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Long-term and widespread changes in agricultural practices influence ring-necked pheasant abundance in California.

ABSTRACT: Declines in bird populations in agricultural regions of North America and Europe have been attributed to agricultural industrialization, increases in use of agrochemical application, and increased predation related to habitat modification. Based on count data compiled from Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) from 1974 to 2012, Christmas Bird Count (CBC) collected from 1914 to 2013, and hunter data from Annual Game Take Survey (AGTS) for years 1948-2010, ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) in California have experienced substantial declines in agricultural environments. Using a modeling approach that integrates all three forms of survey data into a joint response abundance index, we found pheasant abundance was related to the amount of harvested and unharvested crop land, types of crops produced, amount of total pesticide applied, minimum temperature, precipitation, and numbers of avian competitors and predators. Specifically, major changes in agricultural practices over the last three decades were associated with declines in pheasant numbers and likely reflected widespread loss of habitat. For example, increases in cropland were associated with increased pheasant abundance during early years of study but this effect decreased through time, such that no association in recent years was evidenced. A post hoc analysis revealed that crops beneficial to pheasant abundance (e.g., barley) have declined substantially in recent decades and were replaced by less advantageous crops (e.g., nut trees). An additional analysis using a restricted data set (1990-2013) indicated recent negative impacts on pheasant numbers associated with land use practices were also associated with relatively high levels of pesticide application. Our results may provide valuable information for management policies aimed at reducing widespread declines in pheasant populations in California and may be applicable to other avian species within agricultural settings. Furthermore, this general analytical approach is not limited to pheasants and could be applied to other taxa for which multiple survey data sources exist.

SUBMITTER: Coates PS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5395463 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Long-term and widespread changes in agricultural practices influence ring-necked pheasant abundance in California.

Coates Peter S PS Brussee Brianne E BE Howe Kristy B KB Fleskes Joseph P JP Dwight Ian A IA Connelly Daniel P DP Meshriy Matt G MG Gardner Scott C SC

Ecology and evolution 20170315 8

Declines in bird populations in agricultural regions of North America and Europe have been attributed to agricultural industrialization, increases in use of agrochemical application, and increased predation related to habitat modification. Based on count data compiled from Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) from 1974 to 2012, Christmas Bird Count (CBC) collected from 1914 to 2013, and hunter data from Annual Game Take Survey (AGTS) for years 1948-2010, ring-necked pheasants (<i>Phasianus colchicus</i>) ...[more]

PMID: 28428846

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Project description:Being a typical ground-breeding bird of the agricultural landscape in Germany, the pheasant has experienced a strong and persistent population decline with a hitherto unexplained cause. Contributing factors to the ongoing negative trend, such as the effects of pesticides, diseases, predation, increase in traffic and reduced fallow periods, are currently being controversially discussed. In the present study, 62 free-ranging pheasant chicks were caught within a two-year period in three federal states of Germany; Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein. The pheasant chicks were divided into three age groups to detect differences in their development and physical constitution. In addition, pathomorphological, parasitological, virological, bacteriological and toxicological investigations were performed. The younger chicks were emaciated, while the older chicks were of moderate to good nutritional status. However, the latter age group was limited to a maximum of three chicks per hen, while the youngest age class comprised up to ten chicks. The majority of chicks suffered from dermatitis of the periocular and caudal region of the head (57-94%) of unknown origin. In addition, intestinal enteritis (100%), pneumonia (26%), hepatitis (24%), perineuritis (6%), tracheitis (24%), muscle degeneration (1%) and myositis (1%) were found. In 78% of the cases, various Mycoplasma spp. were isolated. Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) was not detected using an MG-specific PCR. Parasitic infections included Philopteridae (55%), Coccidia (48%), Heterakis/Ascaridia spp. (8%) and Syngamus trachea (13%). A total of 8% of the chicks were Avian metapneumovirus (AMPV) positive using RT-PCR, 16% positive for infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) using RT-PCR, and 2% positive for haemorrhagic enteritis virus (HEV) using PCR. All samples tested for avian encephalomyelitis virus (AEV), infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) or infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) were negative. The pool samples of the ten chicks were negative for all acid, alkaline-free and derivative substances, while two out of three samples tested were positive for the herbicide glyphosate. Pheasant chick deaths may often have been triggered by poor nutritional status, probably in association with inflammatory changes in various tissues and organs as well as bacterial and parasitic pathogens. Theses impacts may have played a major role in the decline in pheasant populations.

Project description:Between 2000 and 2010 the Eastern Shore of Virginia was implicated in four Salmonella outbreaks associated with tomato. Therefore, a multi-year study (2012-2015) was performed to investigate presumptive factors associated with the contamination of Salmonella within tomato fields at Virginia Tech's Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Factors including irrigation water sources (pond and well), type of soil amendment: fresh poultry litter (PL), PL ash, and a conventional fertilizer (triple superphosphate - TSP), and production practices: staked with plastic mulch (SP), staked without plastic mulch (SW), and non-staked without plastic mulch (NW), were evaluated by split-plot or complete-block design. All field experiments relied on naturally occurring Salmonella contamination, except one follow up experiment (worst-case scenario) which examined the potential for contamination in tomato fruits when Salmonella was applied through drip irrigation. Samples were collected from pond and well water; PL, PL ash, and TSP; and the rhizosphere, leaves, and fruits of tomato plants. Salmonella was quantified using a most probable number method and contamination ratios were calculated for each treatment. Salmonella serovar was determined by molecular serotyping. Salmonella populations varied significantly by year; however, similar trends were evident each year. Findings showed use of untreated pond water and raw PL amendment increased the likelihood of Salmonella detection in tomato plots. Salmonella Newport and Typhimurium were the most frequently detected serovars in pond water and PL amendment samples, respectively. Interestingly, while these factors increased the likelihood of Salmonella detection in tomato plots (rhizosphere and leaves), all tomato fruits sampled (n = 4800) from these plots were Salmonella negative. Contamination of tomato fruits was extremely low (< 1%) even when tomato plots were artificially inoculated with an attenuated Salmonella Newport strain (104 CFU/mL). Furthermore, Salmonella was not detected in tomato plots irrigated using well water and amended with PL ash or TSP. Production practices also influenced the likelihood of Salmonella detection in tomato plots. Salmonella detection was higher in tomato leaf samples for NW plots, compared to SP and SW plots. This study provides evidence that attention to agricultural inputs and production practices may help reduce the likelihood of Salmonella contamination in tomato fields.

Project description:BackgroundThe soil quality and health of the tea plantations are dependent on agriculture management practices, and long-term chemical fertilizer use is implicated in soil decline. Hence, several sustainable practices are used to improve and maintain the soil quality. Here, in this study, changes in soil properties, enzymatic activity, and dysbiosis in bacterial community composition were compared using three agricultural management practices, namely conventional (CA), sustainable (SA), and transformational agriculture (TA) in the tea plantation during 2016 and 2017 period. Soil samples at two-months intervals were collected and analyzed.ResultsThe results of the enzyme activities revealed that acid phosphatase, arylsulfatase, β-glucosidase, and urease activities differed considerably among the soils representing the three management practices. Combining the redundancy and multiple regression analysis, the change in the arylsulfatase activity was explained by soil pH as a significant predictor in the SA soils. The soil bacterial community was predominated by the phyla Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Bacteroidetes in the soil throughout the sampling period. Higher Alpha diversity scores indicated increased bacterial abundance and diversity in the SA soils. A significant relationship between bacterial richness indices (SOBS, Chao and ACE) and soil pH, K and, P was observed in the SA soils. The diversity indices namely Shannon and Simpson also showed variations, suggesting the shift in the diversity of less abundant and more common species. Furthermore, the agricultural management practices, soil pH fluctuation, and the extractable elements had a greater influence on bacterial structure than that of temporal change.ConclusionsBased on the cross-over analysis of the bacterial composition, enzymatic activity, and soil properties, the relationship between bacterial composition and biologically-driven ecological processes can be identified as indicators of sustainability for the tea plantation.

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Long-term and widespread changes in agricultural practices influence ring-necked pheasant abundance in California.

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Long-term and widespread changes in agricultural practices influence ring-necked pheasant abundance in California.

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