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opencc-by-4.0Sep 2020View details →

Epigenome-Wide Association Study of DNA Methylation and Adult Asthma in the Agricultural Lung Health Study

In an epigenome-wide association study of blood DNA methylation in adults conducted in the Agricultural Lung Health Study, 524 differentially methylated CpG sites were associated with non-atopic asthma (FDR<0.05) and 1,086 differentially methylated CpGs were associated with atopic asthma. No CpG sites were differentially methylated in relation to atopy alone.

The shape of the predator biomass distribution affects biological pest control services in agricultural landscapes

1. Understanding how community composition of service-providing organisms affects ecosystem functioning is a key challenge in ecology. Although it has been proposed that taxonomic diversity and functional traits mediate this relationship, how several facets of community structure affect the delivery of key ecosystem services remains to be explored. 2. In this study, we investigated how abundance, taxonomic richness as well as the shape of biomass distribution in predator communities affect biological pest control services in vineyard landscapes. Our analyses were based on a dataset combining samples of arthropod predators, measures of predation rates of grape pests and characterization of environmental covariables for 42 fields located in South-Western France. 3. We found that beside the abundance or the taxonomic richness of predators, the shape of biomass distribution (mean, variance, skewness and kurtosis of the distribution) influences the level of biological control. Predator communities largely dominated by low biomass species provided the bulk of biological control services. Lower levels of predation resulted from increased proportions of large biomass species and more evenly distributed biomass values in the communities. 4. Our results indicate that the top-down control provided by low biomass species decreases as the relative proportion of large biomass species increases in the predator community. This suggests that biological control may be affected by negative interactions (e.g., intraguild predation, behavioural interactions) between predators arising from the recruitment of large individuals in the community. 5. Our study revealed that the shape of biomass distribution is a major aspect of functional diversity in predator communities providing insights into the mechanisms that link biodiversity and ecosystem services. While our study focuses on biomass, considering other traits involved in trophic interactions may increase our ability to predict the level of biological control in ecosystems.

Use of social media in the marketing of agricultural products and farmers' turnover in South-South Nigeria

The study investigated the use of social media in the marketing of agricultural products and farmers turnover in South-South Nigeria. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which the usage of social media in the marketing of agricultural products in Nigeria can enhance efficiency and farmers' sales turnover. It employed the survey research design and data were collected with the help of a structured questionnaire. Research data were analysed using t-test and least square method. The results showed that the use of social media (Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram) in the marketing of agricultural products enhances efficiency and turnover of farmers through a significant reduction in the cost of marketing agricultural products as well as increased awareness and the attendant increase in demand for agricultural produce.

Data from: Prevalence and abundance of bees visiting major conventionally-managed agricultural crops in Brazil

This study brings together data from a series of local pollinator surveys undertaken in major conventionally-managed agricultural crops in Brazil to determine the presence and abundance of bees visiting flowers within crops compared with adjacent off-crop habitats. Surveys were undertaken within crops and in adjacent off-crop areas using broadly the same methodology in flowering soybean, drybean, maize, citrus, coffee, rice, and cotton and in sugarcane immediately harvest. The bee species present were assessed twice per day at three times during crop flowering (post-harvest for sugar-cane). Pan traps were used to collect species present within the crop and off-crop twice per day. Drybeans, citrus, and coffee flowers displayed a consistent medium to high abundance of honey bees based on effort-adjusted transect and spot counts. In contrast, fields with flowering soybeans and cotton showed in-crop lower abundance and rice, corn, and harvested sugar cane showed consistently low numbers or no honey bees. In almost all cases honey bees were the most prevalent and abundant flower visitors within the studied crops. Where non-Apis bees were observed they often belong to the Meliponini (primarily Trigona) or the genera Bombus or Xylocopa. The off-crop assessments of species presence using pan traps showed a far wider diversity of species with greater proportional representation of solitary bee species. Overall, whilst honey bees accounted for the majority of observed bees visiting flowers in the agricultural fields, the off-crop habitat contained a greater abundance and diversity of non-Apis bee populations.

Data from: Finding clarity in ecological outcomes using empirical integrated social-ecological systems: a case study of agriculture-dependent grassland birds

1. Efforts to monitor and conserve populations and ecosystems in human-dominated landscapes can benefit from an empirical social-ecological systems approach. 2. Here we illustrate how latent variable structural equation modelling of regional time series data can effectively describe interconnected drivers of population fluctuations in dynamic landscapes and can help to reveal previously unknown system drivers. 3. Using a declining farmland-dependent bird species (Ammodramus savannarum) in the eastern United States (1994-2015) as a case study, our analysis reveals how farm management decisions drive population fluctuations (R2 = 20%), while management is in turn highly influenced by climate (R2 = 23-51%), but not by regional conservation spending. 4. Synthesis and applications. Structural equation modelling revealed potential social-ecological pathways for halting regional population declines in a grassland bird, the Grasshopper Sparrow. Lower population growth rates followed years of higher hay yields (~4 percentage points per metric ton increase in hay yield) and later harvests (~2 percentage points per 10-day delay in harvest). Thus, one pathway for stabilising regional populations could involve compensating farmers for reducing hay harvests, potentially requiring a six-fold increase in current annual agri-environmental conservation spending.

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2020View details →

Photovoltaics for agricultural irrigation

This video-abstract is one of the dissemination activities of the H2020 project GRECO under the topic Photovoltaics for Agriculture. The video includes a description of photovoltaic irrigation systems in general and explains the irrigation solutions obtained along the project for large-power photovoltaic irrigation systems. The video will be the basis for the final showroom on PV solutions for irrigation. Irrigators from different countries will attend the showroom in order to have the civil society validation of the solution developed.

opencc-zeroOct 2020View details →

Data from: Changes in soil pH and their dependence on the species of cereals and strategies for sustainable agriculture

The acidity of the environment is one of the key elements determining proper conditions for crop cultivation. Inappropriate environmental conditions may contribute to numerous changes in plant raw materials. New strategies introduced in agriculture bring with them some uncertainties associated with the adaptation of plants to the soil. Currently, in the EU market, a gradual replacement of conventional strategies in favour of organic ones is observed. The change in fertilization strategy may lead to the emergence of new soil conditions in cultivation. Soil pH and humus content determine the phenomenon of soil fertility as well as soil physical, chemical, and biological properties. Rational and effective management of nutrients is related to the assessment of the content of available nutrients in the soil, as well as to the agronomic assessment of the soil class. This type of treatment is key in the planning of crops rotation. The study aimed to evaluate soil pH after combine harvesting, in wheat, rye, and barley crops cultivation according to two agricultural strategies, viz. ecological and conventional. In the course of the study mature soil was sampled. The research was carried out on pH meter CP 411 combined with an EPS-1 pH electrode. The obtained soil pH results varied according to the type of cereal grown. Statistical analysis of variance with the significance level of 0.05 showed no significant difference regardless of the implemented agricultural strategy. It is recommended once every 4 years to perform laboratory examination of soil pH for fertilization advice.

opencc-zeroNov 2020View details →

Data from: High ecosystem service delivery potential of small woodlands in agricultural landscapes

<ol> <li> Global forest loss and fragmentation have strongly increased the frequency of forest patches smaller than a few hectares. Little is known about the biodiversity and ecosystem service supply potential of such small woodlands in comparison to larger forests. As it is widely recognized that high biodiversity levels increase ecosystem functionality and the delivery of multiple ecosystem services, small, isolated woodlands are expected to have a lower potential for ecosystem service delivery than large forests hosting more species. </li> <li> We collected data on the diversity of six taxonomic groups covering invertebrates, plants and fungi, and on the supply potential of five ecosystem services and one disservice within 224 woodlands distributed across temperate Europe. We related their ability to simultaneously provide multiple ecosystem services (multiservice delivery potential) at different performance levels to biodiversity of all studied taxonomic groups (multidiversity), forest patch size and age, as well as habitat availability and connectivity within the landscape, while accounting for macroclimate, soil properties and forest structure. </li> <li> Unexpectedly, despite their lower multidiversity, smaller woodlands had the potential to deliver multiple services at higher performance levels per area than larger woodlands of similar age, probably due to positive edge effects on the supply potential of several ecosystem services. </li> <li> Biodiversity only affected multiservice delivery potential at a low performance level as well as some individual ecosystem services. The importance of other drivers of ecosystem service supply potential by small woodlands in agricultural landscapes also depended on the level of performance and varied with the individual ecosystem service considered. </li> <li> Synthesis and applications. Large, ancient woodlands host high levels of biodiversity and can therefore deliver a number of ecosystem services. In contrast, smaller woodlands in agricultural landscapes, especially ancient woodlands, have a higher potential to deliver multiple ecosystem services on a per area basis. Despite their important contribution to agricultural landscape multifunctionality, small woodlands are not currently considered by public policies. There is thus an urgent need for targeted policy instruments to ensure their adequate management and future conservation in order to either achieve multiservice delivery at high levels or to maximize the delivery of specific ecosystem services. </li> </ol>

opencc-zeroNov 2020View details →

Datasets relating (i) A wetland fish multimetric index to variation in agricultural stress among Laurentian Great Lakes coastal wetlands, (ii) Cyanobacteria biomass to total phosphorus concentrations among Canadian lakes

We present two datasets of biological responses against environmental stresses. In the first dataset, the biological response and environmental stress variables are fish multimetric index of community health and agricultural stress, respectively, in watersheds draining to Laurentian Great Lakes. In the second dataset, the biological response and environmental stress variables are cyanobacterial biomass and total phosphorus, respectively, in Canadian Lakes.

opencc-zeroNov 2020View details →

Agricultural intensification drives changes in hybrid network robustness by modifying network structure

Within ecological communities, species engage in myriad interaction types, yet empirical examples of hybrid species interaction networks composed of multiple types of interactions are still scarce. A key knowledge gap is understanding how the structure and stability of such hybrid networks are affected by anthropogenic disturbance. Using 15,169 interaction observations, we constructed 16 hybrid herbivore-plant-pollinator networks along an agricultural intensification gradient to explore changes in network structure and robustness to local extinctions. We found that agricultural intensification led to declines in modularity but increases in nestedness and connectance. Notably, network connectance, a structural feature typically thought to increase robustness, caused declines in hybrid network robustness, but the directionality of changes in robustness along the gradient depended on the order of local species extinctions. Our results not only demonstrate the impacts of anthropogenic disturbance on hybrid network structure, but they also provide unexpected insights into the structure-stability relationship of hybrid networks.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2020View details →

A Conceptual Model Framework for Analyzing, Simulating, Planning and Controlling of Supply-Demand Matching of Ecosystem Services in Agricultural Landscapes

The video gives an explanation of our conceptual approach for the investigation of the adaptation of societal demands for ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes.

opencc-zeroDec 2020View details →

Data from: Machine learning improves predictions of agricultural nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from intensively managed cropping systems

The potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) is accumulating in the atmosphere at unprecedented rates largely due to agricultural intensification, and cultivated soils contribute ~60% of the agricultural flux. Empirical models of N2O fluxes for intensively managed cropping systems are confounded by highly variable fluxes and limited geographic coverage; process-based biogeochemical models are rarely able to predict daily to monthly emissions with > 20% accuracy even with site-specific calibration. Here we show the promise for machine learning (ML) to significantly improve field-level flux predictions, especially when coupled with a cropping systems model to simulate unmeasured soil parameters. We used sub-daily N2O flux data from six years of automated flux chambers installed in a continuous corn rotation at a site in the upper U.S. Midwest (~3000 sub-daily flux observations), supplemented with weekly to biweekly manual chamber measurements (~1100 daily fluxes), to train an ML model that explained 65-89% of daily flux variance with very few input variables –soil moisture, days after fertilization, soil texture, air temperature, soil carbon, precipitation, and N fertilizer rate. When applied to a long-term test site not used to train the model, the model explained 38% of the variation observed in weekly to biweekly manual chamber measurements from corn, and 51% upon coupling the ML model with a cropping systems model that predicted daily soil N availability. This represents a 2-3 times improvement over conventional process-based models and with substantially fewer input requirements. This coupled approach offers promise for better predictions of agricultural N2O emissions and thus more precise global models and more effective agricultural mitigation interventions.

opencc-by-4.0Jan 2021View details →

GCAM-USA Raw Outputs for Khan et al. 2021 - Evolution of energy-water-agriculture interconnectivity across the U.S.

GCAM-USA outputs for paper: Khan et al. 2021, Evolution of energy-water-agriculture interconnectivity across the U.S.

Data from: Temporal patterns in the abundance of a critically endangered marsupial relates to disturbance by roads and agriculture

The aim of this study was to investigate how landscape disturbance associated with roads, agriculture and forestry influenced temporal patterns in woylie (Bettongia penicillata) abundance before, during and after periods of rapid population change. Data were collected from an area of approximately 140,000 ha of forest within the Upper Warren region in south-western Australia. Woylie abundance was measured using cage trapping at 22 grid and five transect locations with varying degrees of landscape disturbance between 1994 and 2012. We found evidence that the distribution and abundance of woylies over time appears to be related to the degree of fragmentation by roads and proximity to agriculture. Sites furthest from agriculture supported a greater abundance of woylies and had slower rates of population decline. Sites with fewer roads had a greater abundance of woylies generally and a greater rate of increase in abundance after the implementation of invasive predator control. The results of this study suggest that landscape disturbance is less important at peak population densities, but during times of environmental and population change, sites less dissected by roads and agriculture better support woylie populations. This may be due to the role these factors play in increasing the vulnerability of woylies to introduced predators, population fragmentation, weed species invasion, mortality from road collisions or a reduction in available habitat. Strategies that reduce the impact of disturbance on woylie populations could include the rationalisation of forest tracks and consolidation of contiguous habitat through the acquisition of private property. Reducing the impact of disturbance in the Upper Warren region could improve the resilience of this critically important woylie population during future environmental change.

opencc-zeroJul 2019View details →

Data from: Echolocation and roosting ecology determine sensitivity of forest-dependent bats to coffee agriculture

Species differ in vulnerability to anthropogenic landuse changes. Knowledge of the mechanisms driving differential sensitivity can inform conservation strategies but is generally lacking for species-rich taxa in the tropics. The diverse bat fauna of Southeast Asia is threatened by rapid loss of forest and expanding agricultural activities, but the associations between species, traits, vulnerability to agriculture and the underlying drivers have yet to be elucidated. We studied the responses of speciose insectivorous bat assemblages to robusta coffee cultivation in Sumatra, Indonesia. We compared abundance, species richness and assemblage structures of bats between forests and coffee farms based on trapping data and evaluated the influence of vegetation complexity on assemblage composition and species-level reactions. Bat abundance and species richness were significantly lower in coffee farms than in forests. Bat assemblage structure differed between landuses, and the overall variation can be largely explained by vegetation simplification. Species sensitive to coffee agriculture were associated with more complex vegetation structure, whereas tolerant species were associated with simpler vegetation structure. Sensitive and tolerant species differed in the type, frequency, and bandwidth of echolocation calls and roost use. Species sensitive to coffee use broadband and high-pitched frequency-modulated calls, which are efficient at detecting insects in complex vegetation, and roost in plant structures that may be lost as vegetation is simplified. In contrast, tolerant species used lower-pitched constant frequency calls and roost in caves. We advocate for greater use of trait analyses in studies seeking to clarify the influence of agriculture on diverse tropical bat faunas.

Data from: Nectar resource limitation affects butterfly flight performance and metabolism differently in intensive and extensive agricultural landscapes

Flight is an essential biological ability of many insects, but is energetically costly. Environments under rapid human-induced change are characterized by habitat fragmentation and may impose constraints on the energy income budget of organisms. This may, in turn, affect locomotor performance and willingness to fly. We tested flight performance and metabolic rates in Meadow brown butterflies (Maniola jurtina) of two contrasted agricultural landscapes: intensively managed, nectar-poor (IL) versus extensively managed, nectar-rich landscapes (EL). Young female adults were submitted to four nectar treatments (i.e. nectar quality and quantity) in outdoor flight cages. IL-individuals had better flight capacities in a flight mill and had lower resting metabolic rates (RMR) than EL-individuals, except under the severest treatment. Under this treatment, RMR increased in IL-individuals, but decreased in EL-individuals; flight performance was maintained by IL-individuals, but dropped by a factor 2.5 in EL-individuals. IL-individuals had more canalized (i.e. less plastic) responses relative to the nectar treatments than EL-individuals. Our results show significant intraspecific variation in the locomotor and metabolic response of a butterfly to different energy income regimes relative to the landscape of origin. Ecophysiological studies help improving our mechanistic understanding of the eco-evolutionary impact of anthropogenic environments on rare and widespread species.

Data from: Barriers to dispersal of rain forest butterflies in tropical agricultural landscapes

Fragmentation of natural habitats can be detrimental for species if individuals fail to cross habitat boundaries to reach new locations, thereby reducing functional connectivity. Connectivity is crucial for species shifting their ranges under climate change, making it important to understand factors that might prevent movement through human-modified landscapes. In tropical regions, rain forests are being fragmented by agricultural expansion, potentially isolating populations of highly diverse forest-dependent species. The likelihood of crossing habitat boundaries is an important determinant of species dispersal through fragmented landscapes, and so we examined movement across rain forest-oil palm plantation boundaries on Borneo by using relatively mobile nymphalid butterflies as our model study taxon. We marked 1666 individuals from 65 species, and 19 percent (100/527) of recaptured individuals crossed the boundary. Boundary crossing was relatively frequent in some species, and net movement of individuals was from forest into plantation. However, boundary crossing from forest into plantation was detected in less than 50 percent (12/28) of recaptured species and was dominated by small-sized butterfly species whose larval host plants occurred within plantations. Thus, while oil palm plantations may be relatively permeable to some species, they may act as barriers to the movement of forest-dependent species (i.e., species that require rain forest habitat to breed), highlighting the importance of maintaining forest connectivity for conserving rain forest species.

Data from: Flower-visiting bat species contribute unequally toward agricultural pollination ecosystem services in southern Thailand

The large majority of angiosperm species depend on animals for pollination, including many agricultural crops, and plant-pollinator interactions have been extensively studied. However, not all floral visitors actually transfer pollen, and efforts to distinguish true pollinators from mere visitors are particularly scarce among the bat pollination literature. To determine whether Old World bat species are equally effective pollinators in mixed-agricultural areas of southern Thailand, we examined six night-blooming plant taxa and quantified pollinator importance (PI) of seven common nectarivorous bat species. PI was calculated as the product of nightly bat visitation rate (obtained from mist-netting data) and pollen transfer efficiency (estimated from bat pollen loads). We found that PI varied by both bat species and plant species. In general, the nectar-specialist bat species were more important pollinators, yet their order of importance differed across our focal plant species. In addition, PI was dictated more by pollen transfer effectiveness than visitation rate. Our findings highlight the importance of Old World bat pollinators within southern Thailand's mixed-agricultural landscape and illustrate how seemingly similar floral visitors can have very different contributions toward plant pollination success.

Data from: Beyond plant-soil feedbacks: mechanisms driving plant community shifts due to land-use legacies in post-agricultural forests

Although biotic legacies of past agricultural practices are widespread and increasing in contemporary ecosystems, our understanding of the mechanisms driving such legacies is still poor. Forest understories on former agricultural land show low frequencies and abundance of typical woodland species when compared with ancient forests. These community shifts have been ascribed to the effects of dispersal limitation. A rarely considered mechanism is that post-dispersal processes driven by plant-associated communities determine the poor performance and recruitment of woodland indicators. Given the strong alterations in soil conditions due to former agricultural practices, we hypothesized that (abiotic) plant–soil feedbacks could be a major factor in community shifts. We addressed this hypothesis by comparing plant-associated communities in the soil and above the ground in ancient and post-agricultural alluvial forests; then, we experimentally tested whether the changes in biotic and abiotic soil properties could affect above-ground herbivore abundance and pressure and plant performance. Ancient and post-agricultural communities clearly differed in composition at different levels of the food web. Besides the plant community, we also observed the differences in the microbial and nematode community with increased abundance of root-feeding nematodes in post-agricultural soils. The composition of the above-ground invertebrate community did not differ in ancient and post-agricultural forest parcels; however, plants growing in post-agricultural sites showed higher abundance of invertebrate herbivores and suffered more herbivory. Nutrient analyses of soil and plants showed that increased levels of phosphorus (and to a lesser extent, nitrogen) made plants more nutritious for insect herbivores. Laboratory experiments further pointed to this mechanism as an explanation of the poorer performance of woodland indicators in post-agricultural woodlands. Our results point to biotic and abiotic plant–soil feedbacks coupled with herbivory as a new mechanism to explain the legacy effects in temperate forests. The modification of the below-ground community and soil abiotic characteristics by previous agricultural activity affects not only the plant growth but also the plant nutrient content in the compared understorey species, making them more susceptible to above-ground herbivory. Our results provide one of the first examples of integrating plant–soil feedback and above- and below-ground interactions to explain land-use legacies.