scholarly journals Habitat eradication and cropland intensification may reduce parasitoid diversity and natural pest control services in annual crop fields

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah K. Letourneau ◽  
Sara G. Bothwell Allen ◽  
Robert R. Kula ◽  
Michael J. Sharkey ◽  
John O. Stireman III
Keyword(s):  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Natural Vegetation ◽  
Cabbage Looper ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Percent Cover ◽  
Brussels Sprouts ◽  
Cabbage Aphid ◽  
Parasitism Rates ◽  
Parasitoid Richness

Abstract California’s central coast differs from many agricultural areas in the U.S., which feature large tracts of monoculture production fields and relatively simple landscapes. Known as the nations salad bowl, and producing up to 90% of U.S. production of lettuces, broccoli and Brussels sprouts, this region is a mosaic of fresh vegetable fields, coastal meadow, chaparral shrubs, riparian and woodland habitat. We tested for relationships between the percent cover of crops, riparian and other natural landscape vegetation and the species richness of parasitic wasps and flies foraging in crops, such as broccoli, kale and cauliflower, and interpreted our results with respect to the decrease in natural habitat and increase in cropland cover prompted by a local microbial contamination event in 2006. Our key results are that: (1) as cropland cover in the landscape increased, fewer species of parasitoids were captured in the crop field, (2) parasitoid richness overall was positively associated with the amount of riparian and other natural vegetation in the surrounding 500m, (3) different groups of parasitoids were associated with unique types of natural vegetation, and (4) parasitism rates of sentinel cabbage aphid and cabbage looper pests were correlated with landscape vegetation features according to which parasitoids caused the mortality. Although individual species of parasitoids may thrive in landscapes that are predominantly short season crops, the robust associations found in this study across specialist and generalist parasitoids and different taxa (tachinid flies, ichneumon wasps, braconid wasps) shows that recent food safety practices targeting removal of natural vegetation around vegetable fields in an attempt to eliminate wildlife may harm natural enemy communities and reduce ecosystem services. We argue that enhancing biological diversity is a key goal for transforming agroecosystems for future productivity, sustainability and public health.

scholarly journals CABBAGE LOOPER AND CABBAGE APHID CONTROL ON COLLARDS, 2001

2003 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth A. Sorensen ◽  
Dennis G. Cooke
Keyword(s):  
Cabbage Looper ◽  
Cabbage Aphid ◽  
Aphid Control

Justice and the Convention on Biological Diversity

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doris Schroeder ◽  
Thomas Pogge
Keyword(s):  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
International Economic Order ◽  
Social Utility ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Social Rules ◽  
Biological Resources ◽  
Thomas Pogge

Justice and the Convention on Biological DiversityDoris Schroeder and Thomas PoggeBenefit sharing as envisaged by the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a relatively new idea in international law. Within the context of non-human biological resources, it aims to guarantee the conservation of biodiversity and its sustainable use by ensuring that its custodians are adequately rewarded for its preservation.Prior to the adoption of the CBD, access to biological resources was frequently regarded as a free-for-all. Bioprospectors were able to take resources out of their natural habitat and develop commercial products without sharing benefits with states or local communities. This paper asks how CBD-style benefit-sharing fits into debates of justice. It is argued that the CBD is an example of a set of social rules designed to increase social utility. It is also argued that a common heritage of humankind principle with inbuilt benefit-sharing mechanisms would be preferable to assigning bureaucratic property rights to non-human biological resources. However, as long as the international economic order is characterized by serious distributive injustices, as reflected in the enormous poverty-related death toll in developing countries, any morally acceptable means toward redressing the balance in favor of the disadvantaged has to be welcomed. By legislating for a system of justice-in-exchange covering nonhuman biological resources in preference to a free-for-all situation, the CBD provides a small step forward in redressing the distributive justice balance. It therefore presents just legislation sensitive to the international relations context in the 21st century.

SAMPLING CABBAGE APHID POPULATIONS ON BRUSSELS SPROUTS

1954 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 76-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. M. Church ◽  
A. H. Strickland
Keyword(s):  
Brussels Sprouts ◽  
Cabbage Aphid ◽  
Aphid Populations

The value of managing for biodiversity

1992 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Burton ◽  
A. C. Balisky ◽  
L. P. Coward ◽  
D. D. Kneeshaw ◽  
S. G. Cumming
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Natural Products ◽  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Genetic Material ◽  
Ecological Indicators ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Multiple Use ◽  
Integrated Resource Management ◽  
Management Indicator Species

The concept of biological diversity (biodiversity) is reviewed, with special attention to its measurement and natural trends. While generalizations regarding the necessity of biodiversity need to be interpreted with caution, it is argued that biodiversity should be protected in more ecosystem and landscape reserves, and that biodiversity is a reasonable management objective on timber lands as well. Maintaining biodiversity is important because we cannot always identify which individual species are critical to ecosystem sustainability, nor which species may be useful to mankind in future. Many wild species can provide useful natural products and genetic material, and can serve as ecological indicators. Diversity reduces pest and disease problems, and encourages recovery from disturbance. Uncertainty exists with regard to climate change and future socioeconomic values. It is therefore prudent to maximize flexibility by promoting a wide array of species and potential products. Suggestions are offered on how to promote biodiversity in multiple-use forests. Key words: biological diversity, climate change, environmental ethics, forest inventory, genetic conservation, integrated resource management, indicator species, landscape ecology, multiple-use, natural products, stability, uncertainty.

scholarly journals Freshwater conservation planning in the far north of Ontario, Canada: identifying priority watersheds for the conservation of fish biodiversity in an intact boreal landscape

FACETS ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-117
Author(s):  
F. Meg Southee ◽  
Brie A. Edwards ◽  
Cheryl-Lesley B. Chetkiewicz ◽  
Constance M. O’Connor
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Conservation Planning ◽  
Brook Trout ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Individual Species

Freshwater ecosystems show more biodiversity loss than terrestrial or marine systems. We present a systematic conservation planning analysis in the Arctic Ocean drainage basin in Ontario, Canada, to identify key watersheds for the conservation of 30 native freshwater fish, including four focal species: lake sturgeon, lake whitefish, brook trout, and walleye. We created species distribution models for 30 native fish species and accounted for anthropogenic impacts. We used the “prioritizr” package in R to select watersheds that maximize species targets, minimize impacts, and meet area-based targets based on the Convention on Biological Diversity commitment to protect 17% of terrestrial and freshwater areas by 2020 and the proposed target to protect 30% by 2030. We found that, on average, 17.4% and 29.8% of predicted species distributions were represented for each of the 30 species in the 17% and 30% area-based solutions, respectively. The outcomes were more efficient when we prioritized for individual species, particularly brook trout, where 24% and 36% of its predicted distribution was represented in the 17% and 30% solutions, respectively. Future conservation planning should consider climate change, culturally significant species and areas, and the importance of First Nations as guardians and stewards of the land in northern Ontario.

The New Zealand law and conservation

1995 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Bosselmann ◽  
Prue Taylor
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Sustainable Management ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Coastal Marine ◽  
The World ◽  
Marine Areas ◽  
The Right ◽  
Integrate Development

New Zealand, like many countries concerned with conservation issues, is reforming its legislation to provide more comprehensive protection of biological diversity and individual species. The basic aim is simple: if you want to protect animals and plants you have to protect their habitat. The problem is, of course, that humans share the very same habitat. How then can the right balance between use and protection be found? Of the principal Acts guiding the protection and preservation of land, animals and plants (such as the 1953 Wildlife Act or the 1987 Conservation Act) the 1991 Resource Management Act (RMA) marks an important turning-point. It aims to integrate development and conservation. The RMA promotes sustainable management of natural and physical resources. Any destruction of, damage to, or disturbance of, the habitats of plants and animals on land, in coastal marine areas and in lakes and rivers is seen as unsustainable, thus to be avoided.The use of the concept of sustainability is a first in national legislation and makes the RMA a leader around the world. However, its successful enforcement is ultimately a matter of changed attitudes. Here the law can only give some guidance.

Free DNA in nature as a tool of ecological monitoring of the environment

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 17-27
Author(s):  
V. M. Pomohaibo ◽  
L. D. Orlova ◽  
N. A. Vlasenko
Keyword(s):  
Aquatic Environment ◽  
Plant Pathogens ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Extracellular Dna ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Plant Residues ◽  
Free Dna

Free DNA in nature or the environmental DNA (eDNA) contains unique information about the diversity not only of unicellular but also of multicellular organisms – fungi, plants, invertebrates and vertebrates in the past and contemporary nature. eDNA of a soil surface and of an aquatic environment may indicate a presence of contemporary living organisms and deposits, sediments and glaciers – wildlife diversity in the geological past. Fungi are reducers, symbions and parasites and play an important ecological role in nature, and so it is important to know their taxonomic and functional characteristics. Analysis eDNA in samples of forest soil showed that ascomycetes and basidiomycetes are represented most of all. They were identified as mycorrhizal types, plant pathogens and saprotrophes. In soils of different climatic zones DNA of numerous taxons of plant (herbs, shrubs, trees), unicellular and multicellular animals (protozoans, earthworms, birds, mammals) was discovered. In spite of this unknown species of fungi and earthworms were discovered. It was ascertained that eDNA of soil surface layer do not move practically and it is able to display a complete taxonomic filling of vertebrates and relative biomass of individual species. Researches of eDNA of freshwater ecosystems is focused to identify and control spreading of invasive species of crustaceans, mollusks, fishes, amphibians and reptiles with the goal of conservation of biological diversity and ecological balance. It is shown that eDNA may be a better tool to identify these species in comparison with traditional methods of audio and visual observation. At the same time a population size and an ontogenetic stage are not important. Another research direction of eDNA in a fresh water aims to identify species of aquatic animals (crustaceans, insects, fish, amphibians and mammals) at risk of extinction. A short time of eDNA existence in freshwater ecosystems is very useful for a nature protecting, because it can indicate a presence, status and disappearance of species. Thus eDNA of previous population, which is rapidly destroyed, will not interfere with the analysis. However, it is necessary to remember that in river ecosystems eDNA moves with the stream at a great distance. Further researches of eDNA in seawater samples are necessary, because in this aquatic environment the ability to move and storage time of free genetic material is insignificant. In land deposits, water sediments and glaciers free DNA do not move and may be preserved for long periods – till hundreds of thousands of years, that gives a possibility to obtain valuable information about the wildlife of paleoenvironments. In samples of permafrost deposits was found eDNA of numerous taxons of fungi, plants, three species of beetles, two species of fossil bird moa, mammoth, bison, horse. Water sediments is rich in eDNA also. In sea sediments extracellular DNA is much more than in sea water. Moreover, the anoxic conditions slow down destructive processes that ensures its long-term preservation. Sea sediments, especially estuary sediments are used to determine influence of human activities on the biological communities of ecosystems. Sediments of freshwater lake also contain eDNA, which represent degrading consequences of human interaction with the environment. Results of eDNA study of lake sediments as well as a study of soil deposits complement results of a study of pollen and fossil plant residues. It confirms a feasibility to combine traditional and molecular genetic methods in ecological researches to obtain most authentic data about past plant diversity. eDNA of many organisms is contained in glaciers. The analysis of this DNA permitted to identify 57 taxons of fungi, 8 orders of higher plants, taxons of protozoans and insects.

scholarly journals Disciplinary Fields in the Life Sciences: Evolving Divides and Anchor Concepts

Philosophies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Minelli
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Biology ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Comparative Morphology ◽  
Philosophy Of Biology ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Key Concepts

Recent and ongoing debates in biology and in the philosophy of biology reveal widespread dissatisfaction with the current definitions or circumscriptions, which are often vague or controversial, of key concepts such as the gene, individual, species, and homology, and even of whole disciplinary fields within the life sciences. To some extent, the long growing awareness of these conceptual issues and the contrasting views defended in their regard can be construed as a symptom of the need to revisit traditional unchallenged partitions between the specialist disciplines within the life sciences. I argue here that the current relationships between anchor disciplines (e.g., developmental biology, evolutionary biology, biology of reproduction) and nomadic concepts wandering between them is worth being explored from a reciprocal perspective, by selecting suitable anchor concepts around which disciplinary fields can flexibly move. Three examples are offered, focusing on generalized anchor concepts of generation (redefined in a way that suggests new perspectives on development and reproduction), organizational module (with a wide-ranging domain of application in comparative morphology, developmental biology, and evolutionary biology) and species as unit of representation of biological diversity (suggesting a taxonomic pluralism that must be managed with suitable adjustments of current nomenclature rules).

In situ symbiotic seed germination and propagation of terrestrial orchid seedlings for establishment at field sites

2006 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 375 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. L. Batty ◽  
M. C. Brundrett ◽  
K. W. Dixon ◽  
K. Sivasithamparam
Keyword(s):  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Seedling Survival ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Symbiotic Germination ◽  
Terrestrial Orchids ◽  
Eucalypt Woodland

The establishment of five species of temperate terrestrial orchids (Caladenia arenicola Hopper & A.P.Brown, Diuris magnifica D.L.Jones, D. micrantha D.L.Jones, Pterostylis sanginea D.LJones & M.A.Clem. and Thelymitra manginiorum ms) in natural habitat through in situ seed sowing, or by planting of seedlings and dormant tubers, was evaluated. Seed of the Western Australian temperate terrestrial taxa, Caladenia arenicola and Pterostylis sanguinea germinated best when sown into soil inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi at field sites but failed to develop the tubers necessary for surviving summer dormancy. However, seedling survival improved when actively growing symbiotic seedlings were transferred to natural habitat during the growing season. Caladenia arenicola and P. sanguinea seedlings survived the initial transfer to field sites but only P. sanguinea survived into the second growing season. Highest survival was obtained by translocating dormant tubers of C. arenicola and Diuris magnifica, with D. magnifica persisting at the site 5 years after translocation. However, outplanted C. arenicola survived for only 2 years. In another trial, where seedlings and dormant tubers of a rare orchid Thelymitra manginiorum were translocated into eucalypt woodland, 18% persisted after 5 years. The rare orchid D. micrantha exhibited the highest survival rates, with greater than 80% of tubers surviving 5 years after transfer of mature dormant tubers to field sites. This study highlights the benefit of using optimised methods for seedling production by symbiotic germination and nursery growth to produce advanced seedlings or dormant tubers to maximise the survival of translocated plants. It also demonstrates the need to consider different strategies when dealing with individual species.

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