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Review and guidance for integrated management of economically significant weeds, pests and diseases in a range of horticultural and other edible field crops
No full textIntegrated Pest Management (IPM) is widely used to reduce chemical inputs for pest, disease and weed control in many horticultural and arable crops. Strategies include cultural control techniques, monitoring and forecasting methods and the use of bioprotectants (invertebrate biocontrols, semiochemicals, microbials and natural substances). This review highlighted key non-chemical methods that growers are currently using but could be more widely adopted, such as decision support tools and cultural control methods including variety choice and crop hygiene. In addition, the review identified a wide range of crop and pest specific approaches that with further development, may also provide alternative and sustainable solutions. The review identified where more knowledge exchange is needed to facilitate adoption of effective practices and where further research is needed to further understand and develop new strategies
Taxonomy and systematics of the new Australo-Pacific orb-weaving spider genus Socca (Araneae: Araneidae)
No full textThe new Australo-Pacific orb-weaving spider genus Socca is established to include 12 species from Australia: Socca pustulosa (Walckenaer, 1841) comb. nov. (type species; also present in New Zealand); S. arenasp. nov., S. australissp. nov.S. caigunasp. nov., S. elvispresleyisp. nov., S. eugenisp. nov., S. johnnywarrenisp. nov., S. kullmannisp. nov., S. levyashinisp. nov., S. pleiasp. nov., S. senicaudata (Simon, 1908) comb. nov. (= Araneus senicaudatus simplex Simon, 1908 syn. nov.) and S. sydneyica (Keyserling, 1887) comb. nov. (= Epeira inquieta Keyserling, 1887 syn. nov.). Soccagen. nov. includes medium-sised, nocturnal orb-weaving spiders. It differs from other backobourkiine genera by five tubercles posteriorly on the abdomen and a tri-partite terminal apophysis of the male pedipalp. The epigyne plate in females is about as wide as long and the scape elongate and reaches posteriorly beyond the epigyne plate. Specimens of five Soccagen. nov. species were sequenced for the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI). The preliminary phylogeny supports our morphological species but does not confirm species-groups based on morphology and suggests that New Zealand S. pustulosacomb. nov. populations originate from south-eastern Australia
Vietnamese living habits, wellbeing and working adaptation in face of COVID-19's strictest lockdown
No full textPurpose - This study explores the impacts of COVID-19's strictest lockdown on Vietnamese citizens' living habits, wellbeing and work-from-home effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach - The study uses a survey questionnaire to gather relevant data from Vietnamese adults during the most recent, strictest lockdown in their cities/provinces since July 2021. The study employs ordinal regression and mediation models to examine the effects of the strict lockdown difficulties on the changes in living habits, wellbeing and work effectiveness of Vietnamese respondents.
Findings - The empirical result demonstrates that the strictest lockdown adversely affected the living habits of Vietnamese citizens, thus impacting people's wellbeing. Work-from-home lockdown difficulties led to unexpected health issues that bring produce lower working effectiveness.
Originality/value - This is the first study to investigate the changes in citizens' living habits, health and working conditions in adherence to Vietnam's strictest COVID-19 lockdown. This is also the first study to examine the impacts of lockdown difficulties on human wellbeing with the mediating effect of changes in living habits, and the influence of work-from-home lockdown difficulties on work effectiveness, with the mediating effect of lower wellbeing based on the literature. Our study suggests solutions to improve Vietnamese people's health and working productivity during and after a strict lockdown
Organic matter contributions to nitrous oxide emissions following nitrate addition are not proportional to substrate-induced soil carbon priming
No full textThe addition of carbon (C) substrate often modifies the rate of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition. This is known as the priming effect. Nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions from soil are also linked to C substrate dynamics; however, the relationship between the priming effect and N₂O emissions from soil is not understood. This study aimed to investigate the effects of C and N substrate addition on the linkages between SOM priming and N₂O emissions. We applied ¹³C-labelled substrates (acetate, butyrate, glucose; 80 μg C g¯¹), with water as a control, and ¹⁵N-labelled N (300 μg N g¯¹ soil, potassium nitrate) to three different soils, and, after 3 days, we measured the effects on the priming of SOM and sources of N₂O emission. Carbon substrate addition increased both CO₂- and SOM-derived N₂O emissions in the presence of exogenous N. Emissions of CO₂ and N₂O from soils with added glucose (mean ± standard deviation, 0.73 ± 0.13 μmol m¯² s¯¹ and 21.4 ± 12.1 mg N m¯² h¯¹) were higher (p < 0.05) than those from soils treated with acetate (0.64 ± 0.11 μmol m¯² s¯¹ and 10.9 ± 6.5 mg N m¯² h¯¹) or butyrate (0.61 ± 0.11 μmol m¯² s¯¹ and 11.0 ± 6.6 mg N m¯² h¯¹), respectively. Acetate addition induced a stronger (p < 0.05) priming effect on soil C (0.07 ± 0.09 μmol C m¯² s¯¹) than that for glucose (0.02 ± 0.10 μmol C m¯² s¯¹), while butyrate addition resulted in negative priming (−0.09 ± 0.05 μmol C m¯² s¯¹). SOM-derived N₂O emissions were relatively low from soils with butyrate addition (1.4 ± 1.5 mg N m¯² h¯¹) compared with acetate (2.9 ± 2.3 mg N m¯² h¯¹) or glucose (9.2 ± 4.5 mg N m¯² h¯¹). There was no clear relationship between the priming effect and SOM-derived N₂O emissions. The observed priming effect related to the potential electron donor supply of the C substrates was not observed. There is a need to further examine the role of soil priming in relation to soil N₂O emissions
British traditions and new frontiers for New Zealand Cricket
No full textDuring a 2003 debate about Maori involvement in New Zealand cricket, journalist Richard Boock wrote: “Apathetic and sometimes-bigoted local associations, costs, the strangeness of the game and an understandable dislike of English colonialism had combined to repel almost anyone with brown skin”. To the contrary, my research pointed to demographic, geographic, socio-economic and other factors rather than overt prejudice in shaping the lack of participation by Māori and Pasifika players. During the years since that debate, there has been a marked increase in the number of Māori and Pasifika elite players in both the men’s and the women’s game, and initiatives to encourage participation at the grassroots level of New Zealand cricket. The broader ethnic profile of the New Zealand game has also been enhanced with more players tracing their origin to the Asian subcontinent in particular. But it remains the case that sporting preferences and progression for Maori and Pasifika are dominated by the rugby codes, netball and softball. Hence this chapter explores contexts and motivations for those who have embraced cricket, while evaluating competing explanations for the choices of the many who have not
Acoustic monitoring and occupancy analysis: Cost-effective tools in reintroduction programmes for roroa-great spotted kiwi
No full textMonitoring the response of wildlife populations to conservation management, such as translocations, is crucially important for assessing its effectiveness. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is an emerging tool for monitoring cryptic and elusive species and is increasingly used in the management of kiwi. Inferences from data collected by PAM can be largely improved by occupancy analysis. By modelling occupancy, we overcome the issue of incomplete detectability, which would otherwise lead to underestimating actual site occupancy. Here we demonstrate the utility of occupancy analysis in a reintroduction programme for roroa-great spotted kiwi (Apteryx maxima, formerly known as A. haastii) in the Nina Valley, Lake Sumner Forest Park. We analysed PAM data from two survey years, 2012–2013 and 2017–2018 from the Nina Valley and the Hawdon Valley, Arthur’s Pass National Park, which was the source population of the translocated birds. Occupancy estimates increased significantly between the two survey years at both study areas, despite the translocation of approximately 20% of known territorial adults (four pairs) from the Hawdon Valley to the Nina Valley in 2015. Moreover, at least three out of four territories, where adult birds were removed, were re-occupied by new pairs within three years. Site occupancy increased in the Nina Valley from 0.20 (SE 0.10) to 0.72 (0.10), and in the Hawdon Valley from 0.63 (0.10) to 0.95 (0.04). Detectability varied significantly between study areas and was influenced by the length of survey night, breeding/non-breeding season, and also wind speed. The differences between the naïve and estimated occupancy values underscore the benefits of occupancy modelling for measuring population response to conservation management. This study highlights the utility of using PAM in monitoring translocation outcomes: to track changes in occupancy and local distribution, as well as assessing impacts on the source population following the birds’ removal for translocation
Non-invasive groundwater velocity measurements using a novel electromagnetic flowmeter
No full textTracing groundwater flow is of vital importance for managing water resources and understanding the natural water cycle. However, it is a challenge to make accurate measurements of groundwater flow due to its extremely low velocity. A new electromagnetic flowmeter has been developed to conduct non-invasive groundwater flow velocity measurements. In the setup, a customized trapezoidal current source was connected to a 1 m x 1 m square coil to generate a strong vertical magnetic field. Two electrodes were used to sense the potential difference caused by water flowing through the magnetic field. A simulation has been developed based on Faraday's law to evaluate the flow signal under an idealized condition. Two different lab environments have been built for testing the device: an artificial mini-aquifer and a rolling gantry. The measurements show that the flow signal, in practice, generated by the slow-moving water was orders of magnitude smaller than the inductive and capacitive interferences in the system. A linear signal processing model has been developed, allowing the flow signal to be extracted from the measured results. The results show good agreement with simulation and a strong correlation between the flow speed and the processed flow signal, having an R² coefficient of 0.94
Commodity exports and the New Zealand dollar: Looking beyond commodity prices
No full textRevenue from commodity exports is driven by prices as well as volumes of commodity exports. However, associations of commodity currencies with the latter have been largely ignored; furthermore, previous analyses have focused predominantly on aggregated commodity indices, which mask the linkages between currency exchange rates and individual commodities. To address this gap, we examine the short- and long-run associations of the New Zealand dollar (NZD), a commodity currency, with export volumes of important commodities: dairy and casein products (DC); meat, wool, and by-products (MWB); and forestry products (FT). Trend-cycle decomposition reveals that, in the long run, the appreciation of the NZD is associated with rising commodity export volumes. Nevertheless, in the short run, the exports of DC and FT are negatively correlated with the NZD
The fourth industrial revolution in the food industry—part II: Emerging food trends
No full textThe food industry has recently been under unprecedented pressure due to major global challenges, such as climate change, exponential increase in world population and urbanization, and the worldwide spread of new diseases and pandemics, such as the COVID-19. The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) has been gaining momentum since 2015 and has revolutionized the way in which food is produced, transported, stored, perceived, and consumed worldwide, leading to the emergence of new food trends. After reviewing Industry 4.0 technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence, smart sensors, robotics, blockchain, and the Internet of Things) in Part I of this work (Hassoun, Aït-Kaddour, et al. 2022. The fourth industrial revolution in the food industry—Part I: Industry 4.0 technologies. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 1–17.), this complimentary review will focus on emerging food trends (such as fortified and functional foods, additive manufacturing technologies, cultured meat, precision fermentation, and personalized food) and their connection with Industry 4.0 innovations. Implementation of new food trends has been associated with recent advances in Industry 4.0 technologies, enabling a range of new possibilities. The results show several positive food trends that reflect increased awareness of food chain actors of the food-related health and environmental impacts of food systems. Emergence of other food trends and higher consumer interest and engagement in the transition toward sustainable food development and innovative green strategies are expected in the future
Quantifying morpho-physiological traits that describe canopy and biomass formation and partitioning processes for spring wheat genotypes grown under contrasting nitrogen supply
No full textRadiation interception, radiation use efficiency (RUE) and harvest index (HI) are the key determinants of grain yield in cereal species. However, little is known about how these traits affect grain yield among spring wheat genotypes grown under low and optimum nitrogen (N) fertiliser supply. We used two experiments, in a field (Experiment 1; 2017–2018) and glasshouse (Experiment 2; 2018–2019) to investigate the effects of these traits on grain yield. Grain yield increased by 35% with increasing N fertiliser supply to 8.80 t/ha in Experiment 1 and 151% to 8.33 t/ha in Experiment 2. Grain yield was lowest for ‘Reliance’ and highest for ‘Discovery’ in both experiments. Differences in grain yield were not associated with HI. As the RUE did not differ among genotypes, the yield differences were attributed to the different amounts of radiation intercepted; a result of the faster leaf area expansion rate (LAER) and subsequent higher maximum green leaf area index (GLAI), and a longer leaf area duration (LAD). The differences in LAER and maximum GLAI among the genotypes were associated with a differences in specific leaf area (cm²/g). Our results suggest that improved grain yields in spring wheat can be achieved by focusing breeding efforts on canopy characteristics to increase radiation interception