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Bridging aquatic invasive species threats across multiple sectors through One Biosecurity
Get PDFUnderstanding the magnitude of biosecurity risks in aquatic environments is increasingly complex and urgent because increasing volumes of international shipping, rising demand for aquaculture products, and growth in the global aquarium trade, are accelerating invasive alien species spread worldwide. These threats are especially pressing amid climate and biodiversity crises. However, global and national biosecurity systems are poorly prepared to respond because of fragmented research and policy environments, that often fail to account for risks across sectors or across stakeholder needs and fail to recognize similarities in the processes underpinning biological invasions. In the present article, we illustrate the complex network of links between biosecurity threats across human, animal, plant, and environment sectors and propose a universal approach to risk assessment. One Biosecurity is a holistic, interdisciplinary approach that minimizes biosecurity risks across human, animal, plant, algal, and ecosystem health and is critical to reduce redundancy and increase cross-sectoral cohesion to improve policy, management, and research in aquatic biosecurity
Spatio-temporal analysis of net anthropogenic phosphorus inputs (NAPIs) and their impacts in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region using Monte Carlo simulations and sensitivity analysis
Get PDFThis study employed the Net Anthropogenic Phosphorus Inputs (NAPI) model to assess the impact of human activities on phosphorus input in a watershed, analyzing county-level statistical data and NAPI model parameters from 1991 to 2020. The Monte Carlo method was used for a quantitative analysis of the model parameters’ effects on each NAPI component and the overall simulation results. The sensitivity index method identified each component’s sensitive parameters. The study found that the lowest NAPI value was 454 kg/(km²·a) in 1991 and the highest was 1336 kg/(km²·a) in 2003. NAPI in Ningxia showed an overall upward trend from 1991 to 1999, a slight decrease from 1999 to 2003, and a slight increase from 2003 to 2020, with fertilizer being the main contributing factor, accounting for 77.4% of the total input. On a spatial scale, NAPI in Ningxia was significantly correlated with land use patterns, showing higher values in the northern and southern regions compared to the central part. The NAPI values derived from Monte Carlo simulations with appropriate parameters ranged from −24.83% to 31.49%. The study highlighted the net food and feed imports component as having the highest uncertainty, impacting simulation results within a range of −23.89% to 53.98%. It was observed that the larger a component’s proportion in the NAPI model, the more sensitive its parameters, with the phosphorus fertilizer (Pfer) component’s parameters being notably more sensitive than those of the food/feed phosphorus input and the non-food phosphorus input (Pnf) components. These findings can inform phosphorus pollution control policies in Northwest China, while the selection of sensitive parameters provides a useful reference for future NAPI research in other regions
Record of the Behaviour Change Workshop in Ōtautahi to protect and restore freshwater biodiversity across urban areas in Aotearoa
Get PDFThis workshop was part of disseminating the research and capabilities from the National Science Challenge (NSC) - New Zealand’s Biological Heritage | Ngā Koiora Tuku Iho, Strategic Outcome 2 – We empower New Zealanders to demand and enact environmental stewardship and kaitiakitanga. This research utilised behaviour change frameworks to understand and influence human behaviour to protect and restore freshwater biodiversity across urban areas in Aotearoa. We identified 29 key behaviours important to urban freshwater health, and investigated three key behaviours in more detail: volunteering as part of a group (Maris et al., 2024; Dorner et al., 2024), reporting stormwater pollution (McLeod et al., 2024b; McLeod et al., 2024c), and installing a rainwater tank (McLeod et al., 2024a).
As part of the project it was decided that there is a critical need to share the learnings from this research with volunteer groups and decision makers in local government and to equip them with the knowledge of the behaviour change tools available. The workshop in Ōtautahi | Christchurch was a result of a discussion and collaboration between the authors on this report, as well as staff at Environment Canterbury, after initial meetings in 2023 to discuss past and future work as part of the Biological Heritage NSC. The purpose of this report is to provide a record of the workshop; the outcomes, process and how effective it was
Agroecology for the city—Spatialising ES-based design in peri-urban contexts
Get PDFThe design of urban systems that allow growth while also maximising ecosystem services is identified as an important priority for creating a Good Anthropocene. An ecosystem service (ES)-based approach to landscape interventions maximises the provision of ESs, and in doing so, repairs and reinforces threatened ecological planetary boundaries. As an urbanising planet, cities are critical frontiers of human interaction with these planetary boundaries, and therefore a critical arena for ES-based intervention. Globally, the predominant pattern of urbanisation is dedensification, an outwardly expanding trend where cities are growing in physical extent at a higher rate than their population growth. We therefore require spatially explicit tools capable of reconciling dedensification and Good Anthropocene visions. We propose a methodology that integrates agroecology and urbanisation and is focussed specifically on the supply of targeted regulating ESs. This ‘Agroecology for the City’ differs from conventional urban agriculture discourse and its preoccupation with food security. Our research interest is agroecological farm systems’ (AFSs) capacity to provide critical life support services in a spatially effective manner to urban systems. Our recent research introduced a new GIS-based model (ESMAX) and a spatial agroecology approach that identified AFS configurations at a 1 ha scale which maximised the supply of three regulating ESs, as well as multifunctional performance across all three ESs combined. In the present research, we apply this process at a larger scale, with 1 ha and 4 ha AFS parcels being integrated with a real-world 200 ha peri-urban residential development. The AFS parcels and built-up areas are configured differently to maximise the supply of ESs identified as critical by the local community. We found that arrangements with AFS parcels interspersed evenly with built-up areas provided the best multifunctionality across the four ESs tested. This supports pathways for a Good Anthropocene that work with the global urbanising reality of dedensification and underpin the need for a hybrid science of rural/urban systems
Views on biosecurity and food security as we work toward reconciling an approach that addresses two global problems for a sustainable outcome
Get PDFBiosecurity acts as a safeguard for food security, yet efforts to meet food security targets can exacerbate biosecurity pressures. Our study highlights the critical interrelationship between biosecurity and food security, which is often underrepresented. Decisions favoring either food security or biosecurity involve short- and long-term trade-offs. To work toward a balanced and sustainable approach, it is crucial to understand these links. We examined experts’ views on food security, biosecurity, and their interconnection through a 13-question survey with 162 international experts from 23 countries. Our findings reveal a consensus on the importance of food security but also show confusion in terminology, sociodemographic biases, and a lack of common ground between disciplines. This underscores the need for transdisciplinary approaches to address global food and biosecurity issues effectively, balancing both domains’ interests for sustainable outcomes
A machine learning pipeline for predicting Pinot Noir wine quality from viticulture data: Development and implementation
Get PDFThe quality of wine depends upon the quality of the grapes, which, in turn, are affected by different viticulture aspects and the climate during the grape-growing season. Obtaining wine professionals’ judgments of the intrinsic qualities of selected wine products is a time-consuming task. It is also expensive. Instead of waiting for the wine to be produced, it is better to have an idea of the quality before harvesting, so that wine growers and wine manufacturers can use high-quality grapes. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the use of machine learning aspects in predicting Pinot Noir wine quality and to develop a pipeline which represents the major steps from vineyards to wine quality indices. This study is specifically related to Pinot Noir wines based on experiments conducted in vineyards and grapes produced from those vineyards. Climate factors and other wine production factors affect the wine quality, but our emphasis was to relate viticulture parameters to grape composition and then relate the chemical composition to quality as measured by the experts. This pipeline outputs the predicted yield, values for basic parameters of grape juice composition, values for basic parameters of the wine composition, and quality. We also found that the yield could be predicted because of input data related to the characteristics of the vineyards. Finally, through the creation of a web-based application, we investigated the balance of berry yield and wine quality. Using these tools further developed, vineyard owners should be able to predict the quality of the wine they intend to produce from their vineyards before the grapes are even harvested
The Anthropocene Obscene: Poetic inquiry and evocative evidence of inequality
Get PDFPoetic inquiry is used to highlight contrasting lived experiences of vulnerability and worsening socio-ecological outcomes among Australia's fastest growing coastal communities. Our approach interweaves multiple participant voices across local and national scales to juxtapose the contrasts of inequality, enmesh social and ecological experiences, and ask reflexive questions of audiences. We offer an evocative portrayal of inequality to the growing body of work demonstrating that unequal and intensifying vulnerabilities are created and sustained through complicated, non-adaptive and hierarchical social systems. We demonstrate that poetic inquiry can interrogate complex system phenomena and broad concepts, such as the Anthropocene, to distil critical and systemic issues while retaining undeniable connections with the deeply personal implications of socio-ecological change. Hence, poetic inquiry can serve analytical and descriptive purposes towards an emotional and political aesthetic providing a compelling reorientation from more conventional modes of inquiry and representation. In this study, the misuse of power and privilege in the Anthropocene is reduced and revealed as the Obscene
Against the grain: Consumer’s purchase habits and satisfaction with gluten-free product offerings in European food retail
Get PDFAcross the world and within Europe, a growing number of consumers are choosing to buy gluten-free products. Motivations for a gluten-free diet and the consequences of consuming gluten are varied, from a medical necessity for those diagnosed with celiac disease to a range of health complications and discomfort for those who are gluten-intolerant. In this research, 7296 gluten-free consumers across 13 European countries responded to an online survey on the 33 types of gluten-free products purchased, how frequently they purchased them, their satisfaction with gluten-free quality and availability, the problems they have experienced, and the strategies they have employed to cope with these problems. The investigation examines whether and how these consumer attitudes and behaviors differ between those diagnosed with celiac disease, those who are gluten-intolerant, and those who are caregivers for others with a gluten-free diet. The results show that significant differences existed for all these habits and issues across the three gluten-free consumer groups. Specifically, caregivers purchased most of the gluten-free product types more frequently than the other two groups, experienced more availability problems, and were more likely to shop at multiple stores or make their own gluten-free products. Celiac-diagnosed consumers tended to buy gluten-free products more frequently than those who are gluten-intolerant, and they tended to be the most satisfied with the quality and range of gluten-free offerings. Despite purchasing frequency differences between the groups, the results suggest a similar hierarchy of gluten-free products that could provide the foundation for a European gluten-free food basket
Nitrogen dynamics of autumn wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) sown on two dates in Canterbury, New Zealand : A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Agriculture Science at Lincoln University
No full textWheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a major global crop. It contributes to ~ 20% of global protein intake and is also grown for animal feed. In 2023, 40500 ha of wheat were harvested in New Zealand. It is important to understand the factors that affect crop production to maximize yield. However, the effects of nitrogen (N) on vegetative and early reproductive growth of wheat in high yielding environments is relatively uncharacterized. This experiment quantified light interception, biomass accumulation and partitioning of ‘Kerrin’ autumn feed wheat grown at 0%, 50%, 100% and 150% of the N dose required for a grain yield of 18t/ha in Canterbury, New Zealand. There were two independent experiments, one sown on 20th March 2024 (SD1), and the other sown on 16th April 2024 (SD2). Light interception and ground cover were recorded weekly and biomass harvests occurred every three weeks or at the key Zadok’s stages of 25, 30 and 32, whichever occurred first.
Total biomass production for SD1 differed among treatments in the second to last harvest at Z30 stem elongation. The 0% treatment produced 487 kg DM/ha less than the 50, 100 and 150% treatments. The 0% treatment accumulated biomass the slowest at 3.56 kg DM/°Cd. The 100% and 150% treatments showed the highest rate of accumulation at 4.41 kg DM/°Cd whilst the 50% treatment was similar to both the 0% and 100 and 150% treatments. Leaf area index (LAI) for SD1 differed among treatments at the final three harvests. The 150% treatment had the highest LAI of 4.18 at final harvest. 50% and 100% treatments were intermediary with an LAI of 3.97 whilst the 0% treatment had an LAI of 3.5. LAI accumulated at 5.22E⁻⁰³ LAI/°Cd in the 50, 100 and 150% treatments which was faster than the rate of LAI accumulation of 3.87E⁻⁰³ LAI/°Cd in the 0% treatment. SLA differed among treatments at the second to last harvest. 150 and 50% had the highest SLA at 214 cm²/g which was higher than the 0% and 100% treatments at 196 cm²/g. In SD1, the 50% and 150% treatments intercepted a total of 330 MJ PAR/mV at the final harvest. This was higher than the 304 MJ PAR/m² intercepted by the 0% N treatment. The 100% treatments intercepted 324 MJ PAR/m² which was similar to the other treatments.
In SD2, there were no differences among treatments for total biomass at each harvest, leaf, stem and dead material at the final harvest or rate of biomass accumulation. The 150% and 0% treatments had a lower proportion of leaf (68%) and higher proportion of dead material (7%) at the final harvest when compared to the 50% and 100% treatments. There were no differences in final LAI, rate of LAI accumulation, SLA, total light interception, or radiation use efficiency (RUE) among treatments in SD2.
Differences in biomass accumulation in SD1 were attributed to greater light interception driven by increases in LAI. In SD2, the demand for N was not present during early crop growth which explained no differences among treatments