scholarly journals A meta-analysis contrasting active versus passive restoration practices in dryland agricultural ecosystems

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10428
Author(s):  
M. Florencia Miguel ◽  
H. Scott Butterfield ◽  
Christopher J. Lortie
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Soil Restoration ◽  
Agricultural Ecosystems ◽  
Active Restoration ◽  
Passive Restoration ◽  
Restoration Practices ◽  
The Impact

Restoration of agricultural drylands globally, here farmlands and grazing lands, is a priority for ecosystem function and biodiversity preservation. Natural areas in drylands are recognized as biodiversity hotspots and face continued human impacts. Global water shortages are driving increased agricultural land retirement providing the opportunity to reclaim some of these lands for natural habitat. We used meta-analysis to contrast different classes of dryland restoration practices. All interventions were categorized as active and passive for the analyses of efficacy in dryland agricultural ecosystems. We evaluated the impact of 19 specific restoration practices from 42 studies on soil, plant, animal, and general habitat targets across 16 countries, for a total of 1,427 independent observations. Passive vegetation restoration and grazing exclusion led to net positive restoration outcomes. Passive restoration practices were more variable and less effective than active restoration practices. Furthermore, passive soil restoration led to net negative restoration outcomes. Active restoration practices consistently led to positive outcomes for soil, plant, and habitat targets. Water supplementation was the most effective restoration practice. These findings suggest that active interventions are necessary and critical in most instances for dryland agricultural ecosystems likely because of severe anthropogenic pressures and concurrent environmental stressors—both past and present.

The Impact of Biochar on the Soil

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (8) ◽  
pp. 2197-2208
Author(s):  
Carmen Otilia Rusanescu ◽  
Erol Murad ◽  
Cosmin Jinescu ◽  
Marin Rusanescu
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Biomass Gasification ◽  
High Humidity ◽  
Agricultural Ecosystems ◽  
Productive Potential ◽  
Co2 Balance ◽  
Environmentally Sound ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Organic Resources

In the present paper are presented the experimental results of biomass gasification, the biochair was produced from vineyards by controlled pyrolysis at 750 �C, in order to increase the fertility of soils, it was found the increase of the fertility produced by the development of the vegetables in the soil to which was added biochar. Soil was added to soil 4 g/dm3 biochar, 8 g/dm3 biochar, the soil had no high humidity, was taken at a time when it had not rained for at least one week, the soil pH was 8, in the soil with 8 g/dm3 biochar the plants increased compared to the soil with 4 g/dm3 and the soil without biochar. The biochar resulting from pyrolysis and gasification processes is a valuable amendment to agricultural soils and an efficient and economical way to seize carbon. Using biochar it is possible to increase the diversity of agricultural land in an environmentally sound way in areas with depleted soils, limited organic resources and insufficient water for development. Helps to soil carbon sequestration with negative CO2 balance, increases the productive potential of agricultural ecosystems.

scholarly journals The effects of global change on soil faunal communities: a meta-analytic approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Phillips ◽  
Léa Beaumelle ◽  
Katharine Tyndall ◽  
Victoria Burton ◽  
Erin Cameron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Global Change ◽  
Soil Fauna ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Soil Biodiversity ◽  
Primary Literature ◽  
Faunal Communities ◽  
The Impact

Human impacts are causing an unprecedented change of biodiversity across scales. To quantify the nature and degree of the biodiversity change, there have been a number of meta-analysis studies investigating the effects of global change drivers (land use, climate, etc.). However, these studies include few primary literature studies of soil biodiversity. Soil biodiversity is important for a variety of ecosystem services that are critical for human wellbeing. Yet, we know little about how soil organisms may respond to changing environmental conditions. Although studies have investigated the impact of global change drivers on soil biodiversity, they lack sufficient depth in the number of drivers and/or taxa included. Additionally, the previous focus on aboveground organisms has also resulted in a bias towards certain global change drivers in the primary literature. For example, climate change and land use change are more often studied, whilst pollution is typically understudied as a global change driver. Building on previous studies, we will conduct a meta-analysis to compare the effects of global change drivers (land use, habitat fragmentation/loss, fire, climate change, invasive species, pollution, and nutrient enrichment) on soil fauna (micro- to macro-invertebrates). This project aims to fill the current gaps in the literature, and actively participate in incorporating soil biodiversity into future global biodiversity assessments, by creating the first global open-acess dataset on the impacts of multiple global change drivers on soil fauna.

scholarly journals A meta-analysis on the benefits and costs of hosting secondary endosymbionts in sap-sucking insects

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon E. Zytynska ◽  
Karim Thighiouart ◽  
Enric Frago
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Agricultural Pests ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Benefits And Costs ◽  
Symbiont Species

AbstractHerbivorous insects host various bacteria that help them to feed, grow, and survive. Sap-sucking insects, in particular, feed on a nutrient-poor resource and have evolved obligate symbioses with nutritional bacteria for survival. Additionally, sap-sucking insects have formed facultative associations with bacterial symbionts that are not essential for growth and survival but assumed to confer some benefits, such as resistance to natural enemies. Several recent reviews have highlighted the importance of these symbionts in understanding their hosts’ biology, but currently there is a lack of a quantitative and systematic analysis of the published evidences exploring whether the different endosymbionts are actually beneficial or not. In this meta-analysis we explored the potential costs and benefits associated with hosting facultative endosymbionts in sap-sucking insects. Our first result is that most of the empirical experimental data information is limited to a few species of aphid and one species of whiteflies. Through the meta-analysis we showed that hosting symbionts generally leads to costs through increased development time, reduced longevity, and reduced fecundity, and benefits via increased resistance to parasitic wasps in sap-sucking insects. However, the impact of these costs and benefits was strongly insect and symbiont species dependent. Many of the insects studied are agricultural pests, and understanding the impact of bacterial symbionts on their hosts across different environments can benefit sustainable management of greenhouses and agricultural land.

Improved biodiversity from food to energy: Meta-analysis of land-use change to dedicated bioenergy crops

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caspar Donnison ◽  
Robert Holland ◽  
Zoe Harris ◽  
Felix Eigenbrod ◽  
Gail Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Species Richness ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Bioenergy Crops ◽  
Amenity Value ◽  
The Impact

<p>Whilst dedicated bioenergy crops with non-food uses are currently sparsely deployed across the world, most future energy pathways necessitate a sizeable scale-up of 100-500 million ha of land converted to these crops to provide both energy substitutes for fossil fuels and negative emissions through bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). In the face of expected bioenergy expansion, understanding the environmental and societal impact of this land-use change is important in determining where and how bioenergy crops should be deployed, and the trade-offs and co-benefits to the environment and society. Here we review the existing literature on two difficult to measure impacts which could prove critical to the future wide-scale acceptability of global bioenergy cropping in the temperate environment: biodiversity and amenity value. We focus on agricultural landscapes, since this is where large-scale bioenergy planting may be required. A meta-analysis of 42 studies on the biodiversity impacts of land-use change from either arable and grassland to bioenergy crops found strong benefits for bird abundance (+ 109 % ± 24 %), bird species richness (+ 100 % ± 31 %), arthropod abundance (+ 299 % ± 76 %), microbial biomass (+ 77 % ± 24 %), and plant species richness (+ 25 % ± 22 %) and a non-significant upward trend in earthworm abundance. Land-use change from arable land led to particularly strong benefits, providing an insight into how future land-use change to bioenergy crops could support biodiversity. Evidence concerning the impact of bioenergy crops on landscape amenity value highlighted the importance of landscape context, planting strategies, and landowner motivations in determining amenity values, with few generalizable conclusions. In this first meta-analysis to quanitfy the impacts of land-use change to bioenergy on on biodiversity and amenity,  we have demonsrated  improved farm-scale biodiversity on agricultural land but also demonstrated the lack of knowledge concerning public response to bioenergy crops which could prove crucial to the political feasibility of bioenergy policies such as BECCS.</p>

scholarly journals Land-use change from food to energy: meta-analysis unravels effects of bioenergy on biodiversity and amenity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caspar Donnison ◽  
Robert A Holland ◽  
Zoe M Harris ◽  
Felix Eigenbrod ◽  
Gail Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Species Richness ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Bioenergy Crops ◽  
Amenity Value ◽  
The Impact

Most decarbonization scenarios of energy systems necessitate more than 500 Mha of land converted to non-food bioenergy crops to provide both energy substitutes for fossil fuels and negative emissions through bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). Understanding the environmental and societal impact of this significant land-use change (LUC) is important in determining where and how bioenergy crops should be deployed, and the trade-offs and co-benefits to the environment and society. Here, we use two systematic reviews and a meta-analysis to assess the existing literature on impacts that are likely to have an important effect on public perceptions of the acceptability of such land use change: biodiversity and amenity value. We focus on the impact of LUC to non-food bioenergy crops on agricultural landscapes, where large-scale bioenergy planting may be required. Our meta-analysis finds strong benefits for biodiversity overall (up 75 % ± 13 %), with particular benefits for bird abundance (+ 81 % ± 32 %), bird species richness (+ 100 % ± 31 %), arthropod abundance (+ 52 % ± 36 %), microbial biomass (+ 77 % ± 24 %), and plant species richness (+ 25 % ± 22 %), when land moves out of either arable crops or grassland to bioenergy production. Conversions from arable land to energy trees led to particularly strong benefits, providing an insight into how future LUC to bioenergy crops could support biodiversity. There were inadequate data to complete a meta-analysis on the effects of bioenergy crops on landscape amenity value, and few generalizable conclusions from systematic review of the literature, however, findings highlight the importance of landscape context and planting strategies in determining amenity values. Our findings demonstrate improved farm-scale biodiversity on agricultural land with bioenergy crops, but also limited knowledge concerning public response to this land use change which could prove crucial to the effective deployment of bioenergy.

The impact of weight loss on depression: A preliminary meta-analysis

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Blaine ◽  
Jennifer McElroy ◽  
Hilary Vidair
Keyword(s):  
Weight Loss ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
The Impact
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