Supporting beneficial insects with wildflowers in gardens and vineyards

Land-use change and habitat destruction have reduced biodiversity to the extent that 60% of ecosystem services are considered degraded. Ecological habitat management aims to regulate ecological functions, including ecosystem services such as pest control and pollination. My research has focused on the planting of wildflowers as habitat management for beneficial insects in allotments, gardens and vineyards, as intensively managed, lesser-studied landscapes. The estimated 400,000 ha of UK gardens provide considerable potential pollinator habitat, although a commonly perceived barrier to wildlife gardening is lack of space. Using citizen science, I investigated the effectiveness of a small 4 m2 wildflower patch in recruiting beneficial insects, allocating participants to one of three treatment groups (two wildflower mixes and control) who sampled insects in their private gardens and allotments. Small wildflower patches provided resource-rich habitats, with different treatments attracting different taxa. To assess the ability of a wildflower to attract pollinators to a crop and increase pollination services, I introduced bee-friendly borage as a companion plant co-located with a strawberry plant. In this citizen science project, I found that strawberries companion planted with borage produced significantly more fruit, and fruit of higher aesthetic quality. Verification of the results of both citizen science projects allowed the analysis of effective sampling methods and possible bias in projects conducted in private urban spaces. UK agri-environmental schemes have yet to make vineyard-specific recommendations to support biodiversity in viticulture, despite it being one of the fastest-growing sectors of English agriculture. By conducting insect and floral surveys in a British vineyard, I tested five inter-row treatments (three wildflower mixes, natural regeneration, and mown grass) on their potential in supporting beneficial insects. Sown and spontaneous wildflowers significantly increased insect abundance and richness, with no loss of space for grapevines. I engaged directly with British viticulturists through a survey to understand current management practices and barriers to adopting wildlife-friendly approaches. The majority of respondents reported reliance on synthetic pesticides, having grass-only inter-row cover and frequent summer mowing. Based on the findings in my thesis, I encourage the establishment, management and restoration of floral plantings in vineyards, gardens and allotments. Wildflowers can attract beneficial insects in these environments, enhancing biodiversity, benefiting ecosystem services and contributing to a sustainable future of viticulture and urban agriculture

Grape Expectations: A Survey of British Vineyard Land Management Practices From an Environmental Perspective

Traditional vineyard landscapes are generally intensively managed with heavy reliance on synthetic pesticides. Viticulture is one of the fastest-growing sectors of English agriculture and information on land management is essential to secure a sustainable future. We surveyed viticulturists to ascertain vineyard pest presence, pest control, inter-row ground cover and wildflower use. The majority of viticulturists reported the presence of vineyard pests and relied heavily on pesticides, with 74% using synthetic pest control, 40% using herbicides, 40% using fungicides. Inter-row, 66% of vineyards have grass-only cover and frequent summer mowing, with only 6% sowing wildflowers. However, 60% use natural pest control, 80% reported existence of wildflowers in headlands, and 29% mentioned reduced mowing. We discuss spontaneous and sown wildflowers and benefits for biodiversity, integrated pest management and the commonly perceived barriers to adaptation. We conclude there is huge variation in management styles and more evidence-based environmental advice for viticulturists is needed

Sow Wild! Effective Methods and Identification Bias in Pollinator-Focused Experimental Citizen Science

A common debate on the value of citizen science projects is the accuracy of data collected and the validity of conclusions drawn. Sow Wild! was a hypothesis-driven citizen science project that investigated the benefits of sowing a 4 m2 mini-meadow in private gardens and allotments to attract beneficial insects. The use of researcher-verified specimen-based methods (pan traps, yellow sticky traps) and observational insect watches allowed investigation of potential bias in identification skills and sampling methods conducted by citizen scientists. For bumblebees and honeybees, identification of pan trap insect specimens was similar between researchers and citizen scientists, but solitary bees were possibly misidentified as social wasps or hoverflies. Key results of the Sow Wild! project differed between specimen-based and observation-only data sets, probably due to unconscious bias, such that incorrect conclusions may have been drawn if we had relied solely on observations made by citizen scientists without detailed training. Comparing the efficiency of sampling methods, insect watches produced the most insect observations overall. Yellow sticky traps collected more solitary wasps, social wasps, hoverflies and honeybees than pan traps. There was also variation in the abundance of insects caught according to the four pan trap colours. While all of these sampling methods can be successfully incorporated into citizen science projects to monitor a range of flying insects in urban landscapes, we recommend that verification of data by taxonomic experts is a valuable component of hypothesis-led citizen science projects, and increased training is required if target taxa include less conspicuous insect groups

The Glial Regenerative Response to Central Nervous System Injury Is Enabled by Pros-Notch and Pros-NFκB Feedback

Organisms are structurally robust, as cells accommodate changes preserving structural integrity and function. The molecular mechanisms underlying structural robustness and plasticity are poorly understood, but can be investigated by probing how cells respond to injury. Injury to the CNS induces proliferation of enwrapping glia, leading to axonal re-enwrapment and partial functional recovery. This glial regenerative response is found across species, and may reflect a common underlying genetic mechanism. Here, we show that injury to the Drosophila larval CNS induces glial proliferation, and we uncover a gene network controlling this response. It consists of the mutual maintenance between the cell cycle inhibitor Prospero (Pros) and the cell cycle activators Notch and NFκB. Together they maintain glia in the brink of dividing, they enable glial proliferation following injury, and subsequently they exert negative feedback on cell division restoring cell cycle arrest. Pros also promotes glial differentiation, resolving vacuolization, enabling debris clearance and axonal enwrapment. Disruption of this gene network prevents repair and induces tumourigenesis. Using wound area measurements across genotypes and time-lapse recordings we show that when glial proliferation and glial differentiation are abolished, both the size of the glial wound and neuropile vacuolization increase. When glial proliferation and differentiation are enabled, glial wound size decreases and injury-induced apoptosis and vacuolization are prevented. The uncovered gene network promotes regeneration of the glial lesion and neuropile repair. In the unharmed animal, it is most likely a homeostatic mechanism for structural robustness. This gene network may be of relevance to mammalian glia to promote repair upon CNS injury or disease

Effect of remote ischaemic conditioning on clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI): a single-blind randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Remote ischaemic conditioning with transient ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm has been shown to reduce myocardial infarct size in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). We investigated whether remote ischaemic conditioning could reduce the incidence of cardiac death and hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months. METHODS: We did an international investigator-initiated, prospective, single-blind, randomised controlled trial (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI) at 33 centres across the UK, Denmark, Spain, and Serbia. Patients (age >18 years) with suspected STEMI and who were eligible for PPCI were randomly allocated (1:1, stratified by centre with a permuted block method) to receive standard treatment (including a sham simulated remote ischaemic conditioning intervention at UK sites only) or remote ischaemic conditioning treatment (intermittent ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm through four cycles of 5-min inflation and 5-min deflation of an automated cuff device) before PPCI. Investigators responsible for data collection and outcome assessment were masked to treatment allocation. The primary combined endpoint was cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02342522) and is completed. FINDINGS: Between Nov 6, 2013, and March 31, 2018, 5401 patients were randomly allocated to either the control group (n=2701) or the remote ischaemic conditioning group (n=2700). After exclusion of patients upon hospital arrival or loss to follow-up, 2569 patients in the control group and 2546 in the intervention group were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. At 12 months post-PPCI, the Kaplan-Meier-estimated frequencies of cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure (the primary endpoint) were 220 (8·6%) patients in the control group and 239 (9·4%) in the remote ischaemic conditioning group (hazard ratio 1·10 [95% CI 0·91-1·32], p=0·32 for intervention versus control). No important unexpected adverse events or side effects of remote ischaemic conditioning were observed. INTERPRETATION: Remote ischaemic conditioning does not improve clinical outcomes (cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure) at 12 months in patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI. FUNDING: British Heart Foundation, University College London Hospitals/University College London Biomedical Research Centre, Danish Innovation Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, TrygFonden

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale

Increasing frailty is associated with higher prevalence and reduced recognition of delirium in older hospitalised inpatients: results of a multi-centre study

Purpose: Delirium is a neuropsychiatric disorder delineated by an acute change in cognition, attention, and consciousness. It is common, particularly in older adults, but poorly recognised. Frailty is the accumulation of deficits conferring an increased risk of adverse outcomes. We set out to determine how severity of frailty, as measured using the CFS, affected delirium rates, and recognition in hospitalised older people in the United Kingdom. Methods: Adults over 65 years were included in an observational multi-centre audit across UK hospitals, two prospective rounds, and one retrospective note review. Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), delirium status, and 30-day outcomes were recorded. Results: The overall prevalence of delirium was 16.3% (483). Patients with delirium were more frail than patients without delirium (median CFS 6 vs 4). The risk of delirium was greater with increasing frailty [OR 2.9 (1.8–4.6) in CFS 4 vs 1–3; OR 12.4 (6.2–24.5) in CFS 8 vs 1–3]. Higher CFS was associated with reduced recognition of delirium (OR of 0.7 (0.3–1.9) in CFS 4 compared to 0.2 (0.1–0.7) in CFS 8). These risks were both independent of age and dementia. Conclusion: We have demonstrated an incremental increase in risk of delirium with increasing frailty. This has important clinical implications, suggesting that frailty may provide a more nuanced measure of vulnerability to delirium and poor outcomes. However, the most frail patients are least likely to have their delirium diagnosed and there is a significant lack of research into the underlying pathophysiology of both of these common geriatric syndromes

Sow wild! Effective methods and identification bias in pollinator-focused experimental citizen science

A common debate on the value of citizen science projects is the accuracy of data collected and the validity of conclusions drawn. Sow Wild! was a hypothesis-driven citizen science project that investigated the benefits of sowing a 4 m2 mini-meadow in private gardens and allotments to attract beneficial insects. The use of researcher-verified specimen-based methods (pan traps, yellow sticky traps) and observational insect watches allowed investigation of potential bias in identification skills and sampling methods conducted by citizen scientists. For bumblebees and honeybees, identification of pan trap insect specimens was similar between researchers and citizen scientists, but solitary bees were possibly misidentified as social wasps or hoverflies. Key results of the Sow Wild! project differed between specimen-based and observation-only data sets, probably due to unconscious bias, such that incorrect conclusions may have been drawn if we had relied solely on observations made by citizen scientists without detailed training. Comparing the efficiency of sampling methods, insect watches produced the most insect observations overall. Yellow sticky traps collected more solitary wasps, social wasps, hoverflies and honeybees than pan traps. There was also variation in the abundance of insects caught according to the four pan trap colours. While all of these sampling methods can be successfully incorporated into citizen science projects to monitor a range of flying insects in urban landscapes, we recommend that verification of data by taxonomic experts is a valuable component of hypothesis-led citizen science projects, and increased training is required if target taxa include less conspicuous insect groups.</p

Sown mini-meadows increase pollinator diversity in gardens

Habitat loss and fragmentation are considered the foremost threats in pollinator decline, and in England and Wales, 97% of wildflower meadows were lost by 1984. The value of creating flower-rich margins in agricultural environments is established, yet there is growing potential to support pollinator populations in urban landscapes. We used citizen science to investigate the effectiveness of small 4m2 sown wildflower ‘mini-meadows’ in UK gardens and allotments in recruiting beneficial insects. Participants were allocated one of three treatment groups: Mix 1 (commercially available ‘meadow mix’); Mix 2 (formulated based on existing literature on pollinator foraging preferences); or Control (no additional wildflowers). All participants conducted insect sampling over two years using standardised pan and sticky trap methods May–August. Samples were returned for identification by trained specialists. Mini-meadows provided resource-rich habitats, increasing wild bee richness and supporting on average 111% more bumblebees, 87% more solitary bees and 85% more solitary wasps in the year following seed-sowing, compared to Control plots. The wildflower mixes were also taxon-specific in their attractiveness. Mix 1 attracted more solitary bees and bumblebees, whereas Mix 2 attracted more solitary wasps. There was no significant difference in the abundance of hoverflies between treatments. Higher abundance of solitary wasps and bees caught amongst the mini-meadow was perhaps due to shorter foraging ranges