The “Smalls” Nephrops Grounds (FU22) 2022 UWTV Survey Report and catch scenarios for 2023

This report provides the main results and findings of the seventeenth annual underwater television survey on the ‘Smalls grounds’ ICES assessment area; Functional Unit 22. The survey was multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV and other ecosystem data. A total of 42 UWTV stations were surveyed successfully (high quality image data), carried out over an isometric grid at 4.5nmi or 8.3km intervals. The precision, with a CV of 7%, was well below the upper limit of 20% recommended by SGNEPS (ICES, 2012). The 2022 abundance estimate was 36% higher than in 2022 and at 895 million is below the MSY Btrigger reference point (990 million). Using the 2022 estimate of abundance and updated stock data implies catch in 2023 that correspond to the ICES MSY approach of 2548 tonnes, assuming that discard rates and fishery selection patterns do not change from the average of 2019 - 2021. One species of sea pen was recorded as present at the stations surveyed: Virgularia mirabilis. Trawl marks were observed at 29% of the stations surveyed

BIOSMART - Política agroambiental, sistemas silvopastoriles, biodiversidad y cambio climático

BIOSMART1 es un proyecto interdisciplinario e internacional con duración de 3 años dedicado al estudio de la implementación de sistemas silvopastoriles (SSP)2 y otros esquemas agroambientales en la Amazonía colombiana en pro de la sociedad, el medio ambiente y la economía local. El proyecto Paisajes Sostenibles para la Amazonía, liderado por el CIAT3 fue uno de los esquemas estudiados. Los métodos de investigación incluyeron entrevistas semiestructuradas, sondeos telefónicos, grupos focales, juegos de percepción de riesgo, modelación de cambios en el uso del suelo y ecología de campo. Aspiramos a una mejor comprensión de estos sistemas para apoyar los objetivos de desarrollo sostenible relacionados con la erradicación de la pobreza, el impulso del desarrollo rural, el logro de una producción pecuaria neto cero carbono y la conservación de los bosques y la biodiversidad

BIOSMART Agri-environmental policy, silvopastoral systems, biodiversity, and climate change

BIOSMART1 is a 3-year interdisciplinary and international project focused on studying the implementation of silvopastoral systems (SPS)2 and other agrienvironmental schemes in the Colombian Amazon for the benefit of society, the environment, and the local economy. These schemes include the Sustainable Amazonian Landscapes project led by CIAT.3 Our methods include semi-structured interviews, telephone surveys, focus groups, risk-perception games, land-use change modeling, and ecological fieldwork. Our aims are to improve understanding of these systems to support sustainable development goals around eradication of poverty, boosting rural development, achieving net-zero carbon farming, and conserving forests and biodiversity

FU19 Nephrops Grounds 2022 UWTV Survey Report and catch scenarios for 2023

This report provides the main results of the twelfth underwater television survey of the various Nephrops patches in Functional Unit 19. The survey was multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV and other ecosystem data. In 2022 a total 42 UWTV stations were successfully completed. The mean density estimates varied considerably across the different patches. The 2022 raised abundance estimate showed a 4% decrease from the 2021 estimate and at 259 million burrows is below the MSY Btrigger reference point (430 million). Using the 2022 estimate of abundance and updated stock data implies catch in 2023 that correspond to the F ranges in the EU multi annual plan for Western Waters are between 302 and 338 tonnes (assuming that discard rates and fishery selection patterns do not change from the average of 2019–2021). One species of sea pen was observed; Virgularia mirabilis which has been observed on previous surveys of FU19. Trawl marks were observed at 12% of the stations surveyed

The Labadie, Jones and Cockburn Banks Nephrops Grounds (FU2021) 2022 UWTV Survey Report and catch scenarios for 2023

This report is embargoed unti the 1st November when it will be published in sync with ICES.This report provides the main results of the 2022 underwater television survey on the ‘Labadie, Jones and Cockburn Banks’ ICES assessment area; Functional Unit 2021. The 2022 annual survey was multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV and other ecosystem data. A total of 92 UWTV stations were completed at 6 nm intervals over a randomised isometric grid design. The mean burrow density was 0.10 burrows/m2 compared with 0.12 burrows/m2 in the year 2021. The 2022 geostatistical abundance estimate was 1032 million, a 14% decrease on the abundance from 2021, with a CV of 5%, which is well below the upper limit of 20% recommended by SGNEPS 2012. Low to medium densities were observed throughout the ground. Using the 2022 estimate of abundance and updated stock data implies catch in 2023 that correspond to the ICES MSY approach of 1803 tonnes assuming that discard rates and fishery selection patterns do not change from the average of 2019–2021. One species of sea-pen (Virgularia mirabilis) was recorded as present at the stations surveyed. Trawl marks were observed at 20% of the stations surveyed

Addressing pollination deficits in orchard crops through habitat management for wild pollinators

There is increasing evidence that farmers in many areas are achieving below maximum yields due to insufficient pollination. Practical and effective approaches are needed to maintain wild pollinator populations within agroecosystems so they can deliver critical pollination services that underpin crop production. We established nesting and wildflower habitat interventions in 24 UK apple orchards and measured effects on flower-visiting insects and the pollination they provide, exploring how this was affected by landscape context. We quantified the extent of pollination deficits and assessed whether the management of wild pollinators can reduce deficits and deliver improved outcomes for growers over 3 years. Wildflower interventions increased solitary bee numbers visiting apple flowers by over 20%, but there was no effect of nesting interventions. Other pollinator groups were influenced by both local and landscape-scale factors, with bumblebees and hoverflies responding to the relative proportion of semi-natural habitat at larger spatial scales (1000 m), while honeybees and other flies responded at 500 m or less. By improving fruit number and quality, pollinators contributed more than £16 k per hectare. However, deficits (where maximum potential was not being reached due to a lack of pollination) were recorded and the extent of these varied across orchards, and from year to year, with a 22% deficit in output in the worst (equivalent to ~£14 k/ha) compared to less than 3% (equivalent to ~£2 k/ha) in the best year. Although no direct effect of our habitat interventions on deficits in gross output was observed, initial fruit set and seed set deficits were reduced by abundant bumblebees, and orchards with a greater abundance of solitary bees saw lower deficits in fruit size. The abundance of pollinators in apple orchards is influenced by different local and landscape factors that interact and vary between years. Consequently, pollination, and the extent of economic output deficits, also vary between orchards and years. We highlight how approaches, including establishing wildflower areas and optimizing the ratio of cropped and non-cropped habitats can increase the abundance of key apple pollinators and improve outcomes for growers

Resilience of tropical invertebrate community assembly processes to a gradient of land use intensity

Understanding how community assembly processes drive biodiversity patterns is a central goal of community ecology. While it is generally accepted that ecological communities are assembled by both stochastic and deterministic processes, quantifying their relative importance remains challenging. Few studies have investigated how the relative importance of stochastic and deterministic community assembly processes vary among taxa and along gradients of habitat degradation. Using data on 1645 arthropod species across seven taxonomic groups in Malaysian Borneo, we quantified the importance of ecological stochasticity and of a suite of community assembly processes across a gradient of logging intensity. The relationship between logging and community assembly varied depending on the specific combination of taxa and stochasticity metric used, but, in general, the processes that govern invertebrate community assembly were remarkably robust to changes in land use intensity

Invertebrate data from malaise traps and sweep transects according to habitat type on farms in Caquetá, Colombia

These datasets include abundance data for invertebrates caught in three different habitat types on five farms in Caquetá, Colombia. Invertebrates were caught using two sampling methods, sweep net transects and malaise traps. Invertebrates were identified to order level at the Universidad de la Amazonia. These data were collected to investigate the impact of adopting silvopasture farming practices on biodiversity. As such, invertebrates were sampled in silvopasture plots, traditional intensive pasture plots and in forest remnants on each farm. Fieldwork was carried out over a three week period in August 2018