Search Results (46)

Brassica campestris L. var. toria, a major oilseed crop cultivated in India, is primarily an entomophilic species. Hymenopteran flower-visiting species provide important ecological services like pollination or pest control in Brassica crops. In this context, a study was conducted during 2015–2017 in three localities in Assam, a state in northeast India that falls under two global biodiversity hotspots—Indo–Burma and Himalayan—to bring data on the diversity of hymenopteran flower visitors of toria crops by using multiple sampling techniques and to compare the efficiency of these techniques. Altogether, nine sampling treatments were used. To assess the sampling effectiveness of the different treatments, the data from the two cropping periods of toria in each locality were analysed cumulatively and comparatively. Variable transect outperformed the other sampling methods with the highest number of hymenopteran flower visitor species recorded in toria crops at 54, representing 84.4% of the total number of species, and was followed by standard transect (34 species, 53.1%), elevated yellow trap (22 species, 34.4%), and observation plot (21 species, 32.8%). However, the importance of multiple sampling methods in this diversity study was noticed; one method alone could not sample all the species recorded. The cluster of traps and netting with transect walks was proven to be complementary and considered useful for future research studies in the upstream basin of the Burhidihing River of Assam, India. Full article

Objective: The aim of this work is to investigate the impact of exercise on gut microbiome composition, serum metabolites, and their correlation with osteoarthritis (OA) severity. Methods: Thirty-six Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into four groups: Sham rats without treadmill walking (Sham/Sed group, n = 9), Sham rats with treadmill walking 2 months (Sham/TW2M group, n = 9), PTOA rats without treadmill walking (PTOA/Sed group, n = 9), and PTOA rats with treadmill walking 2 months (PTOA/TW2M group, n = 9). The PTOA model was induced by transection of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACLT) and destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM). Histological evaluation and micro-CT analysis were performed to observe the pathological changes in cartilage and subchondral bone, respectively. Additionally, we conducted 16S rDNA sequencing of fecal samples and untargeted metabolomic analysis using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) of serum samples to detect the alteration of gut microbiota composition and metabolites. Results: Exercise effectively mitigated OA-related pathological changes, including articular cartilage degeneration and subchondral bone loss. Moreover, 16S rDNA sequencing analysis of gut microbiome revealed a decreased abundance of Bacteroidetes (p < 0.01), Bacteroidia (p < 0.01), Rikenellaceae (p < 0.01), [Paraprevotellaceae] (p < 0.01), and Paraprevotella (p < 0.01) but an increase in Firmicutes (p < 0.01) in PTOA/TW2M group rats compared with PTOA/Sed group as a response to exercise. In addition, the results of metabolomics analysis showed that exercise treatment contributed to the upregulation of Daidzein and Anthranilic acid and downregulation of 1-Palmitoyllysophosphatidylcholine. Moreover, the correlation analysis showed that Rikenellaceae significantly positively correlated with both OARSI (r = 0.81, p < 0.01) and Mankin score (r = 0.83, p < 0.01) and negatively correlated with the serum level of Anthranilic acid (r = −0.56, p < 0.01) and Daidzein (r = −0.46, p < 0.01). Conclusions: Exercise can effectively mitigate OA through slowing down articular cartilage degeneration and subchondral bone loss, modulating gut microbiota composition, and increasing beneficial metabolites. Full article

The decline of pollinators in agricultural environments poses a significant threat to pollination ecosystem services. Wildflower strips are proposed as a strategy to support pollinator populations and enhance their species richness and diversity. We investigated the efficacy of flowering plant mixture in maintaining aculeate pollinator diversity (wild bees, predatory wasps, and their kleptoparasites) within intensively managed agricultural environments where rapeseed is a common rotational crop. Over four years, pollinators were counted five times per season using 250 m transect walks. Our results demonstrated that the diversity and the evenness of species abundance distribution of aculeate pollinators were higher in the sown wildflower strips, whereas mean abundance per transect was greater in the remnants of semi-natural grassland. The low diversity and evenness within the aculeate pollinator assemblage of the semi-natural habitat were attributed to the dominance of the sweat bee Lasioglossum pauxillum, which thrived on mass-flowering rapeseed and concentrated in the flowering grassland fragments after the rapeseed harvest. We conclude that wildflower strips enriched with sown flowering plant mixtures effectively enhance pollinator diversity. Furthermore, both wildflower strips and preserved patches of unmanaged or minimally managed semi-natural grassland habitats can essentially contribute to maintaining pollination ecosystem services within intensive agricultural environments. Full article

Peripheral nerve injuries affect 13–23 per 100,000 people annually in the U.S. and often result in motor and sensory deficits. Microsurgical suture repair (SR) is the standard treatment but is technically challenging and associated with complications. Photochemical tissue bonding (PTB), which uses light and a photoactivated dye to bond collagenous tissues, offers a promising alternative. We compared PTB with commercially available collagen membranes for SR and PTB using cryopreserved human amnion (HAM) in a rat sciatic nerve transection model. In total, 75 Lewis rats underwent nerve repair with one of five methods: SR, PTB-HAM, PTB with commercial collagenous membranes (human amnion monolayer (AML), human amnion–chorion–amnion trilayer (ATL), or swine intestinal submucosa (SIS)). Functional recovery was assessed with walking tracks and the Static Sciatic Index (SSI) at days 30, 60, 90, and 120; histological evaluations at days 30 and 120 examined inflammation, axon density, and fascicle structure. No significant differences in SSI scores were found between groups, though PTB-AML and PTB-SIS improved over time. Histology showed inflammation at day 30 that decreased by day 120. Histomorphometry revealed similar axon regeneration across groups. These results suggest that PTB with commercial membranes is a viable alternative to SR. Full article

Hiking trails may act as hotspots at the wildlife–human interface, posing an acarological risk for people and their pets. Ticks that are maintained in the environment by wild animals may quest on people walking along the trails. Assessing the risk of tick bites for people involved in outdoor activities is a further step in mitigating the risk of tick-borne diseases. This work describes the variation of tick abundance along a gradient of distances from hiking trails, where wildlife passage is favored by higher accessibility. Hiking trails with dense vegetation on the sides were sampled for ticks along a 100 m dragging transect, located in a natural park in North-Western Italy. Additional transects were replicated at 1, 2 and 4 m away from the trail on both sides. After morphological identification, descriptive statistics and modeling were applied to determine the abundance patterns across distances. Larvae were most abundant near the trail, peaking at 1 m and dropping sharply at further distances. Nymphs showed a more gradual and consistent decrease at progressing distance from the trail. Few adults were collected, preventing the identification of a clear trend. With higher tick abundance, the immediate vicinity of hiking trails may represent a source of acarological risk for humans and pets. Full article

Understanding a community’s place attachment is vital for effective land-use planning and disaster risk management that aligns with local needs and priorities. This study examines the methodologies employed to grasp these values, emphasising the significance of meaningful participatory approaches. It sheds light on the challenges encountered due to COVID-19 restrictions, which prevented direct face-to-face engagement with community members. To address this issue, researchers devised “digital walking tours” as an alternative to traditional walking transect methods, aiming to investigate the relationship between place attachment and perceptions of the landscape in Patreksfjörður, a small fishing community in the Westfjords, during the pandemic. The evaluation of this method demonstrated its suitability for conducting comprehensive and cost-effective community consultations. Participants expressed enjoyment and found the technology (online video calls and StreetView imagery) user-friendly and engaging. To further enhance the method, several recommendations are proposed, including the integration of virtual tours with in-person methods whenever feasible, incorporating additional sensory input, adopting a slower pace, and offering more opportunities for participants to divert to personally significant locations. Other contextual considerations encompass the use of participants’ native language and the facilitation of digital walking tours with pairs or small groups of participants. Full article

The assessment and documentation of visual, auditory, and olfactory sensory experiences within urban environments is an emerging focus of research that has implications for the understanding of cultural heritage as well as community mental health. The common methodology to identify, describe, and document smells within environmental settings is smell walks, where individuals walk predefined transects, identifying and locating encountered odours and odour attributes (e.g., intensity, hedonic tone). As the locations of smell walks vary (e.g., indoor and outdoor markets, urban parks, etc.), localised environmental parameters such as airflow and temperature affect the dispersion and attenuation of the odours, influencing the results. This paper presents a rapid, systematic review of the factors that influence the attenuation of odours in the urban outdoor environment, in particular, in the context of outdoor markets. Although there is an abundance of literature on wind patterns in urban canyons discussing the influence of microtopography, this can only be applied cum grano salis to outdoor markets settings. Various avenues for future research are outlined. Full article

Indigenous Communities residing inside or next to autochthonal forests conserved them through governance frameworks that invoked traditional sacral law and reverence for their resource commons. More recently, however, the link between communities and forest conservation has been mired by dynamics of dispossession and displacement. Through a qualitative case study approach, using key informant interviews, transect walks, focus groups, and interviews, the researchers explore the conservation dynamics in Loita, in the South of Kenya, specifically looking at the sacred Enaimina Enkiyio forest. The study evaluated how the Loita community has challenged two state initiatives predicating conservation efforts and mobilised the sacred to conserve their resource commons. It combines a social-ecological approach with social innovation theory, spiritual geography, cultural studies and literature on indigenous knowledge systems, looking at, among others, sacred values attributed to places, nature–culture relationships, and value and belief systems and rituals. The findings point to the embeddedness of the forest resource in the way of life of the Loita Maasai and the appropriation of the ritual/sacred element as a framework to negotiate and mediate access, use, and conservation outcomes. The Loita community is grappling with and responding to the pressures exerted by various forces on the Loita Enaimina Enkiyio in socially innovative ways, as exemplified in the conservation efforts by the Ilkimpa Community Conservation Association (ICCA). It leverages aspects of the sacred in negotiating its claims over the Enaimina Enkiyio forest, showing that community-driven initiatives present alternative approaches capable of maintaining the connection between communities and their resource commons by integrating the sacred in this connection. Full article

Most of the approximately 105 million Egyptians depend on wheat in the form of baladi bread for their daily diet. Millions of smallholders along the River Nile have produced wheat for millennia; however, in more recent history, the wheat demand and supply ratio has dramatically changed. The first wheat imports in Egyptian history were in 1966. Today, domestic production meets only half of the wheat consumption, and Egypt has become the largest wheat importer in the world. Before the Russia–Ukraine war, 85% of the wheat imports to Egypt came from Russia and Ukraine. The war and the associated disruption of the wheat supply chains has put Egypt on the top list of so-called “developing countries highly threatened by food crises”. Against this backdrop, we analyzed decision-making factors and perceptions of wheat-producing smallholders in the Nile River Delta, the wheat basket of Egypt. The study draws on nine months of empirical fieldwork in the Nile River Delta. We employed a mixed approach to data collection, combining interviews and focus group discussions with smallholders, experts, and agriculture extension agents with transect walks and field observations. In total, 246 randomly selected wheat-growing smallholders were interviewed in four divisions in the Nile River Delta. Our findings show that the production of wheat by smallholders is highly influenced by system-immanent factors, such as subsistence need for home consumption and the presence and intensity of animal husbandry, as well as by external factors, such as the domestic prices for wheat determined by the government in each season and the time of the declaration of these prices. These factors affect smallholders’ decisions to increase or decrease their wheat cultivation area. However, the study also showed that the factors influencing farmers’ decisions to grow wheat or implement innovative practices vary across different areas within the same region. Smallholders struggle with poor access to fundamental production factors and are discontented with the low provision of extension and support services as well as poor market structures. These constraints act as disincentives for smallholders to produce (more) wheat. They need to be addressed and eliminated to increase domestic production and to reduce Egypt’s dependency on expensive and unreliable wheat imports. Full article

Agricultural expansion has had a detrimental effect on tropical forests and the animal communities that depend on them. Agroforestry systems, however, with their more complex tree and plant communities, have been shown to be important habitats for a range of globally threatened species, including nocturnal animals. Here, we present novel data on the encounter rates of seven species of nocturnal mammals in relation to agroforestry systems within four national parks and associated plantations in Bangladesh to examine if encounter rates were influenced by the human population density, presence of plantations, and human access as represented by a Human Influence Index of anthropogenic disturbance. We walked 70.3 km of transects with only semi-natural forest, 26.9 km of transects with semi-natural forest and gardens, and 21.7 km of transects with semi-natural forest and monocultures over 55 nights from 2017–2019. Of the seven species of nocturnal mammals we detected, all were present in Satachari National Park, whereas six occurred in Lawachara National Park, Rajkandi Forest Range, and Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary. Within these national parks, three species (Bengal slow loris, large Indian civet, particolored flying squirrel) were more frequently recorded in areas with human disturbance, especially agroforestry plantations. With declining forest cover in Bangladesh, we highlight here the potential of agroforestry systems as emerging important habitats for these species. We encourage long-term studies of these lesser-studied taxa to understand fully the capacity of agroforestry systems in order to support their long-term conservation. Full article

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is experiencing an increase in food insecurity, which is fueled by both high population growth and low agricultural productivity. Smallholder farmers are seriously affected by low soil fertility, land degradation, and poor agronomic management practices that reduce crop productivity. Therefore, there is a huge need for reliable soil information to support agricultural decision-making in smallholder farms to ensure sustainable agricultural production. However, most studies focused on land capability and soil suitability do not consider the spatial variability of soils and their inherent properties. The main objectives of this study were (1) to survey, classify and characterise soils at Makuleke farm in order to derive and map the land capability classes and (2) to quantify the physical and chemical properties of the soils in order to derive and map the suitability classes. A field survey and classification of soils led by transect walks complemented by auger holes revealed existential spatial variation of soils across the 12 ha banana plantation. The dominating soil forms in the plantation were Hutton, Westleigh, Glenrosa and Valsrivier. Land capability analysis revealed that 17% of the 12 ha portion of the farm had very high arable potential, while 60% had medium arable potential, 6% of the farm had low arable potential and 17% was considered non-arable. Subsequent soil suitability analysis revealed that 12% of the farm is highly suitable, 34% is moderately suitable, 38% is marginally suitable and 16% is permanently not suitable for banana production. The variable capability of the land and suitability of soils for banana production led to notable yield gaps. The in-depth description and quantification of the productive capacity of the land is pivotal to the farmers at Makuleke farm as it unlocks their true potential and such information is crucial to effectively manage the soil and utilize the land for sustainable banana production. Full article

A mixed-methods approach is used to understand the human factors defining cultural heritage in two informal settlements in Islamabad, Pakistan, namely France Colony and Mehr Abadi. The methodology applied is based on spatial investigation within a placemaking framework to create a visual representation of the neighborhoods, and grounded theory to explore the experiences and memories of their inhabitants through verbal communication. A combination of techniques, including transect walks, photography, and on-site interviews, allows us to map the tangible and intangible elements of the informal settlements. Cultural characteristics are identified as essential in the spatio-cultural processes occurring in the informal settlements. The study concludes that cultural dilapidation happens because of obstructions in the processes translating intangible heritage into tangible space. Appropriate policy interventions are suggested to minimize the loss of rural heritage transfer to informal settlements within the urban fabric of Islamabad. Full article

Background: Plasmodium knowlesi malaria is a zoonotic infection that affects rural communities in South East Asia. Although the epidemiology of the disease has been extensively researched, the voices of individuals within affected communities often go unheard. Here, we describe a study that explores the importance of gatekeepers in conducting research among rural communities, their perspectives on the challenges encountered when attempting to avoid malaria infection, and their views on participatory research. Methods: Between 1 November 2021 and 28 February 2022, we conducted a study in Kudat district, Sabah, using a multi-method design. All participants consented to the study, which included health care workers (HCWs) (n = 5), community leaders (n = 8), and faith leaders (n = 1). We conducted interviews, transect walks, and observations with gatekeepers to ensure data trustworthiness. All interviews were conducted in the Sabah Malay dialect. The sessions were audio- and video-recorded, transcribed into English and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Between 2017 and 2021, the number of cases of P. knowlesi malaria detected in humans ranged from 35 to 87 in villages under the care of the Lotong primary health care clinic. The challenges in controlling malaria include social norms, lifestyles, socioeconomic factors, environmental factors, and limitations of basic resources. Critical discussions regarding participation with the gatekeepers identified that face-to-face interviews were preferable to online discussions, and influenced willingness to participate in future research. Conclusion: This study was conducted among village gatekeepers during the COVID-19 pandemic and generated information to drive methodological changes, opening up new ideas by sharing perspectives on challenges in P. knowlesi malaria control among vulnerable communities. The study generated trust in the community and expanded knowledge regarding participation that is critical for future community-based studies. Full article

After spinal cord transection (SCT) the interaction between motoneurons (MNs) and muscle is impaired, due to reorganization of the spinal network after a loss of supraspinal inputs. Rats subjected to SCT, treated with intraspinal injection of a AAV-BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) construct, partially regained the ability to walk. The central effects of this treatment have been identified, but its impact at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) has not been characterized. Here, we compared the ability of NMJ pre- and postsynaptic machinery in the ankle extensor (Sol) and flexor (TA) muscles to respond to intraspinal AAV-BDNF after SCT. The gene expression of cholinergic molecules (VAChT, ChAT, AChE, nAChR, mAChR) was investigated in tracer-identified, microdissected MN perikarya, and in muscle fibers with the use of qPCR. In the NMJs, a distribution of VAChT, nAChR and Schwann cells was studied by immunofluorescence, and of synaptic vesicles and membrane active zones by electron microscopy. We showed partial protection of the Sol NMJs from disintegration, and upregulation of the VAChT and AChE transcripts in the Sol, but not the TA MNs after spinal enrichment with BDNF. We propose that the observed discrepancy in response to BDNF treatment is an effect of difference in the TrkB expression setting BDNF responsiveness, and of BDNF demands in Sol and TA muscles. Full article

Supporting biodiversity in agricultural landscapes is key from both a conservation and ecosystem services perspective. Planting flower margins along crop field edges is one of the most established approaches to try and improve habitat and resources for insect pollinators on farms. Whilst there is growing evidence that these margins can result in increased pollinator abundance and diversity on farms in the short-term, there is little data looking at how these margins perform over longer periods. This study looked at the utilization of pollinator-friendly margins over time in an agricultural landscape in Hungary. ‘Operation Pollinator’ seed mixes with 12 species, were used at 96 farms in Hungary from 2010 to 2018. Insect pollinators were recorded on the sown flower margins and control margins (with naturally occurring vegetation) using walked transects. Repeated sampling of the margins was done over several years so that data was collected on margins from 0 (planted that season) to 7 years old. The abundance of pollinators in the Operation Pollinator flower margins was greater than in control margins for all groups recorded (honey bees, bumble bees, mining bees, trap-nesting bees, hoverflies and Lepidoptera). The biggest relative increase in abundance was in honey bees (768% increase in average abundance in the flower margin compared to the control across all observations), with mining (566%) and bumble bees (414%) showing the next largest increases. The abundance of bumble bees, trap-nesting bees and Lepidoptera in the margins did not vary with the age of the margin. Honey bees, mining bees and hoverflies all decreased in abundance with increasing margin age, as did flower abundance. The results suggest that for some pollinator groups, regardless of age, flower margins provide important resources in the agricultural landscape. However, this is not universally true and for certain pollinator groups, some re-sowing of the margins may be needed to sustain longer-term benefits. Full article