ALBERT

Description: Publication date: July 2015 Source: Global Ecology and Conservation, Volume 4 Author(s): David M.P. Jacoby, John M. Casselman, Vicki Crook, Mari-Beth DeLucia, Hyojin Ahn, Kenzo Kaifu, Tagried Kurwie, Pierre Sasal, Anders M.C. Silfvergrip, Kevin G. Smith, Kazuo Uchida, Alan M. Walker, Matthew J. Gollock With broad distributions, diadromous fishes can be exposed to multiple threats at different stages of development. For the primarily catadromous eels of the family Anguillidae, there is growing international concern for the population abundance and escapement trends of some of these species and yet incomplete knowledge of their remarkable life-histories hampers management and conservation. Anguillids experience a suite of pressures that include habitat loss/modification, migration barriers, pollution, parasitism, exploitation, and fluctuating oceanic conditions that likely have synergistic and regionally variable impacts, even within species. In beginning to redress this rather fragmented picture, we evaluated the extinction risk of these species using the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Categories and Criteria to infer population-wide trends from catch and monitoring data. Here we consolidate and build upon these species assessments by presenting an overview of the current state of global eel data and conservation, categorising the knowledge gaps and geographic regions where resources are needed and discussing future recommendations to improve our understanding of anguillids. We find stark disparity between the quality and length of data available to assess population trends and conservation priorities in temperate and tropical anguillids. Of the 13 species assessed, four were listed as ‘Threatened’ (Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered); four were Near Threatened, three were Data Deficient and two were deemed Least Concern. Comparing with other diadromous species, we examine the multiple threats that impact eels during their different life-history stages, highlighting the challenges of applying the Red List Categories and Criteria to geographically-expansive, catadromous and panmictic groups of species.

Description: Publication date: 2015 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 29 Author(s): David Granot, Nitsan Lugassi, Jayaram Kottapalli, Gilor Kelly Water is the major factor limiting the growth and development of many land plants, and stomata, composed of two guard cells, are the chief gates controlling plants’ water loss. Many environmental and physiological stimuli control stomatal opening, but they all do so through the regulation of guard-cell osmolarity. Increased guard-cell osmolarity leads to the opening of the stomata and decreased osmolarity causes the stomata to close. The prevailing paradigm is that sugars act as osmoticum in the guard cells, thereby contributing to the opening of the stomata. In contrast, we discovered that sugars close stomata via a non-osmotic mechanism. Furthermore, our results show that the guard cells’ response to sugars is dependent on the sugar-sensing enzyme hexokinase (HXK), which triggers the abscisic acid-signaling pathway within the guard cells, leading to stomatal closure. These findings reveal a feedback-inhibition mechanism that is mediated by a product of photosynthesis, sugar via HXK. HXK in the guard cells senses the sugar level and stimulates stomatal closure, thereby coordinating the sugar level with the rate of transpiration. Increased expression of HXK in guard cells decreases the transpiration rate and improves whole-plant water-use efficiency, with no negative effects on photosynthesis, growth or yield.

Description: Publication date: 2015 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 29 Author(s): T.S. Mammadov, Sh. Balapour Hydrological regime of large bodies of water, especially in land, is an integral feature of the climatic variability of most territories of their pool and adjacent regions. These waters include the Caspian Sea. 130 rivers flow to the Caspian Sea, which and none emerges, with catchments basin exceeds approximately 10 times the area of the sea itself and equal 3.5 million quadrat.km, can play the role of climate and environmental indicator not only regional but also global change. Currently, the Caspian region is undergoing major changes in the environment that affect the living conditions of the population of the Caspian States. Ecological problems of the Caspian Sea and coastal zones are the result of extensive economic development in the countries of the region. The coastline of the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea is 825 km. The coastal zone is densely populated and intensively developed. About 40% of the population and the country's industrial facilities are concentrated in the coastal zone. The coast and the bottom are rich with oil and gas. In the region has developed agricultural activities. The coastal area has its own resort and recreational resources. The largess trade port and ferry terminal are in the Caspian Sea in Baku. Socio-economic and ecological problems of the coastal zone of the Caspian Sea have arisen as a result of the exploitation of natural resources of the sea and coastal areas. These problems are further exacerbated by abrupt changes in sea level, play an important role in global climate change. Therefore, it is imperative to examine the causes of sea level change, predicting its long-term fluctuations. Vulnerability assessment of the socio-economic conditions, natural resources of the coastal zone of the Caspian Sea for the forthcoming climate change is an urgent task for the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Description: Publication date: 2015 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 29 Author(s): Robert J. Henry, Parimalan Rangan, Agnelo Furtado Cereals are key foods providing a significant part of the energy (calories) and protein in human diets globally. Cereals are consumed as intact grain products, such as rice, or as ground ingredients, such as wheat in breads, noodles or pasta. The dominance of cereals in human foods makes nutritional attributes of cereals important to the health of human populations. Functional traits influencing the processing or end use quality attributes of cereal based foods are key to human preferences and consumption. Adaptation of cereal crops to variable or changing climates requires that essential quality attributes are retained. Advances in cereal genomics are delivering insights into the molecular basis of nutritional and functional quality traits in cereals that will be critical to retaining essential quality traits. New genetic resources are emerging within the gene pools of the domesticated species. New species 1 adapted to new or different environments may also be options for accelerated domestication to satisfy food demand. Genomic analysis of the diversity of rice genetic resource 2 will provide more options for rice adaptation. New insights into the molecular genetic basis of wheat quality 3 and the influence of the environment on expression of these traits will support the retention of the essential functional properties of wheat during climate adaptation. New cereals for use as whole grain or ground to flour for other food products may be based upon the traditional species such as rice and wheat but may also include new options exploiting genomics tools to allow accelerated domestication of new species.

Description: Publication date: 2015 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 29 Author(s): William M. Fonta, Safiétou Sanfo, Boubacar Ibrahim, Boubacar Barry Innovative financing arrangements such as index-base crop insurance (IBCI) schemes are increasingly becoming popular in West Africa for managing catastrophic agricultural risks. Recently, an IBCI pilot project was launched in Burkina Faso by PlaNet Guarantee 1 1 A member of the Planet Finance Group and the Global Index Insurance Facility program (GIIF). . However, similar to many existing IBCI schemes in the region, the enrolment rate is still very low. One possible explanation for this is based on the fact that remote sensing data is used as the basis for the design. Although the use of remote sensing data is appealing in many respect, it has several limitations. One major limitation is that it fails to take into account sensitive phases of the crops cycle, which may be more prone to climate and other environmental stresses (Muller, 2014). In this paper, we highlights the importance of using field facts in the design of innovative IBCI schemes in rural Burkina Faso. Farmers’ awareness and perception of climate hazards in relation to crop productivity and their willingness to participate (WTP) in IBCI in South-western Burkina were captured through household surveys and focus group discussions. Empirical findings indicate that farmers are aware of the effects of climate hazard on farm productivity and consider mid-season dry spells, during sowing, flowering and ripening depending on the crop type, as the most significant climate risk affecting local crop productivity. Specifically, 98% of the sampled farmers are willing to insure maize, cotton and sorghum, but only if the most sensitive periods of these crops to dry spell are taken into account in designing the crop insurance contracts. Furthermore, Probit regression analysis indicates that the probability to participate increases with years of farming experience, past experience of climate hazards, educational attainment of household head and insecurity to climate hazard, and decreases with farmer's age and household size.

Description: Publication date: 2015 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 29 Author(s): Samuel I. Haruna, Nsalambi V. Nkongolo Cover crops have been known to reduce soil erosion, among other benefits, and increase water infiltration, organic matter and soil microbial activity. This study was conducted at Lincoln University's Freeman farm during 2011 and 2012 to assess the effects of cover crop management on soil physical and biological properties. The soil of the experimental site was a Waldron silt loam soil (Fine, smectitic, calcareous, mesic Aeric Fluvaquents). The field was 4.05 ha in size and subdivided into 48 plots, each measuring 12.2 m x 21.3 m. The cropping pattern for the plots was a corn ( Zea mays L.)/soybean ( Glycine max ) rotation. The cover crop of choice was cereal rye ( Secale cereale ). Half of the total plots had cover crop management while the other half had no-cover crop. Soil samples were collected at four depths; 0-10, 10-20, 20-40 and 40-60 cm. Samples were oven dried at 105 o C for 72 h for soil physical properties analysis. Air dried soil samples were also sent to a commercial laboratory for analysis of soil biological properties. Results showed a significant effect (p〈 0.05) of cover crop on the selected soil physical and biological properties. A 3.5% decrease was also observed in soil bulk density in cover crop plots as compared with no-cover crop plots. The carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio decreased with increasing sampling depth for the first three depths and increased slightly in the fourth depth (p〈0.05). C/N ratio also showed a 5.6% increase in no-cover crop plots as compared with cover crop plots. The cover crop used in this study was capable of significantly improving soil physical and biological properties.

Description: Publication date: 2015 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 29 Author(s): Amélie C.M. Gaudin, Tor Tolhurst, Alan Ker, Ralph Martin, Willima Deen A key strategy for climate change adaptation in the rain-fed northern Corn Belt is to decrease cropping system vulnerability to changes in precipitation patterns by building resilience. Using 50- year of county level yield and environmental data from Iowa and Ontario, we first demonstrate that sensitivity of corn yield to precipitation, particularly in July and August, has increased over the past five decades despite no changes in precipitation patterns. This can be attributed to steady improvement in corn yield potential and so plant water demand since the mid-20th century and removal of non-water constraints to crop production. Such vulnerability of corn-based cropping systems to water limitations is of increasing concern as climate change models predict higher summer temperatures and year-to-year variations in precipitations in this region. As suggested in the ecology literature, increasing agroecosystem temporal and spacial diversity is one of the key management strategies to deal with impending weather variability. Using yield and environmental data from a 30-year long-term rotation and tillage trial in Ontario, we show that diversification of short corn-based rotations using small grains and forage crops increases corn yield stability and resilience to both limiting and excess soil moisture1. We also demonstrate the importance of conservation tillage and measured the impact of rotation and tillage history on plants ability to access water resources, plant available soil water and their combined effects on timing of physiological water stress and grain yield when drought occurs at reproductive stages. Our results emphasize the growing importance of developing strategies for managing soil moisture in rain-fed regions and the significance of agroecological approaches to develop hardy agricultural systems and protect food and feed production against the upcoming extreme weather events.