| 1. |
- Cole, Lorna J., et al.
(författare)
-
A critical analysis of the potential for EU Common Agricultural Policy measures to support wild pollinators on farmland
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Journal of Applied Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0021-8901 .- 1365-2664. ; 57:4, s. 681-694
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Agricultural intensification and associated loss of high-quality habitats are key drivers of insect pollinator declines. With the aim of decreasing the environmental impact of agriculture, the 2014 EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) defined a set of habitat and landscape features (Ecological Focus Areas: EFAs) farmers could select from as a requirement to receive basic farm payments. To inform the post-2020 CAP, we performed a European-scale evaluation to determine how different EFA options vary in their potential to support insect pollinators under standard and pollinator-friendly management, as well as the extent of farmer uptake. A structured Delphi elicitation process engaged 22 experts from 18 European countries to evaluate EFAs options. By considering life cycle requirements of key pollinating taxa (i.e. bumble bees, solitary bees and hoverflies), each option was evaluated for its potential to provide forage, bee nesting sites and hoverfly larval resources. EFA options varied substantially in the resources they were perceived to provide and their effectiveness varied geographically and temporally. For example, field margins provide relatively good forage throughout the season in Southern and Eastern Europe but lacked early-season forage in Northern and Western Europe. Under standard management, no single EFA option achieved high scores across resource categories and a scarcity of late season forage was perceived. Experts identified substantial opportunities to improve habitat quality by adopting pollinator-friendly management. Improving management alone was, however, unlikely to ensure that all pollinator resource requirements were met. Our analyses suggest that a combination of poor management, differences in the inherent pollinator habitat quality and uptake bias towards catch crops and nitrogen-fixing crops severely limit the potential of EFAs to support pollinators in European agricultural landscapes. Policy Implications. To conserve pollinators and help protect pollination services, our expert elicitation highlights the need to create a variety of interconnected, well-managed habitats that complement each other in the resources they offer. To achieve this the Common Agricultural Policy post-2020 should take a holistic view to implementation that integrates the different delivery vehicles aimed at protecting biodiversity (e.g. enhanced conditionality, eco-schemes and agri-environment and climate measures). To improve habitat quality we recommend an effective monitoring framework with target-orientated indicators and to facilitate the spatial targeting of options collaboration between land managers should be incentivised.
|
|
| 2. |
- Alejandre, Elizabeth M., et al.
(författare)
-
Characterization Factors to Assess Land Use Impacts on Pollinator Abundance in Life Cycle Assessment
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 57:8, s. 3445-3454
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While wild pollinators play a key role in global food production, their assessment is currently missing from the most commonly used environmental impact assessment method, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This is mainly due to constraints in data availability and compatibility with LCA inventories. To target this gap, relative pollinator abundance estimates were obtained with the use of a Delphi assessment, during which 25 experts, covering 16 nationalities and 45 countries of expertise, provided scores for low, typical, and high expected abundance associated with 24 land use categories. Based on these estimates, this study presents a set of globally generic characterization factors (CFs) that allows translating land use into relative impacts to wild pollinator abundance. The associated uncertainty of the CFs is presented along with an illustrative case to demonstrate the applicability in LCA studies. The CFs based on estimates that reached consensus during the Delphi assessment are recommended as readily applicable and allow key differences among land use types to be distinguished. The resulting CFs are proposed as the first step for incorporating pollinator impacts in LCA studies, exemplifying the use of expert elicitation methods as a useful tool to fill data gaps that constrain the characterization of key environmental impacts.
|
|
| 3. |
- Axfors, Cathrine, et al.
(författare)
-
Mortality outcomes with hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in COVID-19 from an international collaborative meta-analysis of randomized trials
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Nature. - 2041-1723. ; 12:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Substantial COVID-19 research investment has been allocated to randomized clinical trials (RCTs) on hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine, which currently face recruitment challenges or early discontinuation. We aim to estimate the effects of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine on survival in COVID-19 from all currently available RCT evidence, published and unpublished. We present a rapid meta-analysis of ongoing, completed, or discontinued RCTs on hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine treatment for any COVID-19 patients (protocol: https://osf.io/QESV4/). We systematically identified unpublished RCTs (ClinicalTrials.gov, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, Cochrane COVID-registry up to June 11, 2020), and published RCTs (PubMed, medRxiv and bioRxiv up to October 16, 2020). All-cause mortality has been extracted (publications/preprints) or requested from investigators and combined in random-effects meta-analyses, calculating odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), separately for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. Prespecified subgroup analyses include patient setting, diagnostic confirmation, control type, and publication status. Sixty-three trials were potentially eligible. We included 14 unpublished trials (1308 patients) and 14 publications/preprints (9011 patients). Results for hydroxychloroquine are dominated by RECOVERY and WHO SOLIDARITY, two highly pragmatic trials, which employed relatively high doses and included 4716 and 1853 patients, respectively (67% of the total sample size). The combined OR on all-cause mortality for hydroxychloroquine is 1.11 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.20; I-2=0%; 26 trials; 10,012 patients) and for chloroquine 1.77 (95%CI: 0.15, 21.13, I-2=0%; 4 trials; 307 patients). We identified no subgroup effects. We found that treatment with hydroxychloroquine is associated with increased mortality in COVID-19 patients, and there is no benefit of chloroquine. Findings have unclear generalizability to outpatients, children, pregnant women, and people with comorbidities. Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have been investigated as a potential treatment for Covid-19 in several clinical trials. Here the authors report a meta-analysis of published and unpublished trials, and show that treatment with hydroxychloroquine for patients with Covid-19 was associated with increased mortality, and there was no benefit from chloroquine.
|
|
| 4. |
- Daley, CL, et al.
(författare)
-
Treatment of nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease: an official ATS/ERS/ESCMID/IDSA clinical practice guideline
- 2020
-
Ingår i: The European respiratory journal. - : European Respiratory Society (ERS). - 1399-3003 .- 0903-1936. ; 56:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) represent over 190 species and subspecies, some of which can produce disease in humans of all ages and can affect both pulmonary and extrapulmonary sites. This guideline focuses on pulmonary disease in adults (without cystic fibrosis or human immunodeficiency virus infection) caused by the most common NTM pathogens such asMycobacterium aviumcomplex,Mycobacterium kansasii, andMycobacterium xenopiamong the slowly growing NTM andMycobacterium abscessusamong the rapidly growing NTM. A panel of experts was carefully selected by leading international respiratory medicine and infectious diseases societies (ATS, ERS, ESCMID, IDSA) and included specialists in pulmonary medicine, infectious diseases and clinical microbiology, laboratory medicine, and patient advocacy. Systematic reviews were conducted around each of 22 PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome) questions and the recommendations were formulated, written, and graded using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) approach. Thirty-one evidence-based recommendations about treatment of NTM pulmonary disease are provided. This guideline is intended for use by healthcare professionals who care for patients with NTM pulmonary disease, including specialists in infectious diseases and pulmonary diseases.
|
|
| 5. |
- Daley, CL, et al.
(författare)
-
Treatment of Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Disease: An Official ATS/ERS/ESCMID/IDSA Clinical Practice Guideline
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1537-6591. ; 71:4, s. E1-E36
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) represent over 190 species and subspecies, some of which can produce disease in humans of all ages and can affect both pulmonary and extrapulmonary sites. This guideline focuses on pulmonary disease in adults (without cystic fibrosis or human immunodeficiency virus infection) caused by the most common NTM pathogens such as Mycobacterium avium complex, Mycobacterium kansasii, and Mycobacterium xenopi among the slowly growing NTM and Mycobacterium abscessus among the rapidly growing NTM. A panel of experts was carefully selected by leading international respiratory medicine and infectious diseases societies (ATS, ERS, ESCMID, IDSA) and included specialists in pulmonary medicine, infectious diseases and clinical microbiology, laboratory medicine, and patient advocacy. Systematic reviews were conducted around each of 22 PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome) questions and the recommendations were formulated, written, and graded using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) approach. Thirty-one evidence-based recommendations about treatment of NTM pulmonary disease are provided. This guideline is intended for use by healthcare professionals who care for patients with NTM pulmonary disease, including specialists in infectious diseases and pulmonary diseases.
|
|
| 6. |
- Hodge, Simon, et al.
(författare)
-
Design and Planning of a Transdisciplinary Investigation into Farmland Pollinators : Rationale, Co-Design, and Lessons Learned
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Sustainability (Switzerland). - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 14:17
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To provide a complete portrayal of the multiple factors negatively impacting insects in agricultural landscapes it is necessary to assess the concurrent incidence, magnitude, and interactions among multiple stressors over substantial biogeographical scales. Trans-national ecological field investigations with wide-ranging stakeholders typically encounter numerous challenges during the design planning stages, not least that the scientific soundness of a spatially replicated study design must account for the substantial geographic and climatic variation among distant sites. ‘PoshBee’ (Pan-European assessment, monitoring, and mitigation of Stressors on the Health of Bees) is a multi-partner transdisciplinary agroecological project established to investigate the suite of stressors typically encountered by pollinating insects in European agricultural landscapes. To do this, PoshBee established a network of 128 study sites across eight European countries and collected over 50 measurements and samples relating to the nutritional, toxicological, pathogenic, and landscape components of the bees’ environment. This paper describes the development process, rationale, and end-result of each aspect of the of the PoshBee field investigation. We describe the main issues and challenges encountered during the design stages and highlight a number of actions or processes that may benefit other multi-partner research consortia planning similar large-scale studies. It was soon identified that in a multi-component study design process, the development of interaction and communication networks involving all collaborators and stakeholders requires considerable time and resources. It was also necessary at each planning stage to be mindful of the needs and objectives of all stakeholders and partners, and further challenges inevitably arose when practical limitations, such as time restrictions and labour constraints, were superimposed upon prototype study designs. To promote clarity for all stakeholders, for each sub-component of the study, there should be a clear record of the rationale and reasoning that outlines how the final design transpired, what compromises were made, and how the requirements of different stakeholders were accomplished. Ultimately, multi-national agroecological field studies such as PoshBee benefit greatly from the involvement of diverse stakeholders and partners, ranging from field ecologists, project managers, policy legislators, mathematical modelers, and farmer organisations. While the execution of the study highlighted the advantages and benefits of large-scale transdisciplinary projects, the long planning period emphasized the need to formally describe a design framework that could facilitate the design process of future multi-partner collaborations.
|
|
| 7. |
- Bottero, Irene, et al.
(författare)
-
Impact of landscape configuration and composition on pollinator communities across different European biogeographic regions
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. - 2296-701X. ; 11
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction: Heterogeneity in composition and spatial configuration of landscape elements support diversity and abundance of flower-visiting insects, but this is likely dependent on taxonomic group, spatial scale, weather and climatic conditions, and is particularly impacted by agricultural intensification. Here, we analyzed the impacts of both aspects of landscape heterogeneity and the role of climatic and weather conditions on pollinating insect communities in two economically important mass-flowering crops across Europe. Methods: Using a standardized approach, we collected data on the abundance of five insect groups (honey bees, bumble bees, other bees, hover flies and butterflies) in eight oilseed rape and eight apple orchard sites (in crops and adjacent crop margins), across eight European countries (128 sites in total) encompassing four biogeographic regions, and quantified habitat heterogeneity by calculating relevant landscape metrics for composition (proportion and diversity of land-use types) and configuration (the aggregation and isolation of land-use patches). Results: We found that flower-visiting insects responded to landscape and climate parameters in taxon- and crop-specific ways. For example, landscape diversity was positively correlated with honey bee and solitary bee abundance in oilseed rape fields, and hover fly abundance in apple orchards. In apple sites, the total abundance of all pollinators, and particularly bumble bees and solitary bees, decreased with an increasing proportion of orchards in the surrounding landscape. In oilseed rape sites, less-intensively managed habitats (i.e., woodland, grassland, meadows, and hedgerows) positively influenced all pollinators, particularly bumble bees and butterflies. Additionally, our data showed that daily and annual temperature, as well as annual precipitation and precipitation seasonality, affects the abundance of flower-visiting insects, although, again, these impacts appeared to be taxon- or crop-specific. Discussion: Thus, in the context of global change, our findings emphasize the importance of understanding the role of taxon-specific responses to both changes in land use and climate, to ensure continued delivery of pollination services to pollinator-dependent crops.
|
|
| 8. |
- LAURENT, Marion, et al.
(författare)
-
Novel indices reveal that pollinator exposure to pesticides varies across biological compartments and crop surroundings
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - 0048-9697. ; 927
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Declines in insect pollinators have been linked to a range of causative factors such as disease, loss of habitats, the quality and availability of food, and exposure to pesticides. Here, we analysed an extensive dataset generated from pesticide screening of foraging insects, pollen-nectar stores/beebread, pollen and ingested nectar across three species of bees collected at 128 European sites set in two types of crop. In this paper, we aimed to (i) derive a new index to summarise key aspects of complex pesticide exposure data and (ii) understand the links between pesticide exposures depicted by the different matrices, bee species and apple orchards versus oilseed rape crops. We found that summary indices were highly correlated with the number of pesticides detected in the related matrix but not with which pesticides were present. Matrices collected from apple orchards generally contained a higher number of pesticides (7.6 pesticides per site) than matrices from sites collected from oilseed rape crops (3.5 pesticides), with fungicides being highly represented in apple crops. A greater number of pesticides were found in pollen-nectar stores/beebread and pollen matrices compared with nectar and bee body matrices. Our results show that for a complete assessment of pollinator pesticide exposure, it is necessary to consider several different exposure routes and multiple species of bees across different agricultural systems.
|
|
| 9. |
- Lin, Yi Pin, et al.
(författare)
-
Cellular and immunological mechanisms influence host-Adapted phenotypes in a vector-borne microparasite
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8452 .- 1471-2954. ; 289:1969
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Predicting pathogen emergence and spillover risk requires understanding the determinants of a pathogens host range and the traits involved in host competence. While host competence is often considered a fixed species-specific trait, it may be variable if pathogens diversify across hosts. Balancing selection can lead to maintenance of pathogen polymorphisms (multiple-niche-polymorphism; MNP). The causative agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), provides a model to study the evolution of host adaptation, as some Bb strains defined by their outer surface protein C (ospC) genotype, are widespread in white-footed mice and others are associated with non-rodent vertebrates (e.g. birds). To identify the mechanisms underlying potential strain × host adaptation, we infected American robins and white-footed mice, with three Bb strains of different ospC genotypes. Bb burdens varied by strain in a host-dependent fashion, and strain persistence in hosts largely corresponded to Bb survival at early infection stages and with transmission to larvae (i.e. fitness). Early survival phenotypes are associated with cell adhesion, complement evasion and/or inflammatory and antibody-mediated removal of Bb, suggesting directional selective pressure for host adaptation and the potential role of MNP in maintaining OspC diversity. Our findings will guide future investigations to inform eco-evolutionary models of host adaptation for microparasites.
|
|
| 10. |
- Nicholson, Charlie C, et al.
(författare)
-
Pesticide use negatively affects bumble bees across European landscapes
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687.
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sustainable agriculture requires balancing crop yields with the effects of pesticides on non-target organisms, such as bees and other crop pollinators. Field studies demonstrated that agricultural use of neonicotinoid insecticides can negatively affect wild bee species 1,2, leading to restrictions on these compounds 3. However, besides neonicotinoids, field-based evidence of the effects of landscape pesticide exposure on wild bees is lacking. Bees encounter many pesticides in agricultural landscapes 4-9 and the effects of this landscape exposure on colony growth and development of any bee species remains unknown. Here we show that the many pesticides found in bumble bee-collected pollen are associated with reduced colony performance during crop bloom, especially in simplified landscapes with intensive agricultural practices. Our results from 316 Bombus terrestris colonies at 106 agricultural sites across eight European countries confirm that the regulatory system fails to sufficiently prevent pesticide-related impacts on non-target organisms, even for a eusocial pollinator species in which colony size may buffer against such impacts 10,11. These findings support the need for postapproval monitoring of both pesticide exposure and effects to confirm that the regulatory process is sufficiently protective in limiting the collateral environmental damage of agricultural pesticide use.
|
|
