| 1. |
- Garcia, Claude A., et al.
(författare)
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Strategy games to improve environmental policymaking
- 2022
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Ingår i: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2398-9629. ; 5:6, s. 464-471
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Scholars develop scenarios to identify the operational margins of system Earth, but focus less on how decisions are made that affect the system one way or another. Strategy games can help increase the representation of human agency in scenario development, allowing for deliberation among diverse worldviews. While the scientific community documents environmental degradation and develops scenarios to identify the operational margins of system Earth, less attention is given to how decisions are made that steer the system in one direction or the other. We propose to use strategy games for this purpose, increasing the representation of human agency in scenario development and creating spaces for deliberation between different worldviews. Played by the right people, strategy games could help break free from established norms and support more transparent democratic dialogues, responding to the human and social limitations of current decision-making. The question is, who gets to play?
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| 2. |
- Garibaldi, Lucas A., et al.
(författare)
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Wild Pollinators Enhance Fruit Set of Crops Regardless of Honey Bee Abundance
- 2013
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 339:6127, s. 1608-1611
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The diversity and abundance of wild insect pollinators have declined in many agricultural landscapes. Whether such declines reduce crop yields, or are mitigated by managed pollinators such as honey bees, is unclear. We found universally positive associations of fruit set with flower visitation by wild insects in 41 crop systems worldwide. In contrast, fruit set increased significantly with flower visitation by honey bees in only 14% of the systems surveyed. Overall, wild insects pollinated crops more effectively; an increase in wild insect visitation enhanced fruit set by twice as much as an equivalent increase in honey bee visitation. Visitation by wild insects and honey bees promoted fruit set independently, so pollination by managed honey bees supplemented, rather than substituted for, pollination by wild insects. Our results suggest that new practices for integrated management of both honey bees and diverse wild insect assemblages will enhance global crop yields.
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| 3. |
- Lee, Janice Ser Huay, et al.
(författare)
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No farmer left behind in sustainable biofuel production
- 2011
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Ingår i: Biological Conservation. - : Elsevier. - 0006-3207 .- 1873-2917. ; 144:10, s. 2512-2516
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Societal concerns about the social and environmental impacts of biofuel production are driving producers to adopt better management practices. Existing certification schemes for sustainable biofuel production are, however, biased towards industrial-scale producers that have the financial capital and economies of scale to meet sustainability and certification objectives. Smallholder farmers in developing countries, by contrast, often lack the means and capacity to do so. Some of the challenges faced by smallholders include high certification costs, insufficient institutional capacity, inadequate financial and social incentives, poor group organization and lack of external support. Drawing lessons from existing certification programs, we argue that proponents of sustainable practices and standards must fully appreciate the complex realities of smallholder production systems. We provide policy recommendations for ensuring that no farmer is left behind in the quest to increase sustainable biofuel production.
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| 4. |
- Rader, Romina, et al.
(författare)
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Non-bee insects are important contributors to global crop pollination.
- 2016
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 1091-6490 .- 0027-8424. ; 113:1, s. 146-151
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Wild and managed bees are well documented as effective pollinators of global crops of economic importance. However, the contributions by pollinators other than bees have been little explored despite their potential to contribute to crop production and stability in the face of environmental change. Non-bee pollinators include flies, beetles, moths, butterflies, wasps, ants, birds, and bats, among others. Here we focus on non-bee insects and synthesize 39 field studies from five continents that directly measured the crop pollination services provided by non-bees, honey bees, and other bees to compare the relative contributions of these taxa. Non-bees performed 25-50% of the total number of flower visits. Although non-bees were less effective pollinators than bees per flower visit, they made more visits; thus these two factors compensated for each other, resulting in pollination services rendered by non-bees that were similar to those provided by bees. In the subset of studies that measured fruit set, fruit set increased with non-bee insect visits independently of bee visitation rates, indicating that non-bee insects provide a unique benefit that is not provided by bees. We also show that non-bee insects are not as reliant as bees on the presence of remnant natural or seminatural habitat in the surrounding landscape. These results strongly suggest that non-bee insect pollinators play a significant role in global crop production and respond differently than bees to landscape structure, probably making their crop pollination services more robust to changes in land use. Non-bee insects provide a valuable service and provide potential insurance against bee population declines.
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| 5. |
- Rist, Lucy, et al.
(författare)
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Sustainable harvesting of coco de mer, Lodoicea maldivica, in the Vallée de Mai, Seychelles
- 2010
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Ingår i: Forest Ecology and Management. - : Elsevier. - 0378-1127 .- 1872-7042. ; 260:12, s. 2224-2231
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The coco de mer palm Lodoicea maldivica, endemic to the Seychelles, is a flagship species for tourism and conservation. It bears the world's largest seed for which it is currently heavily exploited across its limited range, and it is clear that harvesting at current levels cannot be maintained indefinitely. Biologically informed harvesting protocols are therefore required to move towards sustainable management that secures the long-term viability of the population and the revenue that it currently generates. Demographic modelling using population matrix models is a useful tool in these efforts as it identifies both the life stages with the strongest influence on population dynamics as well as the consequences of current use intensities. Here we provide an initial population model based on data currently available to assess the status of the largest L. maldivica population in the Vallée de Mai World Heritage Site. We estimated transition probabilities and constructed matrices to estimate the populations’ growth rate under current and alternative harvesting regimes, taking into account uncertainty regarding adult mortality and lifespan. Model projections of the population under current harvesting intensities forecast a marked decrease in the proportion of juveniles in the population and a gradually declining population over the next 200 years. Population growth rates were most sensitive to adult survival, reflecting the long generation time of this species and the remaining uncertainty in this respect. Based on this preliminary model we propose a precautionary sustainable harvesting limit for L. maldivica and discuss the challenges and opportunities of its management, including recommendations for future data collection.
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| 6. |
- Samnegård, Ulrika, 1985-
(författare)
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The impact of forest on pest damage, pollinators and pollination services in an Ethiopian agricultural landscape
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The distribution of wild biodiversity in agroecosystems affect crop performance and yield in various ways. In this thesis I have studied the impact of wild biodiversity, in terms of trees and forest structures, on crop pests, pollinators and the pollination services provided in a heterogeneous landscape in southwestern Ethiopia. Coffee, Coffea arabica, is a forest shrub native to Ethiopia and is grown in most wooded areas in the landscape where I conducted my studies. Wild coffee is still found in remote parts of the forests in the landscape. For my first paper, I surveyed pest damage on coffee in coffee forest sites, where some sites were situated in continuous forest and some in isolated forest patches. I found the variation in pest damage frequency to mainly be among coffee plants within a site, rather than among sites, which indicates the importance of local processes. However, some pests were clearly connected to the forest habitat, such as the olive baboon.In my second study, I surveyed pollinators visiting coffee flowers across a gradient of shade-tree structures. I found the semi-wild honeybee to be the dominating flower visitor. The abundance of the honeybee was not related to shade-tree structures, but to amount of coffee flower resources in the site. On the other hand, other pollinators, which included other bee species and hoverflies, were positively affected by more shade trees in the site.In my third study I investigated how the forest cover affected local bee communities in the agricultural landscape. Moreover, I investigated if this relationship differed between the dry and rainy season. The distribution of food resources for bees changes between the seasons, which may affect the bees. Most trees, fruit trees and coffee, which are patchy resources, flowers in the dry season, whereas most herbs and annual crops, which are more evenly spread resources, flowers during the rainy season. I found a clear turnover in bee species composition between the dry and rainy season, with more mobile species in the dry season. Increased forest cover in the surrounding landscape had a positive impact on bee abundance and species richness. However, the impact did not change between seasons.In my fourth study I evaluated the pollination success and pollen limitation of a common oil crop in the landscape in relation to forest cover. I found severe pollen limitation across the landscape, which may be related to the observed low bee abundances. The pollen limitation was not related to surrounding forest cover.In conclusion, I have found the forest and wooded habitats to impact several mobile animals and pathogens in our study landscape, which in turn affect people. However, there is large complexity in nature and general relationships between forest structures and all crop related organisms may be unlikely to find. Various species are dependent on different resources, at different spatial scales and are interacting with several other species. To develop management strategies for increased pollination services, for reduced pest damage or for conservation in the landscape, more species-specific knowledge is needed.
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