Climate Change, Carbon Dioxide, and Pest Biology, Managing the Future: Coffee as a Case Study

Simulated climate change and atrazine contamination can synergistically impair zebrafish testicular function

Elements that interfere with reproductive processes can have profound impacts on population and the equilibrium of ecosystems. Global warming represents the major environmental challenge of the 21st century, as it will affect all forms of life in the coming decades. Another coexisting concern is the persistent pollution by pesticides, particularly the herbicide Atrazine (ATZ), which is responsible for a significant number of contamination incidents in surface waters worldwide. While it is hypothesized that climate changes will significantly enhance the toxic effects of pesticides, the actual impact of these phenomena remain largely unexplored. Here, we conducted a climate-controlled room experiment to assess the interactive effects of the projected 2100 climate scenario and environmentally realistic ATZ exposures on the reproductive function of male zebrafish. The gonadosomatic index significantly decreased in fish kept in the extreme scenario. Cellular alterations across spermatogenesis phases led to synergic decreased sperm production and increased germ cell sloughing and death. ATZ exposure alone or combined with climate change effects, disrupted the transcription levels of key genes involved in steroidogenesis, hormone signaling and spermatogenesis regulation. An additive modulation with decreased 11-KT production and increased E2 levels was also evidenced, intensifying the effects of androgen/estrogen imbalance. Moreover, climate change and ATZ independently induced oxidative stress, upregulation of proapoptotic gene and DNA damage in post-meiotic germ cell, but the negative effects of ATZ were greater at extreme scenario. Ultimately, exposure to simulated climate changes severely impaired fertilization capacity, due to a drastic reduction in sperm motility and/or viability. These findings indicate that the future climate conditions have the potential to considerably enhance the toxicity of ATZ at low concentrations, leading to significant deleterious consequences for fish reproductive function and fertility. These may provide relevant information to supporting healthcare and environmental managers in decision-making related to climate changes and herbicide regulation.

An optical system to detect, surveil, and kill flying insect vectors of human and crop pathogens

Sustainable and effective means to control flying insect vectors are critically needed, especially with widespread insecticide resistance and global climate change. Understanding and controlling vectors requires accurate information about their movement and activity, which is often lacking. The Photonic Fence (PF) is an optical system that uses machine vision, infrared light, and lasers to identify, track, and interdict vectors in flight. The PF examines an insect's outline, flight speed, and other flight parameters and if these match those of a targeted vector species, then a low-power, retina-safe laser kills it. We report on proof-of-concept tests of a large, field-sized PF (30 mL × 3 mH) conducted with Aedes aegypti, a mosquito that transmits dangerous arboviruses, and Diaphorina citri, a psyllid which transmits the fatal huanglongbing disease of citrus. In tests with the laser engaged, < 1% and 3% of A. aegypti and D. citri, respectfully, were recovered versus a 38% and 19% recovery when the lacer was silenced. The PF tracked, but did not intercept the orchid bee, Euglossa dilemma. The system effectively intercepted flying vectors, but not bees, at a distance of 30 m, heralding the use of photonic energy, rather than chemicals, to control flying vectors.

Unraveling the multifaceted effects of climatic factors on mountain pine beetle and its interaction with fungal symbionts

Mountain pine beetles (MPBs) pose a substantial threat to North American pine forests, causing extensive tree mortality over large areas. Their tree-killing ability is closely linked to mass aggregation on host trees triggered via pheromones and dependence on their symbiotic fungi. However, the influence of a changing climate on the biology of MPBs and their co-evolved interactions with their fungal symbionts remains uncertain. To investigate this, male and female pairs of beetles were introduced into freshly cut logs from lodgepole pine trees and placed in controlled climate chambers with manipulated environmental conditions, including two levels of CO2 (ambient vs. 1000 ppm), O3 (ambient vs. 100 ppb) and humidity (33% vs. 65%). The beetle-infested logs were left in these chambers for 1 month and then returned to ambient conditions until brood emergence. Emerging broods were collected for further analysis. Additionally, three species of fungal symbionts (Grosmannia clavigera, Ophiostoma montium and Leptographium longiclavatum) were subjected to the same CO2 , O3 and humidity conditions for 5 days. Lower humidity promoted MPB reproduction and fungal growth. Elevated CO2 accelerated larval growth and emergence while improving brood pheromone production. Elevated O3 had a negative impact on MPB reproduction and brood fitness while improving its immune responses to an entomopathogenic fungus (Beauveria bassiana). It also inhibited fungal growth and reproduction, whereas elevated CO2 had varied (positive or negative) effects on fungal growth and ergosterol (proxy to fungal mass) production depending on the fungal species. Together, these findings suggest that climate change can potentially alter the interactions between MPBs and their fungal symbionts, highlighting the importance of understanding how climate change affects forest pests and their symbiotic relationships to develop effective management strategies in the future.

Climate Change-The Rise of Climate-Resilient Crops

Climate change disrupts food production in many regions of the world. The accompanying extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, heat waves, and cold snaps, pose threats to crops. The concentration of carbon dioxide also increases in the atmosphere. The United Nations is implementing the climate-smart agriculture initiative to ensure food security. An element of this project involves the breeding of climate-resilient crops or plant cultivars with enhanced resistance to unfavorable environmental conditions. Modern agriculture, which is currently homogeneous, needs to diversify the species and cultivars of cultivated plants. Plant breeding programs should extensively incorporate new molecular technologies, supported by the development of field phenotyping techniques. Breeders should closely cooperate with scientists from various fields of science.

From the classroom to the farm: a lesson plan that promotes smallholder farmers' education and training about plant pathology in the context of climate change

Climate change represents one of the biggest threats to agricultural productivity around the world. In the tropics, extreme climate and pest and disease outbreaks represent one of the biggest climate change threats to smallholder farmers. Understanding smallholder farmers' educational needs and increasing access to information and awareness of climate change through education and training are key first steps to enhance the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers. In a primary effort to increase accessible training and education to these communities, we developed a plant pathology lesson plan. The lesson plan introduces basic concepts in plant pathology and disease management using diverse educational activities focused on experiential and collaborative learning. This lesson plan may have implications in enhancing farmers' adaptive capacity and increasing accessible education to underrepresented farming communities around the world.

Effects of environmental protection policies on fragile areas of a watershed occupied by agriculture in the Brazilian Cerrado

Brazil has become an antagonist in natural resource conservation policies in recent years. The Brazilian Cerrado is one of the biomes most affected by this setback due to the occupation of areas of economic interest in agriculture. Interestingly, there are projects throughout the biome that aim to encourage the preservation of natural resources, but there is uncertainty about whether these incentives have provided conservation. That is the case of the Feio River hydrographic basin, located in the Cerrado, near the city of Patrocínio, state of Minas Gerais. Indeed, the Feio River watershed has projects incentivizing the Cerrado's conservation. Thus, in this article, we aimed to explain how the advance of agriculture in fragile areas of the Feio river watershed occurs, their causes and whether protection strategies have produced satisfactory results. We used an old Environmental Fragility proposal methodwith our contributions to estimate the variations regarding nature conservation in the basin. Our findings show considerable heterogeneity in the potential fragility of the Feio's river basin. We observe that less fragile sites are used for coffee cultivation (74 and 72% of the two places), while more fragile sites are occupied by reserves (around 50% of the area) and high-impact activities such as traditional monoculture and cattle ranching (25 and 44% for the two sites). Temporally, we observed little change in use and occupation, with a slight increase in no-till farming to replace coffee and conventional cultivation. The permanent preservation areas in the basin have improved vegetation quality, while the reserve areas composed of fields show a degradation process. Considering the importance of the Feio's river basin, different incentives and inspection strategies are needed to guarantee the site's preservation and environmental restoration.

The effect of climate change on invasive crop pests across biomes

Climate change has various and complex effects on crop pests worldwide. In this review, we detail the role of the main climatic parameters related to temperature and precipitation changes that might have direct or indirect impacts on pest species. Changes in these parameters are likely to favour or to limit pest species, depending on their ecological context. On a global scale, crop pests are expected to benefit from current and future climate change. However, substantial differences appear across biomes and species. Temperate regions are generally more likely to face an increase in pest attacks compared with tropical regions. Therefore, climate change effects should be studied in the context of local climate and local ecological interactions across biomes.

Development of a preliminary environmental risk assessment system by using text mining for introducing alien crops

Changes in worldwide crop trends and climate change has increased the introduction of alien crops. However, there are always potential side effect issues related to introduced crops, such as the introduced crop becoming a nuisance at the new country or bringing insect pests or microorganisms with the introduced crops. In this study, we developed a crop introduction risk assessment system using text mining method to prevent this problem. First, we designed the "Preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment Index for Alien Crops" based on ecological researches to assess the risks of introduced crops to the natural environment. The questionaries evaluate the target alien crop with previous cases reporting the target crops' adverse effects on the environment, the potential of target crops' direct or indirect damage on the environment. The index has sixteen questions with allocated scores that are divided into 4 categories. The detailed rationales of the questionaries and the assessment index are discussed in main text. Second, we assessed 67 crop species that were introduced or scheduled to be introduced to South Korea with this Preliminary Assessment Index. The literature and data were collected with JabRef, search engines, and from the documents of six international institutions. Finally, based on the preliminary assessment results of selected species, we developed the protocols and a manual for the preliminary environmental risk assessment of introduced species. Final evaluation scores for risk evaluation for introducing crops are suggested (over 70 total score for 'danger' and over 50 points for 'caution required', and under 50 points for 'low expected impact'). Presented crop introduction risk assessment system is effective to identify potential problem making crop species. The protocols and a manual that we provide in this study could be applied to other countries which have similar climate and environmental conditions, or after being adequately modified to their environmental factors such as climate, neighboring countries, major crops according to eating habits, and major vegetation.

Crop Adaptation: Weedy and Crop Wild Relatives as an Untapped Resource to Utilize Recent Increases in Atmospheric CO2

Adaptation measures are necessary to ensure the stability and performance of the food supply relative to anthropogenic climate change. Although a wide range of measures have been proposed (e.g., planting dates, crop choices, drought resistance), there may be a ubiquitous means to increase productivity relatively quickly. Numerous studies have shown that the projected increase in atmospheric CO₂ can stimulate crop growth and seed yield with noted intra-specific differences within crop cultivars, suggesting potential differences to CO₂ that could be exploited to enhance seed yield in the future. However, it is worth emphasizing that atmospheric CO₂ has already risen substantially (≈27% since 1970) and that, at present, no active effort by breeders has been made to select for the CO₂ increase that has already occurred. In contrast, for weedy or crop wild relatives (CWR), there are indications of evolutionary adaptation to these recent increases. While additional steps are needed, the identification and introgression of these CO₂-sensitive traits into modern crop cultivars may be a simple and direct means to increase crop growth and seed yield.

Shade trees preserve avian insectivore biodiversity on coffee farms in a warming climate

AIM

Coffee is an important export for many developing countries, with a global annual trade value of $100 billion, but it is threatened by a warming climate. Shade trees may mitigate the effects of climate change through temperature regulation that can aid in coffee growth, slow pest reproduction, and sustain avian insectivore diversity. The impact of shade on bird diversity and microclimate on coffee farms has been studied extensively in the Neotropics, but there is a dearth of research in the Paleotropics.

LOCATION

East Africa.

METHODS

We created current and future regional Maxent models for avian insectivores in East Africa using Worldclim temperature data and observations from the Global Biodiversity Information Database. We then adjusted current and future bioclimatic layers based on mean differences in temperature between shade and sun coffee farms and projected the models using these adjusted layers to predict the impact of shade tree removal on climatic suitability for avian insectivores.

RESULTS

Existing Worldclim temperature layers more closely matched temperatures under shade trees than temperatures in the open. Removal of shade trees, through warmer temperatures alone, would result in reduction of avian insectivore species by over 25%, a loss equivalent to 50 years of climate change under the most optimistic emissions scenario. Under the most extreme climate scenario and removal of shade trees, insectivore richness is projected to decline from a mean of 38 to fewer than 8 avian insectivore species.

MAIN CONCLUSIONS

We found that shade trees on coffee farms already provide important cooler microclimates for avian insectivores. Future temperatures will become a regionally limiting factor for bird distribution in East Africa, which could negatively impact control of coffee pests, but the effect of climate change can be potentially mediated through planting and maintaining shade trees on coffee farms.

Global Climate Change and Pollen Aeroallergens: A Southern Hemisphere Perspective

Climatic change will have an impact on production and release of pollen, with consequences for the duration and magnitude of aeroallergen seasonal exposure and allergic diseases. Evaluations of pollen aerobiology in the southern hemisphere have been limited by resourcing and the density of monitoring sites. This review emphasizes inconsistencies in pollen monitoring methods and metrics used globally. Research should consider unique southern hemisphere biodiversity, climate, plant distributions, standardization of pollen aerobiology, automation, and environmental integration. For both hemispheres, there is a clear need for better understanding of likely influences of climate change and comprehending their impact on pollen-related health outcomes.

Roadmapping as a Driver for Knowledge Creation: A Proposal for Improving Sustainable Practices in the Coffee Supply Chain from Chiapas, Mexico, Using Emerging Technologies

Technologies are essential for productive sectors to increase competitiveness and improve sustainable development. However, the technology benefits present a great delay in adoption in agricultural sectors, due to discrepancies between scientific research and local needs. This article presents a study for improving sustainability practices in the coffee supply chain, using emerging technologies, of two localities in the Frailesca region from Chiapas, Mexico, based on the current situation, expectations and actions expressed by 165 coffee producers and 12 representatives of two coffee producers’ organizations. Based on Mentzer theoretical support, the technology roadmaps, knowledge management and digital compass were used to draw coffee supply chain processes to identify concrete actions and explore technologies. The results show that the technological route must be focused on renewing and improving coffee quality, getting quality certifications and access to specialized markets. Digital quality management and advanced statistical process control seem to be the appropriate emerging technologies for enhancing the acquisition of resistant varieties, proper pest management, improvement in the collection of coffee beans, the right time and way to plant a coffee plant, soil analysis and for the management of weeds and water conservation and harvesting as sustainable practices in this region. In addition, statistical correlation showed that digital technologies can be better adopted, on average, by producers with 4–6 family members, aged between 40–44 years and without additional crops. The findings propose sustainable practices linked with emerging technologies, based on a technology roadmap and knowledge management methodologies for this region.

Early growth phase and caffeine content response to recent and projected increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide in coffee (Coffea arabica and C. canephora)

While [CO2] effects on growth and secondary chemistry are well characterized for annual plant species, little is known about perennials. Among perennials, production of Coffea arabica and C. canephora (robusta) have enormous economic importance worldwide. Three Arabica cultivars (Bourbon, Catimor, Typica) and robusta coffee were grown from germination to ca. 12 months at four CO2 concentrations: 300, 400, 500 or 600 ppm. There were significant increases in all leaf area and biomass markers in response to [CO2] with significant [CO2] by taxa differences beginning at 122-124 days after sowing (DAS). At 366-368 DAS, CO2 by cultivar variation in growth and biomass response among Arabica cultivars was not significant; however, significant trends in leaf area, branch number and total above-ground biomass were observed between Arabica and robusta. For caffeine concentration, there were significant differences in [CO2] response between Arabica and robusta. A reduction in caffeine in coffee leaves and seeds might result in decreased ability against deterrence, and consequently, an increase in pest pressure. We suggest that the interspecific differences observed (robusta vs. Arabica) may be due to differences in ploidy level (2n = 22 vs. 2n = 4x = 44). Differential quantitative and qualitative responses during early growth and development of Arabica and robusta may have already occurred with recent [CO2] increases, and such differences may be exacerbated, with production and quality consequences, as [CO2] continues to increase.

Agricultural Practice in Poland Before and After Mandatory IPM Implementation by the European Union

Integrated pest management (IPM), a worldwide agricultural strategy, contains methods to control or manage agricultural pests and diseases in a more efficient way, and consequently, to obtain better quality raw materials for food production. The engagement and practice of farmers play a key role in the success of this strategy. Since January 1, 2014, Poland and other European Union countries have been obligated to apply the principles of IPM. This paper shows the results of surveys conducted in 280 randomly selected farms the year before and the year following mandatory IPM implementation. The aim of this study was to gather information about farmers’ knowledge of IPM and the most commonly used plant protection methods. Our results show that law regulations do not significantly change agricultural practice. Among the non-chemical methods farmers most often comply with are: implementing the agrochemical calendar, sowing healthy material, destroying volunteer plants, rotating crop, applying balanced fertilizer, plowing stubble and preventing excess nitrogen. Integrated plant protection is not possible without proper knowledge of diseases. This factor needs improvement in Poland. The average Polish farmer lacks the knowledge about basic cereal diseases such as powdery mildew or brown rust, though larger farm operators tend to be more knowledgeable. The results of this survey demonstrate the necessity to provide informative farmer training campaigns to promote on-farm application of IPM and to improve the knowledge of disease issues.

Anatomical study of the coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei) using micro-computed tomography

Traditionally, the study of anatomy in insects has been based on dissection techniques. Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) is an X-ray based technique that allows visualization of the internal anatomy of insects in situ and does not require dissections. We report on the use of micro-CT scans to study, in detail, the internal structures and organs of the coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei), the most damaging insect pest of coffee worldwide. Detailed images and videos allowed us to make the first description of the aedeagus and the first report of differences between the sexes based on internal anatomy (flight musculature, midgut shape, hindgut convolutions, brain shape and size) and external morphology (lateral outline of the pronotum and number of abdominal tergites). This study is the first complete micro-CT reconstruction of the anatomy of an insect and is also the smallest insect to have been evaluated in this way. High quality rendered images, and additional supplementary videos and 3D models are suitable for use with mobile devices and are useful tools for future research and as teaching aids.

Relevance of Intermittent Rivers and Streams in Agricultural Landscape and Their Impact on Provided Ecosystem Services-A Mediterranean Case Study

Ecosystem services (ES), as an interconnection of the landscape mosaic pieces, along with temporal rivers (IRES) are an object of research for environmental planners and ecological economists, among other specialists. This study presents (i) a review on the importance of IRES and the services they can provide to agricultural landscapes; (ii) a classification tool to assess the impact of IRES to provide ES by agricultural landscapes; (iii) the application of the proposed classification to the Caia River in order to identify the importance of this intermittent river for its surrounding agricultural landscape. The classification of the ES follows the Common International Classification of Ecosystem (CICES) classification that was adapted for the purposes of this study. Firstly, the list of ES provided by agricultural landscape was elaborated. In the next step, we assessed the potential of IRES to provide ES. Next, IRES impacts to ES within the agricultural landscape were evaluated according to observations from the conducted field monitoring in the study area. This study focuses on the relevance of the intermittent Caia River-a transboundary river in Spain and Portugal-and its ephemeral tributaries in the agricultural landscape. Our study estimates that each hydrological phase of IRES increases the ES provided by the agricultural landscape. However, the dry phase can potentially have negative impacts on several services. The intensification of the agricultural sector is the main provision of the water resource within the Caia River basin, but we were able to identify several other ES that were positively impacted. The present study is in line with the conclusions of other authors who state that IRES constitute a valuable resource which should not be underestimated by society.