Tag: crops

Agriculture, Human-wildlife interactions, Research summaries

Temporal mismatches in flight activity patterns between Pipistrellus kuhlii and Prays oleae in olive farms: Implications for biocontrol services potential

In this blog post José M. Herrera discusses their latest research, conducted alongside co-authors, which looks at the temporal relationship between the nightly activity patterns of the common pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus kuhlii) and the olive fruit moth (Prays oleae). To enhance biocontrol services, they propose increasing the availability of suitable roosting and foraging sites as well as conserving areas of remnant native woodland and scattered … Continue reading Temporal mismatches in flight activity patterns between Pipistrellus kuhlii and Prays oleae in olive farms: Implications for biocontrol services potential

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Agriculture, Human-wildlife interactions, Research summaries

Bed or breakfast? Roe deer balance food and safety according to crop phenology

Noa Rigoudy and co-authors talk us through their latest work, highlighting how behavioural adjustment may buffer the consequences of the reduction in natural habitats that accompanies intensification of agricultural production. This has implications for understanding how agricultural practices shape the food-safety trade-off of wildlife living in these highly modified landscapes. Wildlife in agroecosystems The life cycle of plants (i.e., their phenology) influences how food is … Continue reading Bed or breakfast? Roe deer balance food and safety according to crop phenology

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Agriculture, Human-wildlife interactions, Pollinators, Research summaries

Unravelling the seasonal dance: How flowering crops impact wild pollinators

Laura Riggi talks us through the latest research, conducted with colleagues, which confirms that mass-flowering crop cultivation alone is unlikely to be sufficient for maintaining pollinators. However, as part of carefully designed diverse crop rotations or mixtures combined with the preservation of permanent non-crop habitats, it might provide valuable supplementary food resources for pollinators in temperate agroecosystems, particularly later in the season when alternative flower … Continue reading Unravelling the seasonal dance: How flowering crops impact wild pollinators

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Agriculture, Human-wildlife interactions, Pathogens and disease, Research summaries, Translation

Rumslig och tidsmässig isolering av rapsfält minskar förekomsten av skadeinsekter och skador på grödan

Det här blogginlägget finns även på engelska här.
Fabian Boetzl berättar för oss om sin och sina kollegors forskning om landskapsbaserade strategier för att minska trycket från skadeinsekter och skador på grödor. Continue reading Rumslig och tidsmässig isolering av rapsfält minskar förekomsten av skadeinsekter och skador på grödan

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Agriculture, Human-wildlife interactions, Pathogens and disease, Research summaries

Spatiotemporal isolation of oilseed rape fields reduces insect pest pressure and crop damage

This blog post is also available in Swedish here. Fabian Boetzl talks us through his and his colleagues’ new research on landscape-based strategies to reduce insect pest pressure and crop damage. The problem Systemic neonicotinoid insecticides are detrimental to a wide range of beneficial biodiversity, with wild bees as the most prominent example. Due to these observed negative side-effects, systemic neonicotinoid insecticides have been banned … Continue reading Spatiotemporal isolation of oilseed rape fields reduces insect pest pressure and crop damage

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Agriculture, Careers, Plant and soil ecology, Research summaries

Chongzhe Zhang: Leveraging functional traits of cover crops to coordinate crop productivity and soil health

Shortlisted for the Southwood Prize 2022 In this blog post, Chongzhe Zhang talks us through his and colleagues’ research involving a trait-based field experiment in which cover crops were measured to evaluate soil health, crop productivity and agricultural ecosystem sustainability. Trait-based ecology The grand challenge of feeding a growing population while preserving biodiversity and ecosystem sustainability is a daunting task for humanity. To achieve a … Continue reading Chongzhe Zhang: Leveraging functional traits of cover crops to coordinate crop productivity and soil health

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Agriculture, Careers, Journal news, The Applied Ecologist community

Southwood Prize 2019: early career researcher winner announced

We’re excited to announce Ségolène Humann‐Guilleminot as the winner of this year’s Southwood Prize, celebrating the best paper by an early career researcher in the 2019 (56th) volume of Journal of Applied Ecology. Ségolène’s winning paper is ‘A nation‐wide survey of neonicotinoid insecticides in agricultural land with implications for agri‐environment schemes’. About the research From ten years of being marketed in the mid-1990s, neonicotinoid insecticides … Continue reading Southwood Prize 2019: early career researcher winner announced

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Agriculture, Editor's Choice

Editor’s Choice 57:04 – Enhancing biodiversity through more heterogeneous field designs

In Journal of Applied Ecology’s April Editor’s Choice, Alignier et al. present a way of promoting farmland biodiversity without sacrificing land needed for agricultural production. Associate Editor, Pieter De Frenne (Forest & Nature Lab, Ghent University, Belgium), introduces their exciting research. Researchers and policymakers are constantly testing, assessing and implementing different techniques to reduce the negative impacts of current agricultural practices on biodiversity. This is … Continue reading Editor’s Choice 57:04 – Enhancing biodiversity through more heterogeneous field designs

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Agriculture, Editor's Choice, Journal covers, Pollinators

Editor’s Choice 57:03 – The economic implications of pollination by bats

For our March Editor’s Choice, Michael Pocock (Associate Editor) highlights the importance of recent research by Tremlett et al into pollination by bats and the value this brings to communities in Mexico. The slideshow above of images by César Guzmánr shows the journey of the pitaya fruit, for which bats are of key importance, from growth to market. One of the reoccurring themes in applied … Continue reading Editor’s Choice 57:03 – The economic implications of pollination by bats

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Agriculture, Pollinators, Video

Why bats matter when it comes to pollination

In their recently published article, Tremlett et al. call for greater management focus for wild bat pollinator populations due to the ecosystem services they provide for valuable crops. Here they share a video of bat feeding in action and explain a little more about their work. *Update March 2020. The corresponding article to this video features as the Editor’s Choice for issue 57:03. Read Associate … Continue reading Why bats matter when it comes to pollination

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