Reshaping agri-environmental subsidies: From marginal farming to large-scale rewilding

AbstractDespite continued discussion about market distortions and environmental impacts, agricultural subsidies continue to be a key component of European Union policy. About 10% of the agro-forestry subsidies are targeted at supporting agri-environment schemes, and at supporting farming in Less Favoured Areas (LFA) such as mountain regions. One of the main justifications for these agri-environmental subsidies towards marginally productive land is that they promote the conservation of biodiversity by maintaining low-intensity farming practices. Here, we critically examine this assumption and argue instead for a two-tier approach to Europe's agri-environmental policy based on inherent land fertility and spatial scale: (i) at a local, single-farm scale, fertile agricultural land should preferentially be intensively but sustainably farmed with a focus on high yields, (ii) while simultaneously and at larger, regional scales, less-productive land, and especially protected areas, may be ecologically restored into ‘wild’ and resiliently functioning ecosystems. As such, agri-environmental subsidies towards fertile land should support the implementation of measures that benefit biodiversity while allowing, and even helping, the achievement of high agricultural yields. In contrast, agri-environmental and LFA subsidies towards marginal land and protected areas should also promote rewilding and the management of natural succession. In order for this approach to be successful, a higher proportion of the Common Agricultural Policy subsidies would need to be allocated to environmental goals

Experimental evidence for optimal hedgerow cutting regimes for brown hairstreak butterflies

1. The Brown hairstreak butterfly has declined in range and abundance over the past 50 years, leading to designated conservation status in several European countries including England and Wales. The Brown hairstreak's decline has been linked to changes in hedgerow management, based on mortality of eggs over winter and female oviposition preferences. 2. We assessed Brown hairstreak egg abundance in late winter over 4 years in response to hedgerow management treatments to manipulate the frequency, timing, and the intensity of trimming (reduced intensity resulting in an annual increase of approximately 10 cm in hedge height and width), using a field experiment with a randomised block design. 3. Hedgerow plots cut every year to a standard height and width had the lowest Brown hairstreak egg abundance; this is the most common hedgerow management outside agri-environment schemes (AES). Cutting hedgerow plots at a reduced intensity nearly doubled the number of surviving eggs in late winter. Plots cut at a reduced frequency in autumn (once every 3 years), which forms part of current English AES, had 1.3 times more eggs than those cut annually. 4. Current AES management prescriptions are likely to benefit the Brown hairstreak, but its requirements need to be balanced with those of other taxa in relation to the timing of hedgerow cutting. Cutting hedges at a reduced intensity has previously been shown to benefit the wider Lepidoptera community as well as Brown hairstreak butterflies. Reduced intensity cutting does not currently form part of AES hedgerow prescriptions, but could be considered for inclusion in future schemes

A review of the distribution and ecology of the elusive Brown Hairstreak butterfly Thecla betulae (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) in the Iberian Peninsula

The Brown Hairstreak (Thecla betulae L.) is one of the least observed butterflies of the Palaearctic region, even though its distribution spans from Portugal in the west, to Russia and Korea in the far east. Adults are arboreal and seldom descend to ground level. As a result, this species is mostly monitored via the detection of eggs on the food plant during wintertime. In the Iberian Peninsula, this species was largely unknown until very recently, but a recent burst of regional studies in Spain has begun bridging this gap. However, their focused nature and a still incomplete knowledge on T. betulae in Portugal promoted the need for an integrative study at the Iberian scale. Here, we carried out a full literature review on the distribution, ecology and behaviour of T. betulae in Portugal and Spain. Complemented with field work in Portugal, we revealed an almost continuous distribution in the northern third of Iberia, whilst populations further south are mostly mountain-bound. In order to help with future discovery of new populations, we built a species-distribution model relating its occurrence with bioclimatic variables. This model accurately explains the current known occupation of the territory and highlights other areas where the species may potentially be found. Finally, we found evidence of a broadening of the species’ niche through the local use of an hitherto unknown food plant. This study sets a new knowledge baseline for future works and conservation of T. betulae through southern Europe.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ultrasonography is not inferior to fluoroscopy to guide extracorporeal shock waves during treatment of renal and upper ureteric calculi : a randomized prospective study

Objective: To investigate whether the visualization modality (ultrasound or fluoroscopy) used during shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) affects the clinical outcome in those instances where both imaging modalities are optional. Methods: Between November 2014 and July 2016, 114 patients with radiopaque upper urinary tract calculi were randomly assigned to an ultrasound-or fluoroscopy-guided SWL group in a prospective, open-label, single-center study. A standardized SWL protocol was used. The stone-free rate and the positive outcome rate (stone-free or asymptomatic residual fragments <= 4 mm) were compared. Results: The stone-free rate was 52% in the ultrasound-guided group compared to 42% in the fluoroscopy-guided group (p = 0.06) and the positive outcome rate was 79% in the ultrasound-guided group compared to 70% in the fluoroscopy-guided group (p = 0.28). These results were not significantly different but proved to be noninferior based on a Wilson confidence interval of independent proportions (noninferiority limit 10%). The mean number of SWL sessions was not significantly different (p = 0.4). Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that the clinical results of ultrasound-guided SWL were not inferior to the results of fluoroscopy-guided SWL, while no ionizing radiation is needed

Species traits shape the relationship between local and regional species abundance distributions

The species abundance distribution (SAD) depicts the relative abundance of species within a community, which is a key concept in ecology. Here, we test whether SADs are more likely to either follow a lognormal-like or follow a logseries-like distribution and how that may change with spatial scale. Our results show that the shape of SADs changes from logseries-like at small, plot scales to lognormal-like at large, landscape scales.However, the rate at which the SAD’s shape changes also depends on species traits linked to the spatial distribution of individuals. Specifically, we show for oligophagous and small macro-moth species that a logseries distribution is more likely at small scales and a lognormal distribution is more likely at large scales, whereas the logseries distribution fits well at both small and large scales for polyphagous and large species. We also show that SAD moments scale as power laws as a function of spatial scale, and we assess the performance of Tchebichef moments and polynomials to reconstruct SADs at the landscape scale from information at local scales. Overall, the method performed well and reproduced the shapes of the empirical distributionsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing species’ habitat associations from occurrence records, standardised monitoring data and expert opinion: a test with British butterflies

Accurate knowledge of species’ habitat associations is important for conservation planning and policy. Assessing habitat associations is a vital precursor to selecting appropriate indicator species for prioritising sites for conservation or assessing trends in habitat quality. However, much existing knowledge is based on qualitative expert opinion or local scale studies, and may not remain accurate across different spatial scales or geographic locations. Data from biological recording schemes have the potential to provide objective measures of habitat association, with the ability to account for spatial variation. We used data on 50 British butterfly species as a test case to investigate the correspondence of data-derived measures of habitat association with expert opinion, from two different butterfly recording schemes. One scheme collected large quantities of occurrence data (c. 3 million records) and the other, lower quantities of standardised monitoring data (c. 1400 sites). We used general linear mixed effects models to derive scores of association with broad-leaf woodland for both datasets and compared them with scores canvassed from experts. Scores derived from occurrence and abundance data both showed strongly positive correlations with expert opinion. However, only for occurrence data did these fell within the range of correlations between experts. Data-derived scores showed regional spatial variation in the strength of butterfly associations with broad-leaf woodland, with a significant latitudinal trend in 26% of species. Sub-sampling of the data suggested a mean sample size of 5000 occurrence records per species to gain an accurate estimation of habitat association, although habitat specialists are likely to be readily detected using several hundred records. Occurrence data from recording schemes can thus provide easily obtained, objective, quantitative measures of habitat association

Joint species movement modeling : how do traits influence movements?

Joint species distribution modeling has enabled researchers to move from species-level to community-level analyses, leading to statistically more efficient and ecologically more informative use of data. Here, we propose joint species movement modeling (JSMM) as an analogous approach that enables inferring both species- and community-level movement parameters from multispecies movement data. The species-level movement parameters are modeled as a function of species traits and phylogenetic relationships, allowing one to ask how species traits influence movements, and whether phylogenetically related species are similar in their movement behavior. We illustrate the modeling framework with two contrasting case studies: a stochastic redistribution model for direct observations of bird movements and a spatially structured diffusion model for capture-recapture data on moth movements. In both cases, the JSMM identified several traits that explain differences in movement behavior among species, such as movement rate increasing with body size in both birds and moths. We show with simulations that the JSMM approach increases precision of species-specific parameter estimates by borrowing information from other species that are closely related or have similar traits. The JSMM framework is applicable for many kinds of data, and it facilitates a mechanistic understanding of the causes and consequences of interspecific variation in movement behavior.Peer reviewe

Plasmodium falciparum regulatory subunit of cAMP-dependent PKA and anion channel conductance

Malaria symptoms occur during Plasmodium falciparum development into red blood cells. During this process, the parasites make substantial modifications to the host cell in order to facilitate nutrient uptake and aid in parasite metabolism. One significant alteration that is required for parasite development is the establishment of an anion channel, as part of the establishment of New Permeation Pathways (NPPs) in the red blood cell plasma membrane, and we have shown previously that one channel can be activated in uninfected cells by exogenous protein kinase A. Here, we present evidence that in P. falciparum-infected red blood cells, a cAMP pathway modulates anion conductance of the erythrocyte membrane. In patch-clamp experiments on infected erythrocytes, addition of recombinant PfPKA-R to the pipette in vitro, or overexpression of PfPKA-R in transgenic parasites lead to down-regulation of anion conductance. Moreover, this overexpressing PfPKA-R strain has a growth defect that can be restored by increasing the levels of intracellular cAMP. Our data demonstrate that the anion channel is indeed regulated by a cAMP-dependent pathway in P. falciparum-infected red blood cells. The discovery of a parasite regulatory pathway responsible for modulating anion channel activity in the membranes of P. falciparum-infected red blood cells represents an important insight into how parasites modify host cell permeation pathways. These findings may also provide an avenue for the development of new intervention strategies targeting this important anion channel and its regulation

Population Genetic Differences along a Latitudinal Cline between Original and Recently Colonized Habitat in a Butterfly

BACKGROUND: Past and current range or spatial expansions have important consequences on population genetic structure. Habitat-use expansion, i.e. changing habitat associations, may also influence genetic population parameters, but has been less studied. Here we examined the genetic population structure of a Palaeartic woodland butterfly Pararge aegeria (Nymphalidae) which has recently colonized agricultural landscapes in NW-Europe. Butterflies from woodland and agricultural landscapes differ in several phenotypic traits (including morphology, behavior and life history). We investigated whether phenotypic divergence is accompanied by genetic divergence between populations of different landscapes along a 700 km latitudinal gradient. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Populations (23) along the latitudinal gradient in both landscape types were analyzed using microsatellite and allozyme markers. A general decrease in genetic diversity with latitude was detected, likely due to post-glacial colonization effects. Contrary to expectations, agricultural landscapes were not less diverse and no significant bottlenecks were detected. Nonetheless, a genetic signature of recent colonization is reflected in the absence of clinal genetic differentiation within the agricultural landscape, significantly lower gene flow between agricultural populations (3.494) than between woodland populations (4.183), and significantly higher genetic differentiation between agricultural (0.050) than woodland (0.034) pairwise comparisons, likely due to multiple founder events. Globally, the genetic data suggest multiple long distance dispersal/colonization events and subsequent high intra- and inter-landscape gene flow in this species. Phosphoglucomutase deviated from other enzymes and microsatellite markers, and hence may be under selection along the latitudinal gradient but not between landscape types. Phenotypic divergence was greater than genetic divergence, indicating directional selection on some flight morphology traits. MAIN CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Clinal differentiation characterizes the population structure within the original woodland habitat. Genetic signatures of recent habitat expansion remain, notwithstanding high gene flow. After differentiation through drift was excluded, both latitude and landscape were significant factors inducing spatially variable phenotypic variation

Absence of system xc⁻ on immune cells invading the central nervous system alleviates experimental autoimmune encephalitis

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune demyelinating disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS), leading to neurodegeneration and chronic disability. Accumulating evidence points to a key role for neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and excitotoxicity in this degenerative process. System x(c)- or the cystine/glutamate antiporter could tie these pathological mechanisms together: its activity is enhanced by reactive oxygen species and inflammatory stimuli, and its enhancement might lead to the release of toxic amounts of glutamate, thereby triggering excitotoxicity and neurodegeneration. Methods: Semi-quantitative Western blotting served to study protein expression of xCT, the specific subunit of system x(c)-, as well as of regulators of xCT transcription, in the normal appearing white matter (NAWM) of MS patients and in the CNS and spleen of mice exposed to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an accepted mouse model of MS. We next compared the clinical course of the EAE disease, the extent of demyelination, the infiltration of immune cells and microglial activation in xCT-knockout (xCT(-/-)) mice and irradiated mice reconstituted in xCT(-/-) bone marrow (BM), to their proper wild type (xCT(+/+)) controls. Results: xCT protein expression levels were upregulated in the NAWM of MS patients and in the brain, spinal cord, and spleen of EAE mice. The pathways involved in this upregulation in NAWM of MS patients remain unresolved. Compared to xCT(+/+) mice, xCT(-/-) mice were equally susceptible to EAE, whereas mice transplanted with xCT(-/-) BM, and as such only exhibiting loss of xCT in their immune cells, were less susceptible to EAE. In none of the above-described conditions, demyelination, microglial activation, or infiltration of immune cells were affected. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate enhancement of xCT protein expression in MS pathology and suggest that system x(c)- on immune cells invading the CNS participates to EAE. Since a total loss of system x(c)- had no net beneficial effects, these results have important implications for targeting system x(c)- for treatment of MS