Creating a climate for food security: the business, people & landscapes in food production

AbstractBalancing human and environmental needs is urgent where food security and sustainability are under pressure from population increases and changing climates. Requirements of food security, social justice and environmental justice exacerbate the impact of agriculture on the supporting ecological environment. Viability of the Australian rural economy is intrinsically linked to food production and food security requiring systematic evaluation of climate change adaptation strategies for agricultural productivity.This food-systems research drew on global climate change literature to identify risks and adaptation. The transdisciplinary team applied specialist experience through collaboration in social science, economics and land-management to provide comprehensive methods to engage researchers and decision-makers making decisions across the food-system. Research focus on the dairy and horticulture sectors in the SW-WA and SEQld provided a comparative context in food-systems and regional economies. Expert knowledge was engaged through a series of panel meetings to test and challenge existing practice applying conceptual and empirical approaches in Structural Equation, Value-Chain, Supply-Chain modelling and Analytical Hierarchy modelling. This iterative action-research process provided immediate generation and transfer of expert knowledge across the involved sectors. The scenarios and adaptive strategies provide evidence-based pathways to strengthen food-systems; account for climate change mitigation and adaptation; and weather-proof regional economies in the face of climate change. Balancing human and environmental needs is urgent where food security and sustainability are under pressure from population increases and changing climates. Requirements of food security, social justice and environmental justice exacerbate the impact of agriculture on the supporting ecological environment. Viability of the Australian rural economy is intrinsically linked to food production and food security requiring systematic evaluation of climate change adaptation strategies for agricultural productivity.This food-systems research drew on global climate change literature to identify risks and adaptation. The transdisciplinary team applied specialist experience through collaboration in social science, economics and land-management to provide comprehensive methods to engage researchers and decision-makers making decisions across the food-system. Research focus on the dairy and horticulture sectors in the SW-WA and SEQld provided a comparative context in food-systems and regional economies. Expert knowledge was engaged through a series of panel meetings to test and challenge existing practice applying conceptual and empirical approaches in Structural Equation, Value-Chain, Supply-Chain modelling and Analytical Hierarchy modelling. This iterative action-research process provided immediate generation and transfer of expert knowledge across the involved sectors. The scenarios and adaptive strategies provide evidence-based pathways to strengthen food-systems; account for climate change mitigation and adaptation; and weather-proof regional economies in the face of climate change. The triple-bottom-line provided a comprehensive means of addressing social, economic and ecological requirements, and the modelling showed the interacting dynamics between these dimensions. In response to climate change, the agricultural sector must now optimise practices to address the interaction between economic, social and environmental investment. Differences in positions between the industry sector, the government and research sectors demonstrate the need for closer relationships between industry and government if climate change interventions are to be effectively targeted. Modelling shows that capacity for adaptation has a significant bearing on the success of implementing intervention strategies. Without intervention strategies to build viability and support, farm businesses are more likely to fail as a consequence of climate change. A framework of capitals that includes social components - cultural, human and social capital-, economic components -economic and physical capital - and ecological components -ecological and environmental capital - should be applied to address capacities. A priority assessment of climate change intervention strategies shows that strategies categorised as ‘Technology & Extension’ are most important in minimising risk from climate change impacts. To implement interventions to achieve ‘Food Business Resilience’, ‘Business Development’ strategies and alternative business models are most effective. ‘Research and Development’ interventions are essential to achieve enhanced ‘Adaptive Capacity’.The individual components of TBL Adaptive Capacity can be achieved through ‘Policy and Governance’ interventions for building ‘Social Capital’ capacity, ‘Research and Development’ will develop ‘Economic Capital’, and ‘Business Development’ strategies will build ‘Ecological Capital’.These strategic interventions will promote food security and maintain resilience in local food systems, agricultural production communities and markets, global industrial systems, and developing world food systems. Climate change mitigation and adaptation interventions reflect a rich conceptualisation drawing from the Australian context, but also acknowledging the moral context of global association.Please cite this report as:Wardell-Johnson, A, Uddin, N, Islam, N, Nath, T, Stockwell, B, Slade, C 2013 Creating a climate for food security: the businesses, people and landscapes in food production, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, pp. 144.Balancing human and environmental needs is urgent where food security and sustainability are under pressure from population increases and changing climates. Requirements of food security, social justice and environmental justice exacerbate the impact of agriculture on the supporting ecological environment. Viability of the Australian rural economy is intrinsically linked to food production and food security requiring systematic evaluation of climate change adaptation strategies for agricultural productivity.This food-systems research drew on global climate change literature to identify risks and adaptation. The transdisciplinary team applied specialist experience through collaboration in social science, economics and land-management to provide comprehensive methods to engage researchers and decision-makers making decisions across the food-system. Research focus on the dairy and horticulture sectors in the SW-WA and SEQld provided a comparative context in food-systems and regional economies. Expert knowledge was engaged through a series of panel meetings to test and challenge existing practice applying conceptual and empirical approaches in Structural Equation, Value-Chain, Supply-Chain modelling and Analytical Hierarchy modelling. This iterative action-research process provided immediate generation and transfer of expert knowledge across the involved sectors. The scenarios and adaptive strategies provide evidence-based pathways to strengthen food-systems; account for climate change mitigation and adaptation; and weather-proof regional economies in the face of climate change. The triple-bottom-line provided a comprehensive means of addressing social, economic and ecological requirements, and the modelling showed the interacting dynamics between these dimensions. In response to climate change, the agricultural sector must now optimise practices to address the interaction between economic, social and environmental investment. Differences in positions between the industry sector, the government and research sectors demonstrate the need for closer relationships between industry and government if climate change interventions are to be effectively targeted. Modelling shows that capacity for adaptation has a significant bearing on the success of implementing intervention strategies. Without intervention strategies to build viability and support, farm businesses are more likely to fail as a consequence of climate change. A framework of capitals that includes social components - cultural, human and social capital-, economic components -economic and physical capital - and ecological components -ecological and environmental capital - should be applied to address capacities. A priority assessment of climate change intervention strategies shows that strategies categorised as ‘Technology & Extension’ are most important in minimising risk from climate change impacts. To implement interventions to achieve ‘Food Business Resilience’, ‘Business Development’ strategies and alternative business models are most effective. ‘Research and Development’ interventions are essential to achieve enhanced ‘Adaptive Capacity’.The individual components of TBL Adaptive Capacity can be achieved through ‘Policy and Governance’ interventions for building ‘Social Capital’ capacity, ‘Research and Development’ will develop ‘Economic Capital’, and ‘Business Development’ strategies will build ‘Ecological Capital’.These strategic interventions will promote food security and maintain resilience in local food systems, agricultural production communities and markets, global industrial systems, and developing world food systems. Climate change mitigation and adaptation interventions reflect a rich conceptualisation drawing from the Australian context, but also acknowledging the moral context of global association

Double-digest RADseq loci using standard Illumina indexes improve deep and shallow phylogenetic resolution of Lophodermium, a widespread fungal endophyte of pine needles.

The phylogenetic and population genetic structure of symbiotic microorganisms may correlate with important ecological traits that can be difficult to directly measure, such as host preferences or dispersal rates. This study develops and tests a low-cost double-digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq) protocol to reveal among- and within-species genetic structure for Lophodermium, a genus of fungal endophytes whose evolutionary analyses have been limited by the scarcity of informative markers. The protocol avoids expensive barcoded adapters and incorporates universal indexes for multiplexing. We tested for reproducibility and functionality by comparing shared loci from sample replicates and assessed the effects of numbers of ambiguous sites and clustering thresholds on coverage depths, number of shared loci among samples, and phylogenetic reconstruction. Errors between technical replicates were minimal. Relaxing the quality-filtering criteria increased the mean coverage depth per locus and the number of loci recovered within a sample, but had little effect on the number of shared loci across samples. Increasing clustering threshold decreased the mean coverage depth per cluster and increased the number of loci recovered within a sample but also decreased the number of shared loci across samples, especially among distantly related species. The combination of low similarity clustering (70%) and relaxed quality-filtering (allowing up to 30 ambiguous sites per read) performed the best in phylogenetic analyses at both recent and deep genetic divergences. Hence, this method generated sufficient number of shared homologous loci to investigate the evolutionary relationships among divergent fungal lineages with small haploid genomes. The greater genetic resolution also revealed new structure within species that correlated with ecological traits, providing valuable insights into their cryptic life histories

Tropical rainforest bird community structure in relation to altitude, tree species composition, and null models in the Western Ghats, India

Studies of species distributions on elevational gradients are essential to understand principles of community organisation as well as to conserve species in montane regions. This study examined the patterns of species richness, abundance, composition, range sizes, and distribution of rainforest birds at 14 sites along an elevational gradient (500-1400 m) in the Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) of the Western Ghats, India. In contrast to theoretical expectation, resident bird species richness did not change significantly with elevation although the species composition changed substantially (<10% similarity) between the lowest and highest elevation sites. Constancy in species richness was possibly due to relative constancy in productivity and lack of elevational trends in vegetation structure. Elevational range size of birds, expected to increase with elevation according to Rapoport's rule, was found to show a contrasting inverse U-shaped pattern because species with narrow elevational distributions, including endemics, occurred at both ends of the gradient (below 800 m and above 1,200 m). Bird species composition also did not vary randomly along the gradient as assessed using a hierarchy of null models of community assembly, from completely unconstrained models to ones with species richness and range-size distribution restrictions. Instead, bird community composition was significantly correlated with elevation and tree species composition of sites, indicating the influence of deterministic factors on bird community structure. Conservation of low- and high-elevation areas and maintenance of tree species composition against habitat alteration are important for bird conservation in the southern Western Ghats rainforests.Comment: 36 pages, 5 figures, two tables (including one in the appendix) Submitted to the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (JBNHS

Bioprospecting from marine sediments of New Brunswick, Canada : exploring the relationship between total bacterial diversity and actinobacteria diversity

Actinomycetes are an important resource for the discovery of natural products with therapeutic properties. Bioprospecting for actinomycetes typically proceeds without a priori knowledge of the bacterial diversity present in sampled habitats. In this study, we endeavored to determine if overall bacterial diversity in marine sediments, as determined by 16S rDNA amplicon pyrosequencing, could be correlated with culturable actinomycete diversity, and thus serve as a powerful tool in guiding future bioprospecting efforts. Overall bacterial diversity was investigated in eight marine sediments from four sites in New Brunswick, Canada, resulting in over 44,000 high quality sequences (x = 5610 per sample). Analysis revealed all sites exhibited significant diversity (H' = 5.4 to 6.7). Furthermore, statistical analysis of species level bacterial communities (D = 0.03) indicated community composition varied according to site and was strongly influenced by sediment physiochemical composition. In contrast, cultured actinomycetes (n = 466, 98.3% Streptomyces) were ubiquitously distributed among all sites and distribution was not influenced by sediment composition, suggesting that the biogeography of culturable actinomycetes does not correlate with overall bacterial diversity in the samples examined. These actinomycetes provide a resource for future secondary metabolite discovery, as exemplified by the antimicrobial activity observed from preliminary investigation

From sea to land and beyond : new insights into the evolution of euthyneuran Gastropoda (Mollusca)

Background The Euthyneura are considered to be the most successful and diverse group of Gastropoda. Phylogenetically, they are riven with controversy. Previous morphology-based phylogenetic studies have been greatly hampered by rampant parallelism in morphological characters or by incomplete taxon sampling. Based on sequences of nuclear 18S rRNA and 28S rRNA as well as mitochondrial 16S rRNA and COI DNA from 56 taxa, we reconstructed the phylogeny of Euthyneura utilising Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian inference methods. The evolution of colonization of freshwater and terrestrial habitats by pulmonate Euthyneura, considered crucial in the evolution of this group of Gastropoda, is reconstructed with Bayesian approaches. Results We found several well supported clades within Euthyneura, however, we could not confirm the traditional classification, since Pulmonata are paraphyletic and Opistobranchia are either polyphyletic or paraphyletic with several clades clearly distinguishable. Sacoglossa appear separately from the rest of the Opisthobranchia as sister taxon to basal Pulmonata. Within Pulmonata, Basommatophora are paraphyletic and Hygrophila and Eupulmonata form monophyletic clades. Pyramidelloidea are placed within Euthyneura rendering the Euthyneura paraphyletic. Conclusion Based on the current phylogeny, it can be proposed for the first time that invasion of freshwater by Pulmonata is a unique evolutionary event and has taken place directly from the marine environment via an aquatic pathway. The origin of colonisation of terrestrial habitats is seeded in marginal zones and has probably occurred via estuaries or semi-terrestrial habitats such as mangroves

Persistence of Natural Disasters on Children's Health: Evidence from the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923

This study uses a catastrophic earthquake in 1923 to analyze the long-term effects of a one-off disaster on children's health. I find that fetal exposure to Japan's Great Kanto Earthquake had stunting effects on girls in the devastated area. Disaster relief spending helped remediate stunting among boys by late primary school ages, whereas it did not ameliorate girls' stunting, suggesting a biased remediation mechanism before birth and compensating investment after birth. While the maternal mental stress via strong vibrations played a role in the adverse health effects, the maternal nutritional stress via physical disruption also enhanced those effects

Statistical analysis of the spatial distribution of impurities in the snow cover in the vicinity of copper mine in the Middle Ural of Russia

Statistical analysis of the monitoring data of industrial enterprises influence zones is an important part of the researches related to natural environment changes. In present study, a cluster analysis of the elemental composition of the snow cover in the vicinity of a copper mine was carried out. The data were obtained as a result of the chemical analysis of the snow samples collected during annual environmental monitoring in the region of Rezh town (the Middle Ural of Russia), where Safyanovsky Copper Mine and Rezhevsky Nickel Plant are located. The elements identified by chemical analysis were grouped according to the strength of the correlation bond. The cluster analysis of these groups made it possible to identify and separate the influence zones of the Plant, Mine and other industrial objects located in the area. The obtained results became the basis for adjusting the snow cover monitoring scheme. © 2018 Author(s).The research is supported by the project of the Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences No. 18-5-2345-56

Using genetic markers to reveal the source and introduction history of the translocated European smelt (Osmerus eperlanus L.) in Lake Storsjøen

Master in applied ecology. Evenstad 2013Introduced species are one of the major threats to freshwater systems worldwide. The ability to accurately determine the original source of invading species offers several powerful applications in invasive species ecology and may enable vital information on the invading species in its native habitat. 2. Lake Storsjøen in Rendalen municipality was recently found to have been subjected to translocation of the European smelt. The smelt is naturally distributed in Southern Norway, but is not native to Lake Storsjøen. The main aim of this study was to infer the most likely source population(s) of the invading smelt in Lake Storsjøen by utilization of neutral microsatellite markers from several potential source populations. Subsequently, I attempted to infer the introduction history of the smelt in Lake Storsjøen. 3. The results indicated that the smelt in Lake Storsjøen is most likely a result of introductions from the spawning locality Lågen, in the closely situated Lake Mjøsa, and that the number of translocated individuals was substantial (>100 individuals). The smelt in Lake Storsjøen showed no significant bottleneck effects, supported by having roughly the same level of genetic diversity as its putative source population. A corresponding significant test for a recent population expansion indicates that the Lake Storsjøen smelt has had a high reproductive success and population growth in their new environment. 4. The results from this study illustrate the usefulness of applying multilocus genetic markers for inferring origin of translocated populations, demographic events and introduction histories. Thus, the methods used comprise an effective tool for assessment of invasive species.1. Introduserte arter er en av de største truslene for ferskvannssystemer på verdensbasis. Avdekking av kildepopulasjonen til innførte arter kan være nyttig innen studier av fremmede arter, og kan bidra med viktig informasjon om den innførte arten i dens opprinnelige habitat. 2. Krøkle, en liten laksefisk ble nylig påvist i Storsjøen i Rendalen kommune. Krøkla er naturlig tilhørende i Sør-Norge, men er ikke stedegen i Storsjøen. Hovedmålet med dette studiet var å identifisere den innførte krøklas kildepopulasjon(er) ved bruk av mikrosatellitter fra flere potensielle kildepopulasjoner. I tillegg forsøkte jeg å kartlegge introduksjonshistorien til krøkla i Storsjøen. 3. Resultatene mine indikerte at krøkla i Storsjøen mest sannsynlig er introdusert fra gytelokaliteten Lågen i den nærliggende innsjøen Mjøsa, og at det ble overført ett betydelig antall individer (>100 individer). Krøkla i Storsjøen viste ingen tegn på å ha vært utsatt for flaskehalseffekter, videre støttet ved at den hadde tilnærmet likt nivå av genetisk diversitet som dens kildepopulasjon. En indikasjon på en nylig populasjonsvekst tyder på at krøkla i Storsjøen har hatt en høy reproduksjonssuksess, og en rask populasjonsvekst i sitt nye miljø. 4. Dette studiet illustrerte nytten av å bruke multilocus genetiske markører for å identifisere innførte arters kildepopulasjoner, demografiske hendelser og introduksjonshistorie. Metoden i dette studiet demonstrerer dermed ett effektivt verktøy for studier av innførte arter

Larval Northern Pike (Esox lucius) Ecology in Natural and Restored Coastal Wetlands of the Upper St. Lawrence River

We explored several aspects of the northern pike larval period including the abiotic and biotic dynamics of spring nursery marshes, prey selection in two common nursery habitats, and physical conditions, diet, and survival rates in enhanced wetlands. These findings highlight the importance of physical conditions of nursery marshes on the development of eggs and larvae and production of abundant zooplankton prey. In laboratory experiments, larvae displayed greater prey selection for zooplankton originating in flooded wetlands than nearshore bays. A greater proportion of large cladocerans were selected by larvae given a wetland assemblage. In a mark and recapture study, larval pike survival rates were higher in enhancement sites when compared with those in existing sites, possibly due to more suitable environmental conditions. This research on pike ecology in coastal wetlands may help managers and researchers to better understand larval requirements and devise effective solutions to environmental problems affecting their recruitment

From metacommunity dynamics to rapid biodiversity assessment: DNA-based approaches expand horizons in both fundamental and applied ecology

Molecular tools have long been recognised as having enormous potential to expand horizons in ecology, but the promise remains substantially unfulfilled. In this thesis, I apply genetic approaches to two ecological problems that have proved difficult to solve using traditional techniques. Chapters 1 and 2 apply molecular tools to a community ecology problem to ask what mechanisms govern the persistence of an ant-plant metacommunity. I first use molecular data to clarify the number of coexisting ant species, and then employ population genetic techniques to investigate dispersal scale and other elements of life-history in the three most common species. Where hostplant density is high, a clear dispersal hierarchy is detected, which correlates positively with ant body size and negatively with fecundity, consistent with the hypothesis of a dispersal-fecundity trade-off. The hierarchy is less clear when hostplant density is low because one species shows dispersal plasticity, dispersing longer distances when hostplants are scarce. Results are discussed in the context of mechanisms that allow the coexistence of multiple symbionts with a single plant host. Chapters 3 to 8 address the use of molecular tools for informing decision-making in environmental management and biodiversity conservation. COI metabarcoding data are used to analyse patterns of arthropod diversity in the contexts of sustainable forest management (Chapter 5), agricultural management (Chapter 6), and habitat restoration (Chapter 7). It is shown that this potentially revolutionary technique can detect even fine-scale environmental changes, accurately characterise the biodiversity response to management variables, and be used to test the usefulness of convenient indicator variables. COI data is shown to outperform 18S data in recovering alpha and beta diversity information, and reference-based OTU-picking is demonstrated to be a useful approach where there is interest in the responses of a particular set of species. Potential applications and current limitations are discussed in Chapter 8