Linking Human Health to Environmental Health

It doesn't take a leap of imagination to recognize that our health, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat are all connected. The World Health Organization and the World Meteorological Organization recently announced the formation of a joint office for climate and health - a strong reminder of the need for more effective policies to deal with the health effects of human impacts on the environment such as climate change. Stanford researchers such as Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment Senior Fellow Rodolfo Dirzo (Biology) are working to clarify these effects and find ways to ameliorate them. During recent research in Africa, Dirzo found that populations of pathogen-carrying rodents increase dramatically when larger animals die off in an ecosystem, doubling the risk of potentially fatal diseases spreading to humans. The research makes clear that maintaining healthy populations of large animals in the wild helps people avoid disease-spreading bacteria.

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Read on for more about Dirzo's research and to explore other insights and discoveries on environmental challenges and solutions published by Stanford Woods Institute fellows and affiliated researchers.

Hot Cities: Climate Change May Lead to Climate Stagnation

Pollution management will become increasingly important as climate change contributes to atmospheric stagnation - in which still air lingers over a region - and air quality worsens, according to research by Stanford scientists, including Senior Fellow Noah Diffenbaugh (Environmental Earth System Science). The finding suggests that population centers in several regions could experience more frequent pollution exposure that may, in turn, increase the public health risk of cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses.

Photo credit: Eric Parker, Flickr, Creative Commons

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"Occurrence and Persistence of Future Atmospheric Stagnation Events," Nature Climate Change, June 22, 2014

Weighing Biodiversity and Renewable Energy in a Warming World

Dealing effectively with climate change will require hard policy choices. Among them: weighing the need for more renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and solar fields against their adverse impacts on species and ecosystems. A paper co-authored by Senior Fellow Terry Root (Biology, by courtesy) argues that the imperative to make deep emissions reductions via rapid, large-scale deployment of renewable energy makes it necessary to accept some risks of wildlife impacts. This path, Root and her fellow researchers state, limits far greater risks of biodiversity loss due to climate change.

Photo credit: BrightSource Energy

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"Thinking Globally and Siting Locally - Renewable Energy and Biodiversity in a Rapidly Warming World," Climatic Change, April 2014

Other Climate Research

"Uncertainties in the Timing of Unprecedented Climates," Nature, July 3, 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow Noah Diffenbaugh (Environmental Earth System Science)

"Climate Engineering Reconsidered," Nature Climate Change, July 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellows Gretchen Daily (Biology), Paul Ehrlich (Biology), Eric Lambin (Environmental Earth System Science) and Rosamond Naylor (Environmental Earth System Science)

"Market-Oriented Ethanol and Corn-Trade Policies Can Reduce Climate-Induced U.S. Corn Price Volatility," Environmental Research Letters, May 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow Noah Diffenbaugh (Environmental Earth System Science)

"Projected Changes in African Easterly Wave Intensity and Track in Response to Greenhouse Forcing," PNAS, April 28, 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow Noah Diffenbaugh (Environmental Earth System Science)

"Sensitivity of the Warm Rain Process in Convective Clouds to Regional Trends in Tropospheric Warming in the Contiguous U.S.," Journal of Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation, 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow Noah Diffenbaugh (Environmental Earth System Science)

Oil Palm Plantations Threaten Water Quality

Found in thousands of products, from peanut butter and packaged bread to shampoo and shaving cream, palm oil is a booming multibillion-dollar industry and an environmental liability. In addition to releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide and destroying wildlife habitat, the clearing of tropical forests to plant oil palm trees threatens freshwater that millions of people depend on for drinking water, food and livelihoods, according to a study co-authored by Senior Fellow Lisa Curran (Anthropology). Potential management solutions, say the researchers, include maintaining natural vegetative cover next to streams and designing oil palm plantations so that dense road networks do not intersect directly with waterways.

Photo credit: Yadi Purwanto

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"Influence of Watershed-Climate Interactions on Stream Temperature, Sediment Yield and Metabolism Along a Land Use Intensity Gradient in Indonesian Borneo," Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences, June 13, 2014

Reaping Benefits of Natural Interactions

Policymakers, land managers and farmers can more effectively manage natural resources - and reap the benefits - if they consider complex, "cascading" interactions between predators and herbivores. That's the conclusion of a study co-authored by Woods-affiliated postdoctoral scholar Daniel Karp (Natural Capital Project) and Senior Fellow Gretchen Daily (Biology) that found evidence that pest-eating birds may aid coffee plantations in Costa Rica.

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"Cascading Effects of Insectivorous Birds and Bats in Tropical Coffee Plantations," Ecology, April 2014

Other Ecosystem Services and Conservation Research

"Conservation and Livelihood Outcomes of Payment for Ecosystem Services in the Ecuadorian Andes: What Is the Potential for 'Win-Win'?", Ecosystem Services, June 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated postdoctoral scholar Leah Bremer (Natural Capital Project)

"Biophysical Forcings of Land-Use Changes From Potential Forestry Activities in North America," Ecological Monographs, May 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow Robert Jackson (Environmental Earth System Science)

"Reconstructing Past Ecological Networks: The Reconfiguration of Seed Dispersal Interactions After Megafaunal Extinctions," Oecologia, May 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow Rodolfo Dirzo (Biology)

"Differential Plant Damage Due to Litterfall in Palm-Dominated Forest Stands in a Central Pacific Atoll," Journal of Tropical Ecology," May 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow Rodolfo Dirzo (Biology)

"Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities for Hydrologic Modeling to Support Decision Making," Water Resources Research, May 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated postdoctoral scholar Perrine Hamel (Natural Capital Project)

"An Automated Chamber System to Measure Field Evapotranspiration Rates," Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, April 3, 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated postdoctoral scholar Perrine Hamel (Natural Capital Project)

"Does Biodiversity Protect Humans Against Infectious Disease?" Ecology, April 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow Giulio De Leo (Biology)

"Countryside Biogeography of a Neotropical Reptiles and Amphibians," Ecology, April 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellows Gretchen Daily (Biology) and Paul Ehrlich (Biology)

"Scientific Consensus on Maintaining Humanity's Life Support Systems in the 21st Century: Information for Policymakers," The Anthropocene Review, April 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellows Gretchen Daily (Biology), Rodolfo Dirzo (Biology), Paul Ehrlich (Biology), Liz Hadly (Biology), Hal Mooney (Biology), Rosamond Naylor (Environmental Earth System Science) and Steve Palumbi (Biology)

REPORT: "Shared, Plural and Cultural Values: A Guide for Decision Makers (U.K. National Ecosystem Assessment Follow-On)," 2014, preface authored by Senior Fellow Gretchen Daily (Biology)

Global Food Policy and Food Security

The Global Food Policy and Food Security Symposium Series, hosted by the Center on Food Security and the Environment and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, brought together the world's leading policy experts in the fields of food and agricultural development for a comprehensive dialogue on equitable economic growth and food security policy. A new book based on the 2011-2013 series and edited by William Wrigley Senior Fellow Rosamond Naylor (Environmental Earth System Science) and Senior Fellow, emeritus, Walter Falcon (Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies) addresses the major themes of hunger and rural poverty, agricultural productivity, resource and climate constraints on agriculture, and food and agriculture policy, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa.

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"Frontiers in Food Policy: Perspectives on Sub-Saharan Africa," published by the Center on Food Security and the Environment, June 2014

U.S. Corn Yields Are Increasingly Vulnerable to Hot, Dry Weather

Research that could help inform better decisions by scientists and policymakers shows that corn yields in the central United States have become more sensitive to drought conditions in the past two decades. The study, led by Senior Fellow David Lobell (Environmental Earth System Science), indicates that, at current levels of temperature sensitivity, crops could lose 15 percent of their yield within 50 years, or as much as 30 percent if crops continue the trend of becoming more sensitive over time. In the meantime, Lobell and his fellow researchers are looking at ways crops may perform better under increasingly hot conditions.

Photo credit: PhotoImage /Shutterstock

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"Greater Sensitivity to Drought Accompanies Maize Yield Increase in the U.S. Midwest," Science, May 2, 2014

Other Food Security Research

"Climate Change Adaptation in Crop Production: Beware of Illusions," Global Food Security, June 25, 2014, authored by Senior Fellow David Lobell (Environmental Earth System Science)

"Adaptation Potential of European Agriculture in Response to Climate Change," Nature Climate Change, May 18, 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow David Lobell (Environmental Earth System Science)

Breakthrough Provides Picture of Underground Water

Superman isn't the only one who can see through solid surfaces. In a development that could revolutionize the management of precious groundwater around the world, researchers including Senior Fellow, by courtesy, Rosemary Knight (Geophysics), pioneered the use of satellites to accurately measure levels of water stored hundreds of feet below ground. Their findings could help develop useful groundwater models, availability predictions and water budgets.

Photo credit: USDA

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"Estimating Temporal Changes in Hydraulic Head Using InSAR Data in the San Luis Valley, Colorado," Water Resources Research, May 2014

Wastewater Treatment Process Creates Energy

Together with South Korean colleagues, Woods-affiliated Professor of Civil Engineering, Emeritus, Perry McCarty invented a domestic wastewater treatment process that produces, rather than consumes, energy. The researchers document their successful pilot study in a paper that describes how the process biologically converts waste organics into methane gas. The process, which reduces contaminants to less than a third of that required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has since been chosen for evaluation at Stanford's new William and Cloy Codiga Resource Recovery Center to reclaim wastewater for possible reuse on campus for irrigation and other nonpotable purposes.

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"Pilot-Scale Temperate-Climate Treatment of Domestic Wastewater With a Staged Anaerobic Fluidized Membrane Bioreactor (SAF-MBR)," Bioresource Technology, May 2014

Other Freshwater Research

"Oil and Gas Wells and Their Integrity: Implications for Shale and Unconventional Resource Exploitation," Marine and Petroleum Geology, September 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow Robert Jackson (Environmental Earth System Science)

"The Effect of Fluidized Media Characteristics on Membrane Fouling and Energy Consumption in Anaerobic Fluidized Membrane Bioreactors," Separation and Purification Technology, Aug. 20, 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Professor of Civil Engineering, Emeritus, Perry McCarty

"Anaerobic Treatment of Low-Strength Wastewater: A Comparison Between Single and Staged Anaerobic Fluidized Bed Membrane Bioreactors," Bioresource Technology, August 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Professor of Civil Engineering, Emeritus, Perry McCarty

"Effect of Temperature on the Treatment of Domestic Wastewater With a Staged Anaerobic Fluidized Membrane Bioreactor," Water Science & Technology, June 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Professor of Civil Engineering, Emeritus, Perry McCarty

New Tool Offers Near Real-Time Info About Marine Species

Controlling invasive species and saving endangered ones are among the many applications of a new set of monitoring tools that use DNA shed by animals into the environment by animals. In a recent paper, scientists with Stanford's Center for Ocean Solutions, the University of Washington and the University of Copenhagen propose using emerging environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling techniques to assess marine ecosystem biodiversity. This approach could prove easier, more affordable, less invasive and more comprehensive than traditional sampling methods. The paper's authors include Senior Fellow Larry Crowder (Biology), Senior Lecturer Meg Caldwell (Law), Woods-affiliated Visiting Scholar Ryan Kelly, Research Associate Rebecca Martone and Woods-affiliated postdoctoral scholars Jesse Port, Kevan Yamahara and Megan Mach who are all with the Center for Ocean Solutions.

Photo credit: Robert Kennedy

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"Harnessing DNA to Improve Environmental Management," Science, June 2014

Some Corals Adjust to Climate Change

To most people, 86-degree Fahrenheit water is pleasant for bathing and swimming. To most sea creatures, however, it's deadly. Researchers led by Senior Fellow Steve Palumbi (Biology) have opened a new realm of possibility for understanding and conserving corals as climate change heats up ocean temperatures and threatens the future of these marine invertebrates, which provide sustenance and livelihoods to a billion people. Through an innovative experiment documented in a recent study, the researchers show that some corals can - on the fly - adjust their internal functions to tolerate hot water 50 times faster than they would adapt through evolutionary change.

Photo credit: Megan Morikawa

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"Mechanisms of Reef Coral Resistance to Future Climate Change," Science, April 24, 2014

Other Oceans Research

"Patterns and Potential Drivers of Declining Oxygen Content Along the Southern California Coast," Limnology and Oceanography, July 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Professor of Biological Sciences Fiorenza Micheli and Senior Fellow Larry Crowder (Biology)

"Key Lessons for Incorporating Natural Infrastructure Into Regional Climate Adaptation Planning," Ocean and Coastal Management, July 2014, co-authored by Research Associates Katie Arkema and Anne Guerry (Natural Capital Project), Senior Lecturer Meg Caldwell (Law) and Consulting Professor Mary Ruckelshaus

"Role of Shelfbreak Upwelling in the Formation of a Massive Under-Ice Bloom in the Chukchi Sea," Deep-Sea Research, July 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Professor of Environmental Earth System Science Kevin Arrigo

"Response of Marine Bacterioplankton to a Massive Under-Ice Phytoplankton Bloom in the Chukchi Sea (Western Arctic Ocean)," Deep-Sea Research, July 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Professor of Environmental Earth System Science Kevin Arrigo

"Impacts of Sea Ice Retreat, Thinning and Melt-Pond Proliferation on the Summer Phytoplankton Bloom in the Chukchi Sea, Arctic Ocean," Deep-Sea Research, July 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Professor of Environmental Earth System Science Kevin Arrigo

"Evidence of Previous Under-Ice Phytoplankton Blooms in the Chukchi Sea," Deep-Sea Research, July 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Professor of Environmental Earth System Science Kevin Arrigo

"Phytoplankton Blooms Beneath the Sea Ice in the Chukchi Sea," Deep-Sea Research, July 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Professor of Environmental Earth System Science Kevin Arrigo

"Connecting Wind-Driven Upwelling and Offshore Stratification to Nearshore Internal Bores and Oxygen Variability," Journal of Geophysical Research, June 6, 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow Stephen Monismith (Civil and Environmental Engineering)

"A System-Wide Approach to Supporting Improvement in Seafood Production Practices and Outcomes," Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, June 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Professor of Biological Sciences Fiorenza Micheli, Senior Fellow Giulio De Leo (Biology), Research Associate Rebecca Martone, (Center for Ocean Solutions), Senior Fellow Larry Crowder (Biology) and Visiting Scholar Rod Fujita (Center for Ocean Solutions)

REPORT: "Cumulative Effects in Marine Ecosystems: Scientific Perspectives on its Challenges and Solutions," June 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated postdoctoral scholar Megan Mach (Center for Ocean Solutions) and Research Associate Rebecca Martone (Center for Ocean Solutions)

"A Risk-Based Framework for Assessing the Cumulative Impact of Multiple Fisheries," Biological Conservation, June 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Professor of Biological Sciences Fiorenza Micheli, Senior Fellow Giulio De Leo (Biology) and Research Associate Rebecca Martone (Center for Ocean Solutions)

"Ocean Acidification 2.0: Managing Our Changing Coastal Ocean Chemistry," BioScience, May 28, 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Visiting Scholar Ryan Kelly (Center for Ocean Solutions)

"The Effectiveness of Coral Reefs for Coastal Hazard Risk Reduction and Adaptation," Science, May 13, 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Professor of Biological Sciences Fiorenza Micheli

"Formulation of the Undertow Using Linear Wave Theory," Physics of Fluids, May 13, 2014, co-authored by Research Associate Greg Guannel (Natural Capital Project)

"Productivity in the Barents Sea - Response to Recent Climate Variability," PLOS ONE, May 1, 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Professor of Environmental Earth System Science Kevin Arrigo

"Transdisciplinary Graduate Training in Marine Resource Science and Management," ICES Journal of Marine Science, April 29, 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow Larry Crowder (Biology)

"Current Practice and Future Prospects for Social Data in Coastal and Ocean Planning," Conservation Biology, April 29, 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow Larry Crowder (Biology)

"Scale-Dependent Dispersion Within the Stratified Interior on the Shelf of Northern Monterey Bay," Journal of Physical Oceanography, April 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow Stephen Monismith (Civil and Environmental Engineering)

"Local Shear and Mass Transfer on Individual Coral Colonies: Computations in Unidirectional and Wave-Driven Flows," Journal of Physical Oceanography, April 2014, co-authored by Senior Fellow Stephen Monismith (Civil and Environmental Engineering)

Large Animals Help Prevent Disease in Humans

Maintaining healthy populations of large animals in the wild helps people avoid disease-spreading bacteria, according to research co-authored by Senior Fellow Rodolfo Dirzo (Biology). To study the potential health impacts of these large animal population declines, Dirzo and his fellow researchers fenced off plots of savanna land in Kenya, preventing access by elephants, giraffes, zebras and other large animals. Over the course of two years, the number of rodents in the study areas doubled, most likely because of increased availability of food and cover, among other reasons. The researchers found that increases in populations of pathogen-carrying rodents can lead to a doubling in the risk of potentially fatal diseases spreading to humans.

Photo credit: Lauren Helgen

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"Declines in Large Wildlife Increase Landscape-Level Prevalence of Rodent-Borne Disease in Africa," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, May 13, 2014

Combating a Child Killer

Better toilets could be the key to eliminating one of the greatest health threats to children in low- and middle-income countries. As part of a study co-authored by Senior Fellow Stephen Luby (Medicine), researchers distributed toy balls to households in Bangladesh, then tested them later for fecal contamination. "Cleaner" homes - those with toilets that reliably separate feces from the living environment - were significantly less likely to have fecal contamination than "less clean" homes - those without toilets or with toilets that fail to separate feces from the living space.

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"Toys and Toilets: Cross-Sectional Study Using Children's Toys to Evaluate Environmental Faecal Contamination in Rural Bangladeshi Households With Different Sanitation Facilities and Practices," Tropical Medicine and International Health, May 2014

Computer Model Examines Fate of Indigenous Peoples

Roughly 45 percent of the planet's terrain remains covered by natural vegetation, and about half of that land is controlled by indigenous peoples. These spaces store huge quantities of carbon, thus keeping it out of the atmosphere, and provide habitats for most of the world's biodiversity of animals and plants. To better understand how outside influences on indigenous cultures might affect the environment, scientists, including Senior Fellow Eric Lambin (Environmental Earth System Science), developed a computer model. A new study describes how the model simulates environmental impacts due to societal changes such as increased farming and hunting. Governments, institutions and agencies could potentially use the model to help institute policy and management regarding indigenous lands.

Photo credit: Frontpage/Shutterstock

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"Agent-Based Modeling of Hunting and Subsistence Agriculture on Indigenous Lands: Understanding Interactions Between Social and Ecological Systems," Environmental Modelling and Software, August 2014

'Remaking' Polluted Places

For many Americans, there is a single word that elicits images of both enduring poverty and environmental degradation: Appalachia. Research co-authored by Center Fellow Nicole Ardoin (Education) paints a starkly different image of the mountainous region by focusing on an emerging movement of citizen volunteers working to clean up watersheds polluted by abandoned coal mines and sewage-clogged streams. The study finds that people share a common motivation to improve highly polluted places. The researchers found that people were further motivated to participate in cleanup projects if they saw how other volunteers' efforts had restored previously polluted areas. The researchers' findings about how these "remade places" encourage other projects could help organizations elsewhere recruit and motivate volunteers more effectively.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Heather Lukacs

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"The Relationship of Place Re-Making and Watershed Group Participation in Appalachia," Society and Natural Resources, April 2014

Other Sustainable Development Research

"Foldscope: Origami-Based Paper Microscope," PLOS ONE, June 18, 2014, co-authored by Woods-affiliated Assistant Professor of Bioengineering Manu Prakash

"Energy Behaviours of Northern California Girl Scouts and Their Families," Energy Policy, June 16, 2014, co-authored by Center Fellow Nicole Ardoin (Education)

The Stanford Woods Institute Research Digest is a quarterly report of findings by Woods fellows and affiliated faculty, as well as fellows with the Institute's Leopold Leadership Program. Current and past issues are online.

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