A comparative review of fisheries management experiences in the European Union and in other countries worldwide: Iceland,Australia, and New Zealand

This study compares the details and performance of fisheries management between the EU and a selection of other countries worldwide: Iceland, New Zealand, and Australia, which are considered in many respects to be among the most advanced in the world in fisheries management. Fisheries management in the EU, Iceland, Australia, and New Zealand has developed following different paths, despite being based on similar instruments and principles. Iceland, Australia, and New Zealand have been at the forefront of developing management practices such as stakeholder involvement, legally binding management targets (Australia, New Zealand), individual transferable quotas, and discard bans (Iceland, New Zealand). The EU has since the beginning of the 21st century taken significant steps to better involve stakeholders and establish quantitative targets through management plans, and a landing obligation is gradually being implemented from 2015 onward. The management of domestic fisheries resources in Australia, New Zealand, and Iceland has, overall, performed better than in the EU, in terms of conservation and economic efficiency. It should, however, be stressed that, compared to Australia, New Zealand, and Iceland, (i) initial over‐capacity was more of an issue in the EU when management measures became legally binding and also that (ii) EU has been progressive in developing common enforcement standards, on stocks shared by sovereign nations. The situation of EU fisheries has substantially improved over the period 2004–2013 in the northeast Atlantic, with fishery status getting close to that in the other jurisdictions, but the lack of recovery for Mediterranean fish stocks remains a concern.     

Site preparation and competing vegetation control affect loblolly pine long-term productivity in the southern Piedmont/Upper Coastal Plain of the United States

? A site preparation study was established in 1986 to evaluate the effect of different site preparation treatments on growth and yield of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantations on the Piedmont and Upper Coastal Plain regions of the southern United States. Site preparation treatments included: (1) burn only, (2) chop-burn, (3) shear-pile-disk, (4) chop-herbicide-burn, (5) herbicide-burn, and (6) herbicide-burn-herbicide.

? The data from the available 19 installations at age 21 were analyzed with separate analysis of variance and a multilevel nonlinear mixed-effects modeling approach.

? The herbicide-burn-herbicide treatment significantly increased average Dbh, height, basal area and volume per hectare compared to all other treatments. The burn only treatment consistently ranked worst and was followed by the chop-burn treatment. The shear-pile-disk and chop-herbicide-burn treatments had similar overall growth pattern, and will approach the same level of pine volume as the herbicide-burn treatment.

? Loblolly pine mean annual increment in volume (m³ ha^?1 y^?1) at age 21 by treatment were: herbicide-burn-herbicide (17.9), shear-pile-disk (16.1), herbicide-burn (15.9), chop-herbicide-burn (15.4), chop-burn (14.3), and burn (11.2).

? An additional chop or herbicide treatment to the burn treatment significantly increased loblolly pine yield. Complete control of both herbaceous and woody completion enhanced long-term pine productivity.

     

Technology generation to dissemination: lessons learned from the tef improvement project

Indigenous crops also known as orphan crops are key contributors to food security, which is becoming increasingly vulnerable with the current trend of population growth and climate change. They have the major advantage that they fit well into the general socio-economic and ecological context of developing world agriculture. However, most indigenous crops did not benefit from the Green Revolution, which dramatically increased the yield of major crops such as wheat and rice. Here, we describe the Tef Improvement Project, which employs both conventional- and molecular-breeding techniques to improve tef—an orphan crop important to the food security in the Horn of Africa, a region of the world with recurring devastating famines. We have established an efficient pipeline to bring improved tef lines from the laboratory to the farmers of Ethiopia. Of critical importance to the long-term success of this project is the cooperation among participants in Ethiopia and Switzerland, including donors, policy makers, research institutions, and farmers. Together, European and African scientists have developed a pipeline using breeding and genomic tools to improve the orphan crop tef and bring new cultivars to the farmers in Ethiopia. We highlight a new variety, Tesfa, developed in this pipeline and possessing a novel and desirable combination of traits. Tesfa’s recent approval for release illustrates the success of the project and marks a milestone as it is the first variety (of many in the pipeline) to be released.     

Predicting bioaccessibility of contaminants of emerging concern in marine sediments using chemical methods

Journal of Soils and Sediments - A comparison was made between three chemical methods to predict bioaccessibility of triclosan (TCS), bisphenol A (BPA), and 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2) in...     

Assessment of benefits and risks of growing Jatropha(Jatropha curcas) as a biofuel crop in sub-Saharan Africa: a contribution to agronomic and socio-economic policies

In sub-Saharan Africa(SSA), the main goals behind the development of a biofuel industry are employment creation and income generation. Jatropha(Jatropha curcas L.) has emerged as a candidate for biodiesel production. It is a non-edible oil producing, drought-resistant plant that can be grown on marginal land with limited water and low soil fertility. However, these are also attributes that typify weedy and invasive plant species. Adding to these concerns are the general questioning of whether biofuel production will reduce Greenhouse gas(GHG)emissions globally. Currently, there is limited information on the potential invasiveness of many biofuel crops, and in particular, the potential risks of cultivating Jatropha. This paper aims to assess the benefits and risks, especially risks,of growing Jatropha for biodiesel production. Jatropha should be screened through a science-based risk-assessment procedure to predict the risk of becoming invasive before it is released for large-scale commercial cultivation.The net GHG savings can be achieved through the cultivation of Jatropha, considering two main factors: no landuse change and crop management without chemical fertilization.     

Effects of pH and ionic strength on elemental sulphur oxidation in soil

Elemental S oxidation in soil is a microbially mediated process and is hypothesised to be influenced by changes to soil chemical properties such as acidity and ionic strength, which may arise from co-granulation with macronutrients or elemental S oxidation itself. Soil incubation was conducted with a sandy soil from South Australia to assess the effect of acidification and increased ionic strength on bacterial abundance and community composition and on elemental S oxidation during a 14-week incubation at 25 °C and 70% field capacity. Prior to incubation, the soil was treated with HNO₃ to bring the pH to 6.7–4.4 or with KH₂PO₄ to increase the ionic strength by 0–0.7 M. Elemental S was applied at 200 mg kg^?1 air-dried soil. Acidification or increased ionic strength had no or little effect on elemental S oxidation but decreased the abundances of 16S ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (rRNA) and soxB genes and changed the bacterial community composition. A second experiment with two other soils also showed that acidification did not, or only slightly, decreased elemental S oxidation, even though acidification strongly reduced 16S rRNA and soxB gene abundances in one of the soils. This study suggests that shifts in bacterial population brought about by temporary changes in pH and ionic strength, as may occur around fertiliser granules, have no or little effect on elemental S oxidation, indicating that the S-oxidising bacterial community in these agricultural soils contains functionally redundant taxa, which responded to changing conditions.     

Modelling the dynamics of intramammary E. coli infections in dairy cows: understanding mechanisms that distinguish transient from persistent infections

The majority of intramammary infections with Escherichia coli in dairy cows result in transient infections with duration of about 10 days or less, although more persistent infections (2 months or longer) have been identified. We apply a mathematical model to explore the role of an intracellular mammary epithelial cell reservoir in the dynamics of infection. We included biological knowledge of the bovine immune response and known characteristics of the bacterial population in both transient and persistent infections. The results indicate that varying the survival duration of the intracellular reservoir reproduces the data for both transient and persistent infections. Survival in an intracellular reservoir is the most likely mechanism that ensures persistence of E. coli infections in mammary glands. Knowledge of the pathogenesis of persistent infections is essential to develop preventive and treatment programmes for these important infections in dairy cows.