Buzzing activity around pollinator health
Yesterday I cherished the start of spring in England by attending an event devoted to pollinators and pollination at the University of Reading. Most presentations at this meeting organised by the Royal Entomological Society were understandably about bees, but we also heard a few talks highlighting the importance of other pollinator groups. For about five…
Workshop on “Food Security: Infectious Diseases in Farm Animals” brings together animal and veterinary scientists from Egypt and the UK
St. Catherine’s College, Manor Road, Oxford, UK, 4-7th April 2016 Attended by M Djuric, CAB International, Wallingford, UK, on 5th April 2016 (Day 2) This workshop meeting was jointly organised by the Pirbright Institute, Woking, UK and Cairo University, Egypt and was sponsored by the British Council Research Links Programme. There were 50-60 delegates in attendance…
Tree–crop interactions: agroforestry in a changing climate
Twenty years after the first edition of the standard book on tree–crop interactions, edited by Peter Huxley and Chin Ong, we now have a second edition. The second edition has explicit attention to climate change, with chapters on microclimate effects and consequences for the various terms of the water balance. The primary strength of the…
Four new bee species described in Australia – many more remain unidentified
By Miroslav Djuric, DVM, CAB International, Wallingford, UK. Bee specialists from South Australia have described four new native bees. Three of these bee species have been described as having narrow faces and very long mouths, allowing them to feed on slender flowers found on the emu bush, a hardy native of the Australian desert environment,…
Five more bird species that can spread Lyme disease identified in USA
By Miroslav Djuric, DVM, CAB International, Wallingford, UK. Lyme disease or Lyme borreliosis is the most prevalent arthropod-borne disease of animals and humans in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere1. Risk of infection in humans is primarily associated with occupation (e.g. forestry work) or outdoor recreational activities. Recent surveys show that the overall prevalence…
COP21: Major climate deal agreed in Paris
A landmark agreement to limit global temperature rises to below 2 °C has been announced After two intensive weeks of debate the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) drew to a close on 12th December with a new climate deal on the table. The ambitious global agreement commits the 195 participating parties to hold…
Ambitious landscape restoration target may be within reach
In September 2011, at a high-level meeting of world leaders, the Bonn Challenge was launched, with an ambitious goal to restore 150 million hectares of the world’s degraded and deforested land by 2020. This target was recently supplemented by the New York Declaration on Forests, which added an further 200 million hectares to be restored…
Misshapen fruit and ugly veg….is it time that retailers relaxed cosmetic specifications?
Would you eat a carrot with three roots or an overly curved cucumber? The contribution of "ugly" fruit and vegetables to food wastage is not a new problem but one that has moved in and out of the spotlight for several years. A new BBC production "Hugh’s War on Waste", fronted…
Taking responsibility for wildlife – World Travel Market discusses tourism and animal welfare
Welfare and conservation aspects of wildlife tourism and attractions have been in the news lately, with a major study on conservation and welfare at wildlife attractions just published in PNAS, and another recent study suggesting that nature tourism may affect how predators and prey interact. Yesterday saw wildlife and national parks discussed in a seminar…
New report reveals the true cost of land degradation
Why we need to value our ecosystem services A recent report The Value of Land: Prosperous lands and positive rewards through sustainable land management published 15th September by the Economics of Land Degradation Initiative (ELD) estimates the value of ecosystem services lost worldwide due to land degradation at a staggering US $6.3 trillion to $10.6 trillion…