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

Agroecology can promote climate change adaptation outcomes without compromising yield in smallholder systems

Sieglinde Snapp Yodit Kebede Eva Wollenberg (2023, [Artículo])

A critical question is whether agroecology can promote climate change mitigation and adaptation outcomes without compromising food security. We assessed the outcomes of smallholder agricultural systems and practices in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) against 35 mitigation, adaptation, and yield indicators by reviewing 50 articles with 77 cases of agroecological treatments relative to a baseline of conventional practices. Crop yields were higher for 63% of cases reporting yields. Crop diversity, income diversity, net income, reduced income variability, nutrient regulation, and reduced pest infestation, indicators of adaptative capacity, were associated with 70% or more of cases. Limited information on climate change mitigation, such as greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration impacts, was available. Overall, the evidence indicates that use of organic nutrient sources, diversifying systems with legumes and integrated pest management lead to climate change adaptation in multiple contexts. Landscape mosaics, biological control (e.g., enhancement of beneficial organisms) and field sanitation measures do not yet have sufficient evidence based on this review. Widespread adoption of agroecological practices and system transformations shows promise to contribute to climate change services and food security in LMICs. Gaps in adaptation and mitigation strategies and areas for policy and research interventions are finally discussed.

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CLIMATE CHANGE CROPS FOOD SUPPLY GAS EMISSIONS GREENHOUSE GASES FARMING SYSTEMS AGROECOLOGY FOOD SECURITY LESS FAVOURED AREAS SMALLHOLDERS YIELDS NUTRIENTS BIOLOGICAL PEST CONTROL CARBON SEQUESTRATION LEGUMES

Forest proximity positively affects natural enemy mediated control of fall armyworm in Southern Africa

Frédéric Baudron Terence Sunderland (2022, [Artículo])

Insectivorous Birds Bat Predation Maize Cultivation CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA FALL ARMYWORMS BIOLOGICAL PEST CONTROL INSECTIVOROUS ANIMALS MAIZE PREDATOR PREY RELATIONS

Editorial: Evolution of abiotic stress responses in land plants

Ana Luisa Garcia-Oliveira (2023, [Artículo])

Land Plants Molecular Responses Plant Stress Biology CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA ABIOTIC STRESS TERRESTRIAL PLANTS CLIMATE CHANGE

The cerato-mandibular ligament: a key functional trait for grazing in damselfishes (Pomacentridae)

Damien Olivier Bruno Frederich MILTON ALEJANDRO SPANOPOULOS ZARCO Eduardo Francisco Balart Páez Eric Parmentier (2014, [Artículo])

"The success of a taxonomic group can be promoted by a key character that allows the group to interact with its environment in a different way and to potentially occupy new niches. The Pomacentridae possess a synapomorphic trait, the cerato-mandibular (c-md) ligament, which joins the hyoid bar to the inner part of the lower jaw. It has previously been shown that this ligament is a key trait in communication in damselfishes because it enables them to slam the oral jaws shut causing teeth collision and sound production. This specific behavior of mouth closing could, however, also be used for other tasks, such as feeding. Many territorial damselfishes are referred to as farmers, due to their ability to manage algal crops on which they feed. This study hypothesizes that the c-md ligament provides an advantage for grazing filamentous algae, and should thus be considered a key trait for farming behavior."

Biomechanics, Evolution, Farming, Functional morphology BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) ZOOLOGÍA MARINA ZOOLOGÍA MARINA

Metabolites Profile of Extracts and Fractions of Erythroxylum mexicanum Kunth by UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS and its Antibacterial, Cytotoxic and Nitric Oxide Inhibitory Activities

LAURA PATRICIA ALVAREZ BERBER MARIA DE LOS ANGELES RAMIREZ CISNEROS (2024, [Artículo])

The present study shows the untargeted metabolite profiling and in vitro antibacterial, cytotoxic, and nitric oxide (NO) inhibitory activities of the methanolic leaves extract (MLE) and methanolic stem extract (MSE) of Erythroxylum mexicanum, as well as the fractions from MSE. Using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS), a total of 70 metabolites were identified; mainly alkaloids in the MLE, while the MSE showed a high abundance of diterpenoids. The MSE fractions exhibited differential activity against Gram-positive bacteria. Notably, the hexane fraction (HSF) against Streptococcus pyogenes ATCC 19615 (MIC=62.5 µg/mL) exhibited a bactericidal effect. The MSE fractions exhibited cytotoxicity against all cancer cell lines tested, with selectivity towards them compared to a noncancerous cell line. Particularly, the HSF and chloroform fraction (CSF) showed the highest cytotoxicity against prostate cancer (PC-3) cells, with IC50 values of 19.9 and 18.1 µg/mL and selectivity indexes of 3.8 and 4.2, respectively. Both the HSF and ethyl acetate (EASF) fractions of the MSE inhibited NO production in RAW 264.7 macrophages, with NO production percentages of 50.0% and 51.7%, respectively, at a concentration of 30 µg/mL. These results indicated that E. mexicanum can be a source of antibacterial, cytotoxic, and anti-inflammatory metabolites.

BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA QUÍMICA MS analysis • diterpenoids • biological activities

A new species of Encelia (Compositae, Heliantheae, Enceliinae) from the southern Baja California Peninsula

JOSE LUIS LEON DE LA LUZ Isaac Lichter-Marck (2022, [Artículo])

"Se ilustra y describe a una nueva especie de Asteraceae, Encelia balandra. Se conoce solo de las laderas rocosas de los cerros próximos a puerto Balandra y Pichilingue, dentro de la bahía de La Paz, en Baja California Sur, México. Encontramos que esta nueva especie tiene ciertas semejanzas con otras de Encelia por su hábito semiarbustivo, las flores radiales neutras y cipselas comprimidas con ápice hendido. Confirmamos tal condición con datos de secuencia para las regiones ITS y ETS del genoma. También presentamos fotografías detalladas, un evaluación de conservación, y un clave dichotomus para los Encelia de Baja California sur. Se discute la semejanza con las especies peninsulares más cercanas de Encelia, se presenta una clave dicotómica para los taxonesaustrales de la península de Baja California, y finalmente se muestran imágenes detalladas de esta nueva especie."

"Here, we describe and illustrate Encelia balandra sp. nov., a new species of Compositae from the Baja Cal- ifornia Peninsula. It is rare and known only from the rocky hills around Puerto Balandra and Pichilingüe, inside the bay of La Paz, in the State of Baja California Sur, Mexico. We determine that this new species has affinities with Encelia, based on its suffruticose woody habit, neuter ray florets and compressed disc cypselae with a cleft apex. The taxonomic placement within Encelia is supported by nuclear ribosomal sequence data from two regions, ITS and ETS. We also present detailed photographs, a conservation assessment and a dichotomous key to the Encelia of the southern Baja California Peninsula. Finally, we discuss the uniqueness of Encelia balandra amongst peninsular Encelia and its potential significance for understanding the enigmatic biogeography of this ecologically important genus."

Asteraceae, Cape region, DNA barcoding, narrow endemism, synantherology, taxonomy Código de barras ADN, Micro-endemismo, Región de Los Cabos, Sinanterología, Taxonomía BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA VEGETAL (BOTÁNICA) ECOLOGÍA VEGETAL ECOLOGÍA VEGETAL

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

Genetic analysis of Vibrio parahaemolyticus O3:K6 strains that have been isolated in Mexico since 1998

CARLOS ABRAHAM GUERRERO RUIZ (2017, [Artículo])

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is an important human pathogen that has been isolated worldwide from clinical cases, most of which have been associated with seafood consumption. Environmental and clinical toxigenic strains of V. parahaemolyticus that were isolated in Mexico from 1998 to 2012, including those from the only outbreak that has been reported in this country, were characterized genetically to assess the presence of the O3:K6 pandemic clone, and their genetic relationship to strains that are related to the pandemic clonal complex (CC3). Pathogenic tdh+ and tdh+/trh+ strains were analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Also, the entire genome of a Mexican O3:K6 strain was sequenced. Most of the strains were tdh/ORF8-positive and corresponded to the O3:K6 serotype. By PFGE and MLST, there was very close genetic relationship between ORF8/O3:K6 strains, and very high genetic diversities from non-pandemic strains. The genetic relationship is very close among O3:K6 strains that were isolated in Mexico and sequences that were available for strains in the CC3, based on the PubMLST database. The whole-genome sequence of CICESE-170 strain had high similarity with that of the reference RIMD 2210633 strain, and harbored 7 pathogenicity islands, including the 4 that denote O3:K6 pandemic strains. These results indicate that pandemic strains that have been isolated in Mexico show very close genetic relationship among them and with those isolated worldwide. © 2017 Guerrero et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Article, bacterial strain, biofouling, controlled study, Crassostrea, food intake, gene sequence, genetic analysis, genetic variability, Japan, Mexican, Mexico, molecular phylogeny, nonhuman, pandemic, pathogenicity island, sea food, serotyping, toxi BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA GENÉTICA GENÉTICA

Gamma-diversity partitioning of gobiid fishes (Teleostei: Gobiidae) ensemble along of Eastern Tropical Pacific: Biological inventory, latitudinal variation and species turnover

OMAR VALENCIA MENDEZ (2018, [Artículo])

Gobies are the most diverse marine fish family. Here, we analysed the gamma-diversity (γ-diversity) partitioning of gobiid fishes to evaluate the additive and multiplicative components of α and β-diversity, species replacement and species loss and gain, at four spatial scales: sample units, ecoregions, provinces and realms. The richness of gobies from the realm Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) is represented by 87 species. Along latitudinal and longitudinal gradients, we found that the γ-diversity is explained by the β-diversity at both spatial scales, ecoregions and provinces. At the ecoregion scale, species are diverse in the north (Cortezian ecoregion) and south (Panama Bight ecoregion) and between insular and coastal ecoregions. At the province scale, we found that the species turnover between the warm temperate Northeast Pacific (WTNP), Tropical East Pacific (TEaP) and the Galapagos Islands (Gala) was high, and the species nestedness was low. At the ecoregion scale, historical factors, and phylogenetic factors have influenced the hotspots of gobiid fish biodiversity, particularly in the Cortezian, Panama Bight and Cocos Island ecoregions, where species turnover is high across both latitudinal and longitudinal gradients. At the provincial level, we found that the contributions of the β-diversity from north to south, in the WTNP, TEaP and Gala were high, as result of the high number of unique species. Species turnover was also high at this scale, with a low contribution from species nestedness that was probably due to the low species/gene flow within the provinces. These results highlight the importance and successful inclusion of a cryptobenthic fish component in ecological and biogeographical studies. © 2018 Valencia-Méndez et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Article, biodiversity, biogeographic region, biogeography, gene flow, goby fish, nonhuman, phylogeny, species distribution, species diversity, taxonomic identification, teleost, animal, animal dispersal, fish, Pacific Ocean, phylogeography, Animal Di CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CIENCIAS AGRARIAS PECES Y FAUNA SILVESTRE PECES Y FAUNA SILVESTRE