Farming along desire lines: Collective action and food systems adaptation to climate change.

1. We examine collective action in the food system of the Canadian Maritimes to determine its effect on the resilience and adaptive capacity of food producers, distributors, retailers and governance institutions. 2. Our data suggest that beyond their immediate benefits for their participants, expressions of collective action generate higher-level impacts which often translate into drivers of adaptive capacity. 3. Drawing on a metaphor from urban design, we suggest that collective action should be considered a desire line for food systems adaptation: rather than building adaptation strategies based on top-down design, collective action emerges from farmers’ needs and capacities to build financial resilience, enhance human and social capital and strengthen institutional agency within the system.Acknowledgements: The authors express their deep gratitude to all the participants who volunteered their precious time, expertise, and kindness to this research. Thanks to the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet nations, on whose unceded territory the Climate Resilience on Maritime Farms project takes place. Thanks as well to the friends at Community Forests International and the McGill Land and Food Lab, who provided companionship and workspace; and to Günther Grill and Penny Beames, for the GIS help. Thanks to the Rhodes Trust (UK) and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation (Canada) for their unwavering support of B.S.Ye

Developmental Sex Differences in Nicotinic Currents of Prefrontal Layer VI Neurons in Mice and Rats

There is a large sex difference in the prevalence of attention deficit disorder; yet, relatively little is known about sex differences in the development of prefrontal attention circuitry. In male rats, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors excite corticothalamic neurons in layer VI, which are thought to play an important role in attention by gating the sensitivity of thalamic neurons to incoming stimuli. These nicotinic currents in male rats are significantly larger during the first postnatal month when prefrontal circuitry is maturing. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether there are sex differences in the nicotinic currents in prefrontal layer VI neurons during development.Using whole cell recording in prefrontal brain slice, we examined the inward currents elicited by nicotinic stimulation in male and female rats and two strains of mice. We found a prominent sex difference in the currents during the first postnatal month when males had significantly greater nicotinic currents in layer VI neurons compared to females. These differences were apparent with three agonists: acetylcholine, carbachol, and nicotine. Furthermore, the developmental sex difference in nicotinic currents occurred despite male and female rodents displaying a similar pattern and proportion of layer VI neurons possessing a key nicotinic receptor subunit.This is the first illustration at a cellular level that prefrontal attention circuitry is differently affected by nicotinic receptor stimulation in males and females during development. This transient sex difference may help to define the cellular and circuit mechanisms that underlie vulnerability to attention deficit disorder

Precondition for Integration: In Support of Stand-alone Social Science in Rangeland and Silvopastoral Research

Most agree that social and ecological approaches should be integrated to ensure sustainable management of natural resources. However, an analysis of the content of three problem-based journals shows that if social sciences are included at all, they are typically subservient to natural sciences, and that quantitative approaches are privileged. We argue that true integration is achievable only if natural sciences and social sciences are each robust and if they meet eye to eye. We call for more openness to stand-alone social science research in problem-based journals, especially to research using qualitative methods. We highlight the potential insights derived from studying decision makers at the microlevel: the pastoralists, farmers, ranchers, and foresters who make final management choices. We argue that publishing such qualitative social sciences promotes dialogue across disciplines, strengthens integration, and increases the real-world impact of research.The Rangeland Ecology & Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information

Adaptive multi-paddock grazing and wellbeing: uptake, management practices and mindset among Canadian beef producers

Adaptive multi-paddock (AMP) grazing practices have been debated based on production, environmental and workload impacts, but farmer wellbeing is only beginning to be explored. A panel-based online survey of 200 Canadian beef producers was undertaken in early 2020 with a descriptive aim to explore the uptake, management, mindsets, and wellbeing implications associated with AMP grazing. AMP practices were more common than expected (29%) as well as distinct in grazing regime, featuring fast rotation, and long rests. AMP ranchers reported high physical wellbeing, as well as systems thinking, nontraditional values, a priority for enjoying life and tendency to use a wide range of modes to learn about grazing. Other dimensions of wellbeing, environmental motivations, and gender dimensions suggested by smaller-n studies were not associated with AMP grazing in this work. These insights are important as the federal government begins to promote AMP grazing and its variants as strategies to combat climate change. More nuanced understanding of adaptive grazing and its trajectory would be possible via consistent, longitudinal surveys with improved operationalization of wellbeing concepts, more detailed exploration of educational background, inclusion of religious beliefs, and elucidation of management characteristics beyond grazing regime variables