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Land-use suitability is not an intrinsic property of a land parcel
No full textAgricultural production has economic, environmental, social and cultural consequences beyond farm boundaries, but information about these impacts is not readily available to decision makers. This study applied the land use suitability concept by carrying out an assessment of a region that has the potential for intensification of agricultural production, but where eutrophication of river and estuary receiving environments due to nitrogen enrichment is a significant issue. The assessment evaluated three indicators for each farmable land parcel in the region: productive potential (the inherent productive and economic potential of the parcel), relative contribution (the potential for the parcel to contribute nitrogen to receiving environments compared to other land parcels), and pressure (the load of nitrogen delivered to receiving environments compared to the loads that ensure environmental objectives are achieved). The assessment indicated that land with high suitability for land-use intensification in Southland is limited because areas with high productive potential and low relative contribution rarely coincide with receiving environments with low pressure. Existing data, methods and models can be used to calculate the indicators under different choices for regional land-use intensity and receiving environment objectives. However, the spatial resolution and accuracy that is achievable may preclude using assessment outputs to make land use decisions at small spatial scales such as individual farms. The study highlighted that land use suitability is not an intrinsic property of a land parcel because it is dependent on choices about land use elsewhere in the landscape and the environmental objectives, and that land use suitability is inherently subjective because of decisions that concern how indicators are combined and weighted
Breeding for better clover-Rhizobium symbiosis: selection enriches for significant biomass GWAS SNP alleles
No full textWhite clover (Trifolium repens L.) is an integral component of mixed pastures in temperate agriculture, providing quality feed and a sustainable source of fixed nitrogen (N) through its symbiosis with soil-dwelling Rhizobium bacteria. While there has been much focus on identifying and applying Rhizobium inoculants with improved N-fixation, there has been less attention on identifying and exploiting plant genetic factors to develop cultivars that routinely form effective Rhizobium symbioses. The complexity of the clover-Rhizobium interaction makes for a challenging but valuable breeding target and an important strategy for reducing N-fertiliser use.
We investigated deployment of genomic selection (GS) for clover-Rhizobium symbiotic response by growing seedlings from 120 half-sibling (HS) families in vermiculite/McKnight’s solution where N was provided either by a commercial Rhizobium strain (TA1) or supplied mineral N (positive control). Shoot dry matter (DM) among other traits was recorded after 35 days of growth. Symbiotic potential (SP) for each HS family was calculated as DM produced in the Rhizobium treatment as a proportion of the positive control DM. The traits showed significant additive variation and narrow-sense heritabilities ranged from 0.24-0.33. A Smith-Hazel (SH) multi-trait selection index to generate the largest plants with the greatest SP was derived. The maternal parents of the 120 HS families were genotyped with 110,000 genotyping by sequencing (GBS)-derived SNPs and their phenotypes inferred from performance of their respective HS family. These data underpinned prediction modelling using KGD-GBLUP, and cross-validation of the model generated predictive abilities ranging from 0.23-0.36 depending on the trait.
Crosses were made for the SH index (combined Shoot DM and SP) using i) standard Among Family selection based on family phenotype (ApHSF); and ii) Among and Within Family selection (ApWgsHSF) incorporating GS. For the GS, 40 seedlings each of the top and bottom 12 performing HS families were genotyped (GBS) and genomic estimated breeding values were calculated using KGD-GBLUP to identify predicted best individuals within families. The predicted top two individuals from each of the top 12 families were polycrossed. A divergent selection was made using the two predicted bottom performing individuals from each of the bottom 12 families. Phenotyping (see above) showed progeny of the top ApHSF cross had a mean shoot dry matter 58% greater than progeny from the bottom ApHSF cross. Incorporating GS increased this difference to 95% between progenies of the top and bottom ApWgsHSF crosses.
To investigate associated markers and underlying trait mechanisms, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of the 120 families identified a significant SNP each on Chromosomes 2 and 16 with four other SNPs approaching the Bonferroni threshold. The most significant SNP was near a pentatricopeptide repeat gene associated with regulating reactive oxygen species that influence Rhizobium symbiosis specificity. Furthermore, the GWAS SNP variants associated with increased biomass were absent or at very low frequencies in the bottom performing families. These SNPs will be assessed as markers to improve prediction models.
These data highlight that clover genetics can be harnessed for increased DM in symbiosis with Rhizobia, and the next steps include field assessment
Influential indigenous voices? Evaluating cultural impact assessment effectiveness in Aotearoa New Zealand
No full textPublished versionIn Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori have prepared their own impact assessments for three decades. Yet, there has been no evaluation of effectiveness. Asking practitioners and experts to reflect on their experiences with Cultural Impact Assessment (CIA), we addressed the question ‘how far do CIA go to deliver outcomes Māori define as positive’? Interweaving Indigenous lived experiences with Indigenous theory, we undertook a critical analysis of CIA effectiveness. We found that CIA are delivering positive outcomes, but these are highly variable, and fall short of substantial outcomes consistent with the partnership and the dual planning framework envisioned by the Treaty of Waitangi.¹ To be effective, CIA functions best when it is Indigenous-led and – in the wider Aotearoa New Zealand planning and impact assessment framework – also Treaty-led. The Māori experience contributes to the developing international field of Indigenous IA
How is "success" defined and evaluated in landscape architecture – A collective case study of landscape architecture performance evaluation approaches in New Zealand
Get PDFThis study examines landscape performance evaluation practices in New Zealand by analysing a representative set of evaluation cases using a “sequential” case study approach. The aim is to map the methodological terrain and understand how “success” is defined and assessed in these evaluations. This study identifies different evaluation models, including goal, satisfaction, and norm models, and explores the evaluation methods employed. This study also reveals a correlation between funding sources and evaluation outcomes, with stakeholder-funded evaluations more likely to yield positive results. These findings highlight the need for comprehensive evaluations that adopt appropriate and sufficient models and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration for robust evaluation practices
Global geopolitical risk and inflation spillovers across European and North American economies
No full textIn this paper, we examine the spillovers across monthly inflation rates (measured by the CPI) of advanced North American and European economies. Using data covering the period from May 1963 to November 2022 and a time-varying spillover approach, we show that the total spillover index across the inflation rates spiked during the Russo-Ukrainian war, exceeding its previous peak shown during the 1970s energy crisis. Notably, we apply a quantile-on-quantile regression and reveal that changes in the total spillover index are positively associated with lagged changes in the global geopolitical risk (GPR) index. More specifically, changes in the GPR index are positively impacting all future changes in the inflation spillover index, whereas the GPR Acts index is only positively associated with large future changes in the inflation spillover index. Given that rising levels of inflation are posing risks to the financial system and economic growth, these findings should matter to the central banks and policymakers in advanced economies
Growth conditions impact particulate absorption and pigment concentrations in two common bloom forming cyanobacterial species
No full textRemote sensing using satellite imagery has been promoted as a method to broaden the scale and frequency of cyanobacterial monitoring. This relies on the ability to establish relationships between the reflectance spectra of water bodies and the abundance of cyanobacteria. A challenge to achieving this comes from a limited understanding of the extent to which the optical properties of cyanobacteria vary according to their physiological state and growth environment. The aim of the present study was to determine how growth stage, nutrient status and irradiance affect pigment concentrations and absorption spectra in two common bloom forming cyanobacterial taxa: Dolichospermum lemmermannii and Microcystis aeruginosa. Each species was grown in laboratory batch culture under a full factorial design of low or high light intensity and low, medium, or high nitrate concentrations. Absorption spectra, pigment concentrations and cell density were measured throughout the growth phases. The absorption spectra were all highly distinguishable from each other, with greater interspecific than intraspecific differences, indicating that both D. lemmermannii and M. aeruginosa can be readily differentiated using hyperspectral absorption spectra. Despite this, each species exhibited different responses in the per-cell pigment concentrations with varying light intensity and nitrate exposure. Variability among treatments was considerably higher in D. lemmermannii than in M. aeruginosa, which exhibited smaller changes in pigment concentrations among the treatments. These results highlight the need to understand the physiology of the cyanobacteria and to take caution when estimating biovolumes from reflectance spectra when species composition and growth stage are unknown
Time-varying predictability of financial stress on inequality in United Kingdom
No full textPurpose: Existing empirical evidence suggests that episodes of financial stress (crises) can act as driver of growth of inequality. Consequently, in this study, the authors explore the time-varying predictive power of an index of financial stress for growth in income (and consumption) inequality in the UK. The authors focus on the UK since income (and consumption) inequality data are available at a high frequency, i.e. on a quarterly basis for over 40 years (June, 1975 to March, 2016).
Design/methodology/approach: The authors use Wang and Rossi's approach to analyze the time-varying impact of financial stress on inequality. Hence, the method provides a more appropriate inference of the effect rather than a constant parameter Granger causality method. Besides, understandably, the time-varying approach helps to depict the time-variation in the strength of predictability of financial stress on inequality.
Findings: This study’s findings point that financial distress correspond to subsequent increases in inequality, with the index of financial stress containing important information in predicting growth in income inequality for both in and out-of-sample periods. Interestingly, the strength of the in-sample predictive power is high post the period of the global financial crisis, as was observed in the early part of the sample. The authors believe these findings highlight an important role of financial stress for inequality – an area of investigation that has in general remained untouched.
Originality/value: Accurate prediction of inequality at a higher frequency should be more relevant to policymakers in designing appropriate policies to circumvent the wide-ranging negative impacts of inequality, compared to when predictions are only available at the lower annual frequency
Long-term safety and dose escalation of intracerebroventricular CLN5 gene therapy in sheep supports clinical translation for CLN5 Batten disease
No full textCLN5 neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL, Batten disease) is a rare, inherited fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by mutations in the CLN5 gene. The disease is characterised by progressive neuronal loss, blindness, and premature death. There is no cure. This study evaluated the efficacy of intracerebroventricular (ICV) delivery of an adeno-associated viral vector encoding ovine CLN5 (scAAV9/oCLN5) in a naturally occurring sheep model of CLN5 disease. CLN5 affected (CLN5⁻⁄ ⁻) sheep received low, moderate, or high doses of scAAV9/oCLN5 at three disease stages. The treatment delayed disease progression, extended survival and slowed stereotypical brain atrophy in most animals. Of note, one high dose treated animal only developed mild disease symptomology and survived to 60.1 months of age, triple the natural life expectancy of an untreated CLN5⁻⁄ ⁻ sheep. Eyesight was not preserved at any administration age or dosage. Histopathologic examination revealed that greater transduction efficiency was achieved through higher ICV doses, and this resulted in greater amelioration of disease pathology. Together with other pre-clinical data from CLN5⁻⁄ ⁻ sheep, the safety and efficacy data from these investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies supported the initiation of the first in-human CLN5 gene therapy clinical study using the ICV delivery route for the treatment of CLN5 NC
Enhancing disaster risk governance for small-scale recurring disasters through pre-determining emergency response and recovery entry points for improved social outcomes
No full textThere is growing recognition that climate change is increasing the frequency of disasters globally. Historical disaster data show that the majority of disasters are non-catastrophic. However, these less severe disasters can occur in quick succession and affect the resilience of the communities, and their long-term impacts can be just as severe. Nevertheless, emergency management policies are largely developed around larger-scale disasters, along with related institutional arrangements and operational decisions that establish resource availability for affected communities. This often results in ad hoc emergency response and recovery mechanisms, leading to inconsistent approaches to assist affected communities. Drawing on empirical data from emergency management specialists operating across Aotearoa New Zealand, this paper investigates how current emergency response and recovery approaches account for small-scale recurring disasters, and how these could become more comprehensive and equitable for improving local adaptation capacity. Findings indicate the absence of an agreed definition of what comprises a small-scale disaster; the lack of a clear methodology to capture cumulative impacts of disasters; unavailability of resources to establish a formal recovery phase for small-scale disasters; and, ambiguity around the methodology used to activate emergency response operations for small-scale disasters. Our paper concludes by suggesting the establishment of tailored community-based interventions for small-scale disasters, for more effective and equitable service delivery
Unveiling the hidden economic toll of biological invasions in the European Union
Get PDFBackground: Biological invasions threaten the functioning of ecosystems, biodiversity, and human well-being by degrading ecosystem services and eliciting massive economic costs. The European Union has historically been a hub for cultural development and global trade, and thus, has extensive opportunities for the introduction and spread of alien species. While reported costs of biological invasions to some member states have been recently assessed, ongoing knowledge gaps in taxonomic and spatio-temporal data suggest that these costs were considerably underestimated.
Results: We used the latest available cost data in InvaCost (v4.1)—the most comprehensive database on the costs of biological invasions—to assess the magnitude of this underestimation within the European Union via projections of current and future invasion costs. We used macroeconomic scaling and temporal modelling approaches to project available cost information over gaps in taxa, space, and time, thereby producing a more complete estimate for the European Union economy. We identified that only 259 out of 13,331 (~ 1%) known invasive alien species have reported costs in the European Union. Using a conservative subset of highly reliable, observed, country-level cost entries from 49 species (totalling US28.0 billion) than currently recorded. Using future projections of current estimates, we also identified a substantial increase in costs and costly species (US$148.2 billion) by 2040. We urge that cost reporting be improved to clarify the economic impacts of greatest concern, concomitant with coordinated international action to prevent and mitigate the impacts of invasive alien species in the European Union and globally