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While the effect of disturbance on overall abundance and community composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi has been researched in agricultural fields, less is known about the impact in semi-natural grasslands. We sampled two AM plant species, Festuca brevipila and Plantago lanceolata, from an ongoing grassland restoration experiment that contained replicated plowed and control plots. The
Organic material of different origin is commonly used as fertiliser in agricultural practices. Clover and wheat straw are here used to determine the importance of organic amendment for population development of fungal feeding collembolans. Two fungal species, Alternaria infectoria and Mucor hiemalis, were inoculated in three growth substrates, clover amended soil, straw amended soil and non-amende
In connection with the EU, Poland has often given the impression of being a Eurosceptic member state. At the same time, around 87% of the population declare that they are in favor of the membership. The current Polish government, which gained immense support in the September 2015 national parliamentary election, has been criticized by various EU Commissioners for, inter alia, illegal logging in th
In the context of complex intergenerational challenges such as climate change and sustainable development, it is increasingly important for scientists and policy-makers to actively engage with and support the meaningful participation of youth in policy and decision-making. This research evaluates the effectiveness and impact of the Youth in Landscapes Initiative in supporting the active participat
The ecosystem services approach can inform decision-making by accounting for both short- and long-term benefits from different land use options. Here we used the InVEST toolkit to quantify and map key ecosystem services at the largest publicly-owned agro-silvo-pastoral farmstead in Portugal–a site representative for the montado landscape. We analyzed how Provisioning (cork production) and Regulati
Species-rich sandy calcareous grasslands are threatened by land use change, eutrophication and acidification. Disturbance is vital for the persistence of characteristic sandy calcareous grassland species because it provides habitats with low competition, and can lead to increased pH and decreased nutrient availability, which favour many threatened species. Today many sandy calcareous grasslands la
With climate change, coastal areas are faced with unprecedented sea level rise and flooding, raising questions as to how societies will choose to adapt. One option is to strengthen existing sea walls to maintain current land uses; however, scientists, policy-makers and conservationists increasingly see the benefits of managed realignment, which is a nature-based coastal adaptation that involves th
To assess the role of feral oilseed rape (OSR) plants as resources for pollinators and avenues for gene flow, we compared occurrence of feral populations in standardized agricultural landscapes, using a landscape ecological approach. The occurrence of feral and volunteer populations was investigated in relation to differences in road length and width, number of OSR fields, and landscape scale. The
Food systems are primary drivers of human and environmental health, but the understanding of their diverse and dynamic co-transformation remains limited. We use a data-driven approach to disentangle different development pathways of national food systems (i.e. ‘transformation archetypes’) based on historical, intertwined trends of food system structure (agricultural inputs and outputs and food tra
The notion of disproportionate impacts of climate change on certain groups and regions has long been a part of policy debates and scientific inquiry, and was instrumental to the emergence of the “Loss and Damage” (L&D) policy agenda in international negotiations on climate change. Yet, ‘disproportionality’ remains relatively undefined and implicit in science on loss and damage from climate cha
Negative trends of climate change and biodiversity loss are closely linked with farming practices, and it is therefore essential to re-think how agricultural systems can sequester more carbon, and simultaneously create vital ecosystems. The overall aim of this research is to imagine Swedish farms as carbon sinks rather than sources, and how to re-design the current farm- and food system to also ad
The planet is presently undergoing dramatic changes caused by human activities. We are living in the era of the Anthropocene, where our activities directly affect all living organisms on Earth. Insects constitute a major part of the world’s biodiversity and currently, we see dwindling insect biomass but also outbreaks of certain populations. Most insects rely on chemical communication to locate fo
Pheromones have become an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional insecticides for pest control. Most current pheromone-based pest control products target lepidopteran pests of high-value crops, as today’s manufacturing processes cannot yet produce pheromones at low enough costs to enable their use for lower-value crops, especially commodity crops. Camelina sativa seeds genetically mo
Predicted impacts of climate change on crops—including yield declines and loss of conservation lands—could be mitigated by exploiting existing diversity within crops. Here we examine this possibility for wine grapes. Across 1,100 planted varieties, wine grapes possess tremendous diversity in traits that affect responses to climate, such as phenology and drought tolerance. Yet little of this divers
The integration of sociocultural valuations (SCV) within an ecosystem services (ES) framework is increasingly being required in environmental management contexts. Yet, this raises important questions: how do we approach SCV when people's perceptions are based on unbalanced information and advocate for detrimental actions? How then should SCV results be used? Should they be used to steer decisions?
Decentralized anaerobic digestion (AD) of manure and organic residues is a possible strategy to improve carbon and nutrient cycling within agricultural regions, meanwhile generating renewable energy. To date, there has been limited adoption of decentralized AD technology in industrialized countries owing to low profitability for plant operators. There remains a need to demonstrate the wider sustai
In their comment piece, van Basshuysen and Brandstedt raise three main issues: first, whether population at the global scale, or individual family planning decisions, are relevant for climate change mitigation; second, they offer useful critiques of the methodologies to attribute greenhouse gas emissions for the choice to have a child; and third, they question the appropriate ethical responsibilit
