News from the department of Ecology

Find news from the department of Ecology.

Research team evaluates global biodiversity data – with surprising results External web Ecology Department of Ecology Research news After conducting comprehensive studies, an international team of researchers, among them Mohammad Bahram at SLU, has gained important new insights into biodiversity above- and below- ground: they discovered that, on about 30 per cent of our planet’s terrestrial surface, there is great diversity of flora and fauna in the soil compared to considerably fewer species above the ground, or vice versa, biodiversity is much greater above than below-ground. These differences in biodiversity were not... 15 March 2019
Stable yields also under extreme weather? External web Department of Ecology Department of Crop Production Ecology Research news SLU Future Food We design our infrastructures, such as bridges, to withstand catastrophic but infrequent events, like floods. Can we use similar reasoning to design our cropping systems? Researchers at SLU and Uppsala University recently received funds from Formas, for a project to support the adaptation of agriculture to climatic extremes. The project will not only take into account the crops, cropping options and weather conditions, but also the human dimension – the farmers’ risk attitude and their decisi... 04 March 2019
Mattias Jonsson is CBC’s new Director External web Centre for biological control (CBC) Department of Ecology Department of Plant Protection Biology Platform Plant Protection Since the beginning of 2019, the Centre for Biological Control, CBC, has a new Director. Mattias Jonsson from the Department of Ecology takes over after Ingvar Sundh. 04 March 2019
Project on bees and neonicotinoids delivers additional new results External web Centre for organic food and farming (EPOK) Centre for chemical pesticides (CKB) Department of Ecology On start page external web Research news Platform Plant Protection A unique collaborative project showed already in 2015 that honeybee colonies are not measurably affected by neonicotinoids used for plant protection in spring-sown oilseed rape against flea beetles, but that bumblebees and solitary bees are negatively affected. Two new studies within the project have now been published. 27 February 2019
Ugandan partners at SLU for strategy discussions External web Department of Ecology Department of Soil and Environment International SLU Global Agenda 2030 Researchers from Makerere University involved in the bilateral cooperation with Sweden and SLU, visited SLU during the week to plan and strategise for the coming period of the programme. 22 February 2019
Ten reasons for preserving grasslands External web Ecology Department of Ecology Research International On start page external web Research news Press releases It is well known that natural and semi-natural grasslands are important for biodiversity. But such grasslands also provide us with many other benefits. SLU (The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), Stockholm and Lund Universities have led an international research group that has assessed ecosystem services from grasslands, using Northern Europe and Southern Africa as case studies. Grasslands are important for the climate, for agriculture, for water in the landscape, and have large... 20 February 2019
DNA-methods reveal the web of life External web Ecology Entomology Agricultural science Centre for biological control (CBC) Department of Ecology On start page external web Research news Press releases Platform Plant Protection Modern DNA-based methods provide entirely new insight into the interaction between different species in nature. Researchers can finally reveal the details of who is eating whom, who pollinates what flower and who lives on whose skin or feathers. A special issue of the scientific top journal Molecular Ecology now provides an overview of the state of the art in this field. 11 February 2019
CBC's annual report 2018 External web Centre for biological control (CBC) Department of Ecology Institutionen för skoglig mykologi och växtpatologi Department of Plant Protection Biology On start page external web SLU Future Food Department of Molecular Sciences Platform Plant Protection The Centre for Biological Control, CBC, has now published highlights of the activities during 2018. 07 February 2019
Biological control of tomato pests in Benin and Tanzania External web Centre for biological control (CBC) Department of Ecology International SLU Global Platform Plant Protection Growing tomatoes is not easy, there are many pests that attack the plants including various butterfly species. One example is the tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta, which is an invasive pest in many countries in Africa. In a new project, Miriam Karlsson will investigate which natural enemies these butterflies have. The aim is to use natural enemies to fight the pests. 05 February 2019
Butterflies thrive in grasslands surrounded by forest External web Department of Ecology Department of Forest Resource Management On start page external web Research news For pollinating butterflies, it is more important to be close to forests than to agricultural fields, according to a study by researchers at LiU and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala. The results provide important knowledge about how to plan and manage the landscape to ensure the survival of butterflies. 04 February 2019