Comparing urban food system characteristics and actions in US and Indian cities from a multi‐environmental impact perspective: Toward a streamlined approach

Food action plans in many global cities articulate interest in multiple objectives including reducing in‐ and trans‐boundary environmental impacts (water, land, greenhouse gas (GHG)). However, there exist few standardized analytical tools to compare food system characteristics and actions across cities and countries to assess trade‐offs between multiple objectives (i.e., health, equity) with environmental outcomes. This paper demonstrates a streamlined model applied for analysis of four cities with varying characteristics across the United States and India, to quantify system‐wide water, energy/GHG, and land impacts associated with multiple food system actions to address health, equity, and environment. Baseline diet analysis finds key differences between countries in terms of meat consumption (Delhi 4; Pondicherry 16; United States 59, kg/capita/year), and environmental impact of processing of the average diet (21%, 19%, <1%, <1% of community‐wide GHG‐emissions for New York, Minneapolis, Delhi, and Pondicherry). Analysis of supply chains finds city average distance (food‐miles) varies (Delhi 420; Pondicherry 200; United States average 1,640 km/t‐food) and the sensitivity of GHG emissions of food demand to spatial variability of energy intensity of irrigation is greater in Indian than US cities. Analysis also finds greater pre‐consumer waste in India versus larger post‐consumer accumulations in the United States. Despite these differences in food system characteristics, food waste management and diet change consistently emerge as key strategies. Among diet scenarios, all vegetarian diets are not found equal in terms of environmental benefit, with the US Government's recommended vegetarian diet resulting in less benefit than other more focused targeted diet changes.     

Chromosome‐level genome assembly of an important pine defoliator,Dendrolimus punctatus (Lepidoptera; Lasiocampidae)

Dendrolimus spp. are important destructive pests of conifer forests, and Dendrolimus punctatus Walker (Lepidoptera; Lasiocampidae) is the most widely distributed Dendrolimus species. During periodic outbreaks, this species is said to make “fire without smoke” because large areas of pine forest can be quickly and heavily damaged. Yet, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that underlie the unique ecological characteristics of this forest insect. Here, we combined Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) RSII single‐molecule long reads and high‐throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi‐C) genomics‐linked reads to produce a high‐quality, chromosome‐level reference genome for D. punctatus. The final assembly was 614 Mb with contig and scaffold N50 values of 1.39 and 22.15 Mb, respectively, and 96.96% of the contigs anchored onto 30 chromosomes. Based on the prediction, this genome contained 17,593 protein‐coding genes and 56.16% repetitive sequences. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that D. punctatus diverged from the common ancestor of Hyphantria cunea, Spodoptera litura and Thaumetopoea pityocampa ~ 108.91 million years ago. Many gene families that were expanded in the D. punctatus genome were significantly enriched for the xenobiotic biodegradation system, especially the cytochrome P450 gene family. This high‐quality, chromosome‐level reference genome will be a valuable resource for understanding mechanisms of D. punctatus outbreak and host resistance adaption. Because this is the first Lasiocampidae insect genome to be sequenced, it also will serve as a reference for further comparative genomics.     

Ecological specialization and niche overlap of subterranean rodents inferred from DNA metabarcoding diet analysis

Knowledge of how animal species use food resources available in the environment can increase our understanding of many ecological processes. However, obtaining this information using traditional methods is difficult for species feeding on a large variety of food items in highly diverse environments. We amplified the DNA of plants for 306 scat and 40 soil samples, and applied an environmental DNA metabarcoding approach to investigate food preferences, degree of diet specialization and diet overlap of seven herbivore rodent species of the genus Ctenomys distributed in southern and midwestern Brazil. The metabarcoding approach revealed that these species consume more than 60% of the plant families recovered in soil samples, indicating generalist feeding habits of ctenomyids. The family Poaceae was the most common food resource retrieved in scats of all species as well in soil samples. Niche overlap analysis indicated high overlap in the plant families and molecular operational taxonomic units consumed, mainly among the southern species. Interspecific differences in diet composition were influenced, among other factors, by the availability of resources in the environment. In addition, our results provide support for the hypothesis that the allopatric distributions of ctenomyids allow them to exploit the same range of resources when available, possibly because of the absence of interspecific competition.     

The effect of grazing on winter survival of midday gerbil (Meriones meridianus) of different genders

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of grazing on midday gerbil (Meriones meridianus) population characteristics and survival of animals of different genders. The experiment used a randomized complete block design and was conducted in Alxa Left Banner, Inner Mongolia, China, in 2002 (The agricultural reclamation plots set up in 1994). From April 2006 to October 2010, midday gerbils were live‐trapped in 3 light grazing plots, 3 overgrazed plots, and 3 grazing exclusion plots. The quantity of vegetation was investigated in the two different grazing intensity areas and grazing exclusion area to determine the relationship between gerbils and plant food availability. The results suggested that there was higher gerbil density, individual body mass, and daily body mass growth rate in the grazing exclusion sites than the other sites across the whole year. Females had higher survival in grazing exclusion areas than in other treatments, but the males’ survival showed the opposite pattern. Our results indicated that grazing negatively influenced the midday gerbil population by reducing food availability. Grazing influenced the survival rates of male midday gerbils positively, but had negative effects on females. The reason for gendered differences in survival rates of midday gerbils requires further investigation.     

弗里熊蜂蜜罐中糖液成分分析

【目的】熊蜂是众多植物的重要传粉昆虫,以采集并贮藏花蜜和花粉为主要食物。本研究旨在探究熊蜂的营养需求及明确其对采集的食物是否存在酿制过程。【方法】利用白砂糖溶液(糖浓度50%)饲喂弗里熊蜂Bombus friseanus蜂群,收集并检测其贮藏在蜜罐中1~7 d的糖液,作为处理组样品;同时将上述白砂糖溶液置于灭菌离心管中,排除熊蜂取食,作为对照组样品,测定贮藏期间处理组和对照组糖液的pH值、糖浓度、糖组分及α-淀粉酶和转化酶活性。【结果】弗里熊蜂B. friseanus贮藏在蜜中1~7d的糖液pH值平均为3.74±0.13,显著低于对照组(6.55±0.15);糖浓度与贮藏时间显著正相关,贮藏6d后糖浓度显著高于贮藏1~3 d时的;糖液组分更加丰富,除蔗糖外利用HPLC还检出果糖、葡萄糖、麦芽糖和海藻糖,贮藏4~5 d的糖液中己糖含量极显著高于贮藏1~3 d和6~7 d时的,己糖和麦芽糖含量分别与蔗糖含量极显著负相关,总糖中果糖和麦芽糖含量与贮藏时间极显著负相关,葡萄糖、蔗糖和海藻糖的含量分别与贮藏时间极显著正相关。贮藏6 d的糖液中α-淀粉酶活性显著高于其他时间,其他贮藏时间样品间α-淀粉酶活性差异不显著,而所有样本的转化酶活性在21.17~38.05 U/g FW之间,随贮藏时间的延长差异不显著。【结论】弗里熊蜂B. friseanus采集人工饲喂的糖溶液贮藏在蜜罐中,经其加工后发生了物理和生物化学变化,揭示熊蜂存在酿蜜能力。本研究的结果为熊蜂生物学及繁育研究提供了参考。