Benefits and trade‐offs of replacing synthetic fertilizers by animal manures in crop production in China: A meta‐analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 888-900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoying Zhang ◽  
Qunchao Fang ◽  
Tao Zhang ◽  
Wenqi Ma ◽  
Gerard L. Velthof ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Animal Manures ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Synthetic Fertilizers

scholarly journals Adult body growth and reproductive investment vary markedly within and across Atlantic and Pacific herring: a meta-analysis and review of 26 stocks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thassya C. dos Santos Schmidt ◽  
Doug E. Hay ◽  
Svein Sundby ◽  
Jennifer A. Devine ◽  
Guðmundur J. Óskarsson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Egg Size ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Body Growth ◽  
Clupea Harengus ◽  
Pacific Herring ◽  
Atlantic Herring ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Investment In Reproduction

AbstractLife-history traits of Pacific (Clupea pallasii) and Atlantic (Clupea harengus) herring, comprising both local and oceanic stocks subdivided into summer-autumn and spring spawners, were extensively reviewed. The main parameters investigated were body growth, condition, and reproductive investment. Body size of Pacific herring increased with increasing latitude. This pattern was inconsistent for Atlantic herring. Pacific and local Norwegian herring showed comparable body conditions, whereas oceanic Atlantic herring generally appeared stouter. Among Atlantic herring, summer and autumn spawners produced many small eggs compared to spring spawners, which had fewer but larger eggs—findings agreeing with statements given several decades ago. The 26 herring stocks we analysed, when combined across distant waters, showed clear evidence of a trade-off between fecundity and egg size. The size-specific individual variation, often ignored, was substantial. Additional information on biometrics clarified that oceanic stocks were generally larger and had longer life spans than local herring stocks, probably related to their longer feeding migrations. Body condition was only weakly, positively related to assumingly in situ annual temperatures (0–30 m depth). Contrarily, body growth (cm × y−1), taken as an integrator of ambient environmental conditions, closely reflected the extent of investment in reproduction. Overall, Pacific and local Norwegian herring tended to cluster based on morphometric and reproductive features, whereas oceanic Atlantic herring clustered separately. Our work underlines that herring stocks are uniquely adapted to their habitats in terms of trade-offs between fecundity and egg size whereas reproductive investment mimics the productivity of the water in question.

Why Do Firms Participate in Voluntary Environmental Programs? A Meta-Analysis of the Role of Institutions, Resources, and Program Stringency

2021 ◽  
pp. 108602662199006
Author(s):  
Peter Tashman ◽  
Svetlana Flankova ◽  
Marc van Essen ◽  
Valentina Marano
Keyword(s):  
Quality Management ◽  
Prior Experience ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Institutional Pressures ◽  
Environmental Programs ◽  
Voluntary Environmental Programs ◽  
Management Standards ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Impact

We meta-analyze research on why firms join voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) to assess the impact of program stringency, or the extent to which they have rigorous, enforceable standards on these decisions. Stringency creates trade-offs for firms by affecting programs’ effectiveness, legitimacy, and adoption costs. Most research considers singular programs and lacks cross program variation needed to analyze program stringency’s impact. Our meta-analysis addresses this by sampling 127 studies and 23 VEPs. We begin by identifying common institutional and resource-based drivers of participation in the literature, and then analyze how program stringency moderates their impacts. Our results suggest that strictly governed VEPs encourage participation among highly visible and profitable firms, and discourage it when informal institutional pressures are higher, and firms have prior experience with other VEPs or quality management standards. We demonstrate that VEP stringency has nuanced effects on firm participation based on the institutional and resource-based factors facing them.

scholarly journals Temperature as a modulator of sexual selection

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto García-Roa ◽  
Francisco Garcia-Gonzalez ◽  
Daniel W.A. Noble ◽  
Pau Carazo
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Population Viability ◽  
Order Effects ◽  
Secondary Sexual Traits ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Wide Range

A central question in ecology and evolution is to understand why sexual selection varies so much in strength across taxa, and it has long been known that ecological factors are crucial to this respect. Temperature is a particularly critical abiotic ecological factor that can drastically modulate a wide range of physiological, morphological and behavioural traits, impacting individuals and populations at a global taxonomic scale. Furthermore, temperature exhibits substantial temporal variation (e.g. daily, seasonally and inter-seasonally), and hence for most species in the wild sexual selection will regularly unfold in a dynamic thermal environment. Unfortunately, studies have so far almost completely neglected the role of temperature as a modulator of sexual selection. Here, we outline the main pathways via which temperature can affect the intensity and form (i.e. mechanisms) of sexual selection, via: a) direct effects on secondary sexual traits and preferences (i.e. trait variance, opportunity for selection and trait-fitness covariance), and b) indirect effects on key mating parameters, sex-specific reproductive costs/benefits, trade-offs, demography and correlated abiotic factors. Building upon this framework, we show that, by focusing exclusively on the first order effects that environmental temperature has on traits linked with individual fitness and population viability, current global warming studies may be ignoring important eco-evolutionary feedbacks mediated by sexual selection. Finally, we tested the general prediction that temperature modulates sexual selection by conducting a meta-analysis of available studies experimentally manipulating temperature and reporting effects on the variance of male/female reproductive success and/or traits under sexual selection. Our results show a clear association between temperature and sexual selection measures in both sexes. In short, we suggest that studying the feedback between temperature and sexual selection processes can be vital to better understand variation in the strength of sexual selection in nature, and its consequences for population viability in response to environmental change (e.g. global warming).

scholarly journals Technical efficiency in crop production across agro-ecological zones in Ethiopia: A meta-analysis of frontier studies

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abebayehu G Geffersa ◽  
Frank W Agbola ◽  
Amir Mahmood
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Functional Form ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Model Output ◽  
Ecological Zones ◽  
Meta Regression ◽  
Meta Regression Analysis ◽  
Frontier Studies ◽  
Agro Ecological Zones

This article investigates whether study-specific attributes account for systematic variations in reported technical efficiency (TE) scores in crop production. We conducted a meta-regression analysis using mean TE (MTE) estimates from primary frontier studies of Ethiopian crop sub-sector over the period 1991–2015. The estimated MTE of 66% indicates a capacity to increase efficiency in crop production. Results from a fractional outcome regression model revealed that reported efficiency estimates vary substantially across studies and agro-ecologies. We found that reported efficiency estimates are influenced by the frontier methodology used, the functional form assumed, assumptions about technology representation, the estimated dimension of the model, output aggregation and the publication outlet. We show that reported efficiency estimates are sensitive to variations in agro-ecologies. We argue for the need to consider differences in agro-ecologies when estimating TE because failure to account for this may bias efficiency estimates.

scholarly journals Three Decades of Changes in Brazilian Municipalities and Their Food Production Systems

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 422
Author(s):  
Ramon Felipe Bicudo da Silva ◽  
Mateus Batistella ◽  
James D. A. Millington ◽  
Emilio Moran ◽  
Luiz A. Martinelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Socioeconomic Outcomes ◽  
Economic Output ◽  
Trade Offs

Agricultural systems are heterogeneous across temporal and spatial scales. Although much research has investigated farm size and economic output, the synergies and trade-offs across various agricultural and socioeconomic variables are unclear. This study applies a GIS-based approach to official Brazilian census data (Agricultural Censuses of 1995, 2006, and 2017) and surveys at the municipality level to (i) evaluate changes in the average soybean farm size across the country and (ii) compare agricultural and socioeconomic outcomes (i.e., soybean yield, agricultural production value, crop production diversity, and rural labor employment) relative to the average soybean farm size. Statistical tests (e.g., Kruskal–Wallis tests and Spearman’s correlation) were used to analyze variable outcomes in different classes of farm sizes and respective Agricultural Censuses. We found that agricultural and socioeconomic outcomes are spatially correlated with soybean farm size class. Therefore, based on the concepts of trade-offs and synergies, we show that municipalities with large soybean farm sizes had larger trade-offs (e.g., larger farm size was associated with lower crop diversity), while small and medium ones manifest greater synergies. These patterns are particularly strong for analysis using the Agricultural Census of 2017. Trade-off/synergy analysis across space and time is key for supporting long-term strategies aiming at alleviating unemployment and providing sustainable food production, essential to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

scholarly journals Dietary Ingredients Requiring Further Research Before Evidence-Based Recommendations Can Be Made for Their Use as an Approach to Mitigating Pain

Pain Medicine ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 1619-1632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy Crawford ◽  
Courtney Boyd ◽  
Kevin Berry ◽  
Patricia Deuster ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Steering Committee ◽  
Sufficient Evidence ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Special Operations ◽  
Assessment Development ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Rose Hip

Abstract Objective Approximately 55–76% of Service members use dietary supplements for various reasons; although such use has become popular, decisions are often driven by information that is not evidence-based. This work evaluates whether current research on dietary ingredients for chronic musculoskeletal pain provides sufficient evidence to inform decisions for practice and self-care, specifically for Special Operations Forces personnel. Methods A steering committee convened to develop research questions and factors required for decision-making. Key databases were searched through August 2016. Eligible systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials were assessed for methodological quality. Meta-analysis was applied where feasible. Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation was used to determine confidence in the effect estimates. The committee used a decision table to make evidence-informed judgments across decision-making factors and recommendations for practice and self-care use. Results Nineteen dietary ingredients were assessed. No recommendations were given for boswellia, ginger, rose hip, or s-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAMe); specifically, although ginger can be obtained via food, no recommendation is provided for use as a supplement due to unclear research. Further, there were insufficient strong research on boswellia and SAMe and possible compliance issues (i.e., high number of capsules required daily) associated with rose hip. Conclusions No recommendations were made when the evidence was low quality or trade-offs were so closely balanced that any recommendation would be too speculative. Research recommendations are provided to enhance the quality and body of evidence for the most promising ingredients. Clinicians and those with chronic pain can rely on evidence-based recommendations to inform their decisions.

scholarly journals Tillage Intensity Effects on Soil Structure Indicators—A US Meta-Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 2071 ◽  
Author(s):  
Márcio R. Nunes ◽  
Douglas L. Karlen ◽  
Thomas B. Moorman
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Soil Structure ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Health Assessment ◽  
Aggregate Stability ◽  
Soil Penetration Resistance ◽  
Wet Aggregate Stability

Tillage intensity affects soil structure in many ways but the magnitude and type (+/−) of change depends on site-specific (e.g., soil type) and experimental details (crop rotation, study length, sampling depth, etc.). This meta-analysis examines published effects of chisel plowing (CP), no-tillage (NT) and perennial cropping systems (PER) relative to moldboard plowing (MP) on three soil structure indicators: wet aggregate stability (AS), bulk density (BD) and soil penetration resistance (PR). The data represents four depth increments (from 0 to >40-cm) in 295 studies from throughout the continental U.S. Overall, converting from MP to CP did not affect those soil structure indicators but reducing tillage intensity from MP to NT increased AS in the surface (<15-cm) and slightly decreased BD and PR below 25-cm. The largest positive effect of NT on AS was observed within Inceptisols and Entisols after a minimum of three years. Compared to MP, NT had a minimal effect on soil compaction indicators (BD and PR) but as expected, converting from MP to PER systems improved soil structure at all soil depths (0 to >40-cm). Among those three soil structure indicators, AS was the most sensitive to management practices; thus, it should be used as a physical indicator for overall soil health assessment. In addition, based on this national meta-analysis, we conclude that reducing tillage intensity improves soil structure, thus offering producers assurance those practices are feasible for crop production and that they will also help sustain soil resources.

scholarly journals Soil management shapes ecosystem service provision and trade-offs in agricultural landscapes

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1837) ◽  
pp. 20161369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Tamburini ◽  
Serena De Simone ◽  
Maurizia Sigura ◽  
Francesco Boscutti ◽  
Lorenzo Marini
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Weed Control ◽  
Pest Control ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Conservation Tillage ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Landscape Composition ◽  
Quality Regulation ◽  
Trade Offs

Agroecosystems are principally managed to maximize food provisioning even if they receive a large array of supporting and regulating ecosystem services (ESs). Hence, comprehensive studies investigating the effects of local management and landscape composition on the provision of and trade-offs between multiple ESs are urgently needed. We explored the effects of conservation tillage, nitrogen fertilization and landscape composition on six ESs (crop production, disease control, soil fertility, water quality regulation, weed and pest control) in winter cereals. Conservation tillage enhanced soil fertility and pest control, decreased water quality regulation and weed control, without affecting crop production and disease control. Fertilization only influenced crop production by increasing grain yield. Landscape intensification reduced the provision of disease and pest control. We also found tillage and landscape composition to interactively affect water quality regulation and weed control. Under N fertilization, conventional tillage resulted in more trade-offs between ESs than conservation tillage. Our results demonstrate that soil management and landscape composition affect the provision of several ESs and that soil management potentially shapes the trade-offs between them.

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