Report on participatory varietal selection in small millets in South Asia (annex 2.3 of final technical report)

A set of promising small millet varieties were short listed from among the collected traditional as well as improved varieties of each of the four focused small millet crops. Varying numbers of farmers’ preferred varieties were identified in the four small millet crops for each site, namely, Anchetty (4), Bero (4), Semilguda (3), Jawadhu Hills (3 in finger millet and 5 in little millet), Dumbriguda (2), Nepal (6), Sri Lanka (3), and Peraiyur (3 in barnyard millet and 1 in kodo millet). Experimental trials were conducted with analysis of agronomic performance and farmer assessments for preference. Feedback charts are provided

Report on on-farm research for addressing production constraints of small millets in South Asia (annex 2.4 of final technical report)

The project took efforts to revive the culture of farmer experimentation, engaging them in research activities to adapt and improve available technologies and following two strategies: on-farm research for adapting existing technologies and agronomic practices available for small millets and, identifying location-specific natural resource management measures, including soil and water conservation. Both strategies were built on farmers’ indigenous knowledge and their active participation in the research process. The project formed 292 experimental farmer groups of various forms across all the sites in South Asia and organised training programs on recommended package of practices for small millets

Appendix A. Box fingerprinting.

Box fingerprinting

The impact of invasive plant management on the foraging ecology of the Warbler Finch (Certhidea olivacea) and the Small Tree Finch (Camarhynchus parvulus) on Galápagos

In recent decades, arboreal Darwin’s Finches have suffered from a dramatic population decline, which has been attributed to parasitism by the invasive botfly Philornis downsi. However, changes to their primary habitat caused by invasive plant species may have additionally contributed to the observed population decline. The humid cloud forest on Santa Cruz Island is a stronghold of arboreal Darwin’s Finches but has been invaded by blackberry (Rubus niveus). In some areas, manual control and herbicide application are used to combat this invasion, both causing a temporary removal of the entire understory. We hypothesized that the removal of the understory reduces the availability of arthropods, which are a main food source during chick rearing. We compared the foraging behaviour of Warbler Finches (Certhidea olivacea) and Small Tree Finches (Camarhynchus parvulus) at three study sites that varied in the degree of R. niveus invasion and the length of time since the last herbicide application. We used prey attack rate and foraging success as an index for food availability and predicted a lower attack rate and foraging success in areas that had recently been sprayed with herbicides. We found that both the invasion and the management of R. niveus influenced microhabitat use, foraging substrate and prey choice in both species. Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not find a lower attack rate or foraging success in the area with recent herbicide application. This may be explained by the finding that both species mainly foraged in the canopy but also used dead plant structures of the understory of the recently controlled area that resulted from the invasive plant management.© The Author(s) 201

Appendix B. Denitrification and anaerobic CO2-production activities of bacterial species on individual carbon sources.

Denitrification and anaerobic CO2-production activities of bacterial species on individual carbon sources

No saturation in the accumulation of alien species worldwide

Although research on human-mediated exchanges of species has substantially intensified during the last centuries, we know surprisingly little about temporal dynamics of alien species accumulations across regions and taxa. Using a novel database of 45,813 first records of 16,926 established alien species, we show that the annual rate of first records worldwide has increased during the last 200 years, with 37% of all first records reported most recently (1970–2014). Inter-continental and inter-taxonomic variation can be largely attributed to the diaspora of European settlers in the nineteenth century and to the acceleration in trade in the twentieth century. For all taxonomic groups, the increase in numbers of alien species does not show any sign of saturation and most taxa even show increases in the rate of first records over time. This highlights that past efforts to mitigate invasions have not been effective enough to keep up with increasing globalization.© The Author(s) 201