Endosulfan: a hidden menace

A clean and healthy environment is paramount to human existence. While pesticide use has successfully sustained agricultural and food production in our lifetime as well as safeguarded human health by controlling insect pests, it has also caused many tragedies including population declines in our wildlife, fatalities in workers exposed to pesticides in its manufacture and use, and the increasing incidence of dreaded human illnesses such as cancer. A delicate balance should be achieved to mitigate the adverse impact of pesticide use to the environment and at the same time ensuring short- and long-term agricultural productivity. Endosulfan has been effectively used as a pesticide, but much evidence on its chronic and sub-lethal effects on humans and wildlife have been gathered in recent years. More research still needs to be done to determine its effects from long-term exposure at very low levels. Endosulfan is highly toxic to fish and other aquatic animals and, thus, not recommended for use in aquatic ecosystems. However, in some countries, it has been incorrectly used as a molluscicide in rice paddies, which could have an adverse impact on the rice-fish farming systems and on other surrounding aquatic ecosystems. It is clear that such practices should be stopped and users must strictly observe the recommended application methods. Agricultural productivity should be achieved with less pesticide by using integrated pest management programs which make use of biological, cultural, and physical control agents and lower doses of safer pesticide on a need only basis. The benefits of biotechnology should also be used to develop more effective and safer products and techniques. This is a valid approach and one that will require a unified and concerted effort among suppliers and users of pesticides in order to ensure that resources are used to our best advantage with minimal risk.

Survey of veterinery [sic] drug residues, environmental contaminants and mycotoxins of cultured shirmp [sic] in Iran

Economical achievement of optimal growth in developing countries may lead to sustainable poverty reduction. Agricultural activities play an important role in economy and human being welfare, which leads to establishment of food security and quality. Aquaculture products in developing countries share 51.4 percent of total agricultural production.7—percent in developed countries. Therefore undoutedly food production by means of quality and quantity has to be increased .The history of shirmp production goes back to 500 years ago. Today 50 countries of the world produce shirmp .In Islamic Republic of Iran shrimp production started since 1992 in the coastal region of Persian Gulf. The shrimp culture farms canbe classified in to 4 different categories; Extensive, semi-extensive, intensive and super instensive. Global ecological manitenanc is one of the major concerns of authorities Human manipulation of nature is the most destructive activity. Industrial sweage leakage in to the rivers and water sources is a big issue that causes reduction in the aquatic population. Heavy metals have an inhibitory effect in the production and growth of sealife. Human intake of food treated with anti microbial cause's allergy, hypersensitivity and develops microbial resistance. Organochlorine compounds contamination may found in hepato pancreatic tissues of aquatic products, Aresnic may transfer to man via plant & animal product contamination. In 1991 during Persian Gulf Mir 700 oil well set

Industrialization as a key element of sustainable product-service solutions

Product-service systems are seen by many authors to offer potential for significant sustainability benefit. Manufacturing companies are said to be essential to such a change through their influence over product performance and over the use and end-of-life stages. Yet linking these stages such that the producer is incentivized to improve the performance of later stages is still a challenge. This paper argues for placing the producer at the centre of a new arrangement: by seeking to utilize the producer's knowledge of designing and the knowledge of volume production, through creation of platforms, while cooperating closely with other actors. The paper describes three case studies that have used such an approach to design and implement new food production systems. Based on 12 months of action research observations, 10 participating organizations from the cases were studied, and the implemented solutions assessed for environmental, economic and social performance. The results demonstrate a high level of sustainability benefit is achievable using platforms and partners to design product-service systems, while highlighting that changes to production arrangements are necessary but not sufficient to improve whole life-cycle environmental performance of product-service systems, and that producers need to cooperate closely with other actors to achieve the claimed benefits.

Visualising a stochastic model of California Water Resources Using Sankey Diagrams

This paper describes a novel approach to the analysis of supply and demand of water in California. A stochastic model is developed to assess the future supply of and demand for water resources in California. The results are presented in the form of a Sankey diagram where present and stochastically-varying future fluxes of water in California and its sub-regions are traced from source to services by mapping the various transformations of water from when it is first made available for use, through its treatment, recycling and reuse, to its eventual loss in a variety of sinks. This helps to highlight the connections of water with energy and land resources, including the amount of energy used to pump and treat water, the amount of water used for energy production, and the land resources that create a water demand to produce crops for food. By mapping water in this way, policy-makers can more easily understand the competing uses of water, through the identification of the services it delivers (e.g. sanitation, food production, landscaping), the potential opportunities for improving themanagement of the resource and the connections with other resources which are often overlooked in a traditional sector-based management strategy. This paper focuses on a Sankey diagram for water, but the ultimate aim is the visualisation of linked resource futures through inter-connected Sankey diagrams for energy, land and water, tracking changes from the basic resources for all three, their transformations, and the final services they provide.

东北3省人类活动与水土流失关系的演进

受人类对土地过度垦殖及不合理耕作利用的影响,水土流失正在成为制约我国东北地区耕地可持续利用和粮食生产的主要因素。在对历史资料甄别与整理的基础上,分析近代以来东北3省区人口、土地利用变化及其与水土流失关系的演变。结果表明:到20世纪中期,东北地区人口压力达到60~70人/km2,伴随着生活方式的转变,机械化技术的应用,林草湿地被垦殖,森林覆盖率降到30%,垦殖率达30%,使区域性水土流失问题日益严重。

榆林市耕地资源与粮食安全研究

耕地资源是粮食生产及粮食安全的基础。针对世界粮价飙升所引发的"粮食危机",我国的粮食安全又重新成为社会所关注的焦点。在分析榆林市1949-2005年耕地资源变化的基础上,对耕地面积和粮食产量的年际变化率及不同历史阶段两者的相关关系进行分析,提出了榆林市粮食安全的保障措施。结果表明:1949-2005年,榆林市耕地面积及人均耕地面积均呈减少趋势;耕地数量变化对粮食生产具有根本的约束作用,但耕地面积与粮食产量的年际变化率的趋势并不完全同步,农业科技投入不仅抵消了因耕地面积减少所导致的粮食减产,而且可以使粮食总产出现较大增长,但耕地数量仍是稳定粮食总产的重要因素。

不同小麦品质类型与生态环境关系的研究

小麦（Triticum aestivum L.）是世界上种植面积最大，总产量最高，食物加工种类最丰富的粮食作物，占世界人口35 ％－40 ％的人们以此为主要食物。因此小麦产量的高低和品质的优劣直接影响人们对食物需求的安全和满意程度，也影响着人类的营养平衡以及面粉和食品加工业的发展。随着生活水平的提高，人们对于小麦的品质越来越重视。培育优质专用小麦新品种，制定优质专用小麦品种品质生态区划，从而在不同程度上实现小麦的区域化种植和产业化经营具有重要的意义。 影响小麦品质的因素主要是遗传因素和环境因素，其中环境因素又包括各种自然生态因素和人为因素。研究表明，小麦品质的环境间的差异大于品种间的差异，气候条件是影响小麦品质的最重要的因子，小麦品质的地域间的差异反映出了小麦的品质区域分布规律。为了满足市场对不同品质小麦的需求，对小麦进行区域化研究具有重要的理论和现实意义。本研究结合四川的地理、气候特点，研究不同品质类型与生态环境的关系，为在复杂的生态环境内进行品质区划提供依据。 本研究首先根据四川省小麦种植区域的生态特点，在四川省多个典型生态区：川南丘陵的荣县、川西南高原的西昌、川西平原的双流布点种植，采用的小麦试验材料为不同品质类型：中筋小麦川育12、川育14、川育16由本所提供；弱筋小麦川麦32和强筋小麦川麦36由四川省农科院作物所提供。通过研究品质性状与品种及各个生态因子包括地点、土壤土质差异等的关系，明确不同生态环境中适宜种植的小麦品种类型，强筋小麦、中筋小麦更适合于在荣县、双流地区种植，弱筋小麦更适合于在西昌地区种植，为品种品质区划奠定基础。 其次，选择了本课题组育成的稳定中间品系，对其品质性状SDS沉降值进行了多年测定。分析了品质性状SDS沉降值与多种气候因子的相关性，结果表明SDS沉降值与日均温、日照时数成正相关，与降水量成负相关，为品质育种提供了理论依据。 此外，以中筋小麦新品种小麦川育14为材料，应用三元二次正交旋转回归模型设计试验，研究主要栽培因子播期、密度和施肥量对产量的影响，并建立函数模型。经计算机模拟寻优，筛选出了高产高效栽培组合措施，并确定了置信域。结合四川省不同的地理情况，在平原和丘陵地区分别进行实验，并各自建立了高产高效栽培组合措施，为川育14品种的推广提供了理论指导。 Wheat is one of the most important crops in the world. About 35%-40% people all over the world, take the wheat as their most important food. So the quality, as well as the quantity of the wheat makes a direct effect on people’s demands of food and their satisfaction. It also effects on human’s healthy, and the development of the Food processing industry. With the development of the living standard, people pay more attention to the quality of wheat. So, we set a special ecology zoning for wheat. It is significant to carry out planting the wheat in special zoning in varying degrees. The main factors affecting wheat quality are heredity and environment including many ecological factors and the factors in cultivation. As to the quality，the difference between ecology and cultivation is more important than the difference between special wheat. In so many factors, climate is the most important one. From the difference in quality between different zones，we can conclude the rule of distribution abort quality of wheat. Finding out the intersection of numerous wheat not only can meet the demand of food production，but also has important signification in theory and realism。In our research, according to the complex geography in Sichuan province, we study the relationship between numerous kinds of quality characters in wheat and the ecology. So, we can set a foundation for more research. In this research, firstly, we plant wheat in some typical ecological regions of SICHUAN province: RONGXIAN（south of SC）、XICHANG（south of SC）, SHUANGLIU(west of SC). The materials of the experiments: ChuanYu12, ChuanYu14, ChuanYu16(from our institute), Chuanmai32, Chuanmai36 (from the Chinese academy of agriculture sciences of Sichuan. Through the research on the relationship between the quality of wheat and those ecology factors, we can make a definition that which area is perfect matched with which kind of wheat. And it can satisfy the demand of people. Secondly, select many sorts of wheat from our research group. All of them are selected and bred more than 3 years(2003-2005). And we make every-year determination as well. We’ve gotten SDS value from those 9, and various data on factors of climate. We also got to know the relation ship between those numbers. Thirdly, use Chuanyu14 as material, the mathematical model of the relation between the production of wheat and main agricultural measures such as date, density and fertilizer. The model was established by association of three elements two return, rotate and regression. We set a suitable model and get a suitable method which can make high harvest. Based on various kinds of geographical regions in Sichuan province, we set different models which can be used in plain and hill. So, we can plant Chuan Yu 14 in Sichuan province under the result in research.

Assessing the consequence of land use change on agricultural productivity in China

China's cultivated land has been undergoing dramatic changes along with its rapidly growing economy and population. The impacts of land use transformation on food production at the national scale, however, have been poorly understood due to the lack of detailed spatially explicit agricultural productivity information on cropland change and crop productivity. This study evaluates the effect of the cropland transformation on agricultural productivity by combining the land use data of China for the period of 1990-2000 from TM images and a satellite-based NPP (net primary production) model driven with NOAH/AVHRR data. The cropland area of China has a net increase of 2.79 Mha in the study period, which causes a slightly increased agricultural productivity (6.96 Mt C) at the national level. Although the newly cultivated lands compensated for the loss from urban expansion, but the contribution to production is insignificant because of the low productivity. The decrease in crop production resulting from urban expansion is about twice of that from abandonment of arable lands to forests and grasslands. The productivity of arable lands occupied by urban expansion was 80% higher than that of the newly cultivated lands in the regions with unfavorable natural conditions. Significance of cropland transformation impacts is spatially diverse with the differences in land use change intensity and land productivity across China. The increase in arable land area and yet decline in land quality may reduce the production potential and sustainability of China's agro-ecosystems. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Uncertainties in estimates of cropland area in China: a comparison between an AVHRR-derived dataset and a Landsat TM-derived dataset

The large uncertainties in estimates of cropland area in China may have significant implications for major cross-cutting themes of global environmental change-food production and trade, water resources, and the carbon and nitrogen cycles. Many earlier studies have indicated significant under-reporting of cropland area in China from official agricultural census statistics datasets. Space-borne remote sensing analyses provide an alternative and independent approach for estimating cropland area in China. In this study, we report estimates of cropland area from the National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD-96) at the 1:100,000 scale, which was generated by a multi-year National Land Cover Project in China through visual interpretation and digitization of Landsat TM images acquired mostly in 1995 and 1996. We compared the NLCD-96 dataset to another land cover dataset at I-km spatial resolution (the IGBP DIScover dataset version 2.0), which was generated from monthly Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from April, 1992 to March, 1993. The data comparison highlighted the limitation and uncertainty of cropland area estimates from the DIScover dataset. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Realidade e perspectivas do Brasil na produção de alimentos e agroenergia, com ênfase na soja.

O agronegócio brasileiro no contexto global; O Brasil na produção de alimentos e de bioenergia; O Brasil e a alta no preço dos alimentos; A soja no mundo; A soja no Brasil; Impactos positivos da soja para o Brasil; Perspectivas para a soja brasileira.

Metabolic studies on the nitrophile yeast Rhodotorula glutinis DSBCA06

Nitrogen is the most abundant element in atmosphere and fundamental component of proteins, nucleic acids and other essential molecules. In the past century the industrial use of nitrogen compounds has grown exponentially causing widespread pollution. Nitrogen pollution has wide-ranging impacts including contributions to global warming, acid rains and eutrophication. Reduction of nitrogen use in industry and agriculture coupled whit remediation treatments could represent a solution. To this purpose we isolated from environmental samples a nitrophile strain capable of removing nitrogen compounds efficiently from the medium. Through the molecular characterization, we identified the strain as a Rhodotorula glutinis that we called DSBCA06. We examined the main metabolic features of the strain, also to determine the best growing conditions. At the same time, the ability of the strain to grow in presence of high nitrite concentrations was assayed, being a relevant feature poorly studied earlierfor other environmental yeasts. The ability of the strain to grow in presence of heavy metal cations was also tested, showing a noticeable tolerance. The cost of bioremediation treatments is often a problem. One of the way to obviate this is to produce valuable secondary metabolites, capable of positively impact the cost of the processes. In this context the ability of the strain to produce carotenoids, natural molecules with antioxidant properties used for food production, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry, has been evaluated. The strain Rhodotorula glutinis DSBCA06 showed interesting features suggesting its possible use in bioremediation or industrials process for production of secondary metabolites such as lipids and carotenoids.

Evaluating Alternative Nutrient Sources in Subsistence-Level Aquaponic Systems

Many food production methods are both economically and environmentally unsustainable. Our project investigated aquaponics, an alternative method of agriculture that could address these issues. Aquaponics combines fish and plant crop production in a symbiotic, closed-loop system. We aimed to reduce the initial and operating costs of current aquaponic systems by utilizing alternative feeds. These improvements may allow for sustainable implementation of the system in rural or developing regions. We conducted a multi-phase process to determine the most affordable and effective feed alternatives for use in an aquaponic system. At the end of two preliminary phases, soybean meal was identified as the most effective potential feed supplement. In our final phase, we constructed and tested six full-scale aquaponic systems of our own design. Data showed that soybean meal can be used to reduce operating costs and reliance on fishmeal. However, a more targeted investigation is needed to identify the optimal formulation of alternative feed blends.

Variation in ocean colour may help predict cod and haddock recruitment

Characteristics of the spring and fall phytoplankton blooms in spawning areas on the Scotian Shelf, Canada, were estimated from remote sensing data. These blooms, along with anomalies in the North Atlantic Oscillation, were used to explain variation in the recruitment of 4 populations of cod and haddock. We tested the effects of the timing of the bloom using the chlorophyll a (chl a) signal, the maximum amount of chl a, the timing of the diatom bloom, and the maximum relative dominance of diatoms on the recruitment (to Age 1) of cod and haddock on the Scotian Shelf. Models were run separately for the effects of the spring and fall blooms. Only 3 of 10 models tested (0-lag) explained significant (80 to 92%) variation in recruitment. However, the performance of these models was not consistent across populations or species, suggesting that generalities about how spring and fall phytoplankton blooms affect recruitment cannot yet be made. The differences among models suggest that fish larvae are probably adapted locally to food production and thus indirectly to the characteristics of the phytoplankton bloom, which in turn are influenced by regional (meso-scale) oceanographic conditions.

RRS Discovery DY021 Cruise Report, March 2015

The Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry research programme directly relates to the delivery of the NERC Earth system science theme and aims to provide evidence that supports a number of marine policy areas and statutory requirements, such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and Marine and Climate Acts. The shelf seas are highly productive compared to the open ocean, a productivity that underpins more than 90 per cent of global fisheries. Their importance to society extends beyond food production to include issues of biodiversity, carbon cycling and storage, waste disposal, nutrient cycling, recreation and renewable energy resources. The shelf seas have been estimated to be the most valuable biome on Earth, but they are under considerable stress, as a result of anthropogenic nutrient loading, overfishing, habitat disturbance, climate change and other impacts. However, even within the relatively well-studied European shelf seas, fundamental biogeochemical processes are poorly understood. For example: the role of shelf seas in carbon storage; in the global cycles of key nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, silicon and iron); and in determining primary and secondary production, and thereby underpinning the future delivery of many other ecosystem services. Improved knowledge of such factors is not only required by marine policymakers; it also has the potential to increase the quality and cost-effectiveness of management decisions at the local, national and international levels under conditions of climate change. The Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry research programme will take a holistic approach to the cycling of nutrients and carbon and the controls on primary and secondary production in UK and European shelf seas, to increase understanding of these processes and their role in wider biogeochemical cycles. It will thereby significantly improve predictive marine biogeochemical and ecosystem models over a range of scales. The scope of the programme includes exchanges with the open ocean (transport on and off the shelf to a depth of around 500m), together with cycling, storage and release processes on the shelf slope, and air-sea exchange of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide). The DY021 cruise is the first of the 2015 Benthic SSB cruises to investigate the 4 main ‘representative’ sites in the Celtic Sea that will represent all the various sediment types found in the whole area, these being Mud, San, Sandy-Mud and Muddy-Sand. The cruise will also carry out complimentary sampling at the Pelagic SSB programme main site called CANDYFLOSS in the central Shelf area in order to better link the Benthic and Pelagic programmes.

Prioritization of knowledge needs for sustainable aquaculture: a national and global perspective

Aquaculture is currently the fastest expanding global animal food production sector and is a key future contributor to food security. An increase in food security will be dependent upon the development and improvement of sustainable practices. A prioritization exercise was undertaken, focusing on the future knowledge needs to underpin UK sustainable aquaculture (both domestic and imported products) using a ‘task force’ group of 36 ‘practitioners’ and 12 ‘research scientists’ who have an active interest in sustainable aquaculture. A long list of 264 knowledge needs related to sustainable aquaculture was developed in conjunction with the task force. The long list was further refined through a three stage process of voting and scoring, including discussions of each knowledge need. The top 25 knowledge needs are presented, as scored separately by ‘practitioners’ or ‘research scientists’. There was similar agreement in priorities identified by these two groups. The priority knowledge needs will provide guidance to structure ongoing work to make science accessible to practitioners and help to prioritize future science policy needs and funding. The process of knowledge exchange, and the mechanisms by which this can be achieved, effectively emerged as the top priority for sustainable aquaculture. Viable alternatives to wild fish-based aquaculture feeds, resource constraints that will potentially limit expansion of aquaculture, sustainable offshore aquaculture and the treatment of sea lice also emerged as strong priorities. Although the exercise was focused on UK needs for sustainable aquaculture, many of the emergent issues are considered to have global application.