Data in brief on inter-row rainwater harvest and fertilizer application on yield of maize and pigeon-pea cropping systems in sub humid tropics.

Soil moisture management and fertilizer micro-dosing on yield and land utilization efficiency of inter-cropping maize-pigeon-pea in sub humid Tanzania [1]. Farmers typically grow pigeon-pea as a mixed cropping system, the advances of these systems have been well studied, for example: increased productivity and rainfall infiltration. Much research has been done on cereal-pigeon pea intercropping on research stations, comparing yields in intercrops with sole maize.

Patterns of livestock depredation and cost-effectiveness of fortified livestock enclosures in northern Tanzania.

Human-carnivore conflicts and retaliatory killings contribute to carnivore populations' declines around the world. Strategies to mitigate conflicts have been developed, but their efficacy is rarely assessed in a randomized case-control design. Further, the economic costs prevent the adoption and wide use of conflict mitigation strategies by pastoralists in rural Africa.

Habitat properties are key drivers of Borrelia burgdorferi (s.l.) prevalence in Ixodes ricinus populations of deciduous forest fragments.

Background: The tick Ixodes ricinus has considerable impact on the health of humans and other terrestrial animals because it transmits several tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) such as B. burgdorferi (sensu lato), which causes Lyme borreliosis (LB). Small forest patches of agricultural landscapes provide many ecosystem services and also the disservice of LB risk.

The Nuisance Mosquito (Stephens, 1828) in Germany-A Questionnaire Survey May Help Support Surveillance and Control.

The mosquito species is an aggressive biter and a potential vector of malaria parasites and West Nile virus. It occurs naturally at low population densities, as its larval development is adapted to the specific water qualities found in tree holes. However, probably owing to environmental changes, it has recently been observed in several European countries to use increasingly often artificial breeding habitats that may lead to mass development and severe annoyance to humans living close by.

The Citizen Science Project 'Mueckenatlas' Helps Monitor the Distribution and Spread of Invasive Mosquito Species in Germany.

The citizen science project 'Mueckenatlas' (mosquito atlas) was implemented in early 2012 to improve mosquito surveillance in Germany. Citizens are asked to support the spatiotemporal mapping of culicids by submitting mosquito specimens collected in their private surroundings. The Mueckenatlas has developed into an efficient tool for data collection with close to 30,000 mosquitoes submitted by the end of 2015.

Environmental drivers of Ixodes ricinus abundance in forest fragments of rural European landscapes.

Background: The castor bean tick (Ixodes ricinus) transmits infectious diseases such as Lyme borreliosis, which constitutes an important ecosystem disservice. Despite many local studies, a comprehensive understanding of the key drivers of tick abundance at the continental scale is still lacking. We analyze a large set of environmental factors as potential drivers of I.

Facilitation between woody and herbaceous plants that associate with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in temperate European forests.

In late-successional environments, low in available nutrient such as the forest understory, herbaceous plant individuals depend strongly on their mycorrhizal associates for survival. We tested whether in temperate European forests arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) woody plants might facilitate the establishment of AM herbaceous plants in agreement with the mycorrhizal mediation hypothesis. We used a dataset spanning over 400 vegetation plots in the Weser-Elbe region (northwest Germany).

Activity of Culicoides spp. (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) inside and outside of livestock stables in late winter and spring.

Culicoides Latreille, 1809 midge species are the putative vectors of Bluetongue virus (BTV) and Schmallenberg virus (SBV) in Europe. To gain a better understanding of the epidemiology of the diseases, basic knowledge about the overwintering of the vectors is needed. Therefore, we investigated culicoid activity in relation to air temperature at livestock stables during late winter and spring season.

Combining community resurvey data to advance global change research.

More and more ecologists have started to resurvey communities sampled in earlier decades to determine long-term shifts in community composition and infer the likely drivers of the ecological changes observed. However, to assess the relative importance of, and interactions among, multiple drivers joint analyses of resurvey data from many regions spanning large environmental gradients are needed. In this paper we illustrate how combining resurvey data from multiple regions can increase the likelihood of driver-orthogonality within the design and show that repeatedly surveying across multiple regions provides higher representativeness and comprehensiveness, allowing us to answer more completely a broader range of questions.

A Comparative Nitrogen Balance and Productivity Analysis of Legume and Non-legume Supported Cropping Systems: The Potential Role of Biological Nitrogen Fixation.

The potential of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) to provide sufficient N for production has encouraged re-appraisal of cropping systems that deploy legumes. It has been argued that legume-derived N can maintain productivity as an alternative to the application of mineral fertilizer, although few studies have systematically evaluated the effect of optimizing the balance between legumes and non N-fixing crops to optimize production. In addition, the shortage, or even absence in some regions, of measurements of BNF in crops and forages severely limits the ability to design and evaluate new legume-based agroecosystems.

Evidence for an independent third Usutu virus introduction into Germany.

Usutu virus (USUV) is an arbovirus within the genus flavivirus, which was first introduced to Southern Europe approximately twenty years ago causing epizootics among wild and captive birds. In Germany USUV was initially discovered in wild birds, mainly Common blackbirds (Turdus merula), in the Upper Rhine valley in southwest of the country in 2011 and has not spread much northwards since. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the still ongoing USUV epidemic is caused by two different USUV strains, USUV-Germany belonging to the USUV Europe 3 lineage and USUV-Bonn belonging to the USUV Africa 3 lineage.

Transfer of radiocesium from rhizosphere soil to four cruciferous vegetables in association with a Bacillus pumilus strain and root exudation.

This study was carried out to assess the effect of Bacillus pumilus on the roots of four cruciferous vegetables with different root structures in regard to enhancement of Cs bioavailability in contaminated rhizosphere soil. Results revealed that B. pumilus inoculation did not enhance the plant biomass of vegetables, although it increased root volume and root surface areas of all vegetables except turnip.

Trade-Offs between Economic and Environmental Impacts of Introducing Legumes into Cropping Systems.

Europe's agriculture is highly specialized, dependent on external inputs and responsible for negative environmental impacts. Legume crops are grown on less than 2% of the arable land and more than 70% of the demand for protein feed supplement is imported from overseas. The integration of legumes into cropping systems has the potential to contribute to the transition to a more resource-efficient agriculture and reduce the current protein deficit.

Genotypic difference in (137)Cs accumulation and transfer from the contaminated field in Fukushima to azuki bean (Vigna angularis).

The screening of mini-core collection of azuki bean accessions (Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & Ohashi) for comparative uptake of (137)Cs in their edible portions was done in field trials on land contaminated by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident. Ninety seven azuki bean accessions including their wild relatives from a Japanese gene bank, were grown in a field in the Fukushima prefecture, which is located approximately 51 km north of FDNPP.

Model-based analysis of causes for habitat segregation in species (Crustacea, Isopoda).

On the shore of the rocky island of Helgoland (North Sea) two closely related isopod species, Pallas, 1772, and Rathke, 1843, share a similar fundamental niche but inhabit well-separated habitats. inhabits floating algae at the sea surface and accumulations of decaying algae on the seafloor, whereas primarily occurs in intertidal macroalgal belts. In laboratory experiments on individually reared isopods outperformed with regard to growth, reproduction, and mortality in both a fully inundated habitat and in a tidal habitat with 5 h of daily emergence.

Growth and (137)Cs uptake and accumulation among 56 Japanese cultivars of Brassica rapa, Brassica juncea and Brassica napus grown in a contaminated field in Fukushima: Effect of inoculation with a Bacillus pumilus strain.

Fifty six local Japanese cultivars of Brassica rapa (40 cultivars), Brassica juncea (10 cultivars) and Brassica napus (6 cultivars) were assessed for variability in growth and (137)Cs uptake and accumulation in association with a Bacillus pumilus strain. Field trial was conducted at a contaminated farmland in Nihonmatsu city, in Fukushima prefecture. Inoculation resulted in different responses of the cultivars in terms of growth and radiocesium uptake and accumulation.

Estimating agro-ecosystem carbon balance of northern Japan, and comparing the change in carbon stock by soil inventory and net biome productivity.

Soil C sequestration in croplands is deemed to be one of the most promising greenhouse gas mitigation options for agriculture. We have used crop-level yields, modeled heterotrophic respiration (Rh) and land use data to estimate spatio-temporal changes in regional scale net primary productivity (NPP), plant C inputs, and net biome productivity (NBP) in northern Japan's arable croplands and grasslands for the period of 1959-2011. We compared the changes in C stocks derived from estimated NBP and using repeated inventory datasets for each individual land use type from 2005 to 2011.

A comparison of four light traps for collecting Culicoides biting midges.

Epidemiological analyses of vector-associated diseases such as bluetongue (BT), African horse sickness, or epizootic hemorrhagic disease require substantiated data on the species diversity and activity patterns of vector species. To this end, Spain and Italy implemented extensive Culicoides biting midge monitoring programs since 2000, as several other countries did after the arrival of BT in northern Europe in 2006. The seasonal occurrence, spatial distribution, and abundance of Culicoides species, as the major results of such monitoring programs, are used as parameters for assessing the risk of virus introduction and transmission in a given area.

Drivers of temporal changes in temperate forest plant diversity vary across spatial scales.

Global biodiversity is affected by numerous environmental drivers. Yet, the extent to which global environmental changes contribute to changes in local diversity is poorly understood. We investigated biodiversity changes in a meta-analysis of 39 resurvey studies in European temperate forests (3988 vegetation records in total, 17-75 years between the two surveys) by assessing the importance of (i) coarse-resolution (i.

Rainfed winter wheat cultivation in the North German Plain will be water limited under climate change until 2070.

Background: We analysed regionalised ECHAM6 climate data for the North German Plains (NGP) in two time slots from 1981 to 2010 and 2041 to 2070.

Results: The annual mean temperature will increase significantly (by about 2 °C) that will result in shorter growing periods since the sum of degree days until harvest will be reached earlier. Even if the amount of total precipitation does not change there appears to be a shift towards increased winter precipitation and thus noticeable reduced summer precipitation.

Plant movements and climate warming: intraspecific variation in growth responses to nonlocal soils.

Most range shift predictions focus on the dispersal phase of the colonization process. Because moving populations experience increasingly dissimilar nonclimatic environmental conditions as they track climate warming, it is also critical to test how individuals originating from contrasting thermal environments can establish in nonlocal sites. We assess the intraspecific variation in growth responses to nonlocal soils by planting a widespread grass of deciduous forests (Milium effusum) into an experimental common garden using combinations of seeds and soil sampled in 22 sites across its distributional range, and reflecting movement scenarios of up to 1600 km.