Systems Ecology - Science topic

The Circular Economy (CE) concept is rapidly gaining space in mainstream policy in many developed countries, but it remains a contested and underdeveloped notion in scientific circles, largely due to its fragmented nature and absence of a unified framework. This fragmentation is attributed to the concept’s diverse roots, its varying utilization by...

This paper presents, to our knowledge, the first system-level engineering study to bio-mimic the cybernetics and flow dynamics of energy resources in natural ecosystems for the control of heterogeneous energy infrastructures in the built environment. To this end, we introduce a novel Biomimetic Pulsing State (BPS) control that functionally mimics m...

This paper presents, to our knowledge, the first system-level engineering study to bio-mimic the cybernetics and flow dynamics of energy resources in natural ecosystems for the control of heterogeneous energy infrastructures in the built environment. To this end, we introduce a novel Biomimetic Pulsing State (BPS) control that functionally mimics m...

This study aims to investigate the development of mental resilience in children from broken homes. Particular focus is given to efforts to build their mental resilience in the face of the stress, instability and emotional challenges of such family dynamics. This study employs qualitative research through desk research to integrate two primary theor...

The article presents an update and a generalized geo-ecological assessment of the Bogorodsky urban district of the Moscow region (the former Noginsky was abolished) at the time of 2021-2022. The indicators of the ecological state of the territories are considered from the standpoint of the realities of the current years. A comparison was made of th...

The French Phage Network (Phages.fr) has continuously grown since its foundation, eight years ago. The annual conference, held at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, attracted 164 participants from the 11th to the 13th of October 2022. Researchers from academic laboratories, hospitals and private companies shared their ongoing projects and breakthroughs...

RésuméLes risques hydro-climatiques ont des effets sur le système écologie, l’économie et humains qui font actuellement des préoccupations majeurs de la planète. Cette recherche vise à analyser les changements socio-économiques et environnementaux des risques hydro-climatiques dans la bande côtière au sud-ouest Bénin.La méthodologie utilisée s’arti...

br/> Pollen are an important food source for numerous insects and may be used as natural markers in ecological studies. However, to make inferences about the movement rates of insects based on their gut contents, information on pollen digestion rates is needed. Here, we assessed how the consumption and digestion rates of pollen ingested by Chrysope...

What exactly is resilience and how can it be enhanced? Farming systems in Europe are rapidly evolving while at the same time being under threat, as seen by the disappearance of dozens of farms every day. Farming systems must become more resilient in response to growing economic, environmental, institutional, and social challenges facing Europe's ag...

RESUMO Este trabalho visa contribuir para a sustentabilidade de uma região do agronegócio no sul do Brasil. Essa região, batizada de RH3, contribui significativamente para a economia brasileira por meio da exportação de commodities, como carne suína e de frango. O setor econômico da RH3 recorras a ativos ambientais, propriedade comum da sociedade,...

It is not known whether dietary guidelines proposing a limited intake of animal protein are compatible with the adoption of circular food systems. Using a resource-allocation model, we compared the effects of circularity on the supply of animal-source nutrients in Europe with the nutritional requirements of the EAT-Lancet reference diet. We found t...

Understanding how microorganism-microorganism interactions shape microbial assemblages is a key to deciphering the evolution of dependencies and co-existence in complex microbiomes. Metabolic dependencies in cross-feeding exist in microbial communities and can at least partially determine microbial community composition. To parry the complexity and...

Für die Transformation zu einem resilienten Ernährungssystem ist eine Synthese von System theorie und Humanökologie hilfreich, damit unerwünschte Nebenwirkungen erkannt und vermieden werden können. Bei ihrer Jahrestagung diskutierte die DGH über das weitere Vorgehen mit Blick auf die Differenz und Komplementarität von Stadt und Land.

Bananas on smallholder farmers in the African Great Lakes region are often pruned to illuminate shorter understory intercrops, reducing overall farm profitability. The impact of this practice on environmental and nutritional indicators are not known. This study determined the effect of this practice on operating profit, protein yield, soil organic...

p>The authors regret that in Table 2 of our article, two values are incorrect. The second value in column 4 (Type 3), 12 TLU ha⁻¹ is replaced by ‘2 heads’ and the second value in column 6 (Type 5) 28.2 TLU ha⁻¹ is replaced by ‘–’. The corrected table is reproduced directly below. The authors would like to apologise for any inc...

Diversified farming systems have received considerable attention for their potential to contribute to environmentally sustainable and resilient food systems. This chapter discusses the potential of public procurement programmes in building public support for diversified farming systems. Focusing on Brazil’s flagship public procurement programme...

Contemporary definitions of resilience stress adaptability to changing ecological and economic conditions (Berkes, Colding and Folke; Castleden, McKee, Murray and Leonard 369). But this approach to resilience is a measure of individual ‘fitness’ to an adaptive whole (Hughes 165; McMahon et al.; Walker and Cooper). Not only is this incongruous with...

Antimicrobials have been known for millennia, but innovative antibiotics are currently in short supply. New antimicrobial discoveries are being threatened by planetary scale loss of biodiversity that has important impacts on species and ecosystems. This expert review underscores that microorganisms in nature and their diversity are essential corner...

Op proeflocaties van WUR in Wageningen en Lelystad werd in 2019 gekeken naar het effect van het telen van gewasparen in stroken op verschillende ecosysteemdiensten, o.a. opbrengst, plaagbestrijding, biodiversiteit en gewaskwaliteit. Daarnaast werd er gekeken naar het effect van rassenmengsels en het gebruik van vlinderbloemigen in de stroken. In sa...

To operate within the safe and just operating space captured by the doughnut metaphor, sustainability transitions are needed in the food system. Niche food systems with highly distinct practices and organization constitute a treasure chest of alternatives from which society can build new futures. Policy has little awareness of niche food systems an...

Resumo: Este artigo sistematiza alguns procedimentos de pesquisa que ilustram a forma como tratamos metodológica e analiticamente as interações entre crianças com TEA (Transtorno do Espectro do Autismo) que acontecem sem a presença da linguagem verbal. Nossos referenciais teóricos se inscrevem nos estudos da multimodalidade da interação produzidos...

In 2004, Bio-Network Systems - Ecology – Evolution, and Education, all-so-known as BSE3 was founded by James Robert Paterek Ph-D, a researcher, educator, and engineer in microbial and systems ecology and biology. Doctor Paterek and his BSE3 staff employ their underlying multi-disciplinary teamwork and critical thinking skills to remain abreast of g...

Translation high-level contex interpretation/aggregation Measurement low-level contex acquisition (sensory communication) Actuation context/state delivery and reaction (interaction communication) Reasoning local/global decision making (analysis, state assesment) IoT UAVs UGVs satellite imaging 3D Mapping Seeding Farming Yelding OBSERVABLES SUBSYSTE...

Assessment of disease incidence and severity at farm scale or in agronomic trials is frequently performed based on visual crop inspection, which is a labor intensive task prone to errors associated with its subjectivity. Therefore, alternative methods to relate disease incidence and severity with changes in crop traits are of great interest. Optica...

p>In organic broiler production, one big factor in meeting the energy requirements of birds is through forage and concentrate feeds. In organic production, birds consume every kind of grass within the pasture. This study investigated the performance of slow growing broilers with an outdoor access, documenting the energy balance between slow growers...

As raízes semânticas do termo sustentabilidade são as palavras "capacidade" e "sustentar", portanto, a capacidade de sustentar. No caso da sustentabilidade ecológica, a capacidade de sustentar um sistema ecológico ou sustentabilidade social, como a capacidade de sustentar um sistema social. A ideia de sustentabilidade tornou-se ao longo dos anos tã...

If we aim to increase the sustainability of farming, we must be able to measure the sustainability of individual farms and relate this sustainability to the characteristics of the farm and its management. We hypothesized that (i) sustainability can be expressed using social profit, and (ii) socio-economic characteristics and management practices of...

Insects typically forage in complex habitats in which their resources are surrounded by non-resources. For herbivores, pollinators, parasitoids, and higher level predators research has focused on how specific trophic levels filter and integrate information from cues in their habitat to locate resources. However, these insights frequently build spec...

Extreme weather events and pest outbreaks decrease rice yields and increase their variability, presenting challenges for the agricultural agenda to increase rice productivity and yield stability in Asia. The integration of azolla, fish and ducks has been shown to create robust systems that maintain high yields under heavy rainfall, but no clear evi...

“An Ecology of Virtue: Integrating Systems Ecology into Virtue Theory.” Poster presentation. Third International Conference of Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church (CTWEC), Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina (July 26-29, 2018).

Conservation tillage (CT) options are among the most rapidly spreading land preparation and crop establishment techniques globally. In South Asia, CT has spread dramatically over the last decade, a result of strong policy support and increasing availability of appropriate machinery. Although many studies have analyzed the yield and profitability of...

We see two related, but not well-linked fields that together could help us better understand biodiversity and how it, over time, provides benefits to people. The affordances approach in environmental psychology offers a way to understand our perceptual appraisal of landscapes and biodiversity and, to some extent, intentional choice or behavior, i.e...

Het telen van verschillende landbouwgewassen in naast elkaar gelegen stroken, van bijvoorbeeld 3 of 6 meter breed, kan zich verheugen in een toenemende belangstelling. Afgelopen jaar is verder geëxperimenteerd en is op praktijkschaal nagegaan wat de praktische inpasbaarheid met mechanisatie is.

Food production is key to achieving food security in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa. Since agricultural productivity is limited, however, due to inherent agro-ecological constraints and land degradation, sustainable agricultural intensification has been widely discussed as an opportunity for improving food security and reducing vulnerability. Y...

Phosphorus (P) plays a vital role in global crop production and food security. In this study, we investigate the changes in soil P pool inventories calibrated from historical countrywide crop P uptake, using a 0.5-by-0.5∘ spatially explicit model for the period 1900–2010. Globally, the total P pool per hectare increased rapidly between 1900 and 201...

The main objective of this work is to analyze the intention to reduce some areas of Ecology (in particular Population Ecology, Community Ecology and Ecosistem Ecology) to Physiology (in the particular case of metabolic studies). The origin of this research of reduction was done through consolidation of metabolic ecological theory in first years of...

Soil plays a key role in the global carbon (C) cycle. Most current assessments of SOC stocks and the guidelines given by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) focus on the top 30 cm of soil. Our research shows that, when considering only total quantities, most of the SOC stocks are found in this top layer. However, not all forms of SOC a...

In recent decades farmers in high-income countries and China and India have built up a large reserve of residual soil P in cropland. This reserve can now be used by crops, and in high-income countries the use of mineral P fertilizer has recently been decreasing with even negative soil P budgets in Europe. In contrast to P, much of N surpluses are e...

Smallholder farming systems are diverse. One needs to understand this diversity if one wants to implement development projects or launch a business. Researchers must take into account what farmers do for what reasons. Africa RISING is a research-for-development programme that gathers information at the grass-roots level. One lesson our author learn...

Food production is key to achieving food security in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa. Since agricultural productivity is limited, however, due to inherent agro-ecological constraints and land degradation, sustainable agricultural intensification has been widely discussed as an opportunity for improving food security and reducing vulnerability. Y...

Ecosystem services research faces several challenges stemming from the plurality of interpretations of classifications and terminologies. In this paper we identify two main challenges with current ecosystem services classification systems: i) the inconsistency across concepts, terminology and definitions, and; ii) the mix up of processes and end-st...

Ecosystem services research faces several challenges stemming from the plurality of interpretations of ecosystem services classifications and terminologies. In this paper we identify two main challenges with current ecosystem services classification systems: i) the inconsistency across concepts, terminology and definitions, and; ii) the mix up of p...

This study aimed to quantify the effects of contrasting composted methods of solid cattle manure (SCM) ondry matter (DM) yield and crop apparent N recovery (ANR)following manure application to maize land. Fresh SCM was stored as stockpiled, roofed, covered and composted heaps. After storage, the manures were incorporated in a sandy soil, and maize...

The present study aimed at evaluating the host-specificity, potential efficacy and optimum densities of the two weevils (Neochetina bruchi and N. eichhorniae) as water hyacinth control agents in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Density-plant damage relationship was monitored for two years (2012 to 2014) in a factorial experiment by involving the two Ne...

. In this forum paper we discuss how soil scientists can help to reach the recently adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the most effective manner. Soil science, as a land-related discipline, has important links to several of the SDGs, which are demonstrated through the functions of soils and the ecosystem services that are linked to...

Over the last 50 years, the sugarcane yield in Wonji plantation has declined by about 40%. Perhaps one of the possible causes for the decline is soil degradation. Thus, the major soil quality indicators were evaluated for the extent of change that might occur due to long-term conventional cropping practices. To that end bio-sequential soil sampling...

Taking into consideration the population growth, farmers are challenged to produce enough to feed the population. To increase productivity, normally small dairy farmers intensify their production systems by increasing livestock density and inputs, but inadequate management results in economic, technical, and environmental inefficiencies. This work...

Understanding the diversity of current states, life cycles and past trajectories of households and agroecosystems is essential to contextualise the co-design of more sustainable agroecosystems. The objective of this paper was to document and analyse current states, trajectories of changes and their major drivers of households in a highly populated...

In semi-arid cropping regions of West Africa, fallow periods are getting shorter. As land becomes more scarce, farmers are not able to give their soils enough time to rest. This is leading to depletion of soil organic matter, severely threatening soil fertility and damaging soil structure. In the worst cases, crops hardly yield anything anymore. Bu...

Aims: The main aim of the study was to assess the effects of organic manure on nitrogen mineralization, uptake, use and recovery of cauliflower. Methodology: Nitrogen is one of the major yield limiting nutrients in cauliflower production. However, organic manure is applied to supplement soil nitrogen supply to maximize dry-matter yield. A field exp...

In this project the host-pathogen system of potato (Solanum tuberosum) - late blight (Phytophthora infestans) was analysed as a model system to study management of crop-disease interactions. Resistant cultivars play an important role in sustainable management of the disease. We used an agent-based modelling approach to explore the use of resistant...

Animals may respond to habitat quality and habitat edges and these responses may affect their distribution between habitats. We studied the movement behaviour of a ground-dwelling generalist predator, the carabid beetle Pterostichus melanarius (Illiger). We performed a mark-recapture experiment in two adjacent habitats; a large plot with oilseed ra...

The number of terms used for historically unrepresented types of knowledge in environmental management is large and growing. The emphasis on these “new” perspectives reflects a shift in how society values different ways of knowing. A primary reason behind this recognition of value is that fresh perspectives offer new problem framings, approaches to...

In article the methodology of teaching of some ecological disciplines which provide ecological safety of the population is considered examined. In particular are resulted specificity and features of methods and forms of teaching of disciplines: «Ecology of water systems», «Ecology of the person», «Legal bases of ecology». In formation of ecological...

La sostenibilidad de la mayoría de los predios hortícolas familiares en el sur de Uruguay está amenazada por ingresosinsuficientes y por el deterioro de los recursos naturales. En este estudio se cuantificó el efecto de la inclusión de diferentesactividades de producción ganadera en la estructura y en los resultados económico-productivos y ambienta...

A complexidade e a velocidade das mudanças que ocorrem no ambiente rural demandam estratégias inovadoras de desenvolvimento. Neste trabalho abordo uma delas: a educação de jovens profissionais compreendidos como agentes de mudança para o meio rural. Em diversos lugares do mundo, estratégias de ensino têm englobado diferentes perspectivas de como os...

Department of Biology and Ecology is one of the eight departments of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Matthias Belius University in Banská Bystrica. It provides education in the accredited fields of study System Ecology and Teaching of Biology (in both bachelor and master study degrees) and Evolution of Ecosystems and their protection (in PhD study...

RESUMEN Se reexamina la hipótesis que plantea una función de potencia especial, la ley de Zipf, para describir la distribución del tamaño poblacional de las ciudades de Venezuela durante el período 1936-1990. Tal distribución implicaría procesos de crecimiento invariantes con la escala. La aplicación de una prueba estadística robusta sugiere que la...

Ecosystem health is deteriorating in many parts of the world due to direct and indirect anthropogenic pressures. Generating accurate, useful, and impactful models of past, current, and future states of ecosystem structure and function is a complex endeavor that often requires vast amounts of data from multiple sources and knowledge from collaborati...

O presente artigo tem por objetivo discutir fatores que impactam sobre o letramento no contexto do projeto Um Computador por Aluno (UCA). Realizamos um estudo de caso em uma turma de 1o ano do ensino fundamental, contemplada com o projeto UCA. Analisamos as práticas de letramento propostas pela professora e as práticas de letramento espontâneas a p...

K. Leempoel1,*, B. Satyanarayana1,2,3, C. Bourgeois¹, J. Zhang⁴, M. Chen⁴, J. Wang⁵, J. Bogaert⁶, and F. Dahdouh-Guebas1,2 ¹Laboratory of Systems Ecology and Resource Management, Département de Biologie des Organismes, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles-ULB, Avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt 50, CPI 264/1, 1050 Brussels, Belgium ²Labora...

This special issue of Environmental Science and Pollution Research highlights selected papers presented at the 8th Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS) European Chapter International Conference “Wetland Systems: Ecology, Functioning and Management”, which was held in Padova, Italy, from 1st to 4th September 2013, under the patronage of the Departmen...

Algal Turf Scrubbers (ATS) are water treatment devices that use light and nutrients in the (waste)water to grow periphyton community; undesirable chemicals are removed by physical, chemical and biological processes. So far, most ATS systems were operated in water bodies with relatively high nutrient concentrations. Little is known about the perform...

Background/Question/Methods Defining, understanding, and modeling regional environmental change are dependent on integrating many data sets collected across a region of interest. Local data sets are often collected by small academic labs that use inexpensive automated sensors to augment or supplant manual field measurements. These labs often stru...