The Introduction of thousands of tonnes of glyphosate in the food chain - an evaluation of glyphosate tolerant soybeans

Glyphosate-tolerant (GT) soybeans dominate the world soybean market. These plants have triggered increased use of, as well as increased residues of, glyphosate in soybean products. We present data that show farmers have doubled their glyphosate applications per season (from two to four) and that residues of late season spraying of glyphosate (at full bloom of the plant) result in much higher residues in the harvested plants and products. GT soybeans produced on commercial farms in the USA, Brazil and Argentina accumulate in total an estimated 2500–10,000 metric tonnes of glyphosate per year, which enter global food chains. We also review studies that have compared the quality of GT soybeans with conventional and organic soybeans. Feeding studies in Daphnia magna have shown dose-related adverse effects (mortality, reduced fecundity and delayed reproduction) of glyphosate residues in soybeans, even at glyphosate concentrations below allowed residue levels. We argue that GT soybeans need to be tested in fully representative and realistic contexts. However, the current risk assessment system has only required and received data from field trials with beans that were sprayed with much lower doses of glyphosate as compared to contemporary commercial farms. This has left knowledge gaps and a potentially serious underestimation of health risks to consumers.publishedVersio

The competitive edge of an invading specialist

The following article, Bøhn, T. & Amundsen, P.-A. (2001). The competitive edge of an invading specialist. Ecology, 82(8), 2150-2163, can be accessed at https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19399170. Copyright by the Ecological Society of America.Introduced species represent major threats to native and natural biodiversity. On the other hand, biologists may increase the understanding of ecological interactions by following communities during establishment of exotic species. Accordingly, feeding ecology and habitat use were studied in native whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) and recently invading vendace (C. albula) in two lake localities situated 50 km apart within the subarctic Pasvik River system, northern Norway and Russia. Whitefish originally dominated the native fish communities of both lakes. The recent invasion and successive downstream expansion of vendace allowed comparisons between two sites: one in which the influence of the new potential competitor on the native fish species was weak, and one in which the influence was strong. In the downstream lake vendace was recorded for the first time at the time of the study, and only in small numbers, whereas in the upstream lake vendace had established a high population density and was the dominant fish species in the pelagic zone. No vertical segregation in pelagic habitat use was found between the two fish species in either lake. In the downstream lake both whitefish and vendace fed exclusively on zooplankton and had almost identical diets. In the upstream lake, in contrast, whitefish fed predominantly on zoobenthos and surface insects, while vendace fed mainly on zooplankton. Thus, the strong presence of vendace as a specialized planktivore reduced the availability of zooplankton as prey for the more generalist whitefish. The food segregation between the two fish species in the upstream lake was apparently interactive and caused by a strong asymmetrical competition for zooplankton, vendace being the superior species. The ecological consequences (including reduced zooplankton size and species diversity, alteration of the pelagic food web, and eutrofication as a possible cascading effect on the primary production) of the vendace invasion in the Pasvik watercourse are considerable, even after a few years, and are likely to proceed and intensify in the future

Benchmarking through Performance Indicators for Norwegian Academic Libraries

Journal home page at https://www.rrbsi.ro/index.php/rrbsi/index.How can leadership and strategic planning in academic libraries be based on statistical evidence - evidence based leadership? In this paper, the authors present how the National Library of Norway has led the way in developing indicators for the public and the academic libraries. These indicators may be used either longitudinally or for benchmarking within or between libraries. The authors will also give examples of how libraries can find indicators to support benchmarking. The indicators chosen as examples in this papers were mainly economic indicators

Glyphosate: too much of a good thing?

Source at http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2016.00028 Although previously accepted as the less toxic alternative, with low impact on animals, farmers as well as consumers who are exposed to residues in food, glyphosate chemicals are now increasingly controversial as new evidence from research is emerging. We argue that specific aspects of the history, chemistry and safety of glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides should be thoroughly considered in present and future re-evaluations of these dominant agrochemicals: • Glyphosate is not a single chemical, it is a family of compounds with different chemical, physical, and toxicological properties. • Glyphosate is increasingly recognized as having more profound toxicological effects than assumed from previous assessments. • Global use of glyphosate is continuously increasing and residues are detected in food, feed, and drinking water. Thus, consumers are increasingly exposed to higher levels of glyphosate residues, and from an increasing number of sources. • Glyphosate regulation is predominantly still based on primary safety-assessment testing in various indicator organisms. However, archive studies indicate fraud and misbehavior committed by the commercial laboratories providing such research. We see emerging evidences from studies in test-animals, ecosystems indicators and studies in human health, which justify stricter regulatory measures. This implies revising glyphosate residue definitions and lowering Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) permissible in biological material intended for food and feed, as well as strengthening environmental criteria such as accepted residue concentrations in surface waters. It seems that although recent research indicates that glyphosates are less harmless than previously assumed and have complex toxicological potential, still regulatory authorities accept industry demands for approving higher levels of these residues in food and feed

Clone- and age-dependent toxicity of a glyphosate commercial formulation and its active ingredient in Daphnia magna.

This article is part of Marek Cuhra's doctoral thesis which is available in Munin at http://hdl.handle.net/10037/7869Low levels of glyphosate based herbicide induced significant negative effects on the aquatic invertebrate Daphnia magna. Glyphosate herbicides such as brands of Roundup, are known to be toxic to daphnids. However, published findings on acute toxicity show significant discrepancies and variation across several orders of magnitude. To test the acute effects of both glyphosate and a commercial formulation of Roundup (hereafter Roundup), we conducted a series of exposure experiments with different clones and age-classes of D. magna. The results demonstrated EC50 (48) values in the low ppm-range for Roundup as well as for the active ingredient (a.i.) isopropylamine salt of glyphosate (glyphosate IPA) alone. Roundup showed slightly lower acute toxicity than glyphosate IPA alone, i.e. EC50 values of 3.7–10.6 mg a.i./l, as compared to 1.4–7.2 mg a.i./l for glyphosate IPA. However, in chronic toxicity tests spanning the whole life-cycle, Roundup was more toxic. D. magna was exposed to sublethal nominal concentrations of 0.05, 0.15, 0.45, 1.35 and 4.05 mg a.i./l for 55 days. Significant reduction of juvenile size was observed even in the lowest test concentrations of 0.05 mg a.i./l, for both glyphosate and Roundup. At 0.45 mg a.i./l, growth, fecundity and abortion rate was affected, but only in animals exposed to Roundup. At 1.35 and 4.05 mg a.i./l of both glyphosate and Roundup, significant negative effects were seen on most tested parameters, including mortality. D. magna was adversely affected by a near 100 % abortion rate of eggs and embryonic stages at 1.35 mg a.i./l of Roundup. The results indicate that aquatic invertebrate ecology can be adversely affected by relevant ambient concentrations of this major herbicide. We conclude that glyphosate and Roundup toxicity to aquatic invertebrates have been underestimated and that current European Commission and US EPA toxicity classification of these chemicals need to be revised

Detecting rare gene transfer events in bacterial populations

This Document is Protected by copyright and was first published by Frontiers. All rights reserved. it is reproduced with permissio

On the numerous concepts in invasion biology

Source at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-005-0710-6.The study of biological invasions has triggered the production of a diversity of concepts. The terminology has, however, often been applied inconsistently and inaccurately. This article lists and assesses the most commonly used terms and concepts in invasion ecology. In each case the most coherent definition and use is suggested

En evaluering av ungdomsskoleelevers erfaringer av å delta i valgfaget AktiVane «Hvilken betydning har AktiVane for ungdomsskoleelevene som deltar i valgfaget?»

Ungdomstiden blir betraktet som verdifull for forebygging av god fremtidig helse, og derfor har fokuset på tiltak rettet mot barn og unge økt. I dagens samfunn sliter mange unge med psykiske helseplager. På bakgrunn av dette forsøker politiske innsatsområder å fremme mestring og utvikling hos ungdom i større grad, ettersom disse faktorene blir betraktet som kilder til god psykisk helse. Forskning har vist at program for positiv ungdomsutvikling kan se ut til å fremme god fremtidig helse hos ungdom, ved å bidra til vekst og utvikling av ulike egenskaper. Studiet er en evaluering av AktiVane-modellen, et valgfag implementert i bestemte barne- og ungdomsskoler i Bergensområdet. Valgfagets fokus er å gi ungdomsskoleelever et ansvar om å organisere ukentlige økter bestående av leker og fysisk aktivitet for barn på SFO for å fremme mestring og utvikling hos ungdommene. Hensikten med studiet er å få et innblikk i ungdommenes erfaringer av å delta i valgfaget, og evaluere i hvilken grad AktiVane-modellen bidrar til å fremme god helse hos ungdommene i tråd med fokusområder i helsefremmende arbeid. Studiet består av tre fokusgruppeintervju med totalt 21 ungdomsskoleelever som har deltatt i valgfaget AktiVane. Studiets funn viste at ungdommenes helhetlige opplevelse av å delta i AktiVane var positiv. De fleste beskrev valgfaget som gøy og lærerikt, og erfarte å utvikle seg på ulike områder som følge av rollen som instruktør. De påpekte at å være instruktører for yngre barn resulterte i blant annet opplevd mestring, økt selvtillit og utviklet sosial kompetanse i form av bedre tålmodighet og evnen til å være instruktør for barn. Studiet fremhevet verdien av kvaliteten på samarbeidet mellom ungdommene og de ansatte på SFO, ungdommenes relasjoner til barna og deres rolle som instruktør. Diskusjonen omhandler hvilken betydning AktiVane-modellen har hatt for ungdommene og i hvilken grad valgfaget samsvarer med sentrale tilnærminger innenfor helsefremmende arbeid. Studiet konkluderer med at valgfaget AktiVane kan være av betydning for ungdommene ved å fremme mestring og utvikling. Samtidig indikerer modellen å samsvare med sentrale fokusområder i helsefremmende arbeid for å fremme psykisk helse gjennom tiltak i skolen.Masteroppgave i helsefremmende arbeid og helsepsykologiHEFR395MAPS-LOGMAPS-HEF