There is an increasing evidence that smallholder farms contribute substantially to food production globally, yet spatially explicit data on agricultural field sizes are currently lacking. Automated ...field size delineation using remote sensing or the estimation of average farm size at subnational level using census data are two approaches that have been used. However, both have limitations, for example, automatic field size delineation using remote sensing has not yet been implemented at a global scale while the spatial resolution is very coarse when using census data. This paper demonstrates a unique approach to quantifying and mapping agricultural field size globally using crowdsourcing. A campaign was run in June 2017, where participants were asked to visually interpret very high resolution satellite imagery from Google Maps and Bing using the Geo‐Wiki application. During the campaign, participants collected field size data for 130 K unique locations around the globe. Using this sample, we have produced the most accurate global field size map to date and estimated the percentage of different field sizes, ranging from very small to very large, in agricultural areas at global, continental, and national levels. The results show that smallholder farms occupy up to 40% of agricultural areas globally, which means that, potentially, there are many more smallholder farms in comparison with the two different current global estimates of 12% and 24%. The global field size map and the crowdsourced data set are openly available and can be used for integrated assessment modeling, comparative studies of agricultural dynamics across different contexts, for training and validation of remote sensing field size delineation, and potential contributions to the Sustainable Development Goal of Ending hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
This paper demonstrates a unique approach to quantifying and mapping agricultural field size globally using crowdsourcing. A campaign was run in June 2017 where participants were asked to visually interpret very high resolution satellite imagery from Google Maps and Bing using the Geo‐Wiki application. The results show that smallholder farms occupy up to 40% of agricultural areas globally, which means that, potentially, there are many more smallholder farms in comparison with the two different current global estimates of 12% and 24%. The global field size map and the crowdsourced data set are openly available.
Forest inventory and biomass mapping are important tasks that require inputs from multiple data sources. In this paper we implement two methods for the Ukrainian region of Polissya: random forest ...(RF) for tree species prediction and k-nearest neighbors (k-NN) for growing stock volume and biomass mapping. We examined the suitability of the five-band RapidEye satellite image to predict the distribution of six tree species. The accuracy of RF is quite high: ~99% for forest/non-forest mask and 89% for tree species prediction. Our results demonstrate that inclusion of elevation as a predictor variable in the RF model improved the performance of tree species classification. We evaluated different distance metrics for the k-NN method, including Euclidean or Mahalanobis distance, most similar neighbor (MSN), gradient nearest neighbor, and independent component analysis. The MSN with the four nearest neighbors (k = 4) is the most precise (according to the root-mean-square deviation) for predicting forest attributes across the study area. The k-NN method allowed us to estimate growing stock volume with an accuracy of 3 m3 ha−1 and for live biomass of about 2 t ha−1 over the study area.
Europe's forests, particularly in Ukraine, are highly vulnerable to climate change. The maintenance and improvement of forest health are high-priority issues, and various stakeholders have shown an ...interest in understanding and utilizing ecological interactions between trees and their associated microorganisms. Endophyte microbes can influence the health of trees either by directly interacting with the damaging agents or modulating host responses to infection. In the framework of this work, ten morphotypes of endophytic bacteria from the tissues of unripe acorns of
L. were isolated. Based on the results of the sequenced 16S rRNA genes, four species of endophytic bacteria were identified:
,
,
, and
. Determining the activity of pectolytic enzymes showed that the isolates
and
could not cause maceration of plant tissues. Screening for these isolates revealed their fungistatic effect against phytopathogenic micromycetes, namely
,
, and
. Inoculation of
,
, and their complex in oak leaves, in contrast to phytopathogenic bacteria, contributed to the complete restoration of the epidermis at the sites of damage. The phytopathogenic bacteria
and
caused a 2.0 and 2.2 times increase in polyphenol concentration in the plants, respectively, while the ratio of antioxidant activity to total phenolic content decreased. Inoculation of
and
isolates into oak leaf tissue were accompanied by a decrease in the total pool of phenolic compounds. The ratio of antioxidant activity to total phenolic content increased. This indicates a qualitative improvement in the overall balance of the oak leaf antioxidant system induced by potential PGPB. Thus, endophytic bacteria of the genus
isolated from the internal tissues of unripe oak acorns have the ability of growth biocontrol and spread of phytopathogens, indicating their promise for use as biopesticides.
Forest dimensional structure and tree species composition strictly define ecosystem resilience, success of its functioning and development. Spatial structure of forest compartments provides an ...additional information on the forest stand heterogeneity. The aim of this study is to examine structural patterns (both spatial and nonspatial ones) in European oak (Quercus robur L.) urban forests located in Kyiv city, Ukraine. We compared two middle-aged (~ 80 years) and two mature (~ 180 years) oak stands in terms of structural metrics collecting a data from geo-referenced trees on the established permanent sample plots. Younger stands reached similar tree diameter diversity (9.07 and 10.45 vs. 11.42 and 14.05 of Shannon indices), while the compositional diversity was driven by the dominance of either oak or European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus L.). We have not found any differences in the species mingling and deadwood distribution indices except a clear occurrence pattern for the stand located near roads. Herewith, the largest distance between the plot and park pathways was an indicator of changed spatial variation and tree dimensional differentiation within one middle-aged stand. We hypothesize that human impacts can alter structural development in urban deciduous forests providing both positive (gap formation, deadwood occurrence and ecosystem complexity) and negative (shifts in compositional and successional trajectories) effects on such forest stands.
Several global high-resolution built-up surface products have emerged over the last five years, taking full advantage of open sources of satellite data such as Landsat and Sentinel. However, these ...data sets require validation that is independent of the producers of these products. To fill this gap, we designed a validation sample set of 50 K locations using a stratified sampling approach independent of any existing global built-up surface products. We launched a crowdsourcing campaign using Geo-Wiki ( https://www.geo-wiki.org/ ) to visually interpret this sample set for built-up surfaces using very high-resolution satellite images as a source of reference data for labelling the samples, with a minimum of five validations per sample location. Data were collected for 10 m sub-pixels in an 80 × 80 m grid to allow for geo-registration errors as well as the application of different validation modes including exact pixel matching to majority or percentage agreement. The data set presented in this paper is suitable for the validation and inter-comparison of multiple products of built-up areas.
During December 2020, a crowdsourcing campaign to understand what has been driving tropical forest loss during the past decade was undertaken. For 2 weeks, 58 participants from several countries ...reviewed almost 115 K unique locations in the tropics, identifying drivers of forest loss (derived from the Global Forest Watch map) between 2008 and 2019. Previous studies have produced global maps of drivers of forest loss, but the current campaign increased the resolution and the sample size across the tropics to provide a more accurate mapping of crucial factors leading to forest loss. The data were collected using the Geo-Wiki platform ( www.geo-wiki.org ) where the participants were asked to select the predominant and secondary forest loss drivers amongst a list of potential factors indicating evidence of visible human impact such as roads, trails, or buildings. The data described here are openly available and can be employed to produce updated maps of tropical drivers of forest loss, which in turn can be used to support policy makers in their decision-making and inform the public.
Purpose. The aim of the article is to develop scenarios of consumption of the main types of organic livestock products in Ukraine. These scenarios should include the creation of an effective ...institutional environment aimed not only at strict quality control, but also at stimulating the modernization of production, the implementation of environmentally friendly technologies and genetic technologies for the production of safe products.
Methodology / approach. The methodological basis of the study is an integrated (systemic) approach, which allows forecasting more accurately the reproduction of the processes of quality supply of organic livestock products, taking into account the factors that affect it. Methodological aspects of calculations in forecasting the capacity of new segments of the organic market (which replace the market segments of traditional or mass products) are based on criteria of rational consumption, taking into account the influence of such factors: potential of organic livestock production in Ukraine, number of households (consumers), income of households (consumers), differentiation of household incomes (consumers), prices for organic livestock products, prices for livestock products originating from the traditional (mass) sector, consumer confidence in the quality assurance system for livestock products (including state quality control systems), consumer confidence in the organic certification system of livestock products.
Results. The main factors influencing the consumption of organic livestock products in Ukraine are identified, among which the main ones are the price and quality of products. The reasons of low rates of production of livestock products development with protected geographical names and organic products in Ukraine are described. In particular, it is substantiated that due to the high cost, complexity of production technologies, high cost of certification, the long transition period to organic production, the production of organic livestock products does not reach potential.
Originality / scientific novelty. The forecasting of the capacity of the organic sector is made under the conditions of partial or complex implementation of measures aimed at improving the quality of livestock products with the definition of inertial, innovative and systemic scenarios. The authors identified the system scenario as a priority. According to the systemic variant in Ukraine for the period up to 2025 the forecasted capacity of the internal market for organic meat and meat products (in terms of meat) will amount to 3.26 bln UAH; organic milk, dairy products and butter (in terms of milk) will amount to 2.65 bln UAH; organic eggs will amount to 0.47 bln UAH. In general, the market potential capacity of the main types of organic livestock products (at prices in 2019) will be 6.38 bln UAH (0.2 bln Euro) or 151.9 UAH (4.9 Euro) per one person. This is much less than the current European figure of 50 euros per person. In the potential consumer market, the share of organic livestock products in accordance with the systemic version of the solution of the quality problem will be from 1.6 % (meat and meat products) and 1.5 % (milk and dairy products) to 2.3 % (eggs), which is much lower than European indicators.
Practical value / implications. Scenario forecasting of the dynamics of potential demand for organic livestock products allows understanding the pace of development of the domestic market of organic products, justification of measures and tools to stimulate domestic organic production, determining the impact of these measures on the capacity of the organic market. Otherwise, a significant market share of organic livestock products and food products of animal origin, including milk and dairy products, will be filled by imported products of European producers. The authors identified as a priority systemic scenario for the development of consumption of the main types of organic livestock products in Ukraine.
The aim of the work is to to ascertain their antibacterial activity, as well as the toxic effects toward human cells of composites of silver nanoparticles immobilized by electron-beam technology onto ...crystals of antimicrobial agents metronidazole and levofloxacin
The assessment of antibacterial activity and cytotoxic action of silver naonparticled metronidazole and levofloxacin composites was carried out using the MTT-test. Objects of study of antibacterial activity were three strains of microorganisms:
ATCC25923,
dH5α,
ATCC9027. For the investigation of cytotoxic action, cells of HEK 293 line obtained from human kidney embryos were used. Nanocomposites of metronidazole and levofloxacin were tested at concentrations known as the minimum toxic dose of antibiotics and at concentrations reduced/increased in 2 times.
Immobilization of silver nanoparticles on the surface of metronidazole and levofloxacin by electron-beam technology gives a different effect on their antibacterial and cytotoxic activity. Nanocomposites of metronidazole exhibit a weaker antibacterial effect on E. coli than metronidazole alone, while levofloxacin nanocomposites have higher antibacterial activity compared to levofloxacin alone. Nanocomposites of the levofloxacin, compared to free levofloxacin, are characterized by a higher antibacterial effect towards gram-negative bacteria (
.
), but practically do not differ in activity toward
and
. Immobilization of silver nanoparticles on metronidazole crystals does not affect on its cytotoxicity relative to pseudonormal human cells line HEK 293, while the nanocomposites of levofloxacin with silver are more toxic to these cells than levofloxacin alone.
The phenolic compounds in the leaves of 12 species of birch trees of the subgenera Neurobetula, Betulenta, and Betula were biochemically profiled using HPTLC. The duration of the vegetation period ...was found to be significantly related to the content of total phenols ( r = 0.74) and flavonoids in leaves ( r = 0.65). The correlations for Neurobetula plants were 0.86 and 0.91, respectively. The relationship between the duration of the growing season and the concentration of phenolic compounds in Betula plants was inverse ( r = −0.84). A cluster analysis of phytochemical profiles revealed that the studied birch species form groups that coincide with the subgenera proposed by De Jong due to an affinity with the qualitative composition of phenolic compounds. A multiple correlation analysis confirmed the relationship between the qualitative composition of phenolic compounds and the morphological characteristics of the leaves. The results of phytochemical profiling revealed that the qualitative composition of polyphenols in the leaves of 12 birch species is quite specific, allowing the use of individual compounds as additional differential biochemical characters in identifying species and hybrids and studying their potential role in plant adaptation to habitat conditions.
This study analyses the challenges the higher education of Ukraine, university students and teachers face in wartime, as well as considers accessibility and effectiveness of remote learning. This is ...done by examining the National University of Food Technologies and its remote learning experience due to the Russia's aggression in February, 2022. While many universities have similar problems nowadays, every institution has its own unique ones (location of education agents; possibility for teachers to create new courses and/or improve the existing ones downloading the materials and tests; access to resources for the students; access to academic support). Despite the fact that the National University of Food Technologies has already had its own distance platform since 2015-2016 and have been constantly improving it the last 2-3 years especially because of Covid pandemic-2020, the wartime caused a lot of problems preventing access for the students to get a quality education. The research considers the benefits offered by remote learning for the students and teachers, and difficulties connected with low accessibility and even impossibility for both educational agents to continue educational process. On the one hand, study progress is not really feasible or sustainable when students live in situations of war or occupation. On the other hand, the article demonstrates that remote learning is capable of delivering the educational goals of the university to the areas affected by the war.
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