Crop pests and predators exhibit inconsistent responses to surrounding landscape composition

The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop damage as a function of landscape composition. Our results showed that although landscape composition explained significant variation within studies, pest and enemy abundances, predation rates, crop damage, and yields each exhibited different responses across studies, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing in landscapes with more noncrop habitat but overall showing no consistent trend. Thus, models that used landscape-composition variables to predict pest-control dynamics demonstrated little potential to explain variation across studies, though prediction did improve when comparing studies with similar crop and landscape features. Overall, our work shows that surrounding noncrop habitat does not consistently improve pest management, meaning habitat conservation may bolster production in some systems and depress yields in others. Future efforts to develop tools that inform farmers when habitat conservation truly represents a win–win would benefit from increased understanding of how landscape effects are modulated by local farm management and the biology of pests and their enemies

Qualitative Studies of Infant and Young Child Feeding in Lower-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Synthesis of Dietary Patterns

Continued high rates of both under- and over-nutrition in low- and low-middle-income countries highlight the importance of understanding dietary practices such as early and exclusive breastfeeding, and dietary patterns such as timely, appropriate complementary feeding—these behaviors are rooted in complex cultural ecologies. A systematic review and synthesis of available qualitative research related to infant and young child dietary patterns and practices from the perspective of parents and families in low income settings is presented, with a focus on barriers and facilitators to achieving international recommendations. Data from both published and grey literature from 2006 to 2016 was included in the review. Quality assessment consisted of two phases (Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) guidelines and assessment using GRADE-CERQual), followed by synthesis of the studies identified, and subsequent thematic analysis and interpretation. The findings indicated several categories of both barriers and facilitators, spanning individual and system level factors. The review informs efforts aimed at improving child health and nutrition, and represents the first such comprehensive review of the qualitative literature, uniquely suited to understanding complex behaviors leading to infant and young child dietary patterns

Diet Quality and Sleep Characteristics in Midlife: The Bogalusa Heart Study

Background: Sleep and diet contribute to cardiometabolic disease, but evidence is sparse for the association between these behaviors. This study analyzed the cross-sectional relationship between diet quality and multiple sleep outcomes in the Bogalusa Heart Study (BHS). Methods: Diet and sleep characteristics, including insomnia and sleep apnea symptoms, were measured with validated questionnaires. Poisson regression using generalized estimating equations with a log link estimated prevalence rate ratios (PRR) of sleep outcomes by dietary pattern scores (quintile (Q) and per SD). Models were adjusted for body mass index (BMI), multi-level socioeconomic factors, physical activity, depressive symptoms, and other potential confounders. Results: In 824 participants, higher diet quality, measured by the Alternate Healthy Eating Index-2010, was associated with lower sleep apnea risk score after adjustment (PRR [95% confidence interval (CI)] Q5 vs. Q1: 0.59 [0.44, 0.79], per SD increase: 0.88 [0.81, 0.95], p-trend < 0.0001). There were no statistically significant associations with the Healthy Eating Index 2015 or the Alternate Mediterranean dietary patterns, or for insomnia symptoms or a healthy sleep score. Conclusions: Higher diet quality, after adjustment for BMI, was associated with a lower sleep apnea risk score in a cohort with substantial minority representation from a semi-rural, lower-income community

Elevated atmospheric concentrations of CO2 increase endogenous immune function in a specialist herbivore

Animals rely on a balance of endogenous and exogenous sources of immunity to mitigate parasite attack. Understanding how environmental context affects that balance is increasingly urgent under rapid environmental change. In herbivores, immunity is determined, in part, by phytochemistry which is plastic in response to environmental conditions. Monarch butterflies Danaus plexippus, consistently experience infection by a virulent parasite Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, and some medicinal milkweed (Asclepias) species, with high concentrations of toxic steroids (cardenolides), provide a potent source of exogenous immunity.We investigated plant‐mediated influences of elevated CO2 (eCO2) on endogenous immune responses of monarch larvae to infection by O. elektroscirrha. Recently, transcriptomics have revealed that infection by O. elektroscirrha does not alter monarch immune gene regulation in larvae, corroborating that monarchs rely more on exogenous than endogenous immunity. However, monarchs feeding on medicinal milkweed grown under eCO2 lose tolerance to the parasite, associated with changes in phytochemistry. Whether changes in milkweed phytochemistry induced by eCO2 alter the balance between exogenous and endogenous sources of immunity remains unknown.We fed monarchs two species of milkweed; A. curassavica (medicinal) and A. incarnata (non‐medicinal) grown under ambient CO2 (aCO2) or eCO2. We then measured endogenous immune responses (phenoloxidase activity, haemocyte concentration and melanization strength), along with foliar chemistry, to assess mechanisms of monarch immunity under future atmospheric conditions.The melanization response of late‐instar larvae was reduced on medicinal milkweed in comparison to non‐medicinal milkweed. Moreover, the endogenous immune responses of early‐instar larvae to infection by O. elektroscirrha were generally lower in larvae reared on foliage from aCO2 plants and higher in larvae reared on foliage from eCO2 plants. When grown under eCO2, milkweed plants exhibited lower cardenolide concentrations, lower phytochemical diversity and lower nutritional quality (higher C:N ratios). Together, these results suggest that the loss of exogenous immunity from foliage under eCO2 results in increased endogenous immune function.Animal populations face multiple threats induced by anthropogenic environmental change. Our results suggest that shifts in the balance between exogenous and endogenous sources of immunity to parasite attack may represent an underappreciated consequence of environmental change.Animal populations face multiple threats induced by anthropogenic environmental change. The authors’ results suggest that shifts in the balance between exogenous and endogenous sources of immunity to parasite attack may represent an underappreciated consequence of environmental change.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167053/1/jane13395-sup-0001-Supinfo.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167053/2/jane13395.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167053/3/jane13395_am.pd

A genome-wide investigation of the worldwide invader Sargassum muticum shows high success albeit (almost) no genetic diversity

Twenty years of genetic studies of marine invaders have shown that successful invaders are often characterized by native and introduced populations displaying similar levels of genetic diversity. This pattern is presumably due to high propagule pressure and repeated introductions. The opposite pattern is reported in this study of the brown seaweed, Sargassum muticum, an emblematic species for circumglobal invasions. Albeit demonstrating polymorphism in the native range, microsatellites failed to detect any genetic variation over 1,269 individuals sampled from 46 locations over the Pacific-Atlantic introduction range. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) obtained from ddRAD sequencing revealed some genetic variation, but confirmed severe founder events in both the Pacific and Atlantic introduction ranges. Our study thus exemplifies the need for extreme caution in interpreting neutral genetic diversity as a proxy for invasive potential. Our results confirm a previously hypothesized transoceanic secondary introduction from NE Pacific to Europe. However, the SNP panel unexpectedly revealed two additional distinct genetic origins of introductions. Also, conversely to scenarios based on historical records, southern rather than northern NE Pacific populations could have seeded most of the European populations. Finally, the most recently introduced populations showed the lowest selfing rates, suggesting higher levels of recombination might be beneficial at the early stage of the introduction process (i.e., facilitating evolutionary novelties), whereas uniparental reproduction might be favored later in sustainably established populations (i.e., sustaining local adaptation).Agence Nationale de la Recherche - ANR-10-BTBR-04; European Regional Development Fund; Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia - SFRH/BPD/107878/2015, UID/Multi/04326/2016, UID/Multi/04326/2019; Brittany Region;info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Data from: Crop pests and predators exhibit inconsistent responses to surrounding landscape composition

The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop damage as a function of landscape composition. Our results showed that although landscape composition explained significant variation within studies, pest and enemy abundances, predation rates, crop damage, and yields each exhibited different responses across studies, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing in landscapes with more noncrop habitat but overall showing no consistent trend. Thus, models that used landscape-composition variables to predict pest-control dynamics demonstrated little potential to explain variation across studies, though prediction did improve when comparing studies with similar crop and landscape features. Overall, our work shows that surrounding noncrop habitat does not consistently improve pest management, meaning habitat conservation may bolster production in some systems and depress yields in others. Future efforts to develop tools that inform farmers when habitat conservation truly represents a win–win would benefit from increased understanding of how landscape effects are modulated by local farm management and the biology of pests and their enemies

Crop pests and predators exhibit inconsistent responses to surrounding landscape composition

The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop damage as a function of landscape composition. Our results showed that although landscape composition explained significant variation within studies, pest and enemy abundances, predation rates, crop damage, and yields each exhibited different responses across studies, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing in landscapes with more noncrop habitat but overall showing no consistent trend. Thus, models that used landscape-composition variables to predict pest-control dynamics demonstrated little potential to explain variation across studies, though prediction did improve when comparing studies with similar crop and landscape features. Overall, our work shows that surrounding noncrop habitat does not consistently improve pest management, meaning habitat conservation may bolster production in some systems and depress yields in others. Future efforts to develop tools that inform farmers when habitat conservation truly represents a win–win would benefit from increased understanding of how landscape effects are modulated by local farm management and the biology of pests and their enemies