50 research outputs found
ABUNDANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF MICROTERMES (ISOPTERA: TERMITIDAE: MACROTERMITINAE) IN CULTIVATED AND UNCULTIVATED AREAS AT MOKWA IN THE SOUTHERN GUINEA SAVANNA VEGETATION ZONE OF NIGERIA
PhDPopulation dynamics of Microtermes (Isoptera; Macrotermitinae) are investigated in the
Southern Guinea savanna vegetation zone of Nigeria. Study sites were primary
woodland, long-term maize and a randomised block experiment established from
secondary woodland with woodland, pasture, sweet potato, groundnuts, yam and maize.
The species assemblage Comprised of Microtermes allleo, Microtermes n.sp. c.,
Microtermes grassei, Microtermes /epidus, Microtermes subhyalinus.
2
Microtermes abundance and distribution (n/m2) to a soil depth of 1 metre are examined in
Chapter Four. Community structure differed with vegetation cover. Abundance was
generally higher in the wet compared to the dry season and abundance.was greatest in
long-term maize and higher in newly cleared and cultivated sites than in woodland. M
subhya/inus was the most abundant species in all vegetation types except long-term
cultivated maize where M /epidus was the most abundant species. Changes in crop alter
species abundance and Microtermes community structure.
Microtermes fungus comb abundance (n/m2), individual dry weight (g) and total dry
weight (g/m2) to a soil depth of 1 metre in primary and secondary woodland and short and
long-term maize are examined in Chapter Five. Vegetation cover had an influence on
seasonal changes in the abundance, individual and total dry weights of fungus combs. M
subhyalinus fungus combs showed the greatest seasonal changes, in secondary woodland
and short-term maize.
Microtermes foraging activity on softwood baits with season, species and vegetation is
examined in Chapter Six. Seasonal differences in foraging activity were recorded but
differences over time were more significant. Foraging activity differed with vegetation
and species. Percentage of baits attacked by species as a proportion of the total number
of baits attacked by all species was the best indicator of foraging activity. Non-random
foraging was identified for Microtermes with positive associations among M. subhya/inus,
M. aluco and M. lepidus.
Microtermes foraging activity on baits is compared with soil abundance in Chapter Seven
using diversity indices and simple linear regression analysis. Foraging activity can give a
more accurate indication of species richness than soil sampling. Foraging activity can be
correlated positively with soil abundance, most significantly with wet season assessments.Overseas Development Administration, U
Novel methods for spatial prediction of soil functions within landscapes (SP0531)
Previous studies showed that soil patterns could be predicted in agriculturally managed landscapes by modelling and extrapolating from extensive existing but related integrated datasets. Based on these results we proposed to develop and apply predictive models of the relationships between environmental data and known soil patterns to predict capacity for key soil functions within diverse
landscapes for which there is little detailed underpinning soil information available.
Objectives were:
To develop a high-level framework in which the non-specialist user-community could explore questions.
To generate digital soil maps for three selected catchments at a target resolution of 1:50000 to provide the base information for soil function prediction.
To use a modelling approach to predict the performance of key soil functions in catchments undergoing change but where only sparse or low resolution soil survey data are available.
To use a modelling approach to assess the impact of different management scenarios and/or environmental conditions on the delivery of multiple soil functions within a catchment.
To create a detailed outline of the requirements for ground-truthing to test the predicted model outputs at a catchment scale.
To contribute to the development of a high-level framework for decision makers
Building a knowledge and innovation platform on diffuse and point soil contamination as base for (inter)national soil policies
This article highlights the importance of soil contamination, both from diffuse and point source pollution. It summarises a series of presentations at the Global Soil Week 2015 illustrating the current understanding of soil exposed to pollutants, including the main sources of contamination, the hazards and risks that pollutants in soil present for the environment and human health, as well as the possible ways to address the problem from both global and EU perspectives. It summarises the World CafƩ discussions on four themes that participants identified as the key areas for further action: remediation of contaminated sites, alternatives to the use of chemicals and pollutants, harmonisation of monitoring and approaches and Knowledge and innovation platform.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen
Treatment of organic resources before soil incorporation in semi-arid regions improves resilience to El NiƱo, and increases crop production and economic returns
We are grateful for support from the DFID-NERC El NiƱo programme in project NE P004830, āBuilding Resilience in Ethiopiaās Awassa region to Drought (BREAD)ā, the ESRC NEXUS programme in project IEAS/POO2501/1, āImproving organic resource use in rural Ethiopia (IPORE)ā, and the NERC ESPA programme in project NEK0104251 āAlternative carbon investments in ecosystems for poverty alleviation (ALTER)ā. We are also grateful to Anke Fischer (James Hutton Insitute) for her comments on the paper.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
A systems model describing the impact of organic resource use on farming households in low to middle income countries
We are grateful for support from the DFID-NERC El NiƱo programme in project NE P004830, āBuilding Resilience in Ethiopiaās Awassa region to Drought (BREAD)ā, the ESRC NEXUS programme in project IEAS/POO2501/1, āImproving organic resource use in rural Ethiopia (IPORE)ā, and the NERC ESPA programme in project NEK0104251 āAlternative carbon investments in ecosystems for poverty alleviation (ALTER)ā. We are also grateful to Dr. V.U.M. Rao (Former Project Coordinator, AICRP on Agrometeorology, CRIDA, Hyderabad) and Dr. S.K. Chaudhari (DDG, NRM Division, KAB-II, ICAR, New Delhi) for their assistance in collecting meteorological data of Parbhani, Maharashtra.Peer reviewedPostprin
Accounting for nature: assessing habitats in the UK countryside.
Countryside Survey 2000 (CS2000) and the
Northern Ireland Countryside Survey 2000
(NICS2000) have been designed to provide
detailed information about the habitats and
landscape features that are important elements
of our countryside. They can tell us about the
āstockā of these resources, that is how much of
them we have and where they are to be found,
and they can give us an insight into their
condition based on the variety and abundance
of the plant species associated with them. Using
information from previous surveys, we can also
gain an understanding of how the stock and
condition of these habitats and landscape
features are changing over time. We can build up
a sort of balance sheet or an account of natural
assets in the UK countryside. In this report we
look in particular at the period between the last
two surveys, 1990 and 1998
E-SMART: Environmental Sensing for Monitoring and Advising in Real-Time
Part 2: Smart and Mobile Devices Used for Environmental ApplicationsInternational audienceSmart monitoring, using real-time environmental sensing with links to server-side data processing/modeling, allows progression from data acquisition to useful information generation. The use of modern technology such as mobile phones to provide imagery and other types of data along with GPS-derived coordinates enables researchers and stakeholders to integrate ground-based observations with existing datasets. We have developed an infrastructure linking mobile communications, server-side processing and storage of data and imagery, and field-based access to existing spatial datasets. This infrastructure has been used for the development of a number of mobile phone apps (applications) and web-based applications, and has proved useful for stakeholders in agriculture, science and policy. In addition to giving information on the capacity development, we demonstrate useful applications relating to the upload, interpretation and integration of data (e.g. automated interpretation of soil profile imagery, carbon content estimation from soil colour) while focusing on the technical aspects of the underpinning system