Adaptation to Climate Change and the Role of Agrobiodiversity

The world’s biological diversity is eroding. This concerns in particular the entire agri-cultural diversity of genes, species and their agrarian ecosystems, the resource base for food. With species becoming extinct, mankind is jeopardised. With climate change becoming reality, genetic resources are getting a new value as they are of vital impor-tance for adaptation. This calls for a revision of present conservation approaches. Emphasis has to be placed on in-situ conservation in order to allow a maximum of species conserved and to enable species adaptation to environmental change

Agrobiodiversity is essential for coping with climate change

Agricultural biodiversity and climate change are rarely discussed in the same context. However, there are close mutual links. Biodiversity is reduced through climate change and – at the same time – is a strategic resource for coping with its consequences: The entirety of plants, animals and microorganisms in agricultural ecosystems and their genetic diversity represent the re-source base for food. With genetic resources gaining a new quality, present conservation approaches have to be re-vised. Instead of ex-situ conservation in gene banks a broader concept has to be envisaged which emphasises farmer conservation and is complemented by gene banks. The reason is twofold: As future needs are unknown, a maximum of genetic resources has to be conserved at the lowest possible public cost. On-farm conservation is not necessarily less costly, but the costs are mainly borne by farmers while it produces both private and public benefits; Secondly, adaptation of genetic resources to environmental change is necessary, a process that requires exposure to the environment, instead of being stored deep-frozen in a gene bank. Civil society organisations have taken a front-runner position in developing and spreading suit-able concepts at grassroots level. They have catalysed worldwide a boom of farmer initiatives that practise organic agriculture based on maintaining biodiversity, avoiding the use of hybrid seeds and prohibiting transgenic crops. Secondly, they are increasingly supporting local seed conservation initiatives that aim to empower local communities to protect their biodiversity and defend their community rights to seeds and knowledge. Thirdly, they have founded an alterna-tive market for plant breeding and seed production. Mainly in Europe, various initiatives have emerged that maintain, improve and make available open-pollinating varieties of cereals and vegetables, many of which are the result of crossbreeding and selection over centuries and in danger of being lost. All such activities make very clear: genetic resources must remain largely in the public domain with well-balanced benefit-sharing concepts among the various stakeholders that use and con-serve agro-genetic resources. Reference Kotschi, J (2007): Agricultural Biodiversity is Essential for Adapting to Climate Change. GAIA 16/2, 92-101. Further Reading Agrobiodiversity and climate change – a complex relationship. Issue Papers “People, Food and Biodiversity”, GTZ. Eschborn

Better agronomic management increases climate resilience of maize to drought in Tanzania

Improved access to better seeds and other inputs, as well as to market and financing, provides greater harvest security for smallholder farmers in Africa, boosting their incomes and increasing food security. Since 2015, a variety of agronomic measures have been introduced and adopted by smallholder farmers under a program led by the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP) called the Patient Procurement Platform (PPP). Here, we integrate a variety of agronomic measures proposed by the PPP to more than 20,000 smallholder farmers in Tanzania into 18 management strategies. We apply these across the country through grid-based crop model (DSSAT) simulations in order to quantify their benefits and risk to regional food security and smallholder farmers’ livelihoods. The simulation demonstrates current maize yields are far below potential yields in the country. Simulated yields across the nation were slightly higher than the mean of reported values from 1984 to 2014. Periodic droughts delayed farmers’ sowing and reduced maize yield, leading to high risk and low sustainability of maize production in most of the maize areas of the country. Better agronomic management strategies, particularly the combination of long-maturity, drought tolerance cultivars, with high fertilizer input, can potentially increase national maize production by up to five times, promoting Tanzania as a regional breadbasket. Our study provides detailed spatial and temporal information of the yield responses and their spatial variations, facilitating the adoption of various management options for stakeholders

Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety - PRAXIS Project Report

The present research aims to examine the role of learner age and mental health conditions on Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety (FLSA) by answering three research questions: (i) what the main worries of our students are when speaking a foreign language in general and communicating in synchronous online tutorials and asynchronous speaking activities; (ii) to what extent age/level of study/languages spoken and mental health conditions impact on FLSA; and (iii) what individual strategies and interventions work to mitigate FLSA. A mixed methods research design used quantitative and qualitative data gathered from self-reflective questionnaires with closed and open-ended questions and focus groups sessions with students and tutors. Our preliminary results reveal that the main fears for students with declared mental health conditions (MH) differ from those students who have no additional requirements (NR), although both groups experience FLSA to the same extent. While MH students feel that their self-image is threatened when they have to speak in their target language, NR students are more worried about inadequate performance when speaking in the target language. FLSA and the main worries do not seem to be related to age. Although spoken interactions are not face-to-face in this learning context, apprehension and anxiety prevent many students from fully participating in tutorials as well as asynchronous speaking activities. Furthermore, false beliefs about the value (or lack of it) of non-native speakers and peers deprive students from valuable oral practice

HAND2 is a novel obesity-linked adipogenic transcription factor regulated by glucocorticoid signalling

Aims/hypothesis Adipocytes are critical cornerstones of energy metabolism. While obesity-induced adipocyte dysfunction is associated with insulin resistance and systemic metabolic disturbances, adipogenesis, the formation of new adipocytes and healthy adipose tissue expansion are associated with metabolic benefits. Understanding the molecular mechanisms governing adipogenesis is of great clinical potential to efficiently restore metabolic health in obesity. Here we investigate the role of heart and neural crest derivatives-expressed 2 (HAND2) in adipogenesis.MethodsHuman white adipose tissue (WAT) was collected from two cross-sectional studies of 318 and 96 individuals. In vitro, for mechanistic experiments we used primary adipocytes from humans and mice as well as human multipotent adipose-derived stem (hMADS) cells. Gene silencing was performed using siRNA or genetic inactivation in primary adipocytes from loxP and or tamoxifen-inducible Cre-ERT2 mouse models with Cre-encoding mRNA or tamoxifen, respectively. Adipogenesis and adipocyte metabolism were measured by Oil Red O staining, quantitative PCR (qPCR), microarray, glucose uptake assay, western blot and lipolysis assay. A combinatorial RNA sequencing (RNAseq) and ChIP qPCR approach was used to identify target genes regulated by HAND2. In vivo, we created a conditional adipocyte Hand2 deletion mouse model using Cre under control of the Adipoq promoter (Hand2AdipoqCre) and performed a large panel of metabolic tests.Results We found that HAND2 is an obesity-linked white adipocyte transcription factor regulated by glucocorticoids that was necessary but insufficient for adipocyte differentiation in vitro. In a large cohort of humans, WAT HAND2 expression was correlated to BMI. The HAND2 gene was enriched in white adipocytes compared with brown, induced early in differentiation and responded to dexamethasone (DEX), a typical glucocorticoid receptor (GR, encoded by NR3C1) agonist. Silencing of NR3C1 in hMADS cells or deletion of GR in a transgenic conditional mouse model results in diminished HAND2 expression, establishing that adipocyte HAND2 is regulated by glucocorticoids via GR in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, we identified gene clusters indirectly regulated by the GR-HAND2 pathway. Interestingly, silencing of HAND2 impaired adipocyte differentiation in hMADS and primary mouse adipocytes. However, a conditional adipocyte Hand2 deletion mouse model using Cre under control of the Adipoq promoter did not mirror these effects on adipose tissue differentiation, indicating that HAND2 was required at stages prior to Adipoq expression.Conclusions/interpretation In summary, our study identifies HAND2 as a novel obesity-linked adipocyte transcription factor, highlighting new mechanisms of GR-dependent adipogenesis in humans and mice.Data availability Array data have been submitted to the GEO database at NCBI (GSE148699).</p

Food, Nutrition and Agrobiodiversity Under Global Climate Change

Available evidence and predictions suggest overall negative effects on agricultural production as a result of climate change, especially when more food is required by a growing population. Information on the effects of global warming on pests and pathogens affecting agricultural crops is limited, though crop–pest models could offer means to predict changes in pest dynamics, and help design sound plant health management practices. Host-plant resistance should continue to receive high priority as global warming may favor emergence of new pest epidemics. There is increased risk, due to climate change, to food and feed contaminated by mycotoxin-producing fungi. Mycotoxin biosynthesis gene-specific microarray is being used to identify food-born fungi and associated mycotoxins, and investigate the influence of environmental parameters and their interactions for control of mycotoxin in food crops. Some crop wild relatives are threatened plant species and efforts should be made for their in situ conservation to ensure evolution of new variants, which may contribute to addressing new challenges to agricultural production. There should be more emphasis on germplasm enhancement to develop intermediate products with specific characteristics to support plant breeding. Abiotic stress response is routinely dissected to component physiological traits. Use of transgene(s) has led to the development of transgenic events, which could provide enhanced adaptation to abiotic stresses that are exacerbated by climate change. Global warming is also associated with declining nutritional quality of food crops. Micronutrient-dense cultivars have been released in selected areas of the developing world, while various nutritionally enhanced lines are in the release pipeline. The high-throughput phenomic platforms are allowing researchers to accurately measure plant growth and development, analyze nutritional traits, and assess response to stresses on large sets of individuals. Analogs for tomorrow’s agriculture offer a virtual natural laboratory to innovate and test technological options to develop climate resilience production systems. Increased use of agrobiodiversity is crucial to coping with adverse impacts of global warming on food and feed production and quality. No one solution will suffice to adapt to climate change and its variability. Suits of technological innovations, including climate-resilient crop cultivars, will be needed to feed 9 billion people who will be living in the Earth by the middle of the twenty-first century