TY - JOUR T1 - Public access to spatial data on private-land conservation JF - Ecology and Society Y1 - 2017 A1 - Rissman, Adena R. A1 - Owley, Jessica A1 - L'Roe, Andrew W. A1 - Morris, Amy Wilson A1 - Wardropper, Chloe B. KW - conservation easements KW - cost share KW - Environmental governance KW - Geographic Information Systems KW - land trusts KW - privacy KW - private-land conservation KW - tax incentive KW - transparency AB - Information is critical for environmental governance. The rise of digital mapping has the potential to advance private-land conservation by assisting with conservation planning, monitoring, evaluation, and accountability. However, privacy concerns from private landowners and the capacity of conservation entities can influence efforts to track spatial data. We examine public access to geospatial data on conserved private lands and the reasons data are available or unavailable. We conduct a qualitative comparative case study based on analysis of maps, documents, and interviews. We compare four conservation programs involving different conservation tools: conservation easements (the growing but incomplete National Conservation Easement Database), regulatory mitigation (gaps in tracking U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s endangered species habitat mitigation), contract payments (lack of spatial data on U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program due to Farm Bill restrictions), and property-tax incentives (online mapping of Wisconsin’s managed forest tax program). These cases illuminate the capacity and privacy reasons for current incomplete or inaccessible spatial data and the politics of mapping private land. If geospatial data are to contribute fully to planning, evaluation, and accountability, we recommend improving information system capacity, enhancing learning networks, and reducing legal and administrative barriers to information access, while balancing the right to information and the right to privacy. VL - 22 UR - https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss2/art24/ IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Nitrogen Fertilization Effects on Productivity and Nitrogen Loss in Three Grass-Based Perennial Bioenergy Cropping Systems JF - PLoS ONE Y1 - 2016 A1 - Duran, Brianna E. L. A1 - Duncan, David S. A1 - Oates, Lawrence G. A1 - Kucharik, Christopher J. A1 - Jackson, Randall D. AB -

Nitrogen (N) fertilization can greatly improve plant productivity but needs to be carefully managed to avoid harmful environmental impacts. Nutrient management guidelines aimed at reducing harmful forms of N loss such as nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and nitrate (NO3-) leaching have been tailored for many cropping systems. The developing bioenergy industry is likely to make use of novel cropping systems, such as polycultures of perennial species, for which we have limited nutrient management experience. We studied how a switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) monoculture, a 5-species native grass mixture and an 18-species restored prairie responded to annual fertilizer applications of 56 kg N ha-1 in a field-scale agronomic trial in south-central Wisconsin over a 2-year period. We observed greater fertilizer-induced N2O emissions and sub-rooting zone NO3- concentrations in the switchgrass monoculture than in either polyculture. Fertilization increased aboveground net primary productivity in the polycultures, but not in the switchgrass monoculture. Switchgrass was generally more productive, while the two polycultures did not differ from each other in productivity or N loss. Our results highlight differences between polycultures and a switchgrass monoculture in responding to N fertilization.

VL - 11 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0151919 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Reducing Phosphorus to Curb Lake Eutrophication is a Success JF - Environmental Science & Technology Y1 - 2016 A1 - Schindler, David W. A1 - Carpenter, Stephen R. A1 - Chapra, Steven C. A1 - Hecky, Robert E. A1 - Orihel, Diane M. AB - As human populations increase and land-use intensifies, toxic and unsightly nuisance blooms of algae are becoming larger and more frequent in freshwater lakes. In most cases, the blooms are predominantly blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria), which are favored by low ratios of nitrogen to phosphorus. In the past half century, aquatic scientists have devoted much effort to understanding the causes of such blooms and how they can be prevented or reduced. Here we review the evidence, finding that numerous long-term studies of lake ecosystems in Europe and North America show that controlling algal blooms and other symptoms of eutrophication depends on reducing inputs of a single nutrient: phosphorus. In contrast, small-scale experiments of short duration, where nutrients are added rather than removed, often give spurious and confusing results that bear little relevance to solving the problem of cyanobacteria blooms in lakes.As human populations increase and land-use intensifies, toxic and unsightly nuisance blooms of algae are becoming larger and more frequent in freshwater lakes. In most cases, the blooms are predominantly blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria), which are favored by low ratios of nitrogen to phosphorus. In the past half century, aquatic scientists have devoted much effort to understanding the causes of such blooms and how they can be prevented or reduced. Here we review the evidence, finding that numerous long-term studies of lake ecosystems in Europe and North America show that controlling algal blooms and other symptoms of eutrophication depends on reducing inputs of a single nutrient: phosphorus. In contrast, small-scale experiments of short duration, where nutrients are added rather than removed, often give spurious and confusing results that bear little relevance to solving the problem of cyanobacteria blooms in lakes. VL - 50 SN - 0013-936X UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b02204 IS - 17 ER -