The legacy of 20th Century landscape change on today’s woodland carabid communities

Aim For many species, the effects of landscape change can involve a time lag and result in an extinction debt. The landscape matrix plays a vital role in supporting species populations. However, the importance of the historical composition and configuration of landscape mosaics has received little attention, with studies focusing on the effects of loss and fragmentation of single (focal) habitat over time. We investigated the importance of historical and contemporary landscape heterogeneity (composition and configuration) to identify how landscape change has, and is continuing to have, an effect on current woodland carabid communities. Location Lowland Britain. Methods Carabids were sampled from woodlands in 36 tetrads of 4 km2. Ordination methods analysed current community response to representations of contemporary and historical (1930’s) landscape heterogeneity. The effects of 80 years of landscape change on current carabid assemblages were compared among tetrads. Results Results are consistent with an extinction debt; carabid communities correlated significantly with the historical composition and configuration of the landscape, but not contemporary landscape configuration. Community assemblages have been shaped, and many species remain affiliated with landscape conditions that no longer exist, notably, large patches of broadleaf woodland and semi-natural grassland. Recent introduction of conifer plantations has had a negative effect on the abundance of many woodland species. For many common, slow-dispersing species, contemporary and historical landscapes offered sub-optimum woodland coverage indicating a lag effect that exceeds 80 years. Increased arable landcover and loss of semi-natural grassland and heathland points towards an ongoing detrimental impact on carabid populations. Main conclusions Compared with focal-habitat studies, the landscape mosaic approach provides a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of widespread landscape change on species communities. Conservation guidance includes new planting, maintenance and restoration of semi-natural habitats, implemented across multiple spatial scales and where feasible, considering both historical and contemporary landscape heterogeneity

How do agroforest trees affect the supply of regulating ecosystem services?

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Movement Patterns of Carabid Beetles Between Heterogenous Crop and Noncrop Habitats

Habitats adjacent to crop fields can increase natural enemy populations by providing additional food, shelter and overwintering sites. While many studies have focused on the role of non-crop borders for supporting natural enemies, here we investigate the influence of adjacent crop habitats as well. We monitored the movement of carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) between wheat fields and adjacent crop and non-crop habitats using bi-directional pitfall traps. We found greater movement of carabids from corn into wheat fields than from forest and soybean, with intermediate levels of movement from roadside vegetation. Additionally, significantly more carabids were captured moving into corn from wheat than into any other habitat. We also found that carabid community assemblages at habitat borders were different from those in the interior of wheat fields. Our findings suggest that agricultural ecosystems composed of a variety of both non- crop and crop habitats are necessary to maintain carabid abundance and diversity

Creating agroforestry innovation and best practice leaflets

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Effects of urbanisation and landscape heterogeneity mediated by feeding guild and body size in a community of coprophilous beetles

Although the impacts of urbanisation on biodiversity are well studied, the precise response of some invertebrate groups remains poorly known. Dung-associated beetles are little studied in an urban context, especially in temperate regions. We considered how landscape heterogeneity, assessed at three spatial scales (250, 500 and 1000 metre radius), mediates the community composition of coprophilous beetles on a broad urban gradient. Beetles were sampled using simple dung-baited traps, placed at 48 sites stratified across three distance bands around a large urban centre in England. The most urban sites hosted the lowest abundance of saprophagous beetles, with a lower mean body length relative to the least urban sites. Predicted overall species richness and the richness of saprophagous species were also lowest at the most urban sites. Ordination analyses followed by variation partitioning revealed that landscape heterogeneity across the urban gradient explained a small but significant proportion of community composition. Heterogeneity data for a 500-metre radius around each site provided the best fit with beetle community data. Larger saprophagous species were associated with lower amounts of manmade surface and improved grassland. Some individual species, particularly predators, appeared to be positively associated with urban or urban fringe sites. This study is probably the first to examine the response of the whole coprophilous beetle community to urbanisation. Our results suggest that the response of this community to urbanisation matches expectations based on other taxonomic groups, whilst emphasising the complex nature of this response, with some smaller-bodied species potentially benefitting from urbanisation

Fairplay or Greed: Mandating University Responsibility Toward Student Inventors

Over twenty years have passed since the enactment of The Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act (Bayh-Dole Act) and universities continue to struggle with their technology transfer infrastructures. Lost in that struggle are those who could be considered the backbone of university research: the students. Graduate and undergraduate students remain baffled by the patent assignment and technology transfer processes within their various institutions. Efforts should be undertaken by universities to clarify the student\u27s position in the creative process

Continental-scale patterns of pathogen prevalence: a case study on the corncrake

Pathogen infections can represent a substantial threat to wild populations, especially those already limited in size. To determine how much variation in the pathogens observed among fragmented populations is caused by ecological factors, one needs to examine systems where host genetic diversity is consistent among the populations, thus controlling for any potentially confounding genetic effects. Here, we report geographic variation in haemosporidian infection among European populations of corncrake. This species now occurs in fragmented populations, but there is little genetic structure and equally high levels of genetic diversity among these populations. We observed a longitudinal gradient of prevalence from western to Eastern Europe negatively correlated with national agricultural yield, but positively correlated with corncrake census population sizes when only the most widespread lineage is considered. This likely reveals a possible impact of local agriculture intensity, which reduced host population densities in Western Europe and, potentially, insect vector abundance, thus reducing the transmission of pathogens. We conclude that in the corncrake system, where metapopulation dynamics resulted in variations in local census population sizes, but not in the genetic impoverishment of these populations, anthropogenic activity has led to a reduction in host populations and pathogen prevalence

The question of “evidence” in the emergence of evidence-based or evidence-aware policies in agriculture

Evidence-based or evidence-aware policy approaches are used in many different sectors (health, education, etc.). These approaches are less common in agriculture but are gradually emerging. Analysis of debates surrounding this trend sheds light on the particular nature of the difficulties faced by public decision-makers who are willing to use available scientific knowledge. After examining certain misunderstandings which arise in the international debate over evidence-based policy approaches, this paper addresses two specific issues: (i) the problems of competing evidence for using knowledge in the design of public policies and (ii) the potential role of rationalization tools in a possible "depoliticisation" of public decision-making.knowledge, agriculture, policy, evidence, Agricultural and Food Policy, B29, D8, Q01, O3,

Fairplay or Greed: Mandating University Responsibility Toward Student Inventors

Over twenty years have passed since the enactment of The Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act (Bayh-Dole Act) and universities continue to struggle with their technology transfer infrastructures. Lost in that struggle are those who could be considered the backbone of university research: the students. Graduate and undergraduate students remain baffled by the patent assignment and technology transfer processes within their various institutions. Efforts should be undertaken by universities to clarify the student\u27s position in the creative process