Seeds of Resilience: Learning from COVID-19 to Strengthen Seed Systems in Vermont

Seeds are central to crop-based production systems, yet in the United States seeds have been largely overlooked in both research and local and regional food systems initiatives. This report seeks to address the gap in seed-related research by assessing current strengths and vulnerabilities of Vermont’s seed systems. In particular, the findings presented in this report illuminate how seed systems can maintain function in the face of external shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and how we can apply the lessons learned toward building resilience for an uncertain future due to factors such as climate change. Despite the turmoil caused by the pandemic, the last several years have provided a unique opportunity to identify strategies to strengthen Vermont’s seed systems. The data presented and discussed in this report build on existing research and showcase a myriad of seed-related efforts in Vermont. We use an interdisciplinary approach to study the supply and demand for seed among farmers and gardeners in Vermont during the COVID-19 pandemic. To contextualize our report, we begin with a brief summary of findings taken from the 2020 and 2021 Vermonter Polls regarding seed system trends. Data from these surveys, conducted by the UVM Center for Rural Studies, were collected in February-March 2020 (before and during the onset of the pandemic in Vermont) and February- March 2021 (nearly a year into the pandemic). We then present the findings from two online surveys of commercial farmers (n=73) and non-commercial seed growers (n=75) in Vermont, which include a specific focus on five commonly grown crops in Vermont: garlic, tomatoes, squash, lettuce, and potatoes. In the future, this work can guide collaborative and participatory responses to seed system vulnerabilities exposed by the COVID-19 crisis

Global change effects on plant communities are magnified by time and the number of global change factors imposed

Global change drivers (GCDs) are expected to alter community structure and consequently, the services that ecosystems provide. Yet, few experimental investigations have examined effects of GCDs on plant community structure across multiple ecosystem types, and those that do exist present conflicting patterns. In an unprecedented global synthesis of over 100 experiments that manipulated factors linked to GCDs, we show that herbaceous plant community responses depend on experimental manipulation length and number of factors manipulated. We found that plant communities are fairly resistant to experimentally manipulated GCDs in the short term (<10 y). In contrast, long-term (≥10 y) experiments show increasing community divergence of treatments from control conditions. Surprisingly, these community responses occurred with similar frequency across the GCD types manipulated in our database. However, community responses were more common when 3 or more GCDs were simultaneously manipulated, suggesting the emergence of additive or synergistic effects of multiple drivers, particularly over long time periods. In half of the cases, GCD manipulations caused a difference in community composition without a corresponding species richness difference, indicating that species reordering or replacement is an important mechanism of community responses to GCDs and should be given greater consideration when examining consequences of GCDs for the biodiversity–ecosystem function relationship. Human activities are currently driving unparalleled global changes worldwide. Our analyses provide the most comprehensive evidence to date that these human activities may have widespread impacts on plant community composition globally, which will increase in frequency over time and be greater in areas where communities face multiple GCDs simultaneously

Is variety the spice of life? An experimental investigation into the effects of species richness on self-reported mental well-being.

<div><p>Losses in biodiversity and trends toward urbanisation have reduced people’s contact with biodiverse nature, yet the consequences for mental well-being are not well understood. Here, we demonstrate that greater plant and animal species richness in isolation causes an improvement in mental well-being. To do so, the present research experimentally manipulated species richness and assessed widely-used indicators of mental well-being. Participants viewed short videos of either high or low tree (Study 1) or bird (Study 2) species richness and reported on positive (i.e., vitality, positive affect) and negative (i.e., anxiety) indicators of mental well-being. Building on Study 1, Study 2 included an urban environment as a reference treatment and explored the role of giving participants information on the presented environment. We find that, in line with expectations, watching videos containing greater species richness consistently leads to higher mental well-being. We discuss findings in light of the importance of connecting people to biodiverse environments.</p></div