Agroecology
Most wanted skills - we have them ...
EU PURE grant on integrated pest management ...
New research papers on ferals and GM coexistence....
The agroecology group at SCRI examines biological processes at scales from the individual to the landscape. Its core disciplines are biology, modelling and molecular science, with emphasis on organisms and ecological communities. It collaborates to improve the management of crop lands for sustained food security, the landscape, coexistence of production methods and minimal external impact. The group comprises researchers, technicians, students and visitors.
Current weather online every 15 minutes from the automatic weather station sited on our field plots.
For further information on the agroecology group contact Geoff Squire.
Research
The cycles of energy, carbon and nutrients, the movement of seed and pollen, the trade-off between yield and environmental impact, all need to be understood and managed at the scales of field and landscape. Our research in these topics was established through grants on ecological biosafety (GM crops) and geneflow, consolidated in 2006 with major new funding in sustainable crop systems from the Scottish Government. The plants, animals and microbes of farmland interact to exchange energy and matter and in the process form ecological communities. Our research on organisms and communities examines the roles of phenotypic and genetic diversity in the structure of communities and their resilience to change. Funding is mainly from the Scottish Government and from research councils through links with universities. The research is organised in four major topics.
- Sustainable systems - multi-functionality, energy and carbon accounting, biodiversity and food webs, crop yield and environmental impact.
- Multi-trophic interactions - above/below ground interactions, mechanisms in herbivory, insects symbionts and disease, trophic modelling.
- Plants and plant communities - the arable seedbank, traits and ecological function in crops and weeds, modelling plant populations.
- Ecological biosafety and gene flow - GM crop trials and biodiversity, gene movement and persistence, coexistence with GM crops.
People
Researchers in the agroecology group are mostly biologists or biological modellers from diverse backgrounds in plant and animal science. Research staff are shown in the panel to the right. Technical staff include Linda Ford, Fiona Falconer, Paul Neave and Gill Banks. PhD students working in the group are Ananthi Anandanadesan (Dundee), Andrew Burgess (Dundee), Emily Clark (Dundee), Hannah Clarke (Dundee), Katy Clark (Sussex), Nicola Cook (Dundee), Wenni Deng (Dundee) and Lindsay McMenemy (Sussex).
Steve Hubbard, based at SCRI where he is associated with the agroecology group, is Professor in Biology at St Andrews University (jointly with Dundee University). Janet Sprent, Professor Emeritus, Dundee University, is closely associated with the group, and works with us developing joint interests in biological nitrogen fixation.
News
Bioactives from weeds As a further contribution to our understanding of the value of weeds, Pete Iannetta has secured another small grant via the MRS Commercialisation Grant scheme to continue research on the weed bioactives. The award of almost £9000 from GeneCom Ltd. will be used to sub-contract specialists at the University of Bradford to perform in vivo trials of plant extracts. (Nov 2010)
Most wanted skills in the environment sector - we have them The recent report from ERFF (Environment Research Funders' Forum) on Most Wanted - skills needs in the environment sector lists the 15 most wanted skills identified in a major UK-wide analysis. It is highly encouraging that Agroecology and the EPI programme in general has developed expertise and experience in most of these fifteen, including all the top 8: 1) modelling, (2) multi-disciplinarity, 3) data management, 4) numeracy, 5) translating research (Living Field, LEAF Innovation Centre, Balruddery sustainability platform, 6) fieldwork, 7) risk and uncertainty, 8) taxonomy and systematics. Ninth is soil science which is a strength in other parts of EPI. And then again 11) sustainability science and planning, and 13) food supply. This report is one of several recent indications that the environment programme at SCRI is centrally placed to tackle current environmental challenges. (Nov 2010)
EU PURE The desire for less pesticide residues on crops and a reduction in the types of agro-chemicals available to farmers after recent EU legislation is being addressed by new research at SCRI. The EU PURE project (Pesticide Use-and-risk Reduction in European farming systems with Integrated Pest Management) will develop integrated pest and disease management (IPDM) techniques for major EU crops. IPDM is a holistic, systems-based approach, integrating several strategies to reduce weeds, insect pests and diseases while minimising the use of pesticide treatments. PURE is the biggest agricultural project funded by the EU under the Framework 7 programme with a total value of €12 million. As part of the project SCRI will receive over £600,000 funding over four years that will create several new jobs. Contacts in the agroecology group: Graham Begg on landscape engineering, Nick Birch on SCRI's wider role. Check news release for further details.
News release on the PURE project (Word file, 31 kb)
Biopesticides and biocontrol A new grant, SCEPTRE, worth £100k to SCRI over four years, has been awarded through Hortlink, funded by Defra, to test new biopesticides and biocontrol agents with industry partners including Koppert and Syngenta. SCRI's contribution to this multi-partner project is to find new ways to manage aphid pests of protected raspberries, whose genetic resistance is being broken down by virulent aphid biotypes. SCRI also jointly coordinates entomology work throughout the project. Contact: Nick Birch
Wild plant extracts A further grant of £10k was awarded in summer 2010 through MRS Ltd (SCRI's commercial arm) to continue exploratory research with Strathclyde University on the therapeutic properties of extracts from wild arable plants, notably Capsella bursa pastoris. Contact: Pete Iannetta.
New grants total £1 million The Agroecology group has recently secured around £1M of new competitive grant funding to develop several initiatives in basic and applied science. Further details will be posted here. Contact: Geoff Squire
Charitable Grant £15,000 has been awarded in 2010 by the Mylnefield Trust to Graham Begg and the Living Field team to to establish a 'virtual farm' based on results from the Centre for Sustainable Cropping at SCRI's Balruddery Farm. The virtual farm will develop from the group's expertise in modelling production ecosystems and will eventually be available on-line through the Living Field web site for demonstration and education. Contact: Graham Begg
Food security conference Nick Birch gave an invited presentation at the recent Food Security and Safety Symposium at Lancaster University, 13-15 September 2010. His topics covered integrated pest mangement and ecological engineering at scales of field and landscape.
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British Ecological Society meeting The Agroecology group was well represented at the BES meeting held at Leeds University, 7-9 September 2010. Attending were Ali Karley, Ananthi Anandanadesan, Hannah Clark, Nicola Cook, Pete Iannetta, Scott Johnson and Steve Hubbard, who between them gave three presentations and two posters.
European Congress of Entomology Scott Johnson gave an invited presentation at the European Congress of Entomology in Budapest, 22-28 August 2010. His topic was 'Root feeders - an ecosystem perspective'. Scott has also been elected as President of Council for the European Congresses of Entomology.
Doctoral success for two students Emily Clark and Katy Clark, both based in Agroecology, recently completed their doctoral theses. Emily Clark, registered at Dundee University, successfully defended her thesis on 10 August 2010. She applied a range of molecular tools to probe the bacterial communities that are harboured by aphids and assessed the consequences for the aphid's fitness. Katy Clark, registered at Sussex University and defending on 11 August 2010, worked on the relation between above-ground adult insects and soil dwelling progeny, examining what causes an adult to lay eggs on a particular plant, using the vine weevil as a model. Congratulations to both from all your colleagues for your hard work and well-earned success.
LEAF Open Farm Sunday 2010 The agroecology group welcomed hundreds of visitors at Open Farm Sunday, held on 13 June this year. Topics included bees and flower structure, dye and medicinal plants, serrated aviators (farmland sawflies) and aphids with their live-in symbionts. Further details and some photographs appear on the Living Field web site.
Biological nitrogen fixation in cropping systems The ability of certain plants, legumes, to fix atmospheric nitrogen into high-protein plant products was one of the foundations of agriculture until the invention and industrialisation of a method to produce nitrogen fertiliser from inorganic sources. Legume crops such as beans, peas and clover have decreased in europe as a consequence, while mineral nitogen fertiliser, though an important contributor to raising yield in the 20th century, is recognised as a major source of greenhouse gas and water pollution. The imperative is to reduce the reliance on inorganic nitrogen and increase the use of legumes in modern production systems. A new grant from the European Union (FP7) - Legume Futures - will address these problems by designing and testing more efficient and productive legume-based cropping systems. Worth nearly 4 million euros over four years, the project began in March 2010, has seventeen partners from all over Europe and is coordinated by Bob Rees at SAC. The agroecology group at SCRI is responsible for data-collation, analysis, and with other partners, the design of new cropping systems containing grain and forage legumes. Contact: Pete Iannetta
PhD Studentship in bacterial endosymbionts Hannah Clarke joined us in October 2009 after gaining a BSc in Zoology at Dundee University. Hannah's project will quantify the effect of bacterial secondary endosymbionts on performance of the potato aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, and assess its impact on the aphid's tropic (feeding) interactions. Funding is through the joint SCRI / University of Dundee studentship scheme. Supervision is by Ali Karley and Danny Cullen at SCRI and Steve Hubbard at Dundee. Hannah joins an active groups of researchers and students investigation the complex interactions between insects and the microbes that live inside them.
Recent and previous items are listed in the News Archive.
Latest papers and reports
Two recent papers on the role and importance of feral plants in the spread of GM traits - one on oilseed rape in Europe and the other on alfalfa in Canada - examples of our aim to provide hard data to back up policy advice on matters of global relevance.
Squire GR, Breckling B, Dietz Pfeilstetter A, Jorgensen RB, Lecomnte J, Pivard S, Reuter H, Young MW. 2010. Status of feral oilseed rape in Europe: its minor role as a GM impurity and its potental as a reservoir of GM persistence. Environmental Science and Pollution Research (doi:10.1007/s11356-010-0376-1)
Bagavathiannan MV, Gulden RH, Begg GS, Van Acker RC. 2010. The demography of feral alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) populations occurring in roadside habitats in Southern Manitoba, Canada: implications for novel trait confinement. Environmental Science and Pollution Research (doi:10.1007/s11356-010-0330-2)
Clark EL, Karley AJ, Hubbard SF. 2010. Insect endosymbionts: manipulators of insect herbivore trophic interactions? Protoplasma 244, 25-51 (doi:10.1007/s00709-010-0156-2)
Hawes C, Squire GR, Hallett PD, Watson CA, Young M. 2010. Arable plant communities as indicators of farming practice. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 138, 17-26. (doi:10.1016/j.agee.2010.03.010)
Mitchell, C., Johnson S.N. Gordon, S.C., Birch, A.N.E. and Hubbard, S.F. 2010. Combining plant resistance and a natural enemy to control Amphorophora idaei. BioControl 55, 321-327.
Messean, A., Squire, G., Perry, J., Angevin, F., Gomez, M., Townend, P., Sausse, C., Breckling, B., Langrell, S., Dzeroski, S., Sweet, J. 2009. Sustainable introduction of GM crops into european agriculture: a summary report of the FP6 SIGMEA research project. OCL 16(1), 37-51. (doi:10.1684/ocl.2009.0241.)
Johnson, S.N., Hawes, C. and Karley, A.J. 2009. Reappraising the role of plant nutrients as mediators of interactions between root- and foliar-feeding insects. Functional Ecology 23, 699-706.
Hillier, J., Hawes, C., Squire, G.R., Hilton, A., Wale, S., Smith, P. 2009. The carbon footprints of food crop production. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 7, 107-118.
Caron-Lormier, G., Bohan, D.A., Hawes, C., Raybould, A., Haughton, A.J., Humphry, R.W. 2009. How might we model an ecosystem? Ecological Modelling doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2009.04.021
Newton, A.C., Begg, G.S., Swanston, J.S. 2008. Deployment of diversity for enhanced crop function. Annals of Applied Biology, doi:10.1111/j.1744-7348.2008.00303.x
Monocultures are used in high-input systems to maximise short term profitability, but over time yield and quality can become unstable. This paper considers how diversity can be reintroduced to cropping systems to confer stability without compromising quality.
Squire, G.R., Hawes, C., Begg, G.S., Young, M.W. 2009. Cumulative impact of GM herbicide-tolerant cropping on arable plants assessed through species-based and functional taxonomies. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 16(1), 85-94. Published online 2 December 2008, doi: 10.1007/s11356-008-0072-6.
Accumulation curves, based on both species and functional type, are here examined as a means of indicating regional-scale impacts on botanical diversity from multiple field experiments. One of the papers from the Bremem meeting on GM crop cultivation at large spatial scales, April 2008.
Johnson, S.N., Murray, P.J. (eds) 2008. Root feeders - an ecosystem perspective. CAB International, Wallingford, 272 pages.
Animals that feed on the roots of plants are important, ecologically and economically, but get much less attention than those that feed on aerial structures. This book presents a comprehesive review of knowledge of root feeders and their roles in agricultural, grassland and forest ecosystems.
McMenemy, L.S., Mitchell, C., Johnson, S.N. 2008. Biology of the european large raspberry aphid (Amphorophora idaei): its role in virus transmission and resistance breakdown in red raspberry. Agricultural and Forest Entomology (early view section).
A Review Article on the this important aphid, including discussion of the viruses it carries and transmits to crops, the problems in controlling it and options for future integrated and sustained management - an output from the multi-trophic interactions group.
Broadley, M.R., White, P.J., Hammond, J.P., Graham, N.S., Bowen, H.C., Emmerson, Z.F., Grey, R.G., Iannetta, P.P.M., McNicol, J.W., May, T.S. 2008. Evidence for neutral transcriptome evolution in plants. New Phytologist 180 (doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2008.02640.x).
Editor's Choice in the 3 October 2008 issue of the journal Science (322, 17) under the heading Evolution: neutral plantings, this collaboration between scientists at the University of Nottingham and SCRI examined evolutionary processes in gene expression using species of the Cruciferae (cabbage family).
A full list of the group's recent publications and outputs can be found in Publications Archive.
Knowledge Transfer
LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) Innovation Centre The next LEAF Open Farm Sunday will be held at SCRI on 13 June 2010. There will be a range of exhibits and demonstrations around the theme of sustainable farming and the usual tractor tours and guided walks. The LEAF Innovation Centre is coordinated by agroecology group staff on behalf of the Institute and will be expanding its research and demonstration activities in coming years at SCRI's new farm at Balruddery. SCRI is working with LEAF on indicators for field-health and environmental footprint. A web page on the new experimental platform at Balruddery can be found in the topic area Sustainable Systems.
The Living Field project The agroecology group is presenting several new science topics through the Living Field website over the coming months. 5000 years of crops and weeds examines the use of plants in Britain since neolithic times. The Arable plants document on crop-weed coexistence describes the current status of plants in the farmed landscape. Biological nitrogen fixation goes into the roles of wild and cultivated legumes in the ecosystem. What's the weather is a series explaining the things that make up weather - solar radiation, temperature, humidity and air movement. Research groups in the EPI Programme form the base and main provider of teaching materials for the Living Field project, which since its beginning in 2001, had produced the Living Field Garden, a CD of teaching material complementing the 5-14 school curriculum, a Study Centre on the SCRI farm, polytunnels for school experiments on the farm and the new Living Field website.
Scientific advice and support Agroecology staff provide formal advice to a range of bodies on biodiversity, biotech crops and ecosystem management, covering interests worldwide (WTO, IOBC), European (EC, member states), UK-wide (Defra, ACRE, Levy Boards) and Scottish (Scottish Parliament, Scottish Government). Current activities (2009) include contributions, presentations and advice on biotech crops to bodies including the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the EU Coexistence Bureau.
Scientific papers and reports The group's scientific findings are published in peer-reviewed international journals, including Basic and Applied Ecology, Biology Letters, Ecological Modelling, Journal of Applied Ecology, Journal of Experimental Botany, Oikos, Nature, New Phytologist, Philosophical Transactionsof the Royal Society, Physiologia Plantarum, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Transgenic Research, Weed Research, and in major reports to Defra and the EC.
