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 Context: the need to provide food, fiber, water, and shelter for 6.7 billion people

and their interlinkages

Big Issues in World Agriculture, Economy and Ecology

Climate Change Energy Costs

Mitigationslowing the process Adaptationminimizing the effect on services

Adaptation: Shifts in land-use patterns and management practices

Trade Agreements

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?

Temperature

Higher

Lower

Higher Rainfall Lower

+++

-+

+-

---

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

Is life still possible on this planet?

Non-farming livelihoods

Sustainagility: Migration to another region of planet

Soil Fauna

New farming system

Sustainagility: Shift to non-farming livelihood

Sustainagility: Change farming system

Sustainagility: Change cropping system

New cropping system

New crops/animals

Adapted from: Meine van Noordwijk World Agroforestry Centre Bogor, Indonesia

Sustainagility: Change crops/animals

Current crops/animals

Sustainability of . . .

Land-use change in Kansas: Soil food web effects

Consistent N-yield over 75 years without input N-yield similar to that of high input wheat

Community Ecology

Structure Index

Basal Index

From Glover et al., subm.

Soil Food Web: Functions and Services

in relation to punctuated and continuous resource supply

P F
Mineralization

Pr

Regulation

Reverting to prairie? Need to understand invasion biology of omnivores and predators

Easier to go in this direction

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

Ten Years After Cu Application

Predator Nematodes
60 50 40 30 20 10

Biodiversity-friendly nematicides that protect roots without killing non-target soil organisms: Cu Concentration (Kg/ha) immunogenic nematicides Korthals et al., 1998

Impact on Higher Trophic Levels

An 0 ideal:
0 200 400 600 800

Global Issues in Nematode Management

Management practices in industrialized agriculture result in food web simplification cp1 and cp2 bacterivores and fungivores predominate Reduction in cp3, 4, 5 higher trophic levels

Farmscape Ecology

Costa Rica, 2008

Global Issues in Nematode Management

Nematode biomass in soil food web Conventional
Ln Biomass Predators
8 7 6

1 0.9 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 2 0

y=-3.18+1.34x; r2=0.59, p<0.05

Conventional Organic

5 Bacterivore Biomass 0.7 4 3 2 1 0

Proportion of Herbivores

y=0.64-0.07(ln(x+1)); r2=0.36, p<0.01

Organic

Herbivore Biomass

Bacterivore Biomass 0.1

0 200

Ln Biomass Prey

400 Biomass of Predators

600

800

Molecular Ecology

border cells

What is the rhizosphere effect of Theobroma on Musa?

molecular signals

Hawes et al., 1998 Farrar et al., 2003

nematodes

Hirsch et al., 2003

Other Nematode Services enhancing soil fertility

bacteria and bacterivore nematodes

Behavioral Ecology

An example of positive and negative feedback

100
0 nematodes

Positive feedback

Overgrazing

Bacterial Cells

80
with five nematodes

60 40 20 0 0 5 10 20 40 80 160 Nem atode Abundance

Fu et al. 2005

with twenty nematodes

The Service - N mineralization - Functional Complementarity

600 500 400 300 200 100 0 Mesorhabditis Cruznema Rhabditis Total N

The Importance of Biodiversity

3-Jun

10-Jun

17-Jun

24-Jun

1-Jul

8-Jul

15-Jul

22-Jul

15-Apr

22-Apr

29-Apr

6-May

13-May

20-May

27-May

The Service - N mineralization - Functional Continuity

900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0

Mesorhabditis Acrobeloides bod Total N

California, 1996

1Ap r 8Ap r 15 -A pr 22 -A pr 29 -A pr 6M ay 13 -M ay 20 -M ay 27 -M ay 3Ju n 10 -J un 17 -J un 24 -J un 1Ju l 8Ju l 15 -J ul 22 -J ul 29 -J ul

29-Jul

1-Apr

8-Apr

Crossover Rotations Depleted Soils of Africa Oostenbrink, 1959

Cereal Yields
FAO - redrawn

A B
Mt/Ha

4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 Developed Countries Asia Developing Latin America & Carribean Sub-Saharan Africa

C D E F A B C

0.5 0.0

1962

1965

1968

1971

1974

1977

1980

1983

1986

1989

1992

1995

1998

2001

Corn, cassava, beans - Congo

F
Netherlands, 1965

California, 1982

2004

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 Shivas 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

Spatial and temporal diversity Intercropping, Information Gaps Research Activities Scale: from molecular to multicropping Spatial and temporal diversity Intercropping, Scale: from molecular to multicropping GIS landscape GIS landscape Alpha taxonomy and Alpha taxonomy andMultidisciplinary Multidisciplinary functional guilds teams functional guilds teams Multivariate analysis Organismal level: Functional complementarity Modeling and continuity Multivariate analysis Functional complementarity Nematode and System Managementknowledge from Adapt Modeling and continuity biological models Goals Research Activities and microcosm

Land-use Change Land-use Impacts Change Research Activities Impacts Research Activities Changes in cropping cropping Changes in Host status and resistance and farming systems Host status and resistance Crop rotation and farming systems web systems Soil food management Crop Changes in nematode Biodiversity conservation rotation systems assemblages and Evaluation of Soil food web management sustainability interactions Changes in nematodeEcosystem Services Optimizing Biodiversity conservation assemblages and Information Gaps Evaluation of sustainability Research Activities interactions Ecosystem Services Optimizing

experiments Exclusion and System Management Molecular diagnostics Nematode and avoidance Goals Research Host and avoidance Molecular diagnosticsRotation experiments status, resistance Activities Exclusion Farmscape and Landscape levels: design Host status, resistance Cropping systemRotation experimentsFood web management Adapt management to scale of Cropping system design Food web management Sources Biological regulation of genes Sources of genes Biological regulation system Ecological amplitudes Ecological amplitudes Conservation of soil Conservation of soil Immunogenic Develop biodiversity Immunogenic a biodiversity-friendly nematicides biodiversity landscape nematicides

Global Issues in Nematode Ecology and Management: Summary and Research Directions
Land-use Change Impacts Research Activities Changes in cropping Host status and resistance and farming systems Crop rotation systems Soil food web management Changes in nematode Biodiversity conservation assemblages and Evaluation of sustainability interactions

Thank you

Optimizing Ecosystem Services Information Gaps Research Activities Spatial and temporal diversity Intercropping, Scale: from molecular to multicropping GIS landscape Multidisciplinary Alpha taxonomy and teams functional guilds Multivariate analysis Functional complementarity Modeling and continuity

Nematode and System Management Goals Research Activities Exclusion and avoidance Molecular diagnostics Rotation experiments Host status, resistance Cropping system design Food web management Sources of genes Biological regulation Ecological amplitudes Conservation of soil Immunogenic biodiversity nematicides

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