Agricultural Species Research Articles

SYNTHESIS OF GLYCEROL-FLUORINATED TRIAZOLE DERIVATIVES AND EVALUATION OF THEIR FUNGICIDAL ACTIVITY

The control of fungal species in agriculture is mainly conducted with the use of contact or systemic fungicides. However, environmental and human health concerns and increased resistance of fungal species to existing fungicides have increased the pressure on researchers to find new active ingredients for fungal control which present low toxicity to non-target organisms, are environmentally safe, and can be applied at very low concentrations. It is herein described the synthesis of eleven glycerol triazole containing compounds (ten of them fluorinated derivatives) and evaluation of their fungicidal activity. Eight out of eleven synthesized compounds are novel and all of the glycerol derivatives were characterized using infrared (IR), nuclear magnetic ressonance (NMR), and mass spectrometry (MS) techniques. Theoretical calculations were also carried out and the results are discussed. Starting from glycerol, the triazole derivatives were prepared in four steps. Evaluation of them against Colletrotricum gloesporioides showed that compound 1-((2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methyl)-4-(2-fluorophenyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazole (4d) (ED50 = 59.14 µg mL-1) was slightly more active than commercial fungicide tebuconazole (61.35 µg mL-1). Compound 4d presented attractive physicochemical features for agrochemical purposes as revealed by the calculated physicochemical parameters. It is believed that glycerol-fluorinated triazole derivatives can be explored towards the development of new chemicals for the control of fungal species.

EFFECT OF DIFFERENT BIOCHAR CONCENTRATION ON THE GROWTH OF THREE AGRICULTURAL PLANTS IN AFGHANISTAN

The present research was conducted in the laboratory of Badakhshan University, Afghanistan. The study was carried out for 40 days in 2021, to document the effect of biochar on the growth of three important agricultural plant species: radish, lettuce and spinach. The biochar was produced from the biomass of Oak tree under oxygen less condition. The study includes assessment of Petri plate bioassay and pot scale experiment to understand the effect of biochar under saline and non-saline conditions in order to mitigate the problem of salinity. Application of biochar has significantly increased the seed germination for all the seeds. The maximum seed germination was observed for radish > lettuce > spinach. NaCl has reduced the percentage of seed germination but a little increase was observed in case of radish as compared to lettuce and spinach. However, application of biochar has significantly increased its growth as compared to control plant. Both shoot and root of all three studied plants were increased with increase in BC concentrations. The maximum length of root was observed for radish > lettuce > spinach whereas for shoot it was lettuce > radish > spinach. At the same time application of 5 % biochar helped to improve the growth of both radish shoot and root. Lettuce was found sensitive to saline condition and application of biochar does not significantly improve their morphometric parameters. Spinach could be considered as moderately saline resistant species whose biomass can be improved by supplementing with biochar.

Using literature and expert knowledge to determine changes in the bird community over a century in a Turkish wetland

Context Bird species have been studied and documented abundantly in the past decades and are good indicators of ecosystem conditions, providing useful information of the changes in the ecological state of wetlands over time. However, monitoring data for birds in wetland sites are often disparate and not homogeneous over time and among species, which complicates the interpretation of trends. Aims We examined historical literature from 1835 to 2019, complemented by an expert knowledge survey and citizen-science databases to estimate the abundance of species, and evaluated changes in the structure and composition by average bird abundances. Key results Our results suggested that land-cover and land-use changes have shaped the local bird community, with a decline in agricultural and grassland bird species as a result of changes in agricultural practices. Coastal wetland and marine birds have increased in abundance, most probably linked to the extension of saltpans and successful conservation measures. Conclusions These trends in bird communities demonstrate the impacts of different land management strategies on biodiversity. Implications This methodology can be replicated in other Ramsar and wetland sites around the world to raise new conservation issues and improve site conservation.

Biotechnological approach for improvement of Crambe species as valuable oilseed plants for industrial purposes.

Boosting technological innovation for a sustainable and circular bioeconomy encompasses the use of renewable materials and development of highly effective biotechnological approaches to improve the quality of oilseed crops and facilitate their industrial deployment. The interest in cultivating Crambe as a potential crop is steadily growing due to its low propensity to crossbreeding with other oilseed crops, valuable seed oil composition and a high yield capacity. The main focus is located on Crambe abyssinica as the most adapted into the agriculture and well-studied Crambe species. At the same time, the Crambe genus is one of the most numerous of the Brassicaceae family featuring several underestimated (orphaned) species with useful traits (abiotic stress tolerance, wide range of practical applications). This review features progress in the biotechnological improvement of well-adapted and wild Crambe species starting with aseptic culture establishment and plant propagation in vitro reinforced with the use of genetic engineering and breeding techniques. The aim of the paper is to highlight and review the existing biotechnological methods of both underestimated and well-adapted Crambe species improvment, including the establishment of aseptic culture, in vitro cultivation, plant regeneration and genetic transformation to modify seed oil content and morphological traits of valuable species.

Symbiont-Mediated RNA Interference (SMR): Using Symbiotic Bacteria as Vectors for Delivering RNAi to Insects.

RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as a widely used approach for reverse genetic analysis in eukaryotes. In insects, RNAi also has an application in the control of insect pests. Several methods have been developed for delivery of interfering RNA in insects, with varying outcomes for different species. Here we describe how a bacterial symbiont can be exploited for continuous synthesis of interfering double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) in its insect host. This approach, termed symbiont-mediated RNAi (SMR), can overcome problems associated with instability of dietary dsRNA due to action of salivary or foregut nucleases. As insects do not possess RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity that can amplify and extend RNAi in other organisms, SMR also offers the possibility of long-term systemic RNAi not afforded by single applications of dsRNA to insects by other delivery methods. Here, we describe how SMR can be applied in a globally distributed agricultural pest species, western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis).

Food habits of indian crested porcupine (Hystrix indica) (Kerr 1792), in district Bagh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The Indian Crested Porcupine (Hystrix indica) is classified as an agricultural pest species. It feeds on plants and crops; hence, it is responsible for massive financial losses worldwide. The current study was conducted to assess the diet composition of Indian Crested Porcupine in District Bagh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K). Thus, fecal samples were collected and examined from different sampling sites. Reference slides of the material collected from the study area were prepared for identification of dietary components in fecal pellets. A total of 80 fecal samples were collected and processed. Percent relative frequencies (P.R.F.) were calculated for each plant species recovered from pellets. Data revealed that Indian Crested Porcupine consumed 31 plant species in its diet, among them Zea mays (34.31±7.76) was the most frequently selected species followed by Rumex obtusifolius (15.32±2.57) and Melia azedarach (12.83±4.79). The study revealed that the greatest diversity of (n=20) plant species were consumed in summer season while minimum (n=13) species were used during winter. Among the parts of plants, stem was highly consumed in spring (57.2%) as compared to seed in fall (36.7%) while spikes and leaf were the least recovered parts from the fecal matter. The Berger-Parker diversity index showed highly diversified food (10.92) in the summer time of the year as compared to the autumn season (2.95). This study provides a baseline for the diet preference of this pest in the study area. Based on current findings, a detailed investigation on damage assessment, exploration, habitat use and management of Indian Crested Porcupine in AJ&K has been recommended.

Population and Conservation Status of the Flying Fox Pteropus dasymallus in Taiwan.

Pteropus dasymallus is widely distributed on islands throughout the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The Formosan flying fox, P. d. formosus, is an endemic subspecies in Taiwan found mainly on Lyudao; it was previously thought to have been extirpated. Since 2005, intensive surveys have been conducted to investigate the residency, population size and plant resource utilization of P. dasymallus in Taiwan. Interviews were carried out to investigate its former abundance and the causes of population decline. In Taiwan, P. dasymallus is in a state of ongoing oceanic dispersal and colonization and has considerably expanded its geographic range. In addition to remaining in its historic habitat on Lyudao, P. dasymallus has also established colonies on Gueishan Island and in Hualien on Taiwan's main island in the past few decades. The total population size is estimated to be 240 individuals, and this number is on the rise. Approximately three-quarters of the entire population (73.64%) was found on Gueishan Island. The sex ratio was strongly skewed toward males. A total of 40 plant species were recorded as being used by the flying fox for food, roosts or perches. More agricultural and horticultural plant species were used by the flying fox in urban Hualien. According to the interviews, flying foxes were abundant on Lyudao, but their number dramatically declined from the 1970s to the mid-1980s, mainly due to commercial hunting. Maintaining a sufficient population size and genetic variability is fundamental to the long-term survival of the flying fox. Enforcing conservation laws, restoring habitats, controlling invasive species and improving public awareness are the main steps in the recovery and sustainability of the flying fox population.

Non-crop habitat management: Promoter of natural enemies of crop pests

Non-crop habitats provide essential resources for natural enemies such as plant-derived food, such as nectar or pollen, shelter, alternative prey, protection from pesticides and other disturbances, and moderate microclimate and hibernation sites. The main aim of habitat management is to offer a favourable ecological infrastructure within the landscape. Different ways of habitat management such as selecting appropriate plant species, understanding behavioural mechanism, maintaining the spatial scale and spatial arrangement with heterogeneity has a positive impact on conservation biological control. Harmful conditions are mitigated or favourable conditions are increased for natural enemies in conservation biological control. In previous days, conservation and biological control were not applied a lot, but it has gotten more attention. Natural pest management can be conducted at different spatial scales like at the landscape scale and at the field scale; natural pest management at the landscape scale through habitat management is focused on in this essay. In agricultural landscapes, non-crop habitats are comprised of hedgerows, field margin, road verges, fallows, meadows and often woody forests. Different agricultural pest species and many natural enemies are associated with these non-crop habitats. The proportion of habitat defines landscape complexity can influence the diversity of animals, plants and microorganisms. Ecosystem services that improve ecosystems through nutrient cycling, water regulation and pest suppression are positively influenced by landscape complexity that can help reduce pest density and crop injury. Habitat management has a higher level of opportunity to maximize multi-functional ecosystem services through a wider scale of landscape management. Therefore, habitat management can be combined into land use types of local, regional, nationwide, and worldwide economic aspects to reduce the dependency of high input based on existing agriculture.

Bovine models for human ovarian diseases.

During early embryonic development, late fetal growth, puberty, adult reproductive years, and advanced aging, bovine and human ovaries closely share molecular pathways and hormonal signaling mechanisms. Other similarities between these species include the size of ovaries, length of gestation, ovarian follicular and luteal dynamics, and pathophysiology of ovarian diseases. As an economically important agriculture species, cattle are a foundational species in fertility research with decades of groundwork using physiologic, genetic, and therapeutic experimental techniques. Many technologies used in modern reproductive medicine, such as ovulation induction using hormonal therapy, were first used in cows before human trials. Human ovarian diseases with naturally occurring bovine correlates include premature ovary insufficiency (POI), polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and sex-cord stromal tumors (SCSTs). This article presents an overview of bovine ovary research related to causes of infertility, ovarian diseases, diagnostics, and therapeutics, emphasizing where the bovine model can offer advantages over other lab animals for translational applications.

Biochemical markers in crop and forest species: a systematic review

Proteins and enzymes are informative biochemical markers frequently used in plant studies. The objective of this work was to present the studies with enzymes and proteins used as biochemical markers in crops and forest species—the articles prospected in the Scopus and Web of Science scientific databases in December 2020. The keywords were a combination of "agricultural" or "forest" with the Boolean operator and the enzymes' name: alcohol dehydrogenase/ADH, malate dehydrogenase/MDH, alpha-amylase/AMS, peroxiredoxin/PERX, and LEA proteins. Eighty-two articles addressed enzymes in agricultural or forest species were included in the analysis. The articles were published from 1976 to 2020, with an average annual publication of 12.2. Three hundred thirty-seven authors developed the annual percentage growth rate of 2.52% and articles. The most studied crops are Oryza sativa L., Glycine max L., Zea mays L., Hordeum vulgare L., specimens of the genera Triticum and Brassica. The forest species were Pinus, Picea, Nothofagus, Quercus, and Sorbus, and Fagus sylvatica L. The main tissues used for extraction are leaves, seeds, buds, and roots. The studies mainly deal with enzymes or proteins as markers associated with abiotic stresses and the structure or genetic diversity.

Agrobiodiversity Documentation in Puranchaur, Pokhara Through Four Cell Analysis: Biodiversity of Rice

Agrobiodiversity indicates variety and variability among living organisms present in the farming area. The climatic variability of Nepal has supported the maximum diversity of agricultural crops and animal species. The number of cultivated food crops in Nepal is 577 including forage/pasture species among which 484 are indigenous and 93 are introduced/exotic species. This study was carried out to assess the biodiversity of rice in Puranchaur, Pokhara, Nepal. A field survey was conducted from 60 farmers who represent the total farming population. The collected data from the questionnaire survey were further analysed using SPSS Statistics 23.0. Out of the average total land (0.50 hectares), the average total cultivated land was only 0.39 hectares. The average productivity of rice in the study area was 4.035 m.ha-1. The different rice varieties cultivated by farmers in the study area were documented and analysed through four cell analysis method since it is a popular analysis tool to manage the local level agricultural diversity. From the study three rice landraces Pahele, Gurdi, and Jhinuwa were found to be the most preferred, and Anadi is the least preferred in the area. Based on this study, possible conservation strategies for threatened and endangered species were also identified. The possible interventions include on-farm conservation, in situ conservation, ex-situ conservation, and conservation plant breeding.

Fall acclimation and spring deacclimation of root cold tolerance for two perennial asters1

Snow is an important temperature insulator for overwintering plants, and as the depth and duration of snowpack decreases with warmer weather and the frequency of extreme climate events increases, belowground tissues may be exposed to colder temperatures. Determining the cold tolerance of overwintering plant tissues for native species could help predict species persistence following winter climate change, yet most plant cold tolerance studies are about agricultural crop species, woody plants, or aboveground tissues. Also, plants can acclimate and deacclimate to winter so measuring cold tolerance across seasons provides a more accurate assessment of a species susceptibility to winter climate change. Here, we measure root cold tolerance of two native perennial grassland forbs (Solidago rigida and Silphium integrifolium) in a restored prairie across time to examine cold acclimation and deacclimation to seasonal temperature changes. Average root cold tolerance varied between the two species. Over time, the roots of S. rigida predictably gained cold tolerance as fall progressed and lost cold tolerance in spring. However, roots of S. integrifolium had variable cold tolerance across both seasons. The differences in cold tolerance development between grassland forb species may be a contributing factor explaining species persistence under continued winter climate change. Further research on the cold tolerance of native plant species and belowground tissues is needed to predict the response of temperate plant species and communities to winter climate change.

42 An Improved, High-quality Ovine Reference Genome Assembly

Abstract Sheep are an important agricultural species used for both food and fiber in the United States and globally. A high-quality reference genome enhances the ability to discover genetic and biological mechanisms influencing important traits, such as meat and wool quality. The rapid advances in genome assembly algorithms and emergence of increasingly long sequence read length provide the opportunity for an improved de novo assembly of the sheep reference genome. Tissue was collected postmortem from an adult Rambouillet ewe selected by USDA-ARS for the Ovine Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes project. Short-read (55x coverage), long-read PacBio (75x coverage), and Hi-C data from this ewe were retrieved from public databases. We generated an additional 50x coverage of Oxford Nanopore data and assembled the combined long-read data with canu v1.9. The assembled contigs were polished with Nanopolish v0.12.5 and scaffolded using Hi-C data with Salsa v2.2. Gaps were filled with PBsuite v15.8.24 and polished with Nanopolish v0.12.5 followed by removal of duplicate contigs with PurgeDups v1.0.1. Chromosomes were oriented by identifying centromeres and telomeres with RepeatMasker v4.1.1, indicating a need to reverse the orientation of chromosome 11 relative to Oar_rambouillet_v1.0. Final polishing was performed with two rounds of a pipeline which consisted of freebayes v1.3.1 to call variants, Merfin to validate them, and BCFtools to generate the consensus fasta. The ARS-UI_Ramb_v2.0 assembly has improved continuity (contig N50 of 43.19 Mb) with a 19-fold and 38-fold decrease in the number of scaffolds compared with Oar_rambouillet_v1.0 and Oar_v4.0. ARS-UI_Ramb_v2.0 has greater per-base accuracy and fewer insertions and deletions identified from mapped RNA sequence than previous assemblies. This significantly improved reference assembly, public at NCBI GenBank under accession number GCA_016772045, will optimize the functional annotation of the sheep genome and facilitate improved mapping accuracy of genetic variant and expression data for traits relevant the sheep industry.

CHARACTERIZATION OF OAT BIOMASS FOR ENERGY PRODUCTION1

ABSTRACT Biomass produced in agricultural areas stores energy that can be used, contributing to regional development. Among the widely cultivated agricultural species is oats, destined for the production of not only grains and forage, but also biomass. The objective of this study was to characterize oat biomass in terms of the potential for energy generation considering the genetic and cultivation environment variability. Four field experiments were conducted in the state of Paraná and one in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, with black oat (Avena strigosa) and white oat (Avena sativa) cultivars. At the milky grain stage, plants were collected to quantify the production of shoot biomass and its qualitative variables for energy production and energy potential. Biomass yield varied between cultivars and cultivation sites. The mean higher calorific value was 17.9 MJ Kg-1, varying more between cultivation sites than between cultivars, being inversely proportional to the ash content. The contents of carbon, fixed carbon, volatile materials and nitrogen in the biomass did not vary between oat cultivars. The power generation potential varied widely between cultivars and cultivation sites, from 1557 to 3091 KWh ha-1, influenced mainly by the biomass yield, which overlaps the effects of the variations found in biomass quality. We concluded that oats are a species with high potential for use as an energy product, and the selection of the most productive cultivars regionally is crucial.

FOOD WASTAGE: CAUSES, IMPACTS AND SOLUTIONS

Each year one third of all the produced food for human consumption is lost or wasted. Food wastage scales up the number of hungry people throughout the world and impairs the global food security. Food wastage not only decreases the availability of food, it also reduces the resources needed to produce food for future generation. In many low-income countries, there is considerable loss due to poor storage facilities and lack of capacity to transport produced food immediately after harvesting. Confusion arising from the existence and poor understanding of different food date labels are a major indirect causes of food wastage in developed countries. The quantitative and qualitative impacts of food wastage can be addressed through food wastage footprint. The total food wastage accounts for 3.3Gtonnes of CO2 equivalent. Globally, the blue water footprint of food wastage is about 250km3 equivalent to three times the volume of Lake Geneva. Produced but uneaten food occupies almost about 1.4 billion hectares of land; this represents close to 28% of the world’s agricultural land area. It is difficult to estimate the impact on biodiversity at global level. The impacts are assessed through deforestation due to agricultural expansion and species threatened during agricultural practices. Food wastage also leads to loss of economic value of food entities. Each year, 1 trillion USD is lost through food loss and waste at global level. The broad level of causes and impacts enable us to identify number of solutions to reduce food wastage. Improved practices at harvest and post-harvest stages by adopting new technical innovations could be the best way to mitigate losses in developing countries. Consumer’s behavior should be modified to reduce waste at down-stream level. The government and development partners have to develop sustainable initiatives through effective policies and raise awareness among the people to solve food wastage problem.

AgReg-SNPdb: A Database of Regulatory SNPs for Agricultural Animal Species.

Simple SummaryRegulatory SNPs (rSNPs) are SNPs located within promoter regions that have a high potential to alter gene expression by changing the binding affinity of transcription factors to their binding sites. Such rSNPs are gaining importance in the life sciences due to their causality for specific traits and diseases. In this study, we present agReg-SNPdb, the first database comprising rSNP data of seven agricultural and domestic animal species: cattle, pig, chicken, sheep, horse, goat, and dog, and made it usable via a web interface.Transcription factors (TFs) govern transcriptional gene regulation by specifically binding to short DNA motifs, known as transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs), in regulatory regions, such as promoters. Today, it is well known that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in TFBSs can dramatically affect the level of gene expression, since they can cause a change in the binding affinity of TFs. Such SNPs, referred to as regulatory SNPs (rSNPs), have gained attention in the life sciences due to their causality for specific traits or diseases. In this study, we present agReg-SNPdb, a database comprising rSNP data of seven agricultural and domestic animal species: cattle, pig, chicken, sheep, horse, goat, and dog. To identify the rSNPs, we constructed a bioinformatics pipeline and identified a total of 10,623,512 rSNPs, which are located within TFBSs and affect the binding affinity of putative TFs. Altogether, we implemented the first systematic analysis of SNPs in promoter regions and their impact on the binding affinity of TFs for livestock and made it usable via a web interface.

The Potential for Sialic Acid and Sialylated Glycoconjugates as Feed Additives to Enhance Pig Health and Production.

Simple SummaryThis review discusses the current challenges in the pig industry and the potential nutritional significance of sialic acid (Sia) and glycoconjugates (Sia-GC’s) for pig health and nutrition. Sia is a nine-carbon acidic sugar which is present in various organs and body fluids of humans and animals. Sias contribute to many beneficial biological functions including pathogen resistance, immunomodulation, gut microbiota development, gut maturation, anti-inflammation and neurodevelopment. The role of Sias in regulating the metabolism of pigs has seldom been reported. However, we have documented significant beneficial effects of specific Sia-GC’s on health and production performance of sows and piglets. These findings are reviewed in relation to other studies while noting the beneficial effects of the inclusion of Sia, Sia containing oligosaccharide or the sialo-protein lactoferrin in the diets of gilts and sows. The importance of the passive transfer of of Sia and Sia-GC’s through milk to the young and the implications for their growth and development is also reviewed. This information will assist in optimizing the composition of sow/gilt milk replacers designed to increases the survival of IUGR piglets or piglets with dams suffering from agalactia, a common problem in pig production systems worldwide.Swine are one of the most important agricultural species for human food production. Given the significant disease challenges confronting commercial pig farming systems, introduction of a new feed additive that can enhance animal performance by improving growth and immune status represents a major opportunity. One such candidate is sialic acid (Sia), a diverse family of nine-carbon acidic sugar, present in various organs and body fluid, as well as an essential structural and functional constituent of brain ganglioside of humans and animals. Sias are key monosaccharide and biomarker of sialylated milk oligosaccharide (Sia-MOS’s), sialylated glycoproteins and glycolipids in milk and all vertebrate cells. Sias accomplish many critical endogenous functions by virtue of their physiochemical properties and via recognition by intrinsic receptors. Human milk sialylated glycoconjugates (Sia-GC’s) are bioactive compounds known to act as prebiotics that promote gut microbiota development, gut maturation, pathogen resistance, immunomodulation, anti-inflammation and neurodevelopment. However, the importance of Sia in pig health, especially in the growth, development, immunity of developing piglet and in pig production remains unknown. This review aims to critically discuss the current status of knowledge of the biology and nutritional role of Sia and Sia-GC’s on health of both female sow and newborn piglets.

Accelerated deciphering of the genetic architecture of agricultural economic traits in pigs using a low-coverage whole-genome sequencing strategy.

BackgroundUncovering the genetic architecture of economic traits in pigs is important for agricultural breeding. However, high-density haplotype reference panels are unavailable in most agricultural species, limiting accurate genotype imputation in large populations. Moreover, the infinitesimal model of quantitative traits implies that weak association signals tend to be spread across most of the genome, further complicating the genetic analysis. Hence, there is a need to develop new methods for sequencing large cohorts without large reference panels.ResultsWe describe a Tn5-based highly accurate, cost- and time-efficient, low-coverage sequencing method to obtain 11.3 million whole-genome single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 2,869 Duroc boars at a mean depth of 0.73×. On the basis of these single-nucleotide polymorphisms, a genome-wide association study was performed, resulting in 14 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for 7 of 21 important agricultural traits in pigs. These QTLs harbour genes, such as ABCD4 for total teat number and HMGA1 for back fat thickness, and provided a starting point for further investigation. The inheritance models of the different traits varied greatly. Most follow the minor-polygene model, but this can be attributed to different reasons, such as the shaping of genetic architecture by artificial selection for this population and sufficiently interconnected minor gene regulatory networks.ConclusionsGenome-wide association study results for 21 important agricultural traits identified 14 QTLs/genes and showed their genetic architectures, providing guidance for genetic improvement harnessing genomic features. The Tn5-based low-coverage sequencing method can be applied to large-scale genome studies for any species without a good reference panel and can be used for agricultural breeding.

Negative effects of nitrogen override positive effects of phosphorus on grassland legumes worldwide

Anthropogenic nutrient enrichment is driving global biodiversity decline and modifying ecosystem functions. Theory suggests that plant functional types that fix atmospheric nitrogen have a competitive advantage in nitrogen-poor soils, but lose this advantage with increasing nitrogen supply. By contrast, the addition of phosphorus, potassium, and other nutrients may benefit such species in low-nutrient environments by enhancing their nitrogen-fixing capacity. We present a global-scale experiment confirming these predictions for nitrogen-fixing legumes (Fabaceae) across 45 grasslands on six continents. Nitrogen addition reduced legume cover, richness, and biomass, particularly in nitrogen-poor soils, while cover of non-nitrogen-fixing plants increased. The addition of phosphorous, potassium, and other nutrients enhanced legume abundance, but did not mitigate the negative effects of nitrogen addition. Increasing nitrogen supply thus has the potential to decrease the diversity and abundance of grassland legumes worldwide regardless of the availability of other nutrients, with consequences for biodiversity, food webs, ecosystem resilience, and genetic improvement of protein-rich agricultural plant species.

Biology, distribution and control of the invasive speciesUlex europaeus(Gorse): A global synthesis of current and future management challenges and research gaps

AbstractUlex europaeus(Gorse) is one of the most invasive shrubs in the world, being now found in more than 50 countries where it economically and environmentally degrades the land. This highly versatile shrub can live more than 30 years and produce over 18,000 fertile seeds annually that can remain viable for over 30 years.Ulex europaeusspread is facilitated by its ability to germinate in a wide range of conditions, quick growth and maturing rate and several seed dispersal mechanisms. Despite extensive research and attempts at managingU. europaeus, current rates of control are not adequate to limit the species’ competitiveness and impact on the environment. This has resulted in the species altering soil and landscape dynamics in areas of major invasion, inhibiting the growth of agricultural and native species, creating shelter for pest species and reducing the richness of competing species at a site, all of which contribute to the economic and environmental degradation of the land. This review highlights that herbicide application is the most successful technique used to controlU. europaeus, although it has shown varying success across different climatic regions. In this regard, future research should investigate the possibility of integrating a range of techniques (competition, fire management, grazing, manual removal and mycoherbicides) to increase control success and reduce any potential risk of herbicide resistance. Further research is also required on the maintenance of longer‐term viable populations of biological control agents to limit the success of this invasive species. Bridging the identified research gaps will help to facilitate the improved long‐term management ofU. europaeusand help land managers confidently to maintain sustainable land systems.