Local tree knowledge can fast-track agroforestry recommendations for coffee smallholders along a climate gradient in Mount Elgon, Uganda

Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) is economically important for many smallholder farmers in the Mount Elgon region of East Uganda, but its production is increasingly threatened by climate change. However, ecosystem services (ES) provided by companion trees in coffee agroforestry systems (AFS) can help farmers adapt to climate change. The objectives of this research were to develop agroforestry species recommendations and tailor these to the farmers' needs and local context, taking into consideration gender. Local knowledge of agroforestry species and ES preferences was collected through farmer interviews and rankings. Using the Bradley-Terry approach, analysis was done along an altitudinal gradient in order to study different climate change scenarios for coffee suitability. Farmers had different needs in terms of ES and tree species at different altitudes, e.g. at low altitude they need a relatively larger set of ES to sustain their coffee production and livelihood. Local knowledge is found to be gender blind as no differences were observed in the rankings of species and ES by men and women. Ranking species by ES and ranking ES by preference is a useful method to help scientists and extension agents to use local knowledge for the development of recommendations on companion trees in AFS for smallholder farmers. (Résumé d'auteur

The Shade Tree Advice Tool

Key messages: Climate change adaptation for coffee and cocoa farming requires low cost and multipurpose solutions, such as shade trees. Selecting appropriate shade trees is paramount for maximizing tree-based ecosystem services while minimizing disservices. The shade tree advice tool presented here guides coffee and cocoa farmers on choosing shade trees whose ecosystem services will best meet their needs, based on fellow coffee farmers' local knowledge in their region

TURNING LOCAL KNOWLEDGE ON AGROFORESTRY INTO AN ONLINE DECISION-SUPPORT TOOL FOR TREE SELECTION IN SMALLHOLDERS’ FARMS

SUMMARYThis paper presents the main features of a unique decision-support tool developed for selecting tree species in coffee and cocoa agroforestry systems. This tool aims at assisting in the selection of appropriate shade trees taking into account local conditions as well as needs and preferences of smallholder farmers while maximizing ecosystem services from plot to landscape level. This user-friendly and practical tool provides site-specific recommendations on tree species selection via simple graphical displays and is targeted towards extension services and stakeholders directly involved in sustainable agroforestry and adaptation to climate change. The tool is based on a simple protocol to collect local agroforestry knowledge through farmers’ interviews and rankings of tree species with respect to locally perceived key ecosystem services. The data collected are first analysed using the BradleyTerry2 package in R, yielding the ranking scores that are used in the decision-support tool. Originally developed for coffee and cocoa systems of Uganda and Ghana, this tool can be extended to other producing regions of the world as well as to other cropping systems. The tool will be tested to see if repeated assessments show consistent ranking scores, and to see if the use of the tool by extension workers improves their shade tree advice to local farmers.</jats:p

Turning local knowledge on agroforestry into an online decision-support tool for tree selection in smallholders' farms

This paper presents the main features of a unique decision-support tool developed for selecting tree species in coffee and cocoa agroforestry systems. This tool aims at assisting in the selection of appropriate shade trees taking into account local conditions as well as needs and preferences of smallholder farmers while maximizing ecosystem services from plot to landscape level. This user-friendly and practical tool provides site-specific recommendations on tree species selection via simple graphical displays and is targeted towards extension services and stakeholders directly involved in sustainable agroforestry and adaptation to climate change. The tool is based on a simple protocol to collect local agroforestry knowledge through farmers' interviews and rankings of tree species with respect to locally perceived key ecosystem services. The data collected are first analysed using the BradleyTerry2 package in R, yielding the ranking scores that are used in the decision-support tool. Originally developed for coffee and cocoa systems of Uganda and Ghana, this tool can be extended to other producing regions of the world as well as to other cropping systems. The tool will be tested to see if repeated assessments show consistent ranking scores, and to see if the use of the tool by extension workers improves their shade tree advice to local farmers

The shade tree advice tool

Key messages: Climate change adaptation for coffee and cocoa farming requires low cost and multipurpose solutions, such as shade trees. Selecting appropriate shade trees is paramount for maximizing tree-based ecosystem services while minimizing disservices. The shade tree advice tool presented here guides coffee and cocoa farmers on choosing shade trees whose ecosystem services will best meet their needs, based on fellow coffee farmers' local knowledge in their region

Efficiency of mineral and organic fertilizers across two continents

To mitigate climate change, greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector need to decrease. In this light, increasing agronomic use efficiency of nitrogen (N) application (i.e., additional grain yield per kg of N applied) is a promising avenue to attain similar yields with less inputs in regions such as Europe (with high N inputs). In contrast, on the African continent, N inputs need to increase to raise yields, which may contribute to improved food security and prevent land use change. In such case, increasing agronomic N use efficiency (N-AE) and simultaneously increasing N inputs can also be a mitigation strategy by decreasing losses to the environment and improving profitability. In both contexts, it is relevant to understand how much N-AE can be increased in a certain location, compared to the current status, and which N source (organic and/or mineral fertilizer) will be most efficient. In this working paper we present ongoing work on N benchmarking from the crop nutrient gap project (full name: Bringing Climate Smart Agriculture practices to scale: assessing their contributions to narrow nutrient and yield gaps). First, we compare current observed N-AE to the values they could potentially reach under optimal agronomic management. For this, we propose a new benchmarking method based on recent insights on the shape of N response curves and introduce the related ‘degree of good agronomy’. Second, we compare the performance of mineral versus organic fertilizers for cereal cultivation on two continents (Europe and sub-Saharan Africa) based on large number of field experiments. Finally, we assess whether and how N-AE of mineral N fertilizer can be improved when combined with organic amendments. Preliminary findings show that the proposed benchmarking method can work but relies on availability of data on soil N supply, potential yield and attainable yields. Currently, this information is sparsely available which might be a barrier for uptake of the method. We show that N supplied by mineral fertilizers is taken up more efficiently than from organic sources, with variation depending on the type of organic amendment. Variation was larger for sites in Africa than Europe, which makes targeted fertilizer strategies less straightforward. Based on European experimental data, we show that organic amendments do not increase the N-AE of mineral fertilizer N application, most likely due to the increased total N availability. In future research, we hope to improve the data requirements for the proposed benchmarking method, assess drivers of variation for nitrogen fertilizer replacement values of organic amendments and disentangle effects of organic amendments on the efficiency of mineral fertilizer N use, while extending our analysis to tropical regions

Serologic markers of Chlamydia trachomatis and other sexually transmitted infections and subsequent ovarian cancer risk: Results from the EPIC cohort

A substantial proportion of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) arises in the fallopian tube and other epithelia of the upper genital tract; these epithelia may incur damage and neoplastic transformation after sexually transmitted infections (STI) and pelvic inflammatory disease. We investigated the hypothesis that past STI infection, particularly Chlamydia trachomatis, is associated with higher EOC risk in a nested case-control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort including 791 cases and 1669 matched controls. Serum antibodies against C. trachomatis, Mycoplasma genitalium, herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) and human papillomavirus (HPV) 16, 18 and 45 were assessed using multiplex fluorescent bead-based serology. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) comparing women with positive vs. negative serology. A total of 40% of the study population was seropositive to at least one STI. Positive serology to C. trachomatis Pgp3 antibodies was not associated with EOC risk overall, but with higher risk of the mucinous histotype (RR = 2.30 [95% CI = 1.22-4.32]). Positive serology for chlamydia heat shock protein 60 (cHSP60-1) was associated with higher risk of EOC overall (1.36 [1.13-1.64]) and with the serous subtype (1.44 [1.12-1.85]). None of the other evaluated STIs were associated with EOC risk overall; however, HSV-2 was associated with higher risk of endometrioid EOC (2.35 [1.24-4.43]). The findings of our study suggest a potential role of C. trachomatis in the carcinogenesis of serous and mucinous EOC, while HSV-2 might promote the development of endometrioid disease

Universities in the face of the climate and nature crises: Redoubling our commitment to a sustainable future. The Guild Insight Paper No. 6

Through this paper, written at a time of growing popular disquiet about the role of science and the societal contribution of universities, The Guild urges European policymakers to keep their focus on the Green Deal’s objectives. Precisely at a time when policymakers prioritise Europe’s security and its preparedness for future shocks, it is essential that policymakers recognise the holistic support Europe’s universities can provide to support these endeavours, and align them with the urgent need to address the climate and nature crises. As universities, we also recognise the need to maximise our own contribution to addressing the climate and nature crises in a holistic way. By seeking to further stimulate a wider debate in Europe’s higher education sector, not least through the provision of best-case examples from our members, the Guild urges the university sector to redouble its efforts to strengthen its contributions to addressing the climate and nature crises, supporting the sustainable and just transition of Europe and its constituent nations and regions

Transport-theoretical Description of Nuclear Reactions

In this review we first outline the basics of transport theory and its recent generalization to off-shell transport. We then present in some detail the main ingredients of any transport method using in particular the Giessen Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (GiBUU) implementation of this theory as an example. We discuss the potentials used, the ground state initialization and the collision term, including the in-medium modifications of the latter. The central part of this review covers applications of GiBUU to a wide class of reactions, starting from pion-induced reactions over proton and antiproton reactions on nuclei to heavy-ion collisions (up to about 30 AGeV). A major part concerns also the description of photon-, electron- and neutrino-induced reactions (in the energy range from a few 100 MeV to a few 100 GeV). For this wide class of reactions GiBUU gives an excellent description with the same physics input and the same code being used. We argue that GiBUU is an indispensable tool for any investigation of nuclear reactions in which final-state interactions play a role. Studies of pion-nucleus interactions, nuclear fragmentation, heavy ion reactions, hyper nucleus formation, hadronization, color transparency, electron-nucleus collisions and neutrino-nucleus interactions are all possible applications of GiBUU and are discussed in this article.Comment: 173 pages, review article. v2: Text-rearrangements in sects. 2 and 3 (as accepted for publication in Physics Reports

Serologic markers of Chlamydia trachomatis and other sexually transmitted infections and subsequent ovarian cancer risk: Results from the EPIC cohort

A substantial proportion of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) arises in the fallopian tube and other epithelia of the upper genital tract; these epithelia may incur damage and neoplastic transformation after sexually transmitted infections (STI) and pelvic inflammatory disease. We investigated the hypothesis that past STI infection, particularly Chlamydia trachomatis, is associated with higher EOC risk in a nested case-control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort including 791 cases and 1669 matched controls. Serum antibodies against C. trachomatis, Mycoplasma genitalium, herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) and human papillomavirus (HPV) 16, 18 and 45 were assessed using multiplex fluorescent bead-based serology. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) comparing women with positive vs. negative serology. A total of 40% of the study population was seropositive to at least one STI. Positive serology to C. trachomatis Pgp3 antibodies was not associated with EOC risk overall, but with higher risk of the mucinous histotype (RR = 2.30 [95% CI = 1.22-4.32]). Positive serology for chlamydia heat shock protein 60 (cHSP60-1) was associated with higher risk of EOC overall (1.36 [1.13-1.64]) and with the serous subtype (1.44 [1.12-1.85]). None of the other evaluated STIs were associated with EOC risk overall; however, HSV-2 was associated with higher risk of endometrioid EOC (2.35 [1.24-4.43]). The findings of our study suggest a potential role of C. trachomatis in the carcinogenesis of serous and mucinous EOC, while HSV-2 might promote the development of endometrioid disease