The input reduction principle of agroecology is wrong when it comes to mineral fertilizer use in sub-Saharan Africa

Gatien Falconnier Marc Corbeels Frédéric Baudron Antoine Couëdel leonard rusinamhodzi bernard vanlauwe Ken Giller (2023, [Artículo])

Can farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) boost crop yields and improve food availability without using more mineral fertilizer? This question has been at the center of lively debates among the civil society, policy-makers, and in academic editorials. Proponents of the “yes” answer have put forward the “input reduction” principle of agroecology, i.e. by relying on agrobiodiversity, recycling and better efficiency, agroecological practices such as the use of legumes and manure can increase crop productivity without the need for more mineral fertilizer. We reviewed decades of scientific literature on nutrient balances in SSA, biological nitrogen fixation of tropical legumes, manure production and use in smallholder farming systems, and the environmental impact of mineral fertilizer. Our analyses show that more mineral fertilizer is needed in SSA for five reasons: (i) the starting point in SSA is that agricultural production is “agroecological” by default, that is, very low mineral fertilizer use, widespread mixed crop-livestock systems and large crop diversity including legumes, but leading to poor soil fertility as a result of widespread soil nutrient mining, (ii) the nitrogen needs of crops cannot be adequately met solely through biological nitrogen fixation by legumes and recycling of animal manure, (iii) other nutrients like phosphorus and potassium need to be replaced continuously, (iv) mineral fertilizers, if used appropriately, cause little harm to the environment, and (v) reducing the use of mineral fertilizers would hamper productivity gains and contribute indirectly to agricultural expansion and to deforestation. Yet, the agroecological principles directly related to soil fertility—recycling, efficiency, diversity—remain key in improving soil health and nutrient-use efficiency, and are critical to sustaining crop productivity in the long run. We argue for a nuanced position that acknowledges the critical need for more mineral fertilizers in SSA, in combination with the use of agroecological practices and adequate policy support.

Manure Crop Yields Smallholder Farming Systems Environmental Hazards CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA BIOLOGICAL NITROGEN FIXATION LEGUMES NUTRIENT BALANCE SOIL FERTILITY AGROECOLOGY YIELD INCREASES LITERATURE REVIEWS

Diseño de arreglos de antenas para entornos de 5G utilizando técnicas de simplificación en la red de alimentación

Design of antenna arrays for 5G environments using simplification techniques in the feeding network

ELIZVAN JUAREZ PACHECO (2023, [Tesis de doctorado])

En los últimos años, las redes de comunicaciones inalámbricas de quinta generación (5G) han tomado gran relevancia debido al crecimiento del número de usuarios móviles que se conectan a estas redes inalámbricas. Estas redes utilizan arreglos de antenas para generar haces de radiación directivos que pueden escanearse en una o múltiples direcciones en el espacio mediante el control de una red de alimentación. En una red de alimentación convencional cada elemento de antena se alimenta con un dispositivo amplificador y desfasador, lo que resulta en sistemas costosos y complejos de implementar. Por lo tanto, esta tesis de investigación propone nuevas técnicas de diseño que simplifican la red de alimentación al reducir el número de puertos de entrada y dispositivos desfasadores necesarios en el sistema de antenas. Las configuraciones propuestas consideran como requisitos de diseño el nivel de lóbulo lateral (SLL por sus siglas en inglés), rango de escaneo del haz principal y ancho de banda de operación adecuados para sistemas de 5G. Así, se introduce la técnica de bloques CORPS (Estructuras Periódicas de Radiación Coherente, en inglés) como una solución para simplificar la red de alimentación en arreglos lineales y planares. Esta técnica aprovecha la propiedad de interpolación de fase de las redes CORPS de una capa para generar los valores cofasales ideales necesarios para escanear el haz principal. Además, la aplicación de una excitación de amplitud de coseno alzado genera un haz de radiación con bajo SLL. Adicionalmente, se aplica la técnica de bloques CORPS en configuraciones con subarreglos para mejorar la reducción de desfasadores en comparación con la implementación individual de cada tecnología. Los resultados obtenidos mediante simulación electromagnética y mediciones experimentales validan los diferentes diseños propuestos. Todo esto contribuye al estado del arte al presentar diferentes diseños de arreglos de antenas que simplifican la red de alimentación manteniendo buenas características en el patrón de radiación en comparación con diseños tradicionales.

In recent years, fifth-generation wireless networks (5G) have become very relevant due to the exponential growth in the number of mobile users connecting to wireless networks. These networks employ antenna arrays to generate directional radiation beams that can be scanned in one or multiple directions in space by controlling a feeding network. In a conventional feeding network, each antenna element is fed with an amplifier and phase shifter device, which results in expensive and complex systems to implement. Therefore, this thesis proposes novel design techniques that simplify the feeding network by reducing the number of input ports and phase shifter devices required in the antenna system. The proposed configurations take into account requirements such as side lobe level (SLL), scanning range, and bandwidth appropriate for 5G systems. Thus, the CORPS (Coherent Radiation Periodic Structures) blocks technique is introduced as a solution to simplify the feeding network in linear and planar phased arrays. This technique takes advantage of the phase interpolation property of single-layer CORPS to generate the ideal cophasal values necessary for the main beam scanning. Furthermore, the application of a raised-cosine amplitude distribution generates a radiation beam with low SLL. Additionally, the CORPS blocks technique is applied in subarrays configurations to improve the phase shifters reduction compared to the individual implementation of each technology. The results obtained by electromagnetic simulation and experimental measurements validate the different proposed designs. This contributes to the state of the art by different designs of antenna arrays that simplify the feeding network while maintaining good radiation pattern characteristics when compared to traditional designs.

Arreglo de antenas, Red de alimentación, Quinta generación, Arreglo lineal, Arreglo planar Antenna array, Feeding network, Fifth Generation, Linear array, Planar array INGENIERÍA Y TECNOLOGÍA CIENCIAS TECNOLÓGICAS TECNOLOGÍA DE LAS TELECOMUNICACIONES ANTENAS ANTENAS

Chronic toxicity of shrimp feed added with silver nanoparticles (Argovit-4®) in Litopenaeus vannamei and immune response to white spot syndrome virus infection

Carlos Rosendo Romo Quiñonez Píndaro Álvarez Ruiz CLAUDIO HUMBERTO MEJIA RUIZ NINA BOGDANCHIKOVA Alexey Pestryakov CARINA GAMEZ JIMENEZ WENCESLAO VALENZUELA QUIÑONEZ Magnolia Montoya Mejía EUSEBIO NAVA PEREZ (2022, [Artículo])

"In recent years, the application of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as antibacterial compounds has been widely used in human and veterinary medicine. In this work, we investigated the effects of AgNPs (Argovit-4 R ) as feed additives (feed-AgNPs) on shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) using three different methods: 1) chronic toxicity after 28 days of feeding, 2) Effects against white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) challenged by oral route, and 3) transcriptional responses of immune-related genes (PAP, ProPO, CTL-3, Crustin, PEN3, and PEN4) following WSSV infection. The results showed that the feed-AgNPs did not interfere with the growth and survival of shrimp. Also, mild lesions in the hepatopancreas were recorded, proportional to the frequency of the feed-AgNP supply. Challenge test versus WSSV showed that feeding every 7 days with feed-AgNPs reduced mortality, reaching a survival rate of 53%, compared to the survival rates observed in groups fed every 4 days, daily and control groups of feed-AgNPs for the 30%, 10%, and 7% groups, respectively. Feed-AgNPs negatively regulated the expression of PAP, ProPO, and Crustin genes after 28 days of treatment and altered the transcriptional responses of PAP, ProPO, CTL-3, and Crustin after WSSV exposure. The results showed that weekly feeding-AgNPs could partially prevent WSSV infection in shrimp culture. However, whether or not transcriptional responses against pathogens are advantageous remains to be elucidated."

Silver nanoparticles, Shrimp, Aquaculture, Chronic toxicity, WSSV, AgNP, Argovit, Litopenaeus vannamei , Silver fed, White spot syndrome virus BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA INMUNOLOGÍA INMUNIZACIÓN INMUNIZACIÓN

Assessing the Response of Nematode Communities to Climate Change-Driven Warming: A Microcosm Experiment

RUTH GINGOLD WERMUTH (2013, [Artículo])

Biodiversity has diminished over the past decades with climate change being among the main responsible factors. One consequence of climate change is the increase in sea surface temperature, which, together with long exposure periods in intertidal areas, may exceed the tolerance level of benthic organisms. Benthic communities may suffer structural changes due to the loss of species or functional groups, putting ecological services at risk. In sandy beaches, free-living marine nematodes usually are the most abundant and diverse group of intertidal meiofauna, playing an important role in the benthic food web. While apparently many functionally similar nematode species co-exist temporally and spatially, experimental results on selected bacterivore species suggest no functional overlap, but rather an idiosyncratic contribution to ecosystem functioning. However, we hypothesize that functional redundancy is more likely to observe when taking into account the entire diversity of natural assemblages. We conducted a microcosm experiment with two natural communities to assess their stress response to elevated temperature. The two communities differed in diversity (high [HD] vs. low [LD]) and environmental origin (harsh vs. moderate conditions). We assessed their stress resistance to the experimental treatment in terms of species and diversity changes, and their function in terms of abundance, biomass, and trophic diversity. According to the Insurance Hypothesis, we hypothesized that the HD community would cope better with the stressful treatment due to species functional overlap, whereas the LD community functioning would benefit from species better adapted to harsh conditions. Our results indicate no evidence of functional redundancy in the studied nematofaunal communities. The species loss was more prominent and size specific in the HD; large predators and omnivores were lost, which may have important consequences for the benthic food web. Yet, we found evidence for alternative diversity-ecosystem functioning relationships, such as the Rivets and the Idiosyncrasy Model. © 2013 Gingold et al.

aquaculture, article, bacterivore, benthos, biodiversity, biomass, climate, community dynamics, controlled study, ecosystem, environmental temperature, microcosm, nematode, nonhuman, population abundance, species diversity, species richness, taxonomy CIENCIAS FÍSICO MATEMÁTICAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA Y DEL ESPACIO OCEANOGRAFÍA OCEANOGRAFÍA

Trophic ecology of Mexican Pacific harbor seal colonies using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes

MARICELA JUAREZ RODRIGUEZ (2020, [Artículo])

There is limited information that provides a comprehensive understanding of the trophic ecology of Mexican Pacific harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardii) colonies. While scat analysis has been used to determine the diet of some colonies, the integrative characterization of its feeding habits on broader temporal and spatial scales remains limited. We examined potential feeding grounds, trophic niche width, and overlap, and inferred the degree of dietary specialization using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) in this subspecies. We analyzed δ13C and δ15N on fur samples from pups collected at five sites along the western coast of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. Fur of natal coat of Pacific harbor seal pups begins to grow during the seventh month in utero until the last stage of gestation. Therefore pup fur is a good proxy for the mother's feeding habits in winter (∼December to March), based on the timing of gestation for the subspecies in this region. Our results indicated that the δ13C and δ15N values differed significantly among sampling sites, with the highest mean δ15N value occurring at the southernmost site, reflecting a well-characterized north to south latitudinal 15N-enrichment in the food web. The tendency identified in δ13C values, in which the northern colonies showed the most enriched values, suggests nearshore and benthic-demersal feeding habits. A low variance in δ13C and δ15N values for each colony (<1‰) and relatively small standard ellipse areas suggest a specialized foraging behavior in adult female Pacific harbor seals in Mexican waters. © 2020 Juárez-Rodríguez et al.

carbon, delta carbon 13, delta nitrogen 15, isotope, nitrogen, unclassified drug, carbon, nitrogen, Article, correlational study, feeding behavior, latitude, Mexico, nonhuman, organism colony, Pinnipedia, population abundance, species richness, troph BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA)