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Der Bereich Ernährung wird in den kommenden Jahrzehnten vor zahlreichen Herausforderungen stehen, die sich aus den veränderten Lebensgewohnheiten und globalen Konsummustern bei gleichzeitig hohem Ressourcenverbrauch ergeben. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird in diesem Papier ein neu entwickeltes Instrument zur Verringerung der Auswirkungen auf die Ernährung vorgestellt, der sogenannte Ernährungsfußabdruck. Das Instrument basiert auf der Umsetzung des Konzepts einer nachhaltigen Ernährung in Entscheidungsprozessen und der Unterstützung einer ressourcenschonenden Gesellschaft. Das Konzept integriert jeweils vier Indikatoren aus den beiden ernährungsrelevanten Bereichen Gesundheit und Umwelt und verdichtet sie zu einem leicht kommunizierbaren Ergebnis, das sich in seinen Ergebnissen auf eine Wirkungsebene beschränkt. Anhand von acht Mittagsmahlzeiten werden die Methodik und ihre Berechnungsverfahren detailliert vorgestellt. Die Ergebnisse unterstreichen die allgemeine wissenschaftliche Sichtweise auf Lebensmittel; Mahlzeiten auf der Basis von tierischem Eiweiß sind im Hinblick auf ihre Gesundheits- und Umweltauswirkungen relevanter. Das Konzept scheint für Verbraucher nützlich zu sein, um ihre eigene Wahl zu bewerten, und für Unternehmen, um ihre internen Daten, ihre Benchmarking-Prozesse oder ihre externe Kommunikationsleistung zu erweitern. Methodische Unzulänglichkeiten und die Interpretation der Ergebnisse werden erörtert, und die Schlussfolgerung zeigt das Potenzial der Instrumente für die Gestaltung von Übergangsprozessen und für die Verringerung des Verbrauchs natürlicher Ressourcen durch die Unterstützung von Entscheidungen und Wahlmöglichkeiten von Lebensmittelanbietern und Verbrauchern.
Functional foods are still of increasing interest among the scientific community. Based on the extensive literature about functional foods, four main research areas can be identified: functional food innovation (1); the scientific background of the health benefits of functional foods (2); the regulation of functional foods (3); and consumer acceptance of functional foods (4). These research areas are not detached from each other, and each presents a consumer perspective. Although multifaceted studies focus on consumer acceptance of functional foods, literature regarding a structured framework of the determinants of functional food acceptance is limited. The aim of this review is to provide the reader with an overview of the recent literature on consumer attitudes towards functional foods and with an extensive structured framework of the determinants of functional food acceptance and their intertwined relationships. The scientific literature discusses a plethora of determinants of consumer acceptance of functional foods. These determinants can be categorized into consumer and market attributes, which show interwoven relationships with each other. On the one hand, consumer attributes are widely discussed in the literature, while on the other hand structured analyses of the market perspective are inadequately represented. Additionally, the ongoing development of new scientific findings regarding health benefits of different functional ingredients leads to a large amount of new functional food products in the market. Consequently, the research area of functional foods and in particular consumer acceptance of functional food innovation will remain an important research field in the coming years.
Evaporation from growing media significantly contributes to increasing the humidity in greenhouses. The effects of a pine bark mulch cover on substrate evaporation was evaluated with different pot experiments. The obtained data have been tested within the water balance model HYDRUS-1D, which was originally developed for mineral soils. Objective of this study was to test the performance of HYDRUS-1D to describe evaporation in plant containers and to evaluate the effect of pine bark as cover layer or layers within growing media. Application of pine bark in combination with peat substrate reduced evaporation up to 50% depending on position, thickness of mulch layer and water content of the substrate. The highest reduction in evaporation was measured in a dry substrate which is covered with 4 cm pine bark. The HYDRUS-1D model describes evaporation from growing media in combination with layers of pine bark correctly as long as hysteresis of the water retention curve and vapor flow is considered in the model.
Restoring depleted soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks of arable land to remove carbon from the atmosphere and offset fossil fuel emissions is a promising strategy for the mitigation of climate change. In agroecosystems conservational tillage practices and the abandonment of formerly plowed fields (ex-arable land) are shown to have the highest potential to sequester SOC. Nevertheless reported sequestration rates vary and the effects of environmental site conditions remain poorly understood. Our results are based on a meta-analysis of 273 paired SOC estimates from 65 publications which included only mineral soils from the temperate zone. SOC stocks of ex-arable grasslands with an average of 14 years since abandonment were 18% larger compared to the SOC of arable land. Likewise, SOC stocks of never-plowed grassland plots were 11% larger than the SOC stocks of abandoned fields. The average sequestration rate was 0.72 t C ha− 1 yr− 1. Semi-arid and sub-humid climate as well as low initial SOC stocks positively affected proportional SOC gains suggesting that the recovery of carbon stocks is not limited by low primary production. Therefore, the northward shift of cultivation areas in the temperate zone will lead to the abandonment of soils with high SOC recovery potential. However, if native soils are opened up elsewhere to compensate for yield losses due to abandonment the surplus of SOC in ex-arable land can easily be overcompensated by cultivation losses.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 around 45 million hectares
of arable land became abandoned across Russia. Our study focused on the recovery
potential and conservation value of grassland vegetation on ex-arable land in the Tyumen
region of the Western Siberian grain belt. We compared ex-arable grasslands of different
successional stages with ancient grasslands as reference for the final stage of succession
along a climatic gradient from the pre-taiga to the forest steppe zone. Plant community
composition and species richness of ex-arable land clearly developed towards reference
sites over time, but even after 24 years of abandonment, the grassland vegetation had not
totally recovered. The c-diversity of vascular plants was slightly higher on ex-arable land
than in ancient grasslands but the mean a-diversity was still moderately lower. A significant proportion of the vegetation of ex-arable land still consisted of ruderal and mesic
grassland species and the number and cover of meadow-steppe species was significantly
lower than in ancient grasslands. Grazing and time since abandonment positively affected
the reestablishment of target grassland species, whereas it was negatively affected by the
cover of grasses. In contrast to ex-arable land, the conservation value of arable land is only
modest. Therefore, future intensification of land use is most likely less harmful if directed
to existing arable land. Re-cultivation of ex-arable land and grassland improvement operations such as seeding of competitive grass species are major threats for the biodiversity of secondary grasslands on ex-arable land in the forest steppe zone of Western Siberia.
Osnabrück’s so called “Green Fingers” – eleven landscape corridors reaching from the inner city into the region – structure the regional metropolis’ urban pattern. They supply the city centre with fresh air, serve as recreational destinations for the city’s inhabitants and provide space for close to the city agriculture and forestry. First defined in 1926, the Green Fingers have since been part of various planning documents and programs. However, these open spaces have been diminished bit by bit over time. The city’s growing need for land to build on had its impact just like the development of major traffic routes. On the one hand a lively debate has emerged: the Green Finger’s qualities, their ecological, aesthetical and cultural significance become increasingly important. Yet on the other hand decision makers still tend to put greenfield building activity first. A lot of efforts in striving for inner development are undermined by the ever growing demand for space. The urban sprawl continues, although various kinds of sanctuaries have been added to the urban and landscape planners’ equipment. The growing urban framework with its semidetached and single family houses does not come to a halt.
Longitudinal analysis investigates period (P), often as years. Additional scales of time are age (A) and birth cohort (C) Aim of our study was to use ecological APC analysis for women breast cancer incidence and mortality in Germany. Nation-wide new cases and deaths were obtained from Robert Koch Institute and female population from federal statistics, 1999–2008. Data was stratified into ten 5-years age-groups starting 20–24 years, ten birth cohorts starting 1939–43, and two calendar periods 1999–2003 and 2004–2008. Annual incidence and mortality were calculated: cases to 100,000 women per year. Data was analyzed using glm and apc packages of R. Breast cancer incidence and mortality increased with age. Secular rise in breast cancer incidence and decline in mortality was observed for period1999-2008. Breast cancer incidence and mortality declined with cohorts; cohorts 1950s showed highest incidence and mortality. Age-cohort best explained incidence and mortality followed by age-period-cohort with overall declining trends. Declining age-cohort mortality could be probable. Declining age-cohort incidence would require future biological explanations or rendered statistical artefact. Cohorts 1949–1958 could be unique in having highest incidence and mortality in recent time or future period associations could emerge relatively stronger to cohort to provide additional explanation of temporal change over cohorts.
Iodine biofortification of butterhead lettuce (Lactuca sativa)viafoliar sprays was investigated infield trials, focusing on assessing the influence of the time and application method. The iodine (I)concentrations in the edible plant parts increased when potassium iodide (KI) and potassiumiodate (KIO3) solutions were sprayed at doses up to 0.25 kg I ha–1on different dates close to har-vest. Crop yield and marketable quality were not significantly affected by I treatments. A greaterefficacy of KI was frequently observed and probably related to its lower point of deliquescenceand smaller anion size in comparison with KIO3. KI sprays on butterhead lettuce at different timesof the day resulted in a higher I enrichment when applied at 11:00 and 15:00 h. The diurnal varia-tion in I uptake may reflect the impact of fluctuating climatic conditions at the time of application.Iodine treatments at different application dates near harvest led to an increasing I concentrationin the vegetable produce that could be related to the rising shoot fresh mass and leaf area.When KI and KIO3were sprayed simultaneously with commercial calcium fertilizers, fungicidesor insecticides, I accumulation in butterhead lettuce was not negatively affected or in some caseseven significantly enhanced. The results show that foliar sprays of KI and KIO3are an effectivemethod to biofortify butterhead lettuce with I and this approach may easily be implemented as aroutine method in commercial cultivation.
The aim of this paper is to advance the research on innovation at the pharma-nutrition interface by analysing the three steps of science, technology and market convergence in the area of probiotics using a life cycle perspective. Results from a bibliometric analysis drawing upon 8245 scientific publications, 2082 patents and 1357 news reports focussing on product launch announcements from 1990 up to 2009 indicate that the proposed curve shapes of the life cycles in the theory based framework can be transferred to the case of probiotics. There is a time shift considering the life cycles showing the same activities of the industrial sectors at different moments of time. The food sector dominates the field of probiotics by driving science, technology and market convergence showing earlier activities in scientific publications, patents as well as product launches, while presenting a higher clockspeed between the different life cycle phases. While the food sector dominates product launches for food products containing probiotics, the pharmaceutical sector dominates the product launches of the supplement market. In addition, a clear trend towards industry convergence can be identified by the growing number of cross-industry activities.
Convergence processes are based on the activity of distinct industry sectors showing cross-industry collaborations. The aim of this paper is to analyze cross-industry collaborations between the food and pharmaceutical sectors in the convergence area of functional foods. Selected companies from food (Nestlé/Danone) and pharmaceutical (Martek/Bayer HealthCare) sectors are analyzed using the determinants of motivation and industrial scope. The analysis shows that food companies are more active in cross-industry collaborations than pharmaceutical companies. The latter are more active at the front-end of the value chain focusing on research and development, and delivering their ingredients to food companies that due to their higher expertise in consumer marketing launch the products. While the first cross-industry collaborations were based on an exploration motivation, those that follow focus on exploitation. Acquisitions and licensing agreements are dominant in inside-out and outside-in processes, whereas strategic alliances and joint ventures are based on a coupled process between the food and pharmaceutical sectors.
Between Ekaterinburg and Nowosibirsk, in the Western Siberian grain belt, spring wheat is grown on fertileChernozem soils. Field and farm sizes are large but the land-use intensity per area is low compared to CentralEurope. Fertilizers and pesticides are applied only in low to moderate quantities and yields range between 10and 20 dt ha-1 . We studied the arable weed flora in the northern forest steppe zone of Tyumen region using arandomized sampling design. Surprisingly, the species richness was only moderate, on average 9.8 ± 3.8species per 100 m². Compared to weed communities of Bashkiria (Southern Ural) and less intensively usedarable land of Central Europe these numbers are rather low. Moreover, most of the recorded species werecosmopolitans or widely distributed throughout the temperate zone. We suggest that the land use intensitywas high enough to reduce the density of a number of weed species in a way that they were not registered byour random sampling design. The limited conservational value of the weed vegetation of large grain fields inTyumen leads to the conclusion that if intensification of land use is unavoidable, it should be directed to arableland and not to ex-arable land or ancient grassland, which is of higher conservation value.
Despite the high significance of the Western Siberian grain belt for crop production in Russia, its weed communities are largely unknown. In this region spring wheat is grown on fertile Chernozem soils with large field sizes but land-use intensity per area is low compared to Central Europe. By usin a randomized sampling design we studied arable weed assemblages in the northern forest-steppe zone of Tyumen region on 99 within-field sampling plots of 100 m² size. Surprisingly, with average of 9.8 ± 3.8 species 100 m-2 species richness was low when compared with low-input farming in Central Europe and did not differ between areas of different land-use intensity. Against expectations species composition was not predominantly controlled by soil characteristics and climate, most likely due to short natural gradients. Instead, management factors such as fertilization and tillage intensity seemed to be important factors. Except for two species the Tyumen weed flora consisted mainly of species that are widespread throughout the temperate zone. We found only 10 species with an origin or core area in North Asia or Eastern Europe. The species pool was generally small and with 26% the proportion of non-native spe cies (archaeophytes) was low, when compared to Central European weed communities. Given that weed communities with higher species richness are described from neighboring Bashkiria, we conclude that arable land-use intensity in Tyumen region is high enough to reduce community species richness within arable fields estimated by a randomized sampling design. Since measured soil nutrient values did not affect species richness, herbicide use is most likely the crucial management factor. Furthermore, species-richness was vitally restricted by the small species pool. The low proportion of thermophilous arable weed species that originate from the Mediterranean or Middle-Eastern area and contribute signif icantly to the Central European weed diversity indicate that climatic dispersal limitations may be re sponsible for the small number of weed species in the Tyumen flora. An additional constraint was the short history of arable farming in Western Siberia, where considerable arable land use was started only by the end of the 17th century.
Soil seed banks have a high potential for vegetation re-establishment in restoration projects. We studied the soil seed bank in an oxbow system of a disconnected floodplain of the Danube River in Southern Germany. The aim of the study was to analyze if floodplain target species were still present in the seed bank after more than 150 years of embankment and disconnection from fluvial dynamics. In this context we investigated seed density, seed bank species richness and species composition in four broad habitat types with and without water-level fluctuations during the time of embankment (permanent water, fluctuating water, reed bed, hardwood floodplain forest). In addition, the similarity between seed bank and above-ground vegetation in these habitat types was studied in order to predict the success of future restoration measures. In total, 124 vascular plant species were determined in the seed bank samples. More than 50 % (66 species) were target species typical for floodplain habitats and 26 of these target species were lost or very rare in the above-ground vegetation. The four habitat types differed significantly in mean seed density and mean species richness. Mean species richness and the number of target species in the seed bank as well as the mean seed density were greatest in the habitats with fluctuating water level whereas mean seed density was much lower in the parts with more or less stable conditions like permanently standing water and hardwood floodplain forest. Sørensen similarity between seed bank and above-ground vegetation was very low in habitats with more or less stable water levels and desirable floodplain target species were very rare or completely absent. Our results indicate that the soil seed bank can be an important seed reservoir for the ecological restoration of floodplain plant communities especially for habitats with unstable environmental conditions during the period of disconnection. Restoration of water level dynamics is important to maintain the seed bank of populations of floodplain target species.