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The versatility of microalgae biomass as candidates for various products and bioremediation needs motivates interests towards design and implementation of novel microalgae bioreactors. Conventional open-reactors are reliant on large quantities of sunlight and space while yields are constrained by outdoor environment conditions. Conversely, closed-reactor systems like bubble columns reduces these constrains on microalgae growth while occupying far less space at the expense of high energy demands, notably from lighting systems. A novel patented closed reactor design has recently been proposed that improves the bubble column concept with an efficient and effective lighting system. The present study uses Life Cycle Assessment approach to compare the environmental performance of conventional reactors and the proposed internally luminated novel closed reactor design, expressing impacts per kg biostimulant for the Scenedesmus almeriensis harvest from such units. All performance data was collected from a pilot facility in Almeria, Spain. Urban-industrial symbiosis scenarios are also portrayed in the study using wastewater and incinerator flue gas. Results show that under synthetic nutrient and carbon inputs in Spanish pilot operations, the cumulative energy demand for the novel photobioreactors is similar to conventional vertically-stacked horizon bioreactors but are substantially more demanding than conventional open reactors. However, when leveraging renewable energy sources and the photosynthesis process to consume wastestreams in urban-industrial symbiosis scenarios, the novel photobioreactor was able to achieve up to 80 % improvements in several impact categories e.g. eutrophication and climate change. Impact mitigation credits per kg dwt biomass across all energy scenarios in symbiosis amount to ≈1.8 kg CO

Cada vez más, las comunidades se empoderan de los valores naturales que encuentran en sus territorios. Los ejercicios de apropiación social del conocimiento permiten entablar un diálogo de saberes entre los especialistas de los diferentes grupos biológicos y los actores locales. En estos diálogos, la biodiversidad emerge como un activo biocultural y un patrimonio para quienes habitan los territorios. El proyecto Huella Viva, en Río Claro, ha estado cargado de diálogos entre múltiples actores, que han permitido llegar a productos de apropiación, como este catálogo de especies carismáticas y de interés para la cuenca. Este tipo de publicaciones, además de fortalecer los procesos de gestión y apropiación de las comunidades, se espera se constituyan en una herramienta valiosa para la gestión de su territorio. Como ejemplos de su uso tendríamos, desde el desarrollo de ejercicios de planificación de sus predios, que se traduzcan en acuerdos concretos de conservación de los mismos, hasta iniciativas de turismo de naturaleza, que permitan mejorar sus ingresos. Desde el Instituto Humboldt queremos acercarnos cada vez más a las comunidades con los productos de comunicación que desarrollamos en alianza con los diferentes aliados, y estamos convencidos de que el proceso Huella Viva en la cuenca del río Claro, es uno de los más emblemáticos para el Instituto en la actualidad, por el grado de apropiación social que ha tenido por parte de las comunidades. Esperamos que publicaciones de esta naturaleza se multipliquen en otras regiones del país.

This chapter provides an overview of the environmental impacts of the supply chain for preserved seaweed. The supply chain includes the hatchery, marine infrastructure, deployment of juveniles and monitoring during cultivation (grow-out of seaweed), harvest, transport back to shore and preservation of the biomass. The chapter starts with a short overview of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, and how it can be used to quantify the environmental impacts of seaweed supply chains. After a discussion of the overall environmental impacts of the preserved seaweed supply chain, the chapter focuses on specific life cycle stages: spore preparation and seeding of juvenile seaweed onto string in the hatchery, seaweed cultivation, harvesting preservation and storage of harvested seaweed. The chapter ends with a summary and discussion of future trends in the subject. QC 20211110

Harvesting beach-cast can help mitigate marine eutrophication by closing land-marine nutrient loops and provide a blue biomass raw material for the bioeconomy. Cost–benefit analysis was applied to harvest activities during 2009–2018 on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, highlighting benefits such as nutrient removal from the marine system and improved recreational opportunities as well as costs of using inputs necessary for harvest. The results indicate that the activities entailed a net gain to society, lending substance to continued funding for harvests on Gotland and assessments of upscaling of harvest activities to other areas in Sweden and elsewhere. The lessons learnt from the considerable harvest experience on Gotland should be utilized for developing concrete guidelines for carrying out sustainable harvest practice, paying due attention to local conditions but also to what can be generalized to a wider national and international context.

A blue-green bioeconomy revolution is underway in Europe, with particular attention being paid to the development of new or underutilized marine biomass resources. The wild harvest and mariculture of low-trophic non-fed species of marine biomass may be contributing to circular economies, the mitigation of environmental problems such as eutrophication and climate change through the uptake of nutrients and carbon, while also recovering finite phosphorus from marine coastal environments, thus contributing to food security. The present study provides a cradle-to-gate life cycle perspective on seven established or innovative/emerging marine biomass utilization cases in Sweden: mariculture of sugar kelp, blue mussels, and ascidians and the harvest of invasive Pacific oysters along the Skagerrak coast, the mariculture of blue mussels in the Baltic sea, the harvest of common reed in the Stockholm archipelago, and the harvest of beach-cast seaweed in Gotland. Results showed that the mariculture cases were found to contribute to eutrophication and climate impact mitigation (at gate). All cases were found to contribute to closing the loop on phosphorus by enabling recovery from marine or coastal environments, bridging marine–land flows, all while performing well from an environmental perspective with a relatively low cumulative energy demand and low carbon and nutrient footprints. This highlights the potential of low-trophic biomass to contribute to phosphorus security in the future, and demonstrates the value of industrial ecology tools such as LCA in support of this imminent Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. QC 20211110

Special attention has been paid to sustainable macroalgae cultivation in Europe. The question on where suitable cultivation areas lie, without conflicting with current marine socio-economic activities and respecting the environment, remains a great challenge. Considering 13 criteria critical to seaweed farming such as depth, shipping traffic, and distance to ports, this paper aimed to identify suitable and sustainable offshore areas on the West Coast of Sweden for the cultivation of the Sugar Kelp, Saccharina latissima. An integrated approach with the tools geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria analysis (MCA) was used to aggregate the criteria by means of Boolean and weighted linear combination (WLC) techniques. The Boolean method singled out 544 km2 as suitable, whereas the WLC method indicated 475 km2 as highly suitable. Both techniques complement each other in finding optimal sites. Furthermore, the integrated models excelled in providing an overview for effective spatial decision-making that fosters sustainable development of macroalgae cultivations within marine and coastal systems. HighlightsTo the authors’ knowledge no study on seaweed aquaculture site selection has been conducted using such a range of criteria with the purpose of including sustainability aspects within a comparative GIS-MCDA.The large areas identified on the West Coast of Sweden as suitable highlight the potential of this new industry and the complexity of associated marine spatial planning.Boolean and weighted linear combination methods were applied and compared, providing valuable insights in the selection of methods for spatial decision-making support. These insights should support a more sustainable development of macroalgae cultivation in the region, as well as a more resilient marine spatial planning process for blue growth strategies. To the authors’ knowledge no study on seaweed aquaculture site selection has been conducted using such a range of criteria with the purpose of including sustainability aspects within a comparative GIS-MCDA. The large areas identified on the West Coast of Sweden as suitable highlight the potential of this new industry and the complexity of associated marine spatial planning. Boolean and weighted linear combination methods were applied and compared, providing valuable insights in the selection of methods for spatial decision-making support. These insights should support a more sustainable development of macroalgae cultivation in the region, as well as a more resilient marine spatial planning process for blue growth strategies.

Anthropogenic consumption of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) has pushed their respective planetary boundaries beyond a safe operating space causing environmental problems, and simultaneously, the depletion of finite mineral P resources is of growing concern. Previous research has found that marine biomass such as kelp, reed and mussels have a high potential for taking up N and P, which could potentially contribute both to alleviating environmental problems and recirculating P from marine environments back to human consumption systems. This paper thus examines these nutrient flows and the extent to which marine biomass can contribute to close the loop. The study utilizes an element flow analysis (EFA) to establish the mapping of N and P flows and explore plausible scenarios of biomass utilisation by 2030 and 2050 for P loop closure in Sweden. The current uptake of P and N through the seven marine biomass cases (mariculture of mussels on both the Swedish east and west coasts, kelp and ascidians and the harvest of wild oysters, beach-cast and reed) contributes to 1.1% and 0.3% respectively of the full loop closure (relative to 2016 loading). Approximately 22% of the total P (and 23% N) uptake (in the biomasses) is currently being used in products, while the rest remains unused. The plausible future scenario for 2050 expects to contribute to around 10% P and 2.8% N loop closure (relative to 2016) if all nutrients in the uptake are used.

Seaweed cultivation and processing industries could contribute to sustainable blue growth and the European bioeconomy. This article contributes a case study evaluation of environmental sustainability of preserved brown seaweed Saccharina latissima by means of environmental life cycle assessment of a pilot facility in Sweden. The study accounts for nutrient bioremediation and carbon capture and includes two alternative hatchery processes, a 2-ha longline cultivation, and four alternative preservation methods (hang-drying outdoors, heated air-cabinet drying, ensiling, and freezing). The study found that as a result of carbon capture and nitrogen and phosphorus uptake (bioremediation) by seaweed, more CO2 and PO4 equivalents are (temporarily) absorbed than emitted by the supply chain. The extent of emissions is most affected by preservation methods undertaken. Impact profiles of the supply chain show that the greatest impact shares result from freezing and air-cabinet drying, both the two most energy-intensive processes, followed by the cultivation infrastructure, highlighting strategic optimization opportunities. Hatchery processes, harvesting, and the low-energy ensilage and hang-drying outdoors were found to have relatively small impact shares. These findings presage the environmentally friendliness of seaweed-based products by documenting their potential to mitigate eutrophication and climate change, even when taking a life cycle perspective.

Con el objetivo principal de generar información que permita una gestión integral de los felinos que habitan la cuenca del río Claro, Antioquia, instituciones aliadas del proyecto Huella Viva -Fundación Grupo Argos, Fundación Natura, Cornare e Instituto Humboldt- y ProCAT Colombia, se han articulado como socios estratégicos con miras a construir y fortalecer una agenda de trabajo robusta y con un enfoque socioecológico, que aborde tanto las dimensiones biológicas como humanas para la conservación de las especies y sus hábitat. De acuerdo con lo anterior, se presenta una propuesta técnica que incluye el desarrollo de nueve actividades generales que serían la base para la generación de seis productos o insumos, planteados para desarrollarse durante el año 2020 y con el potencial de réplica durante años siguientes u otras regiones del país. Las actividades y productos integrarán enfoques en una visión complementaria desde la ecología, la genética y el contexto socioecológico, que contribuyen a la conservación de felinos en el territorio y que espera tengan visibilidad e incidencia en escenarios locales y nacionales. Bogotá, Colombia Ciencias Básicas de la Biodiversidad

En el marco del convenio de cooperación técnica y científica No. 19-100, celebrado entre la Fundación Grupo Argos y el Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, con el objeto de aunar esfuerzos administrativos, técnicos, financieros y de gestión para la generación de conocimiento útil en escenarios de evaluación y manejo integral de impactos sobre la biodiversidad, desde una mirada ecosistémica integral del territorio de la cuenca del río Claro (Antioquia) en los múltiples contextos socioecológicos, se ha comprometido la construcción de la línea base de información secundaria disponible sobre biodiversidad para la cuenca del río Claro, Antioquia, que incluya, entre otros, datos sobre ecología, genética, uso, conservación, distribución, uso de hábitat, impactos e información espacial, procesos ecológicos. Bogotá Ciencias Básicas de la Biodiversidad

Biological invasions are the second most important cause of biodiversity loss in the world. Invasive species successfully compete with native species and in most cases negatively affect invaded ecosystems. Several studies have focused on identifying wich characteristics promote the invasiveness of the species and resulting ecological impacts, yet few have assessed how land cover transformation enables colonization of species that are tolerant to limited resources, and if this condition is a driver for biological invasion. To establish the invasibility of a dry ecosystem such as the one in the Magdalena River Valley, the change in vegetation cover in areas currently dominated by species with invasive potentials ( Vachellia farnesiana , Leucaena leucocephala , and Prosospis juliflora ) was analyzed for a period of approximately 70 years. Obtained results show that areas colonized by potentially invasive species had greater transformation dynamics, based on land cover persistence through time. In contrast, forest areas, which lack potentially invasive species, only presented one transformation period and more than 50 years of ecosystem recovery. These results show how ecosystems historically transformed and disturbed can facilitate species invasion processes.