Special Issue

Nature Conservation 2009 — 1. 9. 2009 — Special Issue

Biodiversity conservation at the close of modern times

author: Václav Cílek

The inhabitants of Europe did not go to bed one evening in the Middle Ages in 1492 to suddenly awaken into the Renaissance the next day; nonetheless, within only a few decades, at the end of the 15^thand beginning of the 16^thcentury, there was a substantial change in attitudes towards God, society, production, trade over large distances, human migration, the development of cities and landscape perception.

The overall change in mentality did not occur everywhere simultaneously, but happened in various parts of Europe over a period of 50 to 70 years, so that mediaeval and mo­dern attitudes had coexisted for a long time.

Even in the absence of the economic crisis, which is catalyzing the new perception of the world, in which former emphasis on growth is being replaced by a longing for stability, the recent and contemporary globalization decades have been seen as a turning point, for population growth, development of the internet and other technologies, mixing of influences, people and religions and degradation of the climate and the environment in general. Simultaneously, the number of people, the energy production, the extensive spreading of buil­dings and the state of marine fishing and all this in an environment of rapidly changing time, etc.creates a situation that has no precedent in the Earth and human beings’ history.

This results into a feeling that we are living at some close of one conceptual world and that the next one is only just being formed. This is a situation that has been quite common in European history over the past thousand years and we are able to manage it. It always includes some painful elements, but also ma­crosocial continuity. The importance of the transition periods is in the fact that some fundamental and also destructive elements that are established in the unique times can then function with minor variations for further centuries.

Geodiversity as a starting point

The 1997 Australian National Heritage Charter gives the following definition of geodiversity: ”Geodiversity means the natural range (diversity) of geological (bedrock), geomorphological (landform) and soil features, assemblages, systems and processes. Geodiversity includes evidence of the past life, ecosystems and environments in the history of the Earth as well as a range of atmospheric, hydrological and biological processes currently acting on rocks, landforms and soils.”Basically, any landscape that is sufficiently varied and whose bedrock or soil substrate is sufficiently diverse and where, in addition, there are large microclimate diffe­rences next to one another will almost certainly harbor a rich variety of plants and thus also insects and the entire related trophic pyramid. Experience has shown that, with the exception of desert or polar landscapes, where the development of ecosystems is blocked by a lack of liquid water, any geomorphologically and geologically varied landscape is simultaneously a biodiversity hotspot.

However, two aspects of the definition are of fundamental importance for current discussions about the state of the Earth and thus also of biodiversity: soil conditions and the climate. We will first consider the seemingly simpler subject of the soil. Is it even possible to change the soil cover patterns – and what about on a global scale? This seems to be an irresol­vable problem, because who would be capable of excavating, mixing and relocating the soil cover of the entire world? In the fact, it is quite simple – it is not necessary to change the soil or geological substrate; it is sufficient to change the composition of soil solutions. There is no change in the material, but only in the “hydroponic” system. This can be performed either by washing out the soil carbonate and exchangeable alkalis by acid rain or through extensive large-size eutrophication of entire continents.

The nitrogen cycle as the greatest global enemy of biodiversity

We have concentrated for too long on the carbon and sulphur geochemical cycles, because they have a direct impact on global warming caused by an increasing carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere and on local cooling caused by sulphate aerosols. Nitrogen is not visible and almost does not react with other substances. Thus, next to ambivalent carbon, whose atmospheric cycle maintains and destroys the life, and sulphur oxides released from fossil fuels, it looks like a very inconspi­cuous element. In the fact, it is the third of the five global drivers that affect the biodiversity. The other two are phosphorus and iron. Nitrogen is contained in aminoacids, DNA, proteins and lot of other essential organic substances. Put simply, there are two types of nitrogen:

“Inert nitrogen”. The atmosphere predo­minantly consists of nitrogen (78 % by volume or 75 % by weight) which reacts only in small amounts with other substances, especially oxygen. Ultraviolet radiation and electrical discharge, i.e.lightning, are capable of oxidizing atmospheric nitrogen to a mixture of nitrogen oxides that react with rainwater to form acids. They are readily neutralized in the soil cover to form nitrites and nitrates, which are further processed by micro-organisms in various reactions to form other substances, particularly nitrates, and taken up by plants, which form complicated organic molecules from them, such as proteins. Some terrestrial and a few marine micro-organisms, including bacteria, blue--green algae, also known as cya­nophytes, and algae are capable of directly oxidizing nitrogen and converting it to the final product – nitrates. The natural global cycle of nitrogen is based primarily on repeated recycling among the soil, plants, ruminants, the excrement of ruminants and back to the soil. Under normal conditions, i.e.not affected by humans, sources and sinks are large – some nitrates are formed by atmospheric reactions but are again reduced in an anoxic environment by microorganisms to oxygen, which is “respired”, and nitrogen, which released back into the atmosphere.

Reactive nitrogen. Reactive nitrogen is in brief nitrogen that is not in the gaseous form. It forms only a small but vital part of the global nitrogen reservoir. The universality of nitrogen is similar to that of carbon, sulphur and iron; i.e.it is readily available to biogenic elements that are capable to exist in various oxidation bonds and thus, as needed, of participating in a number of oxidation and reduction rea­ctions. These nitrogen reactions can take place very slowly or, as for nitroglycerine, extremely explosively. Similar to the global carbon cycle, nitrogen has a number of reservoirs, but there is one major difference here. The nitrogen cycle is rapid – for example the average nitrogen molecule remains in the soil for only 50 years, while carbon can exist for millions of years, e.g. in a carbonate bond.

The global surplus of reactive nitrogen is caused by three main types of reactions:

Legume cultivation. It is a well-known fact that some plants, particularly legumes, live in symbiosis with nitrification bacteria. The more people there are, the more legumes grown. This source of reactive nitrogen matters the least – no rare plants grew in the fields anyway (except that the field did not have to be there), we saved energy for nitrate synthesis and, mainly, most of the nitrogen is bonded in the cultural crops. This nitrogen matters indirectly – when large cities on the shoreline “pump” their nitrogen-rich waste directly just into the sea.

Oxygen combustion in internal combustion engines. Especially in automobiles, “inert” atmospheric nitrogen is oxidized to form nitrogen oxides and, eventually, a mixture of acids that contribute to acidification of the environment.

Haber-Bosch reaction. In 1918, the German physical chemist Fritz Haber won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery that he had made almost 20 years earlier – for the synthesis of ammonia directly from nitrogen and hydrogen. His colleague, Karl Bosch, elaborated this process to industrial application; in 1931, he and Friedrich Bergius won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the above achievement and other high-pressure experiments. The reaction is based on a stream of heated hydrogen and nitrogen, mixed at high pressure, that, with a catalyst, usually iron oxides, combines to form ammonia, from which the simplest ferti­lizer is produced – ammonium nitrate.

The discovery of the German chemists has two amazing features. Food for approx. 40 % (!) of the global population is dependent on synthetic fertilizers manufactured primarily in this way. In addition, it came at a time when natural nitrate resources – the Chilean guano deposits – began to be exhausted. Synthetic fertilizers made greater yields possible and more people could work in industry. Without the Haber-Bosch reaction, there would be fewer people in the world today and they might well live in greater poverty; however, global climate and other environmental chan­ges would still be an issue for the future. Few people had such a great impact as Haber and Bosch on the whole civilization.

The amount of reactive nitrogen manufactured by humans exceeds natural fluxes. It is generally stated that the annual natural flux of reactive nitrogen varies around 140 million tonnes and that human production is 210 million tonnes. Other estimates correspond to about 100–200 million tonnes for annual natural fluxes and approximately the same or somewhat more for artificial fluxes. The Scandinavian forests receive 10–20x more reactive nitrogen than a hundred years ago. The shores of Florida, Jamaica, the eastern U.S.A. and Europe are now supplied with several times greater nitrogen loads that formerly. The Baltic Sea is beginning to be considered to be the most extensive “dead zone” among shallow seas. However, in the fact, this “dead zone” is full of life, but this life consists in blue-green algae and jellyfish, rather than fish and crustaceans. The global fish catch has been constantly decreasing since the 1980. In particular, most fish that eat algae have been overfished. Thus, the algae are not eaten by fish but, to the contrary, are fertilized by anthropogenic nitrates.

Half of all synthetic nitrogenous fertilizers were manufactured in the past 20 years. The rate of change in the global nitrogen cycle and the total amount of manufactured nitrogenous substances are staggering. On the land, this is manifested by habitat overgrowing and rudera­lization, with blocked natural succession at sites that are among the most valuable parts of the European landscape. In the ocean, the process is manifested by the destruction of coal reefs, whose equilibrium is also dependent on the algae-anthozoan symbiosis. In a nitrogen-rich environment, algae do not require their symbiont but rather, at higher nitrogen concentrations, are eradicated by blue-green algae.

The parallel development of society and nature

Current society is characterized by the fact that the world is “getting flat and oversimplified”; average and bellow-average, more or less global mainstream cultures are becoming predominant. Something similar has been happening in European nature, where approximately a third of higher plant species are global neophytes and we are simultaneously experiencing alien insect and small mammal biological invasions. Consequently, the only type of “flattened” nature with a lot of “global” features has been beginning to predominate in a substantial part of Europe, particularly in the temperate zone (homogenization of biota). The Mediterranean underwent a similar process at the end of classical antiquity.

This seemingly amusing parallel between culture and nature has a very unpleasant consequence for nature conservation and landscape protection. The state of nature and the landscape heavily depends on the state of society, i.e.on the quality and dynamics of social drivers that, in their nature, are stronger than political parties, and certainly much more influential than organizations dealing with nature conservation. Which social driver conditions are most desirable for biodiversity conservation? I am of the opinion that it is mainly necessary for it to be possible to deve­lop deglobalisation and local strategies that, at least in some areas, can successfully compete with the flattened world of mass media and global strategies.

The climate and biodiversity

According to a number of reports, such as IPPC, the Acacia Report and the Stern report, the observed and expected climate changes can be summarized as follows:

• Warming will probably increase at a rate of between 0.1 and 0.4 ^oC per decade. Future warming will be felt most in South Europe, mainly Spain, Italy and Greece, and also in Finland and western Russia. It will be the least along the Atlantic coast. There will be a decrease in really cold winters, which could almost completely disappear at our latitudes after about the year 2080. However, simultaneously, hot summers and heat waves will occur with greater frequency.
• Precipitation will increase in North Europe by 1–2 % per decade, but will decrease in the Mediterranean. Compared to the present time, it will rain more in winter but summer droughts will be worse. The situation in Central Europe is uncertain – both slightly lower and slightly higher precipitation can be expected; in the former case, this could lead to desertification of South Moravia. Hotter summers will probably be accompanied by a greater frequency of rainstorms and stronger thunderstorms with hail. On the other hand, the greater precipitation in winter will create preconditions for more frequent floods in winter and spring.
• Climatic differences in Europe will have a tendency to increase, which could be manifested particularly in a lack of drinking and irrigation water in South Europe. Warming combined with increased carbon dioxide and nitrate levels will result in faster overgrowing of the northern tundra and to generally faster of particularly broad-leaved deciduous fo­rests. The upper treeline will move to higher altitudes. Because of summer droughts and the increased risk of fires, South Europe and the continental part of Russia will become agriculturally less productive. The overall climate change affects will be favourable for agriculture in North Europe. However, the pattern will be balanced by a lack of water in South and East Europe and the vegetation period shortening as a consequence of droughts in the summer months. Some areas may become unproductive. Ticks are expected to become more widespread and common and the overall stressing the human organism will increase as a result of heat and local atmospheric pollution. The coastal areas across Europe could suffer from more frequent floods.

Serious consequences for biodiversity have already been observed and continue to occur on the whole continent. A phenomenon occurring in South Europe can be described as a northwards shift of the African climate. This is manifested in drying out of the landscape and progressive deforestation, affected to a major degree by fires. Central Europe tends to have unclear climate changes; however, with a fluctuating climate and more frequent droughts, it can be expected that forests will become more vulnerable and various disturbances will occur in the non-native Norway spruce forests. The Arctic ice cover could melt to a greater degree by 2012. Therefore, the white ice surface will be replaced by a dark-colored water surface, which will accelerate further warming, changing the direction of winds and thus also the hydrological cycle, at least in the North Europe. It is expected that the tundra will become overgrown, permafrost (permanently-frozen ground) will be destabilized and a greater amount of water will be evaporated; this will, of course, result in increased rainfall.

Major change in the world and nature conservation

Let us attempt to clearly define the main issues that must be considered during the major changes in the world:

• Classical nature conservation is irreplaceable, well elaborated both theoretically and in practice, but has been confronted with expanded land use. It has perfectly known what to do, but often does not have appropriate funds, power and tools, or must adapt itself to the political-developmental reality.
• It is necessary to minimize the anthropogenic fluxes of substances. This is particularly important with respect to the global carbon and nitrogen cycles. Both are related to the overall life of society – the former to production, savings and new energy technologies; the latter particularly to food production.
• It is important to protect the soil. Analysis of the collapse of various societies shows that the main cause is the primary production decline, which can be postponed by some trick, such as long-distance trading, but not reversed. Civilization as a whole is stable or fails in the long term, not through barter and trade, computer game production or bank services, but through the ability to sustain itself in its own region.
• An attitude of respect for life is a matter of values. As long as we fail to perceive the Earth and its spheres, such as the biosphere or atmosphere, as the certain value, we will use them to the benefit of other values, e.g., short-term economic advantages. An attitude of respect for life has been at the beginning of most of nature conservation and environment protection measures. It cannot be proscribed, but must be developed and cultivated.

The author is Director of the Institute of Geology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague.