Publication patterns of award-winning forest scientists and implications for the ERA journal ranking

Publication patterns of 79 forest scientists awarded major international forestry prizes during 1990-2010 were compared with the journal classification and ranking promoted as part of the 'Excellence in Research for Australia' (ERA) by the Australian Research Council. The data revealed that these scientists exhibited an elite publication performance during the decade before and two decades following their first major award. An analysis of their 1703 articles in 431 journals revealed substantial differences between the journal choices of these elite scientists and the ERA classification and ranking of journals. Implications from these findings are that additional cross-classifications should be added for many journals, and there should be an adjustment to the ranking of several journals relevant to the ERA Field of Research classified as 0705 Forestry Sciences.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, 49 references; Journal of Informetrics (2011

FØJOII-29: Nature Quality in Organic Farming. Midterm Status Report 2003

The work is organised in five work packages (WP 1-5, Table A1). Since the start in July 2001 the following work has been accomplished: WP 1. Starting up seminar and the annual seminars have served as a successful platform for project planning and cross-cutting activities. The general project co-ordination and planning of field work and selection of case study areas has been stimulated both at these meetings and in separate meetings with the WP responsibles. The first cross-cutting (CC4) has been accomplished in close co-operation with WP 5 and all project scientists. A homepage for the project is now available. WP 2. Eleven case areas with high concentration of organic farmers have been selected and 347 farmers have been interviewed. A database holding this information has been constructed. Organic farms show a regional specialisation similar to conventional farms. At the regional level organic farms are concentrated in counties with a higher share of dairy farms. Within counties however, there are important local differences with other factors involved. A GIS-based method for case-area delimitation in the PhD landscape study has been developed. WP 3. Inventory data from 24 organic farms in two case areas with information on vegetation composition and arthropods has been analysed. New species for Denmark was found and arthropod indicators showed a good correlation to nature quality. Colonisation experiments showed that moss diversity is favoured by grazing and reduced by fertilisation. There was significantly higher plant diversity in hedges and field boundaries on organic farms than on traditional farms. This effect is evident after only 3-4 years of Organic Farming Period and further increased after 7 years WP 4. Data from the same 24 organic farms and experimental fields of Foulum and Flakkebjerg has been collected in 2002 and 2003. Soil fauna diversity is influenced by soil type, tillage intensity and fertiliser use as well as crop and grazing history. In the experimental plots soil fauna and surface arthropods only showed little response to fertiliser use and catch crops. A 10x10-km landscape has been digitised in the ALMASS landscape model and appropriate scenarios and crop rotations are under construction. WP 5. Results from the first project workshop (CC4) in 2002 on indicators for esthetical qualities show that a more professional use of the esthetical experience is difficult for many natural scientist. Serious illness has postponed work in 2003 but the final outcome of the work package is expected to be achieved

A Malaria Ecology Index Predicted Spatial and Temporal Variation of Malaria Burden and Efficacy of Antimalarial Interventions Based on African Serological Data.

Reducing the global health burden of malaria is complicated by weak reporting systems for infectious diseases and a paucity of vital statistics registration. This limits our ability to predict changes in malaria health burden intensity, target antimalarial resources where needed, and identify malaria impacts in retrospective data. We refined and deployed a temporally and spatially varying Malaria Ecology Index (MEI) incorporating climatological and ecological data to estimate malaria transmission strength and validate it against cross-sectional serology data from 39,875 children from seven sub-Saharan African countries. The MEI is strongly associated with malaria burden; a 1 standard deviation higher MEI is associated with a 50-117% increase in malaria risk and a 3-5 g/dL lower level of Hg. Results show that the relationship between malaria ecology and disease burden is attenuated with sufficient coverage of insecticide treated nets (ITNs) or indoor residual spraying (IRS). Having both ITNs and IRS reduce the added risk from adverse malaria ecology conditions by half. Readily available climate and ecology data can be used to estimate the spatial and temporal variation in malaria disease burden, providing a feasible alternative to direct surveillance. This will help target resources for malaria programs in the absence of national coverage of active case detection systems, and facilitate malaria research using retrospective health data

Scientific Opinion on the pest categorisation of Solenopsis invicta

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Pest categorisation of Colletotrichum fructicola

The EFSA Plant Health Panel performed a pest categorisation of Colletotrichum fructicola Prihast., a well‐defined polyphagous fungus of the C. gloeosporioides complex which has been reported from all the five continents to cause anthracnose, bitter rot and leaf spotting diseases on over 90 cultivated and non‐cultivated woody or herbaceous plant species. The pathogen is not included in EU Commission Implementing Regulation 2019/2072. Because of the very wide host range, this pest categorisation focused on Camellia sinensis, Citrus sinensis, C. reticulata, Fragaria × ananassa, Malus domestica, M. pumila, Persea americana, Prunus persica, Pyrus pyrifolia and P. bretschneideri for which there was robust evidence that C. fructicola was formally identified by morphology and multilocus gene sequencing analysis. Host plants for planting and fresh fruits are the main pathways for the entry of the pathogen into the EU. There are no reports of interceptions of C. fructicola in the EU. The pathogen has been reported from Italy and France. The host availability and climate suitability factors occurring in some parts of the EU are favourable for the establishment of the pathogen. Economic impact on the production of the main hosts is expected if establishment occurs. Phytosanitary measures are available to prevent the re‐introduction of the pathogen into the EU. Although the pathogen is present in the EU, there is a high uncertainty on its actual distribution in the territory because of the re‐evaluation of Colletotrichum taxonomy and the lack of systematic surveys. Therefore, the Panel cannot conclude with certainty on whether C. fructicola satisfies the criterium of being present but not widely distributed in the EU to be regarded as a potential Union quarantine pest unless systematic surveys for C. fructicola are conducted and Colletotrichum isolates from the EU in culture collections are re‐evaluated