Publications

Laura Pereira, Jan J. Kuiper, Odirilwe Selomane, Ana Paula D. Aguiar, Ghassem R. Asrar, Elena M. Bennett, Reinette Biggs, Katherine Calvin, Steve Hedden, Angel Hsu, Jason Jabbour, Nicholas King, Alexandre C. Köberle, Paul Lucas, Jeanne Nel, Albert V. Norström, Garry Peterson, Nadia Sitas, Christopher Trisos, Detlef P. van Vuuren, Joost Vervoort & James Ward (2021) Advancing a toolkit of diverse futures approaches for global environmental assessments, Ecosystems and People, 17:1, 191-204, DOI: 10.1080/26395916.2021.1901783

Global Environmental Assessments (GEAs) are in a unique position to influence environmental decision-making in the context of sustainability challenges. To do this effectively, however, new methods are needed to respond to the needs of decision-makers for a more integrated, contextualized and goal-seeking evaluation of different policies, geared for action from global to local. While scenarios are an important tool for GEAs t...

Maasri, A., Jähnig, S., Adamescu, M., Adrian, R., Baigun, C., Baird, D., Batista‐Morales, A., Bonada, N., et.al. 2021. A global agenda for advancing freshwater biodiversity research. Ecology Letters. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.13931

Global freshwater biodiversity is declining dramatically, and meeting the challenges of this crisis requires bold goals and the mobilisation of substantial resources. While the reasons are varied, investments in both research and conservation of freshwater biodiversity lag far behind those in the terrestrial and marine realms. Inspired by a global consultation, we identify 15 pressing priority needs, grouped into five researc...

Wyatt, K., Arkema, K., Wells-Moultrie, S., Silver, J., Lashley, B., Thomas, A., Kuiper, J., Guerry, A., Ruckelshaus, M.. 2021. Integrated and innovative scenario approaches for sustainable development planning in The Bahamas. Ecology and Society. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/es-12764-260423

Using alternative future scenarios in development planning supports the integration of diverse perspectives and the joint consideration of the needs of humans and nature. Here, we report on the use of scenarios as an integral part of a two-year sustainable development planning process for Andros Island, The Bahamas. We combined qualitative and quantitative approaches to link stakeholder visions of the future of their island w...

Ahlström, H., Hileman, J., Wang-Erlandsson, L., García, M., Moore, M., Jonas, K., Pranindita, A., Kuiper, J., Fetzer, I., Jaramillo, F., Svedin, U.. 2021. An Earth system law perspective on governing social-hydrological systems in the Anthropocene. Earth System Governance. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.esg.2021.100120

The global hydrological cycle is characterized by complex interdependencies and self-regulating feedbacks that keep water in an ever-evolving state of flux at local, regional, and global levels. Increasingly, the scale of human impacts in the Anthropocene is altering the dynamics of this cycle, which presents additional challenges for water governance. “Earth system law” provides an important approach for addressing gaps in go...

Hamel, P., Guerry, A., Polasky, S., Han, B., Douglass, J., Hamann, M., Janke, B., Kuiper, J., Levrel, H., Liu, H., Lonsdorf, E., McDonald, R., Nootenboom, C., Ouyang, Z., Remme, R., Sharp, R., Tardieu, L., Viguié, V., Xu, D., Zheng, H., Daily, G.. 2021. Mapping the benefits of nature in cities with the InVEST software. npj Urban Sustainability. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42949-021-00027-9

Natural infrastructure such as parks, forests, street trees, green roofs, and coastal vegetation is central to sustainable urban management. Despite recent progress, it remains challenging for urban decision-makers to incorporate the benefits of natural infrastructure into urban design and planning. Here, we present an approach to support the greening of cities by quantifying and mapping the diverse benefits of natural infrast...

Downing, A., S., Chang, M., Kuiper, J.,J., Campenni, M., Häyhä, T., Cornell, S., Svedin, U., Mooji, W. 2020. Learning from generations of sustainability concepts. Environmental Research Letters, Accepted Manuscript

Background: For decades, scientists have attempted to provide a sustainable development framework that integrates goals of environmental protection and human development. The Planetary Boundaries concept (PBc) – a framework to guide sustainable development – juxtaposes a 'safe operating space for humanity' and 'planetary boundaries', to achieve a goal that decades of research have yet to meet. We here investigate if PBc is suf...

Teurlincx, S., van Wijk, D., Mooij, W.M., Kuiper, J., et.al. 2019. A perspective on water quality in connected systems: modelling feedback between upstream and downstream transport and local ecological processes. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability Volume 40, October 2019, Pages 21-29

Food production for a growing world population relies on application of fertilisers and pesticides on agricultural lands. However, these substances threaten surface water quality and thereby endanger valued ecosystem services such as drinking water supply, food production and recreational water use. Such deleterious effects do not merely arise on the local scale, but also on the regional scale through transport of substances a...

Teurlincx, S., Kuiper, J. Hoevenaar, E.C.M. et. al. 2018. Towards restoring urban waters: understanding the main pressures. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability Volume 36, February 2019, Pages 49-58. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.10.011

Water bodies in the urban landscape are omnipresent, with many being small, lentic waters such as ponds and lakes. Because of high anthropogenic forcing, these systems have poor water quality, with large consequences for the provisioning of ecosystem services. Understanding of the main pressures on urban water quality is key to successful management. We identify six pressures that we hypothesize to have strong links to anthrop...

Mooij, W.M., van Wijk, D., Beusen, A.H.W., et.al. 2018. Modeling water quality in the Anthropocene: directions for the next-generation aquatic ecosystem models. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability Volume 36, February 2019, Pages 85-95. DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2018.10.012

“Everything changes and nothing stands still” (Heraclitus). Here we review three major improvements to freshwater aquatic ecosystem models — and ecological models in general — as water quality scenario analysis tools towards a sustainable future. To tackle the rapid and deeply connected dynamics characteristic of the Anthropocene, we argue for the inclusion of eco-evolutionary, novel ecosystem and social-ecological dynamics. T...

van Gerven, L.P.A, Kuiper, J., Mooij, W.M., et.al. 2018. Nitrogen fixation does not axiomatically lead to phosphorus limitation in aquatic ecosystems. OIKOS, DOI: 10.1111/oik.05246

A long‐standing debate in ecology deals with the role of nitrogen and phosphorus in management and restoration of aquatic ecosystems. It has been argued that nutrient reduction strategies to combat blooms of phytoplankton or floating plants should solely focus on phosphorus (P). The underlying argument is that reducing nitrogen (N) inputs is ineffective because N2‐fixing species will compensate for N deficits, thus perpetuatin...