What works in conservation? Using expert assessment of summarised evidence to identify practices that enhance natural pest control in agriculture

This paper documents an exercise to synthesize and assess the best available scientific knowledge on the effectiveness of different farm practices at enhancing natural pest regulation in agriculture. It demonstrates a novel combination of three approaches to evidence synthesis—systematic literature search, collated synopsis and evidence assessment using an expert panel. These approaches follow a logical sequence moving from a large volume of disparate evidence to a simple, easily understandable answer for use in policy or practice. The example of natural pest regulation in agriculture was selected as a case study within two independent science-policy interface projects, one European and one British. A third funder, a private business, supported the final stage to translate the synthesized findings into a useful, simplified output for agronomists. As a whole, the case study showcases how a network of scientific knowledge holders and knowledge users can work together to improve the use of science in policy and practice. The process identified five practices with good evidence of a benefit to natural pest regulation, with the most beneficial being ‘Combine trap and repellent crops in a push–pull system’. It highlights knowledge gaps, or potential research priorities, by showing practices considered important by stakeholders for which there is not enough evidence to make an assessment of effects on natural pest regulation, including ‘Alter the timing of pesticide application.’ Finally, the process identifies several important practices where the volume of evidence of effects on natural pest regulation was too large (>300 experimental studies) to be summarised with the resources available, and for which focused systematic reviews may be the best approach. These very well studied practices include ‘Reduce tillage’ and ‘Plant more than one crop per field’.     

Modern taxonomic revision of planktic nostocacean cyanobacteria: a short review of genera

The taxonomy of cyanobacteria has been substantially modified in the last few decades, particularly after application of modern ultrastructural and molecular methods. The group of heterocytous cyanobacteria (Nostocales) was found to be monophyletic, but the concept and content of different genera must be continually corrected and revised. The widespread introduction of the molecular approach (especially 16S rRNA gene sequencing) has confirmed almost all traditional genera based on distinct and morphologically recognizable type species, but indicated also broader diversity resulting in separation of more genetic and generic entities in several genera. The combination of molecular and phenotype analyses enables also a better and more objective definition of criteria for describing newly researched generic units, discovered from various habitats in the biosphere. Here, the nostocacean generic taxa are reviewed after recent necessary taxonomic corrections. Nostocacean cyanobacteria are filamentous, heterocytous, not branched and not polarized morphotypes, classified traditionally into one family (Nostocaceae). The main part of the review focuses on the genera containing planktic species.     

Running as fast as it can: How spiking dynamics form object groupings in the laminar circuits of visual cortex

How spiking neurons cooperate to control behavioral processes is a fundamental problem in computational neuroscience. Such cooperative dynamics are required during visual perception when spatially distributed image fragments are grouped into emergent boundary contours. Perceptual grouping is a challenge for spiking cells because its properties of collinear facilitation and analog sensitivity occur in response to binary spikes with irregular timing across many interacting cells. Some models have demonstrated spiking dynamics in recurrent laminar neocortical circuits, but not how perceptual grouping occurs. Other models have analyzed the fast speed of certain percepts in terms of a single feedforward sweep of activity, but cannot explain other percepts, such as illusory contours, wherein perceptual ambiguity can take hundreds of milliseconds to resolve by integrating multiple spikes over time. The current model reconciles fast feedforward with slower feedback processing, and binary spikes with analog network-level properties, in a laminar cortical network of spiking cells whose emergent properties quantitatively simulate parametric data from neurophysiological experiments, including the formation of illusory contours; the structure of non-classical visual receptive fields; and self-synchronizing gamma oscillations. These laminar dynamics shed new light on how the brain resolves local informational ambiguities through the use of properly designed nonlinear feedback spiking networks which run as fast as they can, given the amount of uncertainty in the data that they process.     

Effect of local sugar and base geometry on <Superscript>13</Superscript>C and <Superscript>15</Superscript>N magnetic shielding anisotropy in DNA nucleosides

Density functional theory was employed to study the dependence of 13C and 15N magnetic shielding tensors on the glycosidic torsion angle (chi) and conformation of the sugar ring in 2'-deoxyadenosine, 2'-deoxyguanosine, 2'-deoxycytidine, and 2'-deoxythymidine. In general, the magnetic shielding of the glycosidic nitrogens and the sugar carbons was found to depend on both the conformation of the sugar ring and chi. Our calculations indicate that the magnetic shielding anisotropy of the C6 atom in pyrimidine and the C8 atom in purine bases depends strongly on chi. The remaining base carbons were found to be insensitive to both sugar pucker and chi re-orientation. These results call into question the underlying assumptions of currently established methods for interpreting residual chemical shift anisotropies and 13C and 15N auto- and cross-correlated relaxation rates and highlight possible limitations of DNA applications of these methods.     

Detection and quantitation of colored deposit-forming <Emphasis Type="Italic">Meiothermus</Emphasis> spp. in paper industry processes and end products

Colored biofilms cause problems in paper industry. In this work we used real-time PCR to detect and to quantitate members of the genus Meiothermus from the process samples and end products from 24 machines manufacturing pulp, paper and board in four countries. The results obtained from 200 samples showed the importance of members of the genus Meiothermus as ubiquitous biofoulers in paper machines. This genus was the dominant biofouler in some mills. From ≤10⁴ to 10¹¹ copies of Meiothermus 16S rRNA genes were found per gram of process deposit (wet weight). Meiothermus spp. were found in paper and board products with colored defects and connection between deposit-forming microbes and end-product spots was shown. 16S rRNA gene sequences of 29 biofilm producing bacterial isolates from different mills were determined. Based on sequence data, 25 of the isolates were assigned to the genus Meiothermus, with Meiothermus silvanus and M. ruber as the most frequent species.     

Effect of vermicompost leachate in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ceratotheca triloba</Emphasis> under nutrient deficiency

Ceratotheca triloba (Bernh.) Hook.f. commonly known as an African foxglove is an indigenous plant which occurs in most parts of South Africa. The species is commonly consumed as a leafy vegetable and utilized for its medicinal properties. Although the high nutritional value of the species and medicinal properties are well documented, information related to critical aspect of cultivation is currently limited. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of vermicompost leachate (VCL) on growth, nutritional, phytochemical, and antioxidant levels in C. triloba at different growth stages under nutrient-deficient conditions. After in vitro germination, seedlings were grown in the greenhouse for 2 and 4 months under nitrogen (–N); phosphorus (–P); and potassium (–K) deficiency conditions, and were treated with VCL. Vermicompost leachate did not improve the growth of C. triloba plants under the nutrient-deficient conditions. Although –N-deficient plants with or without VCL caused a decline in growth parameters, they significantly enhanced phytochemicals in 2-month-old plants. In most cases, the application of VCL to –P- and –K-deficient plants improved the photosynthetic pigments, protein, and phenolic, as well as flavonoid accumulation. Harvesting time was also found to play a crucial role in the accumulation of evaluated parameters in nutrient-deprived plants. From these findings, it can be deduced that VCL has a potential to minimize the effect of nutrient deficiency especially under –P and –K deficiency in C. triloba plants.     

The God Allusion

It has previously been suggested that the historically and geographically widespread persistence of religious beliefs occurs because it is a by-product of normal cognitive processes, ones which first evolved to confer survival advantages in the social domain. If this theory holds, then it is likely that inter-individual variation in the same biases may predict corresponding variation in religious thoughts and behaviors. Using an online questionnaire, 298 participants answered questions regarding their tendency to detect agency, the degree to which they displayed schizotypal traits, their ability to understand the emotions and motivations of others (“mentalizing”), and their religious beliefs and behaviors. Path analysis suggests that mentalizing, agency detection, and schizotypal thinking were each independently related to religiosity. Furthermore, schizotypal thinking and agency detection were highly interrelated with one another, whereas mentalizing was not. Although the degree to which an individual engages with religious or spiritual beliefs will be influenced by their cultural and historical context, this paper helps to elucidate the interplay between various cognitive processes that might predispose some individuals but not others toward holding such beliefs in the first place.     

The air spora close to a compost facility in Northeast Oklahoma: Part I—spore trap sampling

A compost facility in northeast Oklahoma is located relatively close to a residential area and is the focus of complaints about smell and concerns about health effects. Several species of Aspergillus have been known to cause health problems, and at least one of these species is dominant in compost. The atmosphere surrounding the compost facility was monitored for 1 year using Burkard spore traps to determine if there was a significant difference in Penicillium/Aspergillus type spores concentration between a test and control site. Samplers were situated 710 m downwind for the test site and 6,085 m upwind at the control site. There was no significant difference in mean concentration of Penicillium/Aspergillus type spores between the two sites (t = 0.576 P > 0.05). The mean concentration of total spores was significantly higher at the upwind control site (t = −7.64, P < 0.01). Wind direction was examined to determine if the compost facility was a possible source for any spikes in concentration. No clear relationship was found between wind direction and mean Penicillium/Aspergillus concentration at the test site, but peak concentrations of Penicillium/Aspergillus seen at the test site were on days when it was downwind from the composting facility. However, these concentrations were no higher than those seen at the control site on other days. If the compost was releasing large amounts of Penicillium/Aspergillus type spores into the atmosphere they were generally diluted to background levels by the time they reached the test site.     

Wide corridors with much environmental heterogeneity best conserve high dung beetle and ant diversity

Landscape ecological networks (ENs) consist of landscape-scale conservation corridors that connect areas of high natural value within a production mosaic with protected areas (PAs). In South Africa, ENs have been implemented on a large spatial scale to offset the negative impacts of plantation forestry on indigenous grasslands. We focus on corridor width as a factor for conserving dung beetle and ant diversity within an EN. We also investigate the importance of natural environmental heterogeneity (elevation, vegetation type) and habitat quality (soil hardness, invasive alien plant density). We sampled dung beetles and ants in 30 corridors of different sizes, and at ten sites in a nearby PA. In addition, we also analysed dung beetles according to their feeding guild. Tunnelling dung beetle species richness increased with corridor width. Rolling dung beetle species richness was higher in the PA than in the corridors of the EN. The dung beetle assemblage within the EN differed from that within the PA. Corridors of various widths differed in ant composition but not in species richness. Furthermore, the PA and the EN differed in environmental variables, which contributed to differences in dung beetle species richness and assemblage composition. Within the EN, environmental heterogeneity across the landscape was more important than corridor width for driving species diversity of both dung beetles and ants. When planning future ENs, wide corridors (>280 m) that encompass as much natural heterogeneity across the landscape as possible will best conserve the range of local insect species.