Planet Earth has always been in a State

Planet Earth has always been in a State of Change; the rate of change has never been constant Global Issues in Nematode Ecology and Management Commonalities and Differences in Nematode Issues across the Globe Howard Ferris Department of Nematology University of California Davis

Big Issues in World Agriculture, Economy and Ecology 1. Global climate change and mitigation measures 2. Fossil fuel depletion and costs 3. Global trade agreements 4. Land ownership and land tenure …………and their interlinkages Context: the need to provide food, fiber, water, and shelter for 6. 7 billion people

Big Issues in World Agriculture, Economy and Ecology Energy Costs Climate Change n at itig M tio a itig n io M Mitigationslowing the process Adaptation: Shifts in land-use patterns and management practices Adaptationminimizing the effect on services n io at itig M n Trade Agreements tio a g iti M Land Tenure

How are different nematode functional groups affected by climate and land-use change? Provide Services Provide Disservices Mitigation tradeoffs?

A simplistic analysis of climate change effects on soil nematodes Nematode winners and losers? But. the same factors affect growth and tolerance of hosts, prey and natural enemies of the nematodes. …. And management decisions of the environmental steward. So, the net outcome is unpredictable, at least by me.

Thermal amplitude of bacterivores Physiological Ecology We have some of the necessary information…… Ferris et al. , 1995

But we need to think at a larger scale…… A conceptual framework for comparing trade-offs on ecosystem services Foley et al. , Science 309, 570 -574 (2005)

Landscape Ecology Professor Shenglei Fu, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Mitigation - reforestation – altering climate Adaptation - vegetation mixes to maximize functions and services Total area 50 ha. Each plot 1 ha. Treatments 14 Replications 3 Services: • pulp production • wildlife habitat • pollination • refugia • erosion control • groundwater quality • carbon sequestration • decomposition • nutrient cycling • nutrient retention • mineralization • soil quality • esthetics • public education China, 2007

Farmscape Ecology • Temperature effects • Rhizosphere interactions • Host effects Mitigation/Adaptation: Coffee under tree shade – Costa Rica, 2008

Adaptations Winter cover crop – bell beans California, 2006 • Soil fertility • Organic matter • Food web activity • Soil structure • Fossil fuel reduction • Habitat conservation • Food web activity • Soil structure No-till soybeans, Brazil, 2006

Su Is life still possible on this planet? ab n ai st Sustainagility: Migration to another region of planet n Inc io s at ar in , M st iro dseures Shap t ares ard noic p ow y, nom (H neeco ur d jo l an a nta is me y ron ili. Etnvi Non-farming livelihoods New farming system Soil Fauna Sustainagility: Change cropping system New cropping system Sustainagility: Change crops/animals Sustainagility: Change farming system New crops/animals Current crops/animals . ) Adapted from: Meine van Noordwijk World Agroforestry Centre Bogor, Indonesia Sustainagility: Shift to non-farming livelihood Sustainability of. . .

Land-use change in Kansas: Soil food web effects Community Ecology Structure Index Basal Index From Glover et al. , subm. • Consistent N-yield over 75 years without input • N-yield similar to that of high input wheat

Soil Food Web: Functions and Services in relation to punctuated and continuous resource supply O F B Mineralization P F B Pr Regulation O Easier to go in this direction P Pr Reverting to prairie? Need to understand invasion biology of omnivores and predators

Some Global Issues in Nematode Management Nematicide tradeoffs – production enhancement vs. economics, environmental hazards and food web simplification (pesticide treadmill) Zimbabwe, 1961 California, 1999

California, 1973 Impact on Higher Trophic Levels An ideal: Biodiversity-friendly nematicides that protect roots without killing non-target soil organisms: “immunogenic Korthals et al. , nematicides” 1998

Global Issues in Nematode Management practices in industrialized agriculture result in food web simplification – cp 1 and cp 2 bacterivores and fungivores predominate Reduction in cp 3, 4, 5 higher trophic levels Farmscape Ecology Costa Rica, 2008

Global Issues in Nematode Management Nematode biomass in soil food web Conventional Bacterivore Biomass Organic Herbivore Biomass Bacterivore Biomass

Molecular Ecology What is the rhizosphere effect of Theobroma on Musa? border cells molecular signals pro s od p o r toz Hawes et al. , 1998 Farrar et al. , 2003 oa nematodes arth Hirsch et al. , 2003

Other Nematode Services – enhancing soil fertility Behavioral Ecology An example of positive and negative feedback bacteria and bacterivore nematodes 0 nematodes Fu et al. 2005 with five nematodes with twenty nematodes

The Importance of Biodiversity California, 1996

Crossover Rotations Depleted Soils of Africa – Oostenbrink, 1959 FAO - redrawn A B C D E Corn, cassava, beans - Congo F A B C D E F Netherlands, 1965 California, 1982

Land-use Change: The Global Spread of Nematodes Invasion Biology Examples: Citrus – Tylenchulus semipenetrans worldwide Grapevines and their nematode complexes Soybeans and Heterodera glycines Cereals and grass seeds – Anguina spp. Potatoes – Globodera and Meloidogyne spp. Bananas and Radopholus, Helicotylenchus, Meloidogyne, Pratylenchus. Some nematodes have attributes of invaders: Arrival Establishment Integration Spread Detection Escape Effects of global exploration, human migration, modern transportation: Despite regulatory efforts, major crops throughout the world support the same nematode complexes. Most major nematode pest problems in California are caused by non-native species.

Sugarbeet Cyst Nematode - Heterodera schachtii sugarbeet production sugarbeet cyst nematode

Adaptation to Nematode Globalization and Land-use Change • Sources of resistance and other control/mitigation measures should apply in new areas of production. Caveat: consider the local acceptability of new varieties and the availability of appropriate infrastructure/technology. But…. . • Every year, we lose between 17, 000 and 100, 000 species as the result of human activities (The Sixth Extinction. Leakey and Lewin, 1995) • That represents an enormous loss of functions, services and genes. • The problem is compounded by proprietary ownership of resistance genes and commercialization of seed sources, reducing local selection of desirable traits.

Genetic diversity is a common legacy – it should be conserved, not owned Svalbard Global Seed Vault will store three million different crop varieties in case of a worldwide catastrophe. Dr. Vandana Shiva’s movement concerned with saving seeds, trading seeds, farming without corporate-derived seed. Ghandi: “You cannot monopolize this which we need for life. ”

Global Issues in Nematode Ecology and Management: Summary and Research Directions…… Organismal level: • Adapt knowledge from biological models and microcosm experiments Farmscape and Landscape levels: • Adapt management to scale of system • Develop a biodiversity-friendly landscape

Global Issues in Nematode Ecology and Management: Summary and Research Directions…… Thank you Organismal level: • Adapt knowledge from biological models and microcosm experiments Farmscape and Landscape levels: • Adapt management to scale of system • Develop a biodiversity-friendly landscape