The discovery of emerald ash borer (EAB) in Dutchess County, directly across the Hudson River from a large infestation found two years ago in the City of Kingston and its vicinity, has been confirmed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). This marks the first discovery of EAB east of the Hudson.

Ash Tree Killing Insect Now East of the Hudson – NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation

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This meta-analysis of land-cover transformations of the past 10–15 years in tropical forest-agriculture frontiers world-wide shows that swidden agriculture decreases in landscapes with access to local, national and international markets that encourage cattle production and cash cropping, including biofuels. Conservation policies and practices also accelerate changes in swidden by restricting forest clearing and encouraging commercial agriculture. However, swidden remains important in many frontier areas where farmers have unequal or insecure access to investment and market opportunities, or where multi-functionality of land uses has been preserved as a strategy to adapt to current ecological, economic and political circumstances. In some areas swidden remains important simply because intensification is not a viable choice, for example when population densities and/or food market demands are low. The transformation of swidden landscapes into more intensive land uses has generally increased household incomes, but has also led to negative effects on the social and human capital of local communities to varying degrees. From an environmental perspective, the transition from swidden to other land uses often contributes to permanent deforestation, loss of biodiversity, increased weed pressure, declines in soil fertility, and accelerated soil erosion. Our prognosis is that, despite the global trend towards land use intensification, in many areas swidden will remain part of rural landscapes as the safety component of diversified systems, particularly in response to risks and uncertainties associated with more intensive land use systems.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.10.009

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Neonicotinoid insecticides were introduced in the early 1990s and have become one of the most widely used crop pesticides in the world. These compounds act on the insect central nervous system, and they have been shown to be persistent in the environment and in plant tissues. Recently, there have been controversial connections made between neonicotinoids and pollinator deaths, but the mechanisms underlying these potential deaths have remained unknown. In one study, researchers exposed developing colonies of bumble bees to low levels of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid and then released them to forage under natural conditions. Treated colonies displayed reduced colony growth and less reproductive success, and they produced significantly fewer queens to found subsequent generations. Another study documented the effects of low-dose, nonlethal intoxication of another widely used neonicotinoid, thiamethoxam, on wild foraging honey bees. Radio-frequency identification tags were used to determine navigation success of treated foragers, which suggested that their homing success was much reduced relative to untreated foragers.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1215025
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1215039

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Provision of food is a prerequisite for the functioning of human society. Cropland where food and feed are grown is the central, limiting resource for food production. The amount of cropland needed depends on population numbers, average food consumption patterns, and output per unit of land. Around the globe, these factors show large differences. We use data from the Food and Agriculture Organization to consistently assess subcontinental dynamics of how much land was needed to supply the prevailing diets during a span of 46 y, from 1961 to 2007. We find that, in most regions, diets became richer while the land needed to feed one person decreased. A decomposition approach is used to quantify the contributions of the main drivers of cropland requirements for food: changes in population, agricultural technology, and diet. We compare the impact of these drivers for different subcontinents and find that potential land savings through yield increases were offset by a combination of population growth and dietary change. The dynamics of the three factors were the largest in developing regions and emerging economies. The results indicate an inverse relationship between the two main drivers behind increased land requirements for food: with socioeconomic development, population growth decreases and, at the same time, diets become richer. In many regions, dietary change may override population growth as major driver behind land requirements for food in the near future.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1117054109

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1. Tropical forests were the primary sources of new agricultural land in the 1980s and 1990s
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Greenhouse and field experiments were conducted to evaluate the response of okra to different levels of human urine (0, 10,000, 15,000 and 20,000 L/ha) and 400 kg/ha NPK 15:15:15 inorganic fertilizer in five riverine communities of Cross River State, Nigeria. The soils of the communities are generally acid with low organic matter, total nitrogen, exchangeable cations, but were rated medium in available P. The pH of the urine was alkaline with moderate amount of nutrients. There was a significant (P < 0.05) increase in nutrient uptake with application of either urine or inorganic fertilizer compared with the control. Application level of 20,000 L urine/ha significantly increased the growth and yield attributes of okra plants relative to NPK fertilizer, while 15,000 L urine/ha had a similar effect on okra plant as the inorganic fertilizer. The inert potentials of human urine as a good source of organic fertilizer are discussed.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2012.02.003

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We present a solid-acid catalyzed one-pot method for the selective conversion of solid hemicellulose without its separation from other lignocellulosic components, such as cellulose and lignin. The reactions were carried out in aqueous and biphasic media to yield xylose, arabinose, and furfural. To overcome the drawbacks posed by mineral acid methods in converting hemicelllulose, we used heterogeneous catalysts that work at neutral pH. In a batch reactor, these heterogeneous catalysts, such as solid acids (zeolites, clays, metal oxides etc.), resulted in >90 % conversion of hemicellulose. It has been shown that the selectivity for the products can be tuned by changing the reaction conditions, for example, a reaction carried out in water at 170 °C for 1 h with HBeta (Si/Al=19) and HUSY (Si/Al=15) catalysts gave yields of 62 and 56 % for xylose and arabinose, respectively. With increased reaction time (6 h) and in presence of only water, HUSY resulted in yields of 30 % xylose + arabinose and 18 % furfural. However, in a biphasic reaction system (water + p-xylene, 170 °C, 6 h) yields of 56 % furfural with 17 % xylose+arabinose could be achieved. It was shown that with the addition of organic solvent the furfural yield could be increased from 18 to 56 %. Under optimized reaction conditions, >90 % carbon balance was observed. The study revealed that catalysts were recyclable with a 20 % drop in activity for each subsequent run. It was observed that temperature, pressure, reaction time, substrate to catalyst ratio, solvent, and so forth had an effect on product formation. The catalysts were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, temperature-programmed desorption of NH3, inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and solid-state NMR (29Si, 27Al) spectroscopy techniques.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201100448

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