Abstract
AbstractDegradation of soil in the United Kingdom (UK) is compromising the ecosystem services that flow from this natural capital asset, including water flow regulation. Soil compacted by grazing livestock, for example, results in an increase in overland flow following rainfall and is thought to be one of the key factors contributing to increased severity of UK winter flooding in recent years. Practical farm‐scale changes in livestock management that lead to improvements in water flow regulation therefore need to be identified. This pilot study aimed to assess the impact of (i) changing stocking composition, and (ii) temporary grazing exclusions, on soil natural capital quality on a sheep and beef cattle farm in Northumberland, England. I found evidence of improved soil bulk density under mixed sheep and cattle grazing compared to cattle‐only grazing over a 3‐month summer grazing season; bulk density in 'cattle‐only' pastures increased from 0.836 to 0.875 g cm−3 from June to September 2017, compared with a small decrease of 0.875–0.871 g cm−3 in 'cattle to mixed sheep and cattle' pastures (difference significant at p < .05 level). Changing from sheep‐only grazing to mixed grazing, and exclusion of grazing, did not significantly influence bulk density change (p > .05). This study indicates that rapid improvements in soil physical properties can be achieved through realistic changes to livestock management. If this finding can be confirmed over multiple grazing seasons, this potentially offers a straightforward means to enhance soil health on grazed land in the UK, improving delivery of water flow regulation and other ecosystem services.
Highlights
Generating and sharing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance reports are fundamental elements of actions against AMR infections at local, national, and international levels
The data analysis procedure and report content were developed based on the recommendations of the World Health Organization Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (WHO GLASS)
We developed the AutoMated tool for Antimicrobial resistance Surveillance System (AMASS), which can support clinical microbiology laboratories to analyze their microbiology and hospital data files onsite and promptly generate AMR surveillance reports
Summary
Generating and sharing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance reports are fundamental elements of actions against AMR infections at local, national, and international levels. The Review on AMR chaired by Jim O’Neill estimated that 700,000 global deaths are attributable to AMR infections each year (including bacterial infections and tuberculosis) [1,6], and they have an enormous global impact [7,8]. While this represents a very rough estimate subject to well-documented limitations [1,9,10], the report importantly highlighted the need for improved AMR surveillance. Analyzing data and generating a report are time consuming and often require trained personnel
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