Assessment Flashcards
Science to guide policy and sustainability
Think critically. Look for corroborating evidence.
Less than 50% of social and behavioural science studies reported in Science and Nature replicate according to their own success criterion; In drug discovery, only 11% of findings were confirmed in 53 ‘landmark’ studies.
Investigation of 18 candidate gene or candidate gene-by-interaction hypotheses in psychiatric genetics, which together had led to over 1000 follow up papers, found that none of them could be supported.
In Economics, the majority of analyses from a major journal could not be reproduced independently, despite the journal stipulation that data and analysis code be provided. Similar concerns have been raised in cancer biology and neuroscience.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Awareness of the importance of soil ecosystems as the foundations of sustainable natural ecosystems, and their role in terrestrial nutrient and carbon cycles.
- Knowledge of the immediate and future threats to sustainable agro-ecosystems posed by human impacts on soil and ecosystems including effects of agriculture and climate change.
- Understanding of the key properties of sustainable agro-ecosystems, including physical, chemical and biological components and their interactions.
- Awareness of the major contrasts between natural ecosystems and land in intensive agriculture, and insight into features of natural ecosystems that impart their greater sustainability.
- Awareness of the human dimension to agricultural sustainability- in terms of the age profile of farmers, their incomes and problems related to undervaluing of the ecosystem services they maintain and the food they produce.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Awareness of the impacts of American and Western European diets on human health and the wider environmental impacts of such diets high in meat and processed foods.
- An understanding of the components that are likely to contribute to more sustainable agro-ecosystem management in future- from increasing soil organic matter and cultivation practices, planting trees and protecting forests, through to changing consumer demands and the reduction of waste.
- Awareness of the causes and effects of unsustainable agro-ecosystem management, including economic, and policy drivers, the serious implications that follow from this unsustainability.
- An ability to acquire, analyse, evaluate, synthesise, summarise information from articles in peer-reviewed journal articles in the field of sustainable agro-ecosystems, and present this in the format of a review or synthesis article.
The detailed aims of the course are as follows:
Review the importance of soil ecosystems in sustaining the terrestrial biosphere.
Raise awareness of human impacts on agro-ecosystems and the need for more sustainable management of soils and vegetation- in food, biofuel and forestry production.
To consider how soil ecosystems sustainably function in nature and how to apply this knowledge to sustainable agro-ecosystem management.
To provide an overview of the problems associated with undervaluing of ecosystem services, food wastage, environmental costs and economic inefficiencies of our current food production systems.
To highlight some of the future threats from climate change and resource depletion that demonstrate the unsustainability of present agro-ecosystem and resource management.
To stimulate further reading and the use of cited examples and illustrations from scientific publications in answers to questions on the subject area of sustainable agro-ecosystems.
Multifaceted- sustainable use of resources
Sustainable economically and socially
No single solution for all countries
Key components in common- recycle, minimise waste, optimise sustainable resource use. Appropriate methods need to be optimised.
People need to be engaged, farmers, food and ecosystems need to be valued more.
Scientific approaches to sustainability are needed and need to be effectively researched and communicated.
Scientists need to engage politicians, policymakers and the public with sharing aspirations for sustainability and actions that will deliver this.
There is a moral imperative.
People need to change- this is not just a technical problem!
Feeding the world without destroying the Earth
Improved food and wealth distribution- treating humans fairly.
Reduced waste at all stages of production.
Reduced meat / dairy per capita consumption increase fruit and vegetables.
We can feed the human population by horticulture, together with potatoes, cereals and pulses produced directly for human consumption.
Regenerative agriculture- we need to feed the soil and give it periods of recovery from cropping- leys, legume-cover crops, manures, putting crop residues like straw back into soil.
Breed crops with better nutrient and water-use efficiency.
Deploy more sustainable irrigation systems like solar desalination.
Farms can provide energy- from wind, solar and sustainable biomass such as coppice willow and other fast-growing trees in agro-forestry.
Farmers direct selling to the public would make smaller farms more economic. Shorter local-food chains often have smaller ‘footprints’.
We may need a ‘smart-grid’ food distribution equivalent to local electricity generation/ distribution.
Components of technological solutions:
Precision agriculture
Optimising input efficiency / minimising harm:
Use of aerial surveillance (drones) for nutrient need mapping, and early-warning surveillance of weeds/ diseases
Targeted and reduced use of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides
New technologies- robotic weeding / spot weed killer application.
Sustainable soil management
Conservation tillage and zero tillage (but needs grazing or weedkillers and is ideally combined with cover cropping to ensure soil is vegetated almost all the year in the UK climate)
Crop rotations using traditional leys containing legumes to rebuild soil structure, organic matter, organic nitrogen and earthworm populations.
Diverse and long crop rotations.
Addition of compost and organic matter- crop residues, digestate sludges- rebuild soil organic matter.
Inject animal slurries into soil rather than surface applications.
https://www.glopan.org/foresight Agro-forestry and orchards: Tree and bush fruit and nut crops Pulses are legumes and fix nitrogen Together with vegetables they are common components of allotments and market gardens and permaculture systems.
Sustainable healthy and efficient food production-
Dietary choices, fruits seeds and nuts, low@ / no meat consumption, low waste
Biotechnology
Crops
Selection of more nutrient and / or water use efficient crops including promoting beneficial microbes and more extensive roots (recognizing trade-offs)
Ongoing selection for crop disease resistance.
Grow a greater genetic diversity of crops to reduce the overall risks of crop failure and food insecurity.
Other organisms
Use of biological control agents
Microbial inoculants
P solubilizing bacteria
Plant growth promoting bacteria
Arbuscular mycorrhiza inoculation (e.g. seed coating) – but only likely
to be useful in combination with mycorrhiza-compatible management
Nitrogen fixing bacteria that associate with cereal roots?
Policy
Global strategic food reserve management.
Financial support for farming actions that rebuild soil health and increase soil carbon stocks, and penalize actions causing soil degradation.
Themes / emphasis in 2019-20
The challenges for agroecosystems to sustainably provide food, fuel and timber and protect natural ecosystems into the future.
The importance of closing yield gaps, dietary changes and reducing wastage to improve efficiency and sustainability of food production and meet UN sustainable development goals.
Effects of agriculture on soil and greenhouse gas emissions and how to manage these problems better.
The nature of the question
Discuss….. Provide evidence or opinions about, reaching a balanced conclusion.
Compare……. Bring out the similarities between.
Contrast…….. Bring out the differences between.
Describe…….. Use words and diagrams to illustrate
Why……… Provide explanation
What are…… Describe (use words and diagrams and data to illustrate).
Review….. Examine critically, provide an overview.
Explain….. Make clear, account for the mechanisms.
To what extent……. Weigh up, evaluate
By what means…. Explain the mechanisms or processes.
- Interpretation of the question
Defining the subject matter and key points.
Structuring the answer.
2. Logical development.
The importance of organisation of information.
The importance of coherent argument.
Linking of points.
Synthesis and critical analysis
- Introduction.
Clear understanding and definition of the key issues.
- Subject relevance
The importance of the essay plan.
Frequently refer back to the question and to the plan.
- Insight and originality
Evidence of insight and innovative thought.
Linking materials from different lectures and different sources.
Understanding context-dependency.
Identifying opposing views of different authors or results which appear to conflict or support each other.
Use of well chosen relevant examples from inside and outside the course.
- Use of sources (references)
The use of citations to support arguments.
Who provided the key evidence and when?
Provide evidence of reading.
7. Illustrations and supporting evidence
Use of data, diagrams and figures.
- Conclusion
Achieve a definite-well rounded end.
Provide a concise succinct overview without merely repeating the earlier points of the essay.
10. Presentation Layout Diagrams Structure- paragraphs ‘Professional appearance’
Discuss the benefits from increasing soil organic matter and the challenges to doing so in agricultural soils.
Soil organic matter is widely recognized to be a key indicator of soil quality and soil functioning- soils with higher organic matter store more nutrients and water, normally provide a better rooting medium for plant growth and act as more effective stores and filters of rainwater than soils with low organic matter content. Soils contain ~ 3 x the C in vegetation and ~ 2 x the C in the atmosphere, but as a result of cultivation and reduced organic matter inputs, agricultural soils have typically lost 30 to 40 t C ha-1, contributing over 20% of the anthropogenic CO2 release from 1850 -1990 (Houghton et al., 1983). The total loss of carbon from soils due to landuse change and agriculture over the past 12,000 years is estimated as 133 pg (Sanderman et al., 2017).
The benefits of increasing soil organic are multiscale- from increasing cation exchange capacity at a molecular scale, to assembly of soil aggregates, to supporting ecosystem engineer organisms like earthworms and mycorrhizal fungi, to delivery of soil structure at profile scales, to improving hydrological functioning at landscape scales through reducing run-off and water pollution by nutrients, through to global effects on the carbon cycle- recognized in the aspirational and controversial “4 per mille” initiative to slow rates of CO2 increase in the atmosphere by seeking to actively promote soil carbon sequestration.
An increase from 1% to 2% organic C in soil has been shown to causes a rise of nearly 10% in water holding capacity, and this effect is linear to at least 4% soil organic C (Leake, unpublished). Similarly, in many regions of the world and for most staple crops yields including wheat increase linearly with increasing organic matter content of soils (Lal, 2010) as a result of improvements in soil quality delivered by organic matter. Since most arable mineral soils in the UK contain less than 2.5% organic C, increasing the organic matter content of such soils would deliver multiple benefits in terms of enhancing crop yields, resilience to drought and flooding, reduce the frequency with which flooding events take place and reduce soil erosion and nutrient losses to surface and groundwater.
