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

Naturkvalitet i økologisk jordbrug

Presentation of project Nature Quality in Organic Farmin

Naturkvalitet i økologisk jordbrug – koncept og foreløbige resultater.

This paper presents shortly an ongoing project on the influence of organic farming on nature quality in a broad sense. This includes investigations of patterns of localisation of organic farming in relation to landscapes, biological diversity outside organic fields, ecosystem diversity and function of fields and landscapes in organic farming as well as perceptions and practices of organic farming. The aim of the project is to identify key components to ensure continuous development of organic farming towards a closer integration of nature quality with food production. Some preliminary botanical data are presented showing that nature on organic farms is dominated by very common competitive species also dominating uncultivated biotopes in conventional farming

Skolevejsanalyse i Århus og effekten af 4 skolevejsforsøg.

I årene 1992-1994 blev der i Århus Kommune foretaget en skolevejsanalyse. Der blev foretaget dataindsamling og spørgeskemaundersøgelse på 65 skoler. Ca. 21000 elever fra børnehaveklasse til 7. klasse deltog i undersøgelsen. Hovedformålet med analysearbejdet har været at få udarbejdet et materiale, som ville kunne danne basis for en prioritering af trafiksikkerhedsarbejdet på vejnettet omkring skolerne, herunder også at få kortlagt trafikmønstrene ud for de forskellige skoler. Sideløbende med analysearbejdet blev der etableret forsøgsanlæg udfor 4 forskellige skoler. Formålet med disse forsøg var at vurdere, om det inden for rimelige økonomiske rammer var muligt af skabe anlæg, som kunne give en bedre trafiksikkerhed og større tryghed for eleverne. I dette paper beskrives metoden for skolevejsanalysen og de væsentligste resultater. Desuden redegøres der for effekterne af de 4 forsøg

Naturen er bedre i økologiske hegn og skel

Det glædelige er at selv ret unge økologiske hegn og relativt nyomlagte bedrifter tilsyneladende også har stor betydning for agerlandets natur. En mere varieret hegnsvegetation giver flere levemuligheder også for andre arter, både insekter og højere dyr. Med omtanke kan landmanden altså påvirke og beskytte naturen i skel og hegn via sin daglige drift og dermed bidrage til at forbedre naturen i agerlandskabet

JOBture i Århus

JOBture er et projekt, som Århus Kommune har udført med støtte fra Vejdirektoratet (Trafikpuljeprojekt). Hovedformålet har været at få udarbejdet en samlet kortlægning af både den interne transport for de ansatte i Århus Kommune og af de ansattes bolig-arbejdsstedstrafik. Kortlægningen skulle bla. danne basis for en vurdering af følgende: At indkredse målgruppen af potentielle cyklister (korte ture) på arbejdspladsen At give et skøn over potentialet for anvendelse af kollektiv trafik og samkørsel (lange ture) At udarbejde en redegørelse indeholdende resultaterne af kortlægningen, herunder bl.a. resultater af transportmiddelfordelingen, energiforbruget, luftforureningen og trafiksikkerheden med henblik på en samlet vurdering af om det er realistisk at foretage en reduktion af energiforbruget, luftforureningen og trafiksikkerheden

Competitive Performance of Transgenic Wheat Resistant to Powdery Mildew

Genetically modified (GM) plants offer an ideal model system to study the influence of single genes that confer constitutive resistance to pathogens on the ecological behaviour of plants. We used phytometers to study competitive interactions between GM lines of spring wheat Triticum aestivum carrying such genes and control lines. We hypothesized that competitive performance of GM lines would be reduced due to enhanced transgene expression under pathogen levels typically encountered in the field. The transgenes pm3b from wheat (resistance against powdery mildew Blumeria graminis) or chitinase and glucanase genes from barley (resistance against fungi in general) were introduced with the ubiquitin promoter from maize (pm3b and chitinase genes) or the actin promoter from rice (glucanase gene). Phytometers of 15 transgenic and non-transgenic wheat lines were transplanted as seedlings into plots sown with the same 15 lines as competitive environments and subject to two soil nutrient levels. Pm3b lines had reduced mildew incidence compared with control lines. Chitinase and chitinase/glucanase lines showed the same high resistance to mildew as their control in low-nutrient treatment and slightly lower mildew rates than the control in high-nutrient environment. Pm3b lines were weaker competitors than control lines. This resulted in reduced yield and seed number. The Pm3b line with the highest transgene expression had 53.2% lower yield than the control whereas the Pm3b line which segregated in resistance and had higher mildew rates showed only minor costs under competition. The line expressing both chitinase and glucanase genes also showed reduced yield and seed number under competition compared with its control. Our results suggest that single transgenes conferring constitutive resistance to pathogens can have ecological costs and can weaken plant competitiveness even in the presence of the pathogen. The magnitude of these costs appears related to the degree of expression of the transgenes

Statement on a conceptual framework for the risk assessment of certain food additives re-evaluated under Commission Regulation (EU) No 257/2010

The Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food (ANS) provides a scientific statement presenting a conceptual framework for the risk assessment of certain food additives re-evaluated under Commission Regulation (EU) No 257/2010. This framework will be used in the evaluation made by the Panel, but the expert judgement of the scientific background, on a case-by-case basis, remains essential to reach a final conclusion. The outcome of the re-evaluation of food additives taking into account all available information is presented in the document, as well as the exposure assessment scenarios to be carried out by the Panel considering the use levels set in the legislation and the availability of adequate usage or analytical data