Bioeconomy – an emerging meta-discourse affecting forest discourses?

The term bioeconomy and closely related notions like bio-based economy or knowledge-based bioeconomy (KBBE) are increasingly used by scientists and politicians in the last years. It does therefore have the potential of becoming an influential global discourse. Its role is however so far unclear. The general assumption that guides this paper is that discourses, resulting ideas and arguments are generally said to have performative power. They shape actors' views, influence their behaviour, impact on their beliefs and interests and can cause institutional change in a given society. Thus, the aim of this paper is twofold: first, it aims to analyse whether the ideas used in a bioeconomy discourse differs from those in other global meta-discourses of the last decades affecting forest discourses, such as the ecological modernization discourse or the sustainable development discourse. Second, this paper aims to analyse whether and how the bioeconomy discourse has started (or not) to reshape or overshadow the “classical” forest discourses, such as sustainable forest management, forest biodiversity or forest and climate change.     

Carbon dynamics in small tropical catchments under preserved forest and cacao agroforestry systems

Agroforestry Systems - Inland waters such as streams that receive carbon from terrestrial landscapes usually have a net heterotrophic metabolism and emit significant amounts of CO2 to the...     

Molecular identification of a 16SrIII-B phytoplasma associated with cassava witches’ broom disease

Since its arrival in the British Isles in 1845 Phytophthora infestans has remained the most destructive pathogen of potato. In the ensuing period, the British and Irish P. infestans populations have undergone major displacements following the immigration of novel strains. Here we report the re-emergence of the Ib mitochondrial DNA haplotype in the British and Irish P. infestans populations associated with the 6_A1 genotype. Historically associated with the previously panglobally distributed clonal lineage US-1, the Ib haplotype has not been detected (with the exception of a single isolate in the mid 1990s) in the British or Irish P. infestans populations since the early 1980s. The 6_A1 isolates analysed possessed mtDNA Ib, but were otherwise quite unlike US-1, having the Pep allozyme genotype 96/96 and novel RG57 and SSR fingerprints. These genetic characteristics strongly suggest that the appearance of the 6_A1 genotype in these populations has resulted from migration (possibly after a recombination event elsewhere). This study highlights the advantages of utilising a range of different markers in pathogen monitoring.