SMART Research: Toward Interdisciplinary River Science in Europe

Interdisciplinary science is rapidly advancing to address complex human-environment interactions. River science aims to provide the methods and knowledge required to sustainably manage some of the planet’s most important and vulnerable ecosystems; and there is a clear need for river managers and scientists to be trained within an interdisciplinary approach. However, despite the science community’s recognition of the importance of interdisciplinary training, there are few studies examining interdisciplinary graduate programs, especially in science and engineering. Here we assess and reflect on the contribution of a 9-year European doctoral program in river science: ‘Science for MAnagement of Rivers and their Tidal Systems’ Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate (SMART EMJD). The program trained a new generation of 36 early career scientists under the supervision of 34 international experts from different disciplinary and interdisciplinary research fields focusing on river systems, aiming to transcend the boundaries between disciplines and between science and management. We analyzed the three core facets of the SMART program, namely: (1) interdisciplinarity, (2) internationalism, and (3) management-oriented science. We reviewed the contents of doctoral theses and publications and synthesized the outcomes of two questionnaire surveys conducted with doctoral candidates and supervisors. A high percentage of the scientific outputs (80%) were interdisciplinary. There was evidence of active collaboration between different teams of doctoral candidates and supervisors, in terms of joint publications (5 papers out of the 69 analyzed) but this was understandably quite limited given the other demands of the program. We found evidence to contradict the perception that interdisciplinarity is a barrier to career success as employment rates were high (97%) and achieved very soon after the defense, both in academia (50%) and the private/public sector (50%) with a strong international dimension. Despite management-oriented research being a limited (9%) portion of the ensemble of theses, employment in management was higher (22%). The SMART program also increased the network of international collaborations for doctoral candidates and supervisors. Reflections on doctoral training programs like SMART contribute to debates around research training and the career opportunities of interdisciplinary scientists

Soil aggregates as massively concurrent evolutionary incubators

Soil aggregation, a key component of soil structure, has mostly been examined from the perspective of soil management and the mediation of ecosystem processes such as soil carbon storage. However, soil aggregation is also a major factor to consider in terms of the fine-scale organization of the soil microbiome. For example, the physico-chemical conditions inside of aggregates usually differ from the conditions prevalent in the bulk soil and aggregates therefore increase the spatial heterogeneity of the soil. In addition, aggregates can provide a refuge for microbes against predation since their interior is not accessible to many predators. Soil aggregates are thus clearly important for microbial community ecology in soils (for example, Vos et al., 2013; Rillig et al., 2016) and for microbially driven biogeochemistry, and soil microbial ecologists are increasingly appreciating these aspects of soil aggregation. Soil aggregates have, however, so far been neglected when it comes to evolutionary considerations (Crawford et al., 2005) and we here propose that the process of soil aggregation should be considered as an important driver of evolution in the soil microbial community

Chapitre 14: Phytopathogènes et stratégies de contrôle en aquaponie

peer reviewedAmong the diversity of plant diseases occurring in aquaponics, soil-borne pathogens, such as Fusarium spp., Phytophthora spp. and Pythium spp., are the most problematic due to their preference for humid/aquatic environment conditions. Phytophthora spp. and Pythium spp. which belong to the Oomycetes pseudo-fungi require special attention because of their mobile form of dispersion, the so-called zoospores that can move freely and actively in liquid water. In coupled aquaponics, curative methods are still limited because of the possible toxicity of pesticides and chemical agents for fish and beneficial bacteria (e.g. nitrifying bacteria of the biofilter). Furthermore, the development of biocontrol agents for aquaponic use is still at its beginning. Consequently, ways to control the initial infection and the progression of a disease are mainly based on preventive actions and water physical treatments. However, suppressive action (suppression) could happen in aquaponic environment considering recent papers and the suppressive activity already highlighted in hydroponics. In addition, aquaponic water contains organic matter that could promote establishment and growth of heterotrophic bacteria in the system or even improve plant growth and viability directly. With regards to organic hydroponics (i.e. use of organic fertilisation and organic plant media), these bacteria could act as antagonist agents or as plant defence elicitors to protect plants from diseases. In the future, research on the disease suppressive ability of the aquaponic biotope must be increased, as well as isolation, characterisation and formulation of microbial plant pathogen antagonists. Finally, a good knowledge in the rapid identification of pathogens, combined with control methods and diseases monitoring, as recommended in integrated plant pest management, is the key to an efficient control of plant diseases in aquaponics.Cos

Impact of spatial organization on a novel auxotrophic interaction among soil microbes

A key prerequisite to achieve a deeper understanding of microbial communities and to engineer synthetic ones is to identify the individual metabolic interactions among key species and how these interactions are affected by different environmental factors. Deciphering the physiological basis of species-species and species-environment interactions in spatially organized environment requires reductionist approaches using ecologically and functionally relevant species. To this end, we focus here on a specific defined system to study the metabolic interactions in a spatial context among a plant-beneficial endophytic fungus Serendipita indica, and the soil-dwelling model bacterium Bacillus subtilis. Focusing on the growth dynamics of S. indica under defined conditions, we identified an auxotrophy in this organism for thiamine, which is a key co-factor for essential reactions in the central carbon metabolism. We found that S. indica growth is restored in thiamine-free media, when co-cultured with B. subtilis. The success of this auxotrophic interaction, however, was dependent on the spatial and temporal organization of the system; the beneficial impact of B. subtilis was only visible when its inoculation was separated from that of S. indica either in time or space. These findings describe a key auxotrophic interaction in the soil among organisms that are shown to be important for plant ecosystem functioning, and point to the potential importance of spatial and temporal organization for the success of auxotrophic interactions. These points can be particularly important for engineering of minimal functional synthetic communities as plant-seed treatments and for vertical farming under defined conditions

Ammattiosaamisen näytöt yrityksen ja ammattiopiston yhteistyössä

Opinnäytetyön aiheena oli selvittää, miten ammattiosaamisen näytöt toimivat paikallisen osuuskaupan ja ammattiopiston yhteistyössä koskien ravintolan salipuolen tarjoilijoita. Ammattiosaamisen näytöt ovat olleet käytössä työssäoppijoiden arvioinnissa viisi vuotta. Tavoitteena oli saada tietoa näyttöjen hyödyistä työantajanäkökulmasta katsottuna sekä löytää mahdollisia kehittämiskohteita. Opinnäytetyön teoreettisessa osassa selvennettiin työssäoppimisen ja ammattiosaamisen näytön käsitteitä, mikä on niiden merkitys ammattikoulutuksessa ja toisaalta niiden merkitys työelämälle. Lisäksi selvitettiin yritysten rekrytointikäytäntöjä ja sitä, mitä on työelämän ja oppilaitosten yhteistyö. Tutkimuksen empiirisessä osassa käytettiin puolistrukturoitua teemahaastattelua. Haastateltavat olivat paikallisen osuuskaupan ravintoloiden esimiehiä, ja haastattelut tehtiin kuudelle henkilölle. Haastattelut nauhoitettiin ja litteroitiin sanasta sanaan tietokoneelle jatkoanalyysia varten. Tutkimuksen tuloksena vahvistui se, että ammattiosaamisen näytöt ovat kaikille selkeä asia ja niistä on hyötyä sekä työnantajalle että opiskelijalle. Yhteistyö osuuskaupan ja ammattiopiton kanssa toimii hyvin, eivätkä näyttötilanteet ole aiheuttaneet suurempia ongelmia. Ainoastaan työssäoppijan osaamisen arviointi koetaan hankalana nykyisellä asteikolla. Alan ammattiopistotasoista koulutusta tarvitaan edelleen Joensuun alueella, ja tutkimuksen mukaan sitä pitäisi jopa lisätä. Koulutetun työvoiman puute ei vielä ole maakunnassa suuri ongelma verrattuna pääkaupunkiseutuun, mutta uhkakuvia on jo nyt havaittavissa. Tähän tulisi yhteistyökumppaneiden kiinnittää huomiota, jotta jatkossa Joensuun alueella koulutetaan riittävästi työvoimaa alalle.The purpose of the thesis was to find out how the collaboration between a company and vocational college works concerning vocational skills demonstrations of restaurant waiters. In addition, the task was to examine if there is any benefit of skills demonstrations for the company, and how to develop co-operation. Partners for the study are a local hotel and restaurant company and a local vocational college. The information was gathered from literature, journals, the Internet and by interviewing. In the theoretical part of the study the main issue was to explain what on-the-job learning is and what vocational skills demonstrations are, and what their consequence is for vocational education and for work life. Also how companies carry out their recruitment was clarified. Data for this study were collected by interviewing six supervisors in partner restaurants. The results of the study show that vocational skills demonstrations are perceived well without any complexities. Rather the results indicate more utilities for students, for the company and for the vocational school. The final result of this thesis was that it is important to keep on vocational education in Joensuu and even to enhance it. Now the lack of trained waiters is a fact in southern Finland. A vision is that it will be a threat also in eastern Finland in the future. To ensure professional labour for hotel and restaurant business, companies support for vocational education is essential