Food Abundance Research Articles

Diversitas Pangan Fermentasi Berbasis-Susu di Indonesia dan Kandungan Gizinya

Indonesia has abundant and diverse food commodities, including fermented food. However, metadata analysis about the diversity of fermented foods has not been reported. In addition, a comparison of the nutritional content of milk-based fermented foods is also not yet available. Therefore, this study aims to reveal the diverse status of fermented foods, to determine the nutritional content, especially of fermented milk-based foods, namely dangke, and their comparisons between milk-based fermented products. The research method included literature study, making dangke, proximate analysis of dangke, and statistical data analysis. Literature studies show that fermented foods and beverages in Indonesia were most reported in 2017, 2018, and 2019 respectively. Although most fermented foods are not known for their area of origin, the microbial groups involved in their processing come from the bacterial group rather than fungi, mainly through the lactic acid fermentation mechanism. Microbes' role in fermented products is diverse and can be grouped into five groups. The primary role of microbes is to support bioprocesses. Among milk-based fermented products, dangke is one of the traditional products with a fat content that is significantly different fat content from yogurt, kefir, and dadih, and the protein is not significantly different from yogurt, kefir, dadih, and mozzarella cheese. This nutritional content analysis indicates differences in fat and protein content among fermented milk-based food products.
 
 Keywords: dangke, fat content, metadata, protein content, proximate analysis

Comparison of behaviors of black bears with and without habituation to humans and supplemental research feeding

Abstract Humans interact with wildlife regularly, mostly without conflict. Interactions between humans and bears, however, have a history of conflict. Using data from female black bears in two populations, we compared behaviors related to a series of hypotheses about habituation and food supplementation via research feeding. We livetrapped bears in the southern boreal forests and cove forests of the Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina, in barrel traps or modified leg-hold snares and outfitted them with very high frequency (VHF) transmitters, for 95 bear-years of data. In the southern boreal forests of Superior National Forest, Minnesota, we habituated bears and outfitted them with VHF collars supplemented with GPS units, for 42 bear-years. Some human residents of the Superior study area fed local black bears and we established a research feeding site. Bears in both populations avoided roads and habituated: Superior bears avoided houses where they were not fed; the study site for Pisgah bears (no habituation or feeding) had too few houses to test for avoidance. Bears in both populations gained weight faster during their active seasons when wild foods were abundant. Habituated, supplemented Superior bears averaged a smaller proportion of a day active, longer activity bouts, and less sinuous movements than did not-habituated or supplemented Pisgah bears. The bears in the two populations did not differ with respect to distances traveled per 2 h or mean lengths of activity bouts. The abundance of wild foods affected time active, distance traveled, and sinuosity of travel by not-habituated or supplemented Pisgah bears. Females in breeding condition in both populations were more active, had longer activity bouts, traveled further, and had more linear travel in spring and early summer while females with cubs pushed these activities into late summer and autumn. This timing pattern for bout length, distance moved, and sinuosity was less pronounced for habituated and research-fed Superior bears than for not-habituated or supplemented Pisgah bears. Thus, habituation to a small number of researchers appeared to not affect many behaviors of bears in our habituated and research-fed Superior population; research feeding appeared to affect some behaviors in a manner consistent with a food supply that had low annual variance. Because we have samples of one for each treatment (one site with habituation and feeding, one site without), our results do not establish that differences documented between the populations were caused by the differences in habituation and feeding. The effects of habituation, research feeding, or other forms of food supplementation on backcountry behaviors of black bears need broader testing across the range of black bears.

Annual variation in breeding success in boreal forest grouse: Four decades of monitoring reveals bottom-up drivers to be more important than predation.

Knowledge of the temporal variation in reproductive success and its key driving factors is crucial in predicting animal population persistence. Few studies have examined the effects of a range of explanatory factors operating simultaneously on the same population over a long period. Based on 41 years of monitoring (1979–2019), we tested prevailing hypotheses about drivers of annual variation in breeding success in two sympatric species of boreal forest grouse—the capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) and the black grouse (T. tetrix)—in a 45 km2 boreal forest landscape. From counts in early August, we measured breeding success (chicks/hen) along with potential determining factors. We formulated five main hypotheses on causes of variation (hen condition, chick weather, chick food, predation, demographic characteristics) and derived 13 associated explanatory variables for analysis. We first tested the five hypotheses separately and then used model selection (AICc) to rank the best predictive models irrespective of hypotheses. Lastly, we used path analysis to illuminate potential causal relationships. Barring demographic characteristics, all hypotheses were supported, most strongly for chick food and predation. Among predictor variables, chick food (insect larvae and bilberry fruit crops), vole and fox abundances, the winter‐NAO index, and temperature after hatching, had the strongest effect sizes in both species. Precipitation after hatching had no detectable effect. Model selection indicated bottom‐up factors to be more important than predation, but confounding complicated interpretation. Path analysis suggested that the high explanatory power of bilberry fruiting was due not only to its direct positive effect on chick food quality but also to an indirect positive effect on vole abundance, which buffers predation. The two components of breeding success—proportion of hens with broods and number of chicks per brood—were uncorrelated, the former having the strongest effect. The two components had different ecological correlates that often varied asynchronously, resulting in overall breeding success fluctuating around low to moderate levels. Our study highlights the complexity of key explanatory drivers and the importance of considering multiple hypotheses of breeding success. Although chick food appeared to equal or surpass predation in explaining the annual variation in breeding success, predation may still be the overall limiting factor. Comparative and experimental studies of confounded variables (bilberry fruiting, voles, and larvae) are needed to disentangle causes of variation in breeding success of boreal forest grouse.

Research on intelligent building greenhouse plant factory and “3-Positions and 1-Entity” development mode

After continuous development and evolution, the plant growth greenhouse has developed from the original heat preservation and moisture film cover to the present multi-cross intelligent solar greenhouse, which has played an important social value in agricultural production. However, in terms of the form of the greenhouse, it has not kept pace with the pace of social development, far from meeting the needs of environmental protection, energy saving, stable, intelligent, long-term use. With the wide application of big data, artificial intelligence, block chain, Internet of Things, cloud computing and other intelligent technologies in agriculture, as well as the rapid development of soilless culture and artificial light of plant lighting technology, the intelligent building greenhouse based on modern building technology can not only completely get rid of geographical location and regional climate conditions, but also durable to achieve long-term use standards and facilitate the deployment of intelligent operation equipment, which will become a more advanced and high-end form of intelligent plant greenhouse. Therefore, this paper defines the concept of “building greenhouse” for the first time, preliminarily discusses the construction idea of “intelligent building greenhouse plant factory”, and puts forward the suggestion of “trinity” new development mode, in order to play a pioneer role. With the proposal of “intelligent building greenhouse plant factory”, we firmly believe that the intelligent building greenhouse plant factory will gradually gain social recognition and get rapid development under the promotion of the “trinity” development mode. It can be predicted that skyscrapers style “Intelligent building greenhouse plant factory” will be everywhere in the foreseeable future, no matter in the heart of the city and other extreme weather conditions desert, ruin. In the future, people living near plant factories will be able to breathe oxygen-rich air, eat clean vegetables from nearby plant factories, and enjoy a high-quality and healthy life brought by abundant fresh plant food. What’s more, the intelligent building greenhouse plant factory can better the environment of our earth to a certain extent, improve its carrying capacity, alleviate the food panic caused by outbreaks or disasters, local unrest to consolidate food security, intensive and efficient use of cultivated land resources, and rich people’s pursuit of healthy plant food raw materials.

Relative food abundance predicts greater binge-eating symptoms in subsequent hours among young adults experiencing food insecurity: Support for the “feast-or-famine” cycle hypothesis from an ecological momentary assessment study

Food insecurity (FI) may increase risk for binge eating through a “feast-or-famine” cycle, where fluctuations in food availability correspond to alternating periods of food restriction and opportunities for binge eating, but research on this topic is limited. To clarify the relationship between food availability and binge eating in the context of FI, this study examined the association between momentary food security level and subsequent binge-eating symptoms among individuals in food-insecure households and investigated how this association differs by factors that may modify the extent to which food availability fluctuates. Ecological momentary assessment data were collected in 2020–2021 from 75 young adults (Mage = 25.3 ± 1.8 years; 72% female; 72% Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color) in the United States who had experienced past-month household FI. For 14 days, participants reported four times per day on food security and eating episodes, and binge-eating symptoms were assessed for each reported eating episode. About 35% of the variance in momentary food security ratings was accounted for by within-person variability over time. A significant within-person association was observed in multilevel analyses, indicating that instances of greater food security relative to one's average level predicted greater subsequent binge-eating symptoms. Moderation analyses revealed that this association was significant only among individuals reporting use of food assistance programs, high engagement in resource trade-off coping strategies (e.g., skipping bill payments to buy food), or low food security-related self-efficacy. Overall, findings offer support for the “feast-or-famine” cycle hypothesis as an explanation for the link between FI and binge eating, emphasize the importance of identifying approaches to promote more stable access to adequate food, and suggest potential intervention targets to reduce risk for binge eating in populations experiencing FI.

It's not all abundance: Detectability and accessibility of food also explain breeding investment in long-lived marine animals.

Large-scale climatic indices are extensively used as predictors of ecological processes, but the mechanisms and the spatio-temporal scales at which climatic indices influence these processes are often speculative. Here, we use long-term data to evaluate how a measure of individual breeding investment (the egg volume) of three long-lived and long-distance-migrating seabirds is influenced by i) a large-scale climatic index (the North Atlantic Oscillation) and ii) local-scale variables (food abundance, foraging conditions, and competition). Winter values of the North Atlantic Oscillation did not correlate with local-scale variables measured in spring, but surprisingly, both had a high predictive power of the temporal variability of the egg volume in the three study species, even though they have different life-history strategies. The importance of the winter North Atlantic Oscillation suggests carry-over effects of winter conditions on subsequent breeding investment. Interestingly, the most important local-scale variables measured in spring were associated with food detectability (foraging conditions) and the factors influencing its accessibility (foraging conditions and competition by density-dependence). Large-scale climatic indices may work better as predictors of foraging conditions when organisms perform long distance migrations, while local-scale variables are more appropriate when foraging areas are more restricted (e.g. during the breeding season). Contrary to what is commonly assumed, food abundance does not directly translate into food intake and its detectability and accessibility should be considered in the study of food-related ecological processes.

Effects of spatially heterogeneous lakeside development on nearshore biotic communities in a large, deep, oligotrophic lake

AbstractSewage released from lakeside development can reshape ecological communities. Nearshore periphyton can rapidly assimilate sewage‐associated nutrients, leading to increases of filamentous algal abundance, thus altering both food abundance and quality for grazers. In Lake Baikal, a large, ultra‐oligotrophic, remote lake in Siberia, filamentous algal abundance has increased near lakeside developments, and localized sewage input is the suspected cause. These shifts are of particular interest in Lake Baikal, where endemic littoral biodiversity is high, lakeside settlements are mostly small, tourism is relatively high (~1.2 million visitors annually), and settlements are separated by large tracts of undisturbed shoreline, enabling investigation of heterogeneity and gradients of disturbance. We surveyed sites along 40 km of Baikal's southwestern shore for sewage indicators—pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and microplastics—as well as periphyton and macroinvertebrate abundance and indicators of food web structure (stable isotopes and fatty acids). Summed PPCP concentrations were spatially related to lakeside development. As predicted, lakeside development was associated with more filamentous algae and lower abundance of sewage‐sensitive mollusks. Periphyton and macroinvertebrate stable isotopes and essential fatty acids suggested that food web structure otherwise remained similar across sites; yet, the invariance of amphipod fatty acid composition, relative to periphyton, suggested that grazers adjust behavior or metabolism to compensate for different periphyton assemblages. Our results demonstrate that even low levels of human disturbance can result in spatial heterogeneity of nearshore ecological responses, with potential for changing trophic interactions that propagate through the food web.

High nest failure but better nestling quality for early breeders in an alpine population of Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)

Climate change is leading to the advancement of spring conditions, resulting in an earlier snowmelt and green‐up, with highest rates of change in highly seasonal environments, including alpine habitats. Migratory birds breeding at high elevations need to time their arrival and lay dates accurately with this advancement, but also with the annually variable spring conditions at their breeding sites, to maximize nest survival probabilities and reproductive output. Nest survival probability and mean nestling mass were analysed in relation to lay date and habitat conditions in an alpine population of the migratory Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe collected over six consecutive breeding seasons in the Western Italian Alps. This open grassland species showed the lowest nest survival probability in years with an early onset of spring conditions. Within‐season, nest survival was highest when breeding late, at lower elevations, and when grass cover and grass height were higher. Both across‐ and within‐season, severe weather conditions may indirectly lead to higher early season nest failure rates by increasing predation risk. By contrast, mean nestling mass, and thus the quality of the fledglings, was lower when breeding late. This might be driven by a mismatch with the peak in food abundance. Breeding early is thus generally advantageous in terms of chick quality in our high‐elevation population, but reproductive success is limited by the risk of nest failure that is higher in early springs and early in the season. This trade‐off between breeding early and late may thus allow Northern Wheatears to maximize fitness under highly variable spring conditions. However, climate change may cause disruption to this trade‐off, and shifts in phenology could become a threat for migratory alpine birds that might not be able to keep track of advancing spring conditions.

Effects of resource availability on the web structure of female western black widows: is the web structure constrained by physiological trade-offs?

AbstractA major challenge of biological research is to understand what generates and maintains consistent behavioral variation among animals. Time and energy trade-offs, where expressing one behavior is achieved at the expense of another, are often suggested to favor the maintenance of behavioral differences between individuals. However, few studies have investigated how individuals adjust their allocation to different functions over time and depending on resource abundance. Black widow spiders of the genus Latrodectus build persistent webs that include structural threads which protect against predators and sticky trap threads to capture prey. Web structure consistently differs among individuals in the number of trap and structural threads. To quantify the intensity of a trade-off, we assessed the relationship between the number of structural and trap threads and tested whether varying food abundance affected individual differences in web structure. We further quantified how these individual differences change over time and with food abundance. We subjected spiders to three different levels of prey abundance and monitored the structure of their webs every twelve hours. We found no evidence for a trade-off between trap and structural threads. Instead, spiders that produced more structural threads also produced more trap threads, showing that spiders invested equally in both types of threads. Interestingly, the magnitude of individual differences in web structure was greatest when spiders were fed ad libitum and at the beginning of web construction. We suggest that variation in web structure between spiders could be the result of stable developmental differences in morphology or genetic differences.

Leaving home: Technological and landscape knowledge as resilience at pre-Holocene Kharaneh IV, Azraq Basin, Jordan

Humanity’s relationship with the environment during the Holocene, and into the Anthropocene, is structured around our dependance on agricultural production, which has resulted in risk mitigation strategies that include intensive landscape modifications, among other tactics. However, to understand broader patterns of human resilience and the shifts in human/environment relationships, we need to look further back in time. Through this paper, we explore cultural strategies of risk management and resilience in pre-Holocene communities and how these practices allowed hunter-gatherer communities to adapt to a changing environment. For over 1000 years, the Epipalaeolithic site of Kharaneh IV was a focal point on the landscape for hunter-gatherer groups, acting as an aggregation site for Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic peoples. Located in the eastern desert of Jordan, at the time of occupation the site was a lush wetland surrounded by a rich grassland environment, providing abundant food and other resources for the site’s occupants. However, over time the wetland began to dry up and by 18,600 cal BP Kharaneh IV was abandoned. In this paper, we discuss the final occupation of Kharaneh IV, linking the site’s abandonment to the increasing aridification of eastern Jordan. Environmental change led to the eventual abandonment of Kharaneh IV and other nearby sites, as people relocated within the Azraq Basin in search of new water resources during the Holocene. Flexible technological strategies and knowledge of the landscape created resilient cultural practices that allowed these communities to use population movement as a risk management strategy.

Profiling Analysis of Filter Feeder Polypedilum (Chironomidae) Gut Contents Using eDNA Metabarcoding Following Contrasting Habitat Types-Weir and Stream.

We analyzed the dietary composition of Polypedilum larvae among two contrasting habitats (river and weir). Our approach was (i) to apply eDNA-based sampling to reveal the gut content of the chironomid larvae, (ii) the diversity of gut contents in the two aquatic habitats, and (iii) assessment of habitat sediment condition with the food sources in the gut. The most abundant food was Chlorophyta in the gut of the river (20%) and weir (39%) chironomids. The average ratio of fungi, protozoa, and zooplankton in river chironomids gut was 5.9%, 7.2%, and 3.8%, while it was found decreased to 1.2%, 2.5%, and 0.1% in weir chironomids. Aerobic fungi in river midge guts were 3.6% and 10.34% in SC and IS, while they were in the range of 0.34–2.58% in weir midges. The hierarchical clustering analysis showed a relationship of environmental factors with food contents. Abiotic factors (e.g., pH) in the river and weir habitats correlated the clustered pattern with phytoplankton and minor groups of fungi. This study could help understand the food source diversity in the chironomid and habitat environmental conditions by using eDNA metabarcoding as an effective tool to determine dietary composition.

Spatiotemporal patterns of male and female white-tailed deer on a hunted landscape.

Resource selection in sexually dimorphic ungulates is at least partially explained by sex‐specific resource requirements and risk aversion strategies. Females generally spend more time in areas with less risk and abundant, high‐quality forage due to their smaller body size. However, demographically variable responses to risk are context dependent, and few have concurrently quantified male and female behavior within areas with the same resource base. We captured 111 (54 males, 57 females) adult white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) from 2009 to 2018 on a site in South Carolina, USA, where hunters were the primary source of adult mortality. We fit each deer with a GPS collar programmed to collect locations at 30‐min intervals. Upon collar recovery, we analyzed the data to estimate sex‐ and time‐specific selection for, and distance to, various cover types. While both sexes generally avoided risky areas (i.e., sites hunted more frequently) during the day, females (p = .41) were more likely than males (p = .16) to use risky areas containing abundant food resources during the day, where p = probability of selection. Our findings indicate that female white‐tailed deer may be forced to utilize high risk areas during high risk periods due to their smaller body size and increased nutritional demands, whereas larger males are better able to forgo foraging opportunities during risky periods to mitigate risk; however, our study design left room for the possibility that our observations were driven by innate sex‐specific patterns in white‐tailed deer. Nonetheless, our study contributes information to the literature by describing sex‐specific resource selection by diel period on a site where sexes shared the same resources and were presented with the same landscape of risk.

Effects of typical artificial reefs on hydrodynamic characteristics and carbon sequestration potential in the offshore of Juehua Island, Bohai Sea

The ocean system provides abundant food resources and suitable habitats for numerous animal and plant species. However, the ecological health of the ocean system has deteriorated due to intensified human activities over the past decades. To mitigate negative effects, more research efforts are being directed toward marine ecological restoration programs at national and regional scales. As an effective method, artificial reefs are found to have an important role in restoring the ecological system by producing complex flow patterns and attracting more species to settle down. This study aims to select the offshore ground of Juehua Island in the Bohai Sea as an artificial reef–driven ecological restoration site, to tentatively estimate effects of square and M-shaped artificial reefs on localized flow fields, biomass production, and offshore carbon sink capacity. Meanwhile, a relatively complete carbon sink measurement system is accordingly proposed. Our results indicate that both temporal and spatial distribution of nutrients and habitat environments are dependent on flow characteristics modified by artificial reefs of different sizes, shapes, and configurations. Future ecological restoration measures in offshore waters should take carbon sink and relevant influencing factors into consideration.

Eastern Whip-poor-will abundance declines with urban land cover and increases with moth abundance in the American Midwest

Abstract Populations of avian aerial insectivores have declined across North America. A leading factor hypothesized to be driving these trends is a decline in prey populations, although a loss of suitable habitat on the landscape or other factors may also play a role. The Eastern Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus; hereafter: whip-poor-will) is an aerial insectivorous nightjar that has disappeared from many of its historic breeding locations. We investigated the role that food availability and land cover at multiple scales play in whip-poor-will distribution by estimating their abundance at 23 sites across central Illinois. To do this, we conducted nocturnal point counts to estimate whip-poor-will abundance and collected nocturnal insects using UV-light traps at these sites to quantify potential food abundance. Additionally, we described whip-poor-will diet using DNA metabarcoding of fecal samples. We found that the number of large moths at a site had a positive effect on the abundance of whip-poor-wills, aligning with our diet analysis which identified moths as the primary prey item for this species (present in 92% of samples). Whip-poor-wills also showed an affinity for forest edges, but only when edges were associated with high moth abundances. Conversely, developed land-cover in landscapes surrounding sites led to decreased whip-poor-will abundance. Given the continued expansion of developed areas, coupled with concerning trends in moth populations, declines in the abundance of this species may continue. Efforts should be made to protect and sustain moth populations and the impacts of development should be scrutinized in the pursuit of conserving whip-poor-wills.

Sweet Potato Is Not Simply an Abundant Food Crop: A Comprehensive Review of Its Phytochemical Constituents, Biological Activities, and the Effects of Processing.

Nowadays, sweet potato (Ipomoea batata L.; Lam.) is considered a very interesting nutritive food because it is rich in complex carbohydrates, but as a tubercle, contains high amounts of health-promoting secondary metabolites. The aim of this review is to summarize the most recently published information on this root vegetable, focusing on its bioactive phytochemical constituents, potential effects on health, and the impact of processing technologies. Sweet potato is considered an excellent source of dietary carotenoids, and polysaccharides, whose health benefits include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective activity, cardiovascular protection, anticancer properties and improvement in neurological and memory capacity, metabolic disorders, and intestinal barrier function. Moreover, the purple sweet potato, due to its high anthocyanin content, represents a unique food option for consumers, as well as a potential source of functional ingredients for healthy food products. In this context, the effects of commercial processing and domestic cooking techniques on sweet potato bioactive compounds require further study to understand how to minimize their loss.

ANALYSIS OF LONG-TAILED MONKEY ROAMING AREA (Macaca fascicularis) IN MENIPO NATURAL TOURISM PARK, ENORAEN VILLAGE, EAST AMARASI SUBDISTRICT, KUPANG REGENCY, EAST NUSA TENGGARA PROVINCE

monkeys (Macaca fascicularis). This research was conducted at Menipo Natural Tourism Park (NTP), Enoraen Village, East Amarasi Subdistrict, Kupang Regency, East Nusa Tenggara which was conducted for 1 month, from September to October 2021. The study used Zoatrack's WebGIS method, which determined Macaca’s home range using Minimum Concex Polygon (MCP) method and core area using Kernel Utilization Distribution. Moreover, the analysis of data were conducted with statistics descriptive analysis. The results showed that the home range that has been analyzed using Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) is 142.45 ha and this area of long-tailed monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) home range lies in almost all of the Menipo NTP area with its forest characteristics that consists of dry forests, brackish forests, and coastal forests. The results of the core area analysis using Kernel Utilization Distribution showed that the area of the core area was 53.63 Ha. The results of the core area also shows that there is one particular of core area that is often visited by long-tailed monkeys (Macaca fascicularis). This is due to the abundance of food and trees as their resting place in the Menipo NTP area.

Dietary ecology of two migrant flycatchers in habitats with and without cattle during the breeding season in central Argentina

Food selection is a key aspect of a bird's life history strategy, so understanding how birds respond to variation in food abundance is relevant to evaluating their general ecology and survival, and also the potential consequences of the degradation of environments impacted by livestock. We studied the dietary ecology of Vermilion Flycatchers (VEFL) and Fork-tailed Flycatchers (FTFL), two insectivores and Neotropical austral migrants, during their breeding season. We worked in areas with and without cattle ranching in the Espinal biome of La Pampa, Argentina. We found different arthropod prey abundance for both flycatchers according to arthropod orders and/or study sites, suggesting that livestock may impact food abundance. Both consumed similar prey and positively selected for hymenopterans and coleopterans, and FTFL also positively selected for orthopterans. VEFL selected nest sites with a lower abundance of heteropterans and FTFL selected sites with a higher abundance of coleopterans. Additionally, VEFL nest survival was negatively related to the abundance of hemipterans and FTFL nest survival was positively related to the abundance of coleopterans. This study helps fill gaps on the general ecology of species that breed in rangelands, and highlights the importance of similar studies to formulate effective conservation planning for the Espinal biome.

Food Security as Ethics and Social Responsibility: An Application of the Food Abundance Index in an Urban Setting.

High levels of food insecurity signal the presence of disparities and inequities in local food access that have been shown to negatively impact the health and well-being of individuals and communities. Some argue that the lack of healthy, affordable and culturally relevant food within a community represents a troubling social and ethical concern for any society. The current research conducts an assessment of a specific community utilizing the framework outlined by the Food Abundance Index (FAI) scorecard. Combined with contemporary regional data on the demographics of the area, data revealed extremely low scores for both access and density dimensions. Our findings can help business, community and policymakers better understand and target evidence-based solutions to address the issue of food insecurity within this region.

The role of inputs of marine wrack and carrion in sandy-beach ecosystems: a global review.

Sandy beaches are iconic interfaces that functionally link the ocean with the land via the flow of organic matter from the sea. These cross-ecosystem fluxes often comprise uprooted seagrass and dislodged macroalgae that can form substantial accumulations of detritus, termed 'wrack', on sandy beaches. In addition, the tissue of the carcasses of marine animals that regularly wash up on beaches form a rich food source ('carrion') for a diversity of scavenging animals. Here, we provide a global review of how wrack and carrion provide spatial subsidies that shape the structure and functioning of sandy-beach ecosystems (sandy beaches and adjacent surf zones), which typically have little in situ primary production. We also examine the spatial scaling of the influence of these processes across the broader land- and seascape, and identify key gaps in our knowledge to guide future research directions and priorities. Large quantities of detrital kelp and seagrass can flow into sandy-beach ecosystems, where microbial decomposers and animals process it. The rates of wrack supply and its retention are influenced by the oceanographic processes that transport it, the geomorphology and landscape context of the recipient beaches, and the condition, life history and morphological characteristics of the macrophyte taxa that are the ultimate source of wrack. When retained in beach ecosystems, wrack often creates hotspots of microbial metabolism, secondary productivity, biodiversity, and nutrient remineralization. Nutrients are produced during wrack breakdown, and these can return to coastal waters in surface flows (swash) and aquifers discharging into the subtidal surf. Beach-cast kelp often plays a key trophic role, being an abundant and preferred food source for mobile, semi-aquatic invertebrates that channel imported algal matter to predatory invertebrates, fish, and birds. The role of beach-cast marine carrion is likely to be underestimated, as it can be consumed rapidly by highly mobile scavengers (e.g. foxes, coyotes, raptors, vultures). These consumers become important vectors in transferring marine productivity inland, thereby linking marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Whilst deposits of organic matter on sandy-beach ecosystems underpin a range of ecosystem functions and services, they can be at variance with aesthetic perceptions resulting in widespread activities, such as 'beach cleaning and grooming'. This practice diminishes the energetic base of food webs, intertidal fauna, and biodiversity. Global declines in seagrass beds and kelp forests (linked to global warming) are predicted to cause substantial reductions in the amounts of marine organic matter reaching many beach ecosystems, likely causing flow-on effects for food webs and biodiversity. Similarly, future sea-level rise and increased storm frequency are likely to alter profoundly the physical attributes of beaches, which in turn can change the rates at which beaches retain and process the influxes of wrack and animal carcasses. Conservation of the multi-faceted ecosystem services that sandy beaches provide will increasingly need to encompass a greater societal appreciation and the safeguarding of ecological functions reliant on beach-cast organic matter on innumerable ocean shores worldwide.

THANKSGIVING TABLE, A CULINARY PERFORMANCE

In Minahasa, North Sulawesi, the people in the villages of Minahasa has an annual harvest-related celebration called Pengucapan Syukur or Thanksgiving celebration of the people of Minahasa. According to a research in South Minahasa, this Christian celebration that has been practiced at least since 1940 has gone through changes along the way. This tradition has developed as such in line with the dynamics of the Minahasans. Thanksgiving used to be celebrated only in the villages in some parts of Minahasa, but nowadays this tradition has also been celebrated in the capital city of Minahasa, Manado. This local thanksgiving tradition clearly focuses on the food being served on the thanksgiving table. In this celebration they have to serve abundant food of traditional taste, championing nasi jaha and dodol. Each and every household has special budget that allows them to prepare abundant food for this occasion. This is a qualitative research using ethnographic approach. Schechner’s performance theory is used to understand the meaning of the thanksgiving table.KEYWORDS: Thanksgiving, tradition, Minahasa, food