Setting the agenda: Climate change adaptation and mitigation for food systems in the developing world

New agricultural development pathways are required to meet climate change adaptation and mitigation needs in the food systems of low-income countries. A research and policy agenda is provided to indicate where innovation and new knowledge are needed. Adaptation requires identifying suitable crop varieties and livestock breeds, as well as building resilient farming and natural resources systems, institutions for famine and crop failure relief, and mechanisms for rapid learning by farmers. Mitigation requires transitioning to ‘low climate impact’ agriculture that reduces emissions while achieving food security, economic well-being and sustainability. Efficient interventions, incentives for large-scale shifts in practices, and monitoring systems are required. Integrated assessments of adaptation and mitigation are needed to better understand the synergies and trade-offs among outcomes

Higher education and sustainable development of marine resources

Marine park is a designated area of the sea where national regulatory authorities place limits on certain human activities. Marine parks usually allow multiple uses. Certain zones are protected for preserving specific habitats for marine biodiversity to achieve ecological sustainability while in others activities such as recreational fishing, ecotourism, snorkeling, and diving are allowed. Large marine parks have open zones for fishing and no-take zones where extractive activities such as fishing, sand mining, and drilling are prohibited. Generally, marine parks are considered suitable places for gaining scientific understanding and promoting environmental awareness while safeguarding the benefits of indigenous coastal communities. Sea ranching is a type of marine farming in which juveniles are released into the ocean where they grow without containment structures. The juveniles are generally produced in the hatcheries. In some cases, wild-caught juveniles from one area are also released into another area for stock enhancement or creating a fishery resource. They grow unprotected and without any assistance such as feed from outside. The marine environment provides the juveniles all the resources to grow to be subsequently harvested. Sea ranching is unlike mariculture where stocked species are held in captivity, in cages, sea pens, or other types of enclosures, and provided feed and other requirements from external sources. Nature-based solutions are human actions aimed at sustainably managing the natural or modified ecosystems. Such solutions include measures to protect and restore the ecosystems and are inspired by nature. In the context of oceans, the nature-based solutions are systematic and informed interventions that are resource-efficient and help in building resilience. This concept is based on the understanding that healthy ocean provides more ecosystem services that benefit the humanity

Impact of microbial-feeding animals on total soil activity and nitrogen dynamics - a soil microcosm experiment

Abstract in UndeterminedThe long-term impact of microbial-feeding animals on microbial populations was studied in microcosms containing pine seedlings growing in a gamma sterilized humus-sand mixture. Organism communities of diverse complexity were introduced into the microcosms. The two main experimental series contained microorganisms only and microorganisms and microorganism-feeding nematodes, respectively. After 18 months the following analyses were made: soil chemical characteristics, weight and nitrogen content of the seedlings, soil respiration, abundance, biomass, and in some cases, species composition of the different soil organism populations. During the incubation, leaching of nitrogen from the microcosms was measured continuously. The rate of nitrogen leaching from the microcosms increased during the first 6 months. During the remaining 12 months the leaching stabilized at a low rate. Initially, the series with microbial-feeding nematodes had a lower rate of nitrogen loss through leaching compared to the series with only microorganisms added. Towards the end of the experiment the situation was reversed. The pine seedlings showed a very poor growth in all series with no significant differences between the treatments. In the microcosms, bacteria appeared to be the most important microorganism group; fungi, algae and yeasts were present in low amounts. The presence of bacterial feeding nematodes reduced the number of bacteria but did not reduce the soil respiration rate. A significant correlation was obtained between the numbers of nematodes and the respiration rate of the microcosms, which is interpreted as an increased bacterial production rate due to the presence of bacterial-feeding animals

Biological aspects of nitrogen mineralization in humus from a pine forest podsol incubated under different moisture and temperature conditions

Abstract in UndeterminedFluctuations of soil organism abundance, soil respiration and inorganic nitrogen werestudied in a laboratory experiment on material taken from the humus layer of a Scotspine forest and incubated under different moisture and temperature regimes. Theexperiment was run for 28 wk with samplings every 7 wk. At 28 wk, increases in"total movable N" (inorganic N + biomass N) were observed in samples incubated athigh temperature and/or high moisture content. Most of the N was found in biomassexcept in incubations at the highest temperatures and moistures. Under those conditions,high abundance of nematodes occurred together with drastically increasedamounts of inorganic N. Low values of inorganic N were recorded under conditionscommon in the field. No obvious relations could be detected between standing cropsof bacteria and temperature, moisture or respiration. The number of bacterial-feedingnematodes seemed to be a possible measure of previous bacterial productioncontributing more information than the standing crop measurements of the bacteria,which varied little despite the direct evidence of substantial bacterial production insome incubation conditions

Effect of nitrogen and carbon supply on the development of soil organism populations and pine seedlings - microcosm experiment

Series of pots containing Scots pine seedlings and a humus-sand mixture were watered twice weekly for 398 d with different nutrient solutions (control treatment with complete plant nutrient solution less nitrogen; glucose addition; nitrogen addition; glucose and nitrogen addition). Analyses were made of organic and nitrogen contents in the substrate, plant weights and nitrogen contents, nitrogen fixation and respiration rates, abundance, biomass and in some cases species composition of different soil organism populations. The growth rate of pine seedlings was lowest in series supplied with glucose, which is most easily explained by a deficiency of nitrogen due to microbial immobilization. The fungi and yeast were stimulated by addition of an easily available carbon source whereas the bacteria needed both nitrogen and carbon to maintain high biomass. A positive correlation between fungal feeding soil organisms and amount of fungal mycelium was found while a more complex situation prevailed with regard to bacterial numbers and bacterial feeding nematodes. The systems are evaluated in relation to the different treatments and compared with the field situation

Effects of experimental acidification and liming on soil organisms and decomposition in a scots pine forest

Abstract in Arabic Abstract is not availabl