global model of the response of tropical and sub-tropical forest biodiversity to anthropogenic pressures." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281, no. 1792 (October 7, 2014): 20141371. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1371.

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Habitat loss and degradation, driven largely by agricultural expansion and intensification, present the greatest immediate threat to biodiversity. Tropical forests harbour among the highest levels of terrestrial species diversity and are likely to experience rapid land-use change in the coming decades. Synthetic analyses of observed responses of species are useful for quantifying how land use affects biodiversity and for predicting outcomes under land-use scenarios. Previous applications of this approach have typically focused on individual taxonomic groups, analysing the average response of the whole community to changes in land use. Here, we incorporate quantitative remotely sensed data about habitats in, to our knowledge, the first worldwide synthetic analysis of how individual species in four major taxonomic groups—invertebrates, ‘herptiles’ (reptiles and amphibians), mammals and birds—respond to multiple human pressures in tropical and sub-tropical forests. We show significant independent impacts of land use, human vegetation offtake, forest cover and human population density on both occurrence and abundance of species, highlighting the value of analysing multiple explanatory variables simultaneously. Responses differ among the four groups considered, and—within birds and mammals—between habitat specialists and habitat generalists and between narrow-ranged and wide-ranged species.

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Searle, Charlotte E., Josephine B. Smit, Jeremy J. Cusack, Paolo Strampelli, Ana Grau, Lameck Mkuburo, David W. Macdonald, Andrew J. Loveridge, and Amy J. Dickman. "Temporal partitioning and spatiotemporal avoidance among large carnivores in a human-impacted African landscape." PLOS ONE 16, no. 9 (September 10, 2021): e0256876. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256876.

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Africa is home to some of the world’s most functionally diverse guilds of large carnivores. However, they are increasingly under threat from anthropogenic pressures that may exacerbate already intense intra-guild competition. Understanding the coexistence mechanisms employed by these species in human-impacted landscapes could help shed light on some of the more subtle ways in which humans may impact wildlife populations, and inform multi-species conservation planning. We used camera trap data from Tanzania’s Ruaha-Rungwa landscape to explore temporal and spatiotemporal associations between members of an intact East African large carnivore guild, and determine how these varied across gradients of anthropogenic impact and protection. All large carnivores except African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) exhibited predominantly nocturnal road-travel behaviour. Leopard (Panthera pardus) appeared to employ minor temporal avoidance of lion (Panthera leo) in all sites except those where human impacts were highest, suggesting that leopard may have been freed up from avoidance of lion in areas where the dominant competitor was less abundant, or that the need for leopard to avoid humans outweighed the need to avoid sympatric competitors. Lion appeared to modify their activity patterns to avoid humans in the most impacted areas. We also found evidence of avoidance and attraction among large carnivores: lion and spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta) followed leopard; leopard avoided lion; spotted hyaena followed lion; and lion avoided spotted hyaena. Our findings suggest that large carnivores in Ruaha-Rungwa employ fine-scale partitioning mechanisms to facilitate coexistence with both sympatric species and humans, and that growing human pressures may interfere with these behaviours.

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Labrune, Céline, Olivier Gauthier, Anxo Conde, Jacques Grall, Mats Blomqvist, Guillaume Bernard, Régis Gallon, Jennifer Dannheim, Gert Van Hoey, and Antoine Grémare. "A General-Purpose Biotic Index to Measure Changes in Benthic Habitat Quality across Several Pressure Gradients." Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 9, no. 6 (June 13, 2021): 654. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jmse9060654.

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Realistic assessments of the ecological status of benthic habitats, as requested by European directives such as the Water Framework Directive and the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive, require biotic indices capable of detecting anthropogenic impact without having preliminary knowledge of the occurring pressures. In this context, a new general-purpose biotic index (GPBI) based on the deviation of benthic macrofauna community composition and structure from a valid reference (i.e., good ecological status) is proposed. GPBI is based on the assumption that as a site becomes impacted by a pressure, the most sensitive species are the first to disappear, and that stronger impacts lead to more important losses. Thus, it explicitly uses the within-species loss of individuals in the tested station in comparison to one or several reference stations as the basis of ecological status assessment. In this study, GPBI is successfully used in four case studies considering the impact of diversified pressures on benthic fauna: (1) maerl extraction in the northern Bay of Biscay, (2–3) dredging and trawling in the North Sea, and (4) hypoxic events at the seafloor in the Gullmarfjord. Our results show that GPBI was able to efficiently detect the impact of the different physical disturbances as well as that of hypoxia and that it performs better than commonly used pressure-specific indices (M-AMBI and TDI). Signal detection theory was used to propose a sound good/moderate ecological quality status boundary, and recommendations for future monitoring are also provided based on the reported performance of GPBI.

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Labrousse, Camille, Wolfgang Ludwig, Sébastien Pinel, Mahrez Sadaoui, and Guillaume Lacquement. "Unravelling Climate and Anthropogenic Forcings on the Evolution of Surface Water Resources in Southern France." Water 12, no. 12 (December 20, 2020): 3581. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w12123581.

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In the Mediterranean, climate change and human pressures are expected to significantly impact the availability of surface water resources. In order to quantify these impacts during the last 60 years (1959–2018), we examined the hydro-climatic and land use change evolution in six coastal river basins of the Gulf of Lion in southern France. By combining observed water discharge, gridded climate, mapped land use and agricultural censuses data, we propose a statistical regression model which successfully reproduces the variability of annual water discharge in all basins. Our results clearly demonstrate that, despite important anthropogenic water withdrawals for irrigation, climate change is the major driver for the detected reduction of water discharge. The model can explain 78–88% of the variability of annual water discharge in the study catchments. It requires only two climatic indices that are solely computed from monthly temperature (T) and precipitation (P) data, thus allowing the estimation of the respective contributions of both parameters in the detected changes. According to our results, the study region experienced on average a warming trend of 1.6 °C during the last 60 years which alone was responsible for a reduction of almost 25% of surface water resources.

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Chatzinikolaou, Yorgos, Vasilis Dakos, and Maria Lazaridou. "Longitudinal impacts of anthropogenic pressures on benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in a large transboundary Mediterranean river during the low flow period." Acta hydrochimica et hydrobiologica 34, no. 5 (October 2006): 453–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aheh.200500644.

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Anthony, M. A., K. A. Stinson, J. A. M. Moore, and S. D. Frey. "Plant invasion impacts on fungal community structure and function depend on soil warming and nitrogen enrichment." Oecologia 194, no. 4 (November 3, 2020): 659–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04797-4.

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AbstractThe impacts of invasive species on biodiversity may be mitigated or exacerbated by abiotic environmental changes. Invasive plants can restructure soil fungal communities with important implications for native biodiversity and nutrient cycling, yet fungal responses to invasion may depend on numerous anthropogenic stressors. In this study, we experimentally invaded a long-term soil warming and simulated nitrogen deposition experiment with the widespread invasive plant Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) and tested the responses of soil fungal communities to invasion, abiotic factors, and their interaction. We focused on the phytotoxic garlic mustard because it suppresses native mycorrhizae across forests of North America. We found that invasion in combination with warming, but not under ambient conditions or elevated nitrogen, significantly reduced soil fungal biomass and ectomycorrhizal relative abundances and increased relative abundances of general soil saprotrophs and fungal genes encoding for hydrolytic enzymes. These results suggest that warming potentially exacerbates fungal responses to plant invasion. Soils collected from uninvaded and invaded plots across eight forests spanning a 4 °C temperature gradient further demonstrated that the magnitude of fungal responses to invasion was positively correlated with mean annual temperature. Our study is one of the first empirical tests to show that the impacts of invasion on fungal communities depends on additional anthropogenic pressures and were greater in concert with warming than under elevated nitrogen or ambient conditions.

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Bçrtiòa, Laura, Mâris Krievâns, Juris Burlakovs, and Jânis Lapinskis. "Coastal Development of Daugavgrîva Island, Located Near the Gulf of Riga / Rîgas Lîèa Piekrastes Krasta Attîstîba Daugavgrîvas Salâ." Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. Section B. Natural, Exact, and Applied Sciences. 69, no. 6 (December 1, 2015): 290–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/prolas-2015-0045.

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Abstract Natural as well as anthropogenic processes impact greatly sensitive coastal areas all over the world. The spectrum of natural processes involved can be classified as meteorological, geological, marine, and lithodynamic. The Baltic Sea with its Gulf of Riga is an area in which combined sea erosion and accumulation processes, as well as alluvial processes, play significant roles in the coastal development. Major anthropogenic processes include impacts from ports and coastal protection structures, such as Riga Port hydraulic structures, fairway channels and coastal defence items. During summer also additional pressure of recreational activities has increased the effect on the coastal beach. Levelling data, historical cartographical material and beach sedimentary material granulometric analysis were used to describe natural and anthropogenic effects on development of the coastal beach of Daugavgrîva Island.

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Busch, Kathrin, Lindsay Beazley, Ellen Kenchington, Frederick Whoriskey, Beate M. Slaby, and Ute Hentschel. "Microbial diversity of the glass sponge Vazella pourtalesii in response to anthropogenic activities." Conservation Genetics 21, no. 6 (August 24, 2020): 1001–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10592-020-01305-2.

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Abstract Establishment of adequate conservation areas represents a challenging but crucial task in the conservation of genetic diversity and biological variability. Anthropogenic pressures on marine ecosystems and organisms are steadily increasing. Whether and to what extent these pressures influence marine genetic biodiversity is only starting to be revealed. Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, we analysed the microbial community structure of 33 individuals of the habitat-forming glass sponge Vazella pourtalesii, as well as reference seawater, sediment, and biofilm samples. We assessed how two anthropogenic impacts, i.e. habitat destruction by trawling and artificial substrate provision (moorings made of composite plastic), correspond with in situ V. pourtalesii microbiome variability. In addition, we evaluated the role of two bottom fishery closures in preserving sponge-associated microbial diversity on the Scotian Shelf, Canada. Our results illustrate that V. pourtalesii sponges collected from protected sites within fishery closures contained distinct and taxonomically largely novel microbial communities. At the trawled site we recorded significant quantitative differences in distinct microbial phyla, such as a reduction in Nitrospinae in the four sponges from this site and the environmental references. Individuals of V. pourtalesii growing on the mooring were significantly enriched in Bacteroidetes, Verrucomicrobia and Cyanobacteria in comparison to sponge individuals growing on the natural seabed. Due to a concomitant enrichment of these taxa in the mooring biofilm, we propose that biofilms on artificial substrates may ‘prime’ sponge-associated microbial communities when small sponges settle on such substrates. These observations likely have relevant management implications when considering the increase of artificial substrates in the marine environment, e.g., marine litter, off-shore wind parks, and petroleum platforms.

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Almeida, Carina, Tiago Ramos, Pedro Segurado, Paulo Branco, Ramiro Neves, and Rodrigo Proença de Oliveira. "Water Quantity and Quality under Future Climate and Societal Scenarios: A Basin-Wide Approach Applied to the Sorraia River, Portugal." Water 10, no. 9 (September 4, 2018): 1186. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w10091186.

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Water resources are impacted by several stressors like over-population and over consumption that compromises their availability. These stressors are expected to progressively intensify due to climate change in most regions of the world, with direct impact on watersheds and river systems. This study investigates the effect of different watershed pressure scenarios due to climate change in the hydrological regime of the Sorraia River basin, Portugal. This catchment includes one of the largest irrigated areas in the country, thus being strongly influenced by anthropogenic activities, associated to hydrological (irrigation, flow regulation, damming) and nutrient stressors. The Soil Water Assessment Tool has been used to simulate water flow and nutrient dynamics in the watershed while considering inputs from two climate models and three societal scenarios. Results have shown that the predicted rainfall reductions will have a significant impact on river flow and nutrient concentrations when compared to baseline conditions. River flow will expectably decrease by 75%, while nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in river water will expectably increase by 500% and 200%, respectively. These differences are more evident for storylines that consider increasing pressures such as population growth and agricultural expansion marked with unsustainable practices and increased reliance on technology. The results of this study indicate a possible future outcome and provide effective guidelines for the formulation of water management policies to counter the impacts of climate change and corresponding environmental pressures in the Sorraia River basin.

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Journal articles on the topic 'Anthropogenic pressures and impacts'

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