Tuesday, June 09, 2020

Infected insects may warn of impending citrus disease a year in advance

by American Phytopathological Society

Citrus greening disease (Huanglongbing of HLB), transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid, is currently the biggest threat to the citrus industry and is threat to many parts of the world, including Asia, Africa, South America, and the Unites States. In Florida alone, citrus greening disease has accounted for losses of several billions of U.S. dollars.

Despite HLB's widespread prevalence, factors influencing the epidemic are poorly understood because most research has been conducted after the pathogen has been introduced. In an attempt to change this, several Texas-based scientists surveyed commercial and residential citrus trees from 2007 to 2017 and monitored the time-course variations in the proportion of citrus trees and the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP).

"Unlike previous studies on citrus greening disease epidemics that were typically initiated in commercial orchards after the disease had been introduced or became widespread in the area, our study commenced 5-years prior to the first detection of the greening bacterium in Texas and continued for 5 additional years," said Olufemi Alabi, one of the scientists involved in this research. "This gave us unique opportunity to obtain a holistic picture of the progression of the disease epidemics from its onset in both commercial and residential ecologies.

Despite the first appearance of citrus greening disease in Florida in 2005, the bacterium wasn't found in Texas until 2011, when scientists detected it in the psyllids. The disease was not detected in citrus years until 2012, suggesting that psyllids may actually be used for early detection of the HLB pathogen in newly invaded areas.

Over the course of this decade-long study, the proportion of infected trees and psyllids increased exponentially over time while the number of fields and residential backyards with at least one disease-affected citrus tree reached 26% and 40% respectively by 2017. Research also revealed seasonal fluctuations and will provide comprehensive insight into the ongoing citrus greening epidemic in Texas, with potential lessons for California and other citrus-growing regions that have not yet been affected.

"Our study suggest that a flatter progression of citrus greening disease epidemics could be achieved through the implementation of strategies to protect new plantings from infection and the continued implementation of the area-wide ACP management program," said Mamoudou Sétamou, the lead author of the article .

This study is good news for Texas farmers, who were alarmed by the rapid spread of citrus greening disease epidemics in Florida and worried that the smaller Texas citrus industry would be quickly overwhelmed once the disease appeared.

"Surprisingly, our research showed that although an exponential growth was observed in progression of infected trees in Texas, the annual rate of increase was relatively slower than reported from Florida. This led us to conduct series of analyses that enabled us to identify potential climatic and cultural factors that may be contributing to the relatively slow spread of citrus greening disease in Texas."

New technique has potential to protect oranges from citrus greening

More information: Mamoudou Sétamou et al, Distribution of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus in Citrus and the Asian Citrus Psyllid in Texas Over a Decade, Plant Disease (2019). DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-08-19-1779-RE

Provided by American Phytopathological Society

China removes pangolin from

traditional medicine list

The Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) Credit: Sarita Jnawali of NTNC – Central Zoo The United States, CC BY 2.0
China has removed pangolin parts from its official list of traditional medicines, state media reported Tuesday, days after increasing legal protections on the endangered animal.

Pangolins were left out of the official Chinese Pharmacopoeia this year, along with substances including a pill formulated with bat faeces, the state-owned Health Times reported.

The pangolin, the world's most heavily trafficked mammal, is thought by some scientists to be the possible host of the novel coronavirus that emerged at a market in China's Wuhan city last year.

Its body parts fetch a high price on the black market as they are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine, although scientists say they have no therapeutic value.

China's forestry authority on Friday gave pangolins the highest level of protection in the country due to its threatened status.

"Depleted wild resources" are being withdrawn from the Pharmacopoeia, Health Times reported, although the exact reason for the removal of pangolins was unclear.

China has in recent months banned the sale of wild animals for food, citing the risk of diseases spreading to humans, but the trade remains legal for other purposes—including research and traditional medicine.

The World Wide Fund for Nature on Saturday said it "strongly welcomed" China's move to upgrade protections for the pangolin, calling it an "important respite" from the illegal pangolin trade.
Gabon bans eating of pangolin and bats amid pandemic

© 2020 AF

Climate change brings fires, floods and moths to Siberia

by Marina Lapenkova

*Russia's Siberia region, best known as an icy tundra, is being transformed by climate change*

Best known as a vast, cold tundra, Russia's sprawling Siberia region is being transformed by climate change that has brought with it warmer temperatures, forest fires and growing swarms of hungry moth larvae.

Spanning millions of square kilometres east of the Urals to the Pacific Ocean, the area has been particularly hard hit this year by extreme weather, which scientists say is the result of global warming.

Photographs of wild flower fields in local media last month were a rare site so early in the year in the normally chilly region—and ice cream sales were up 30 percent.

"This winter was the hottest in Siberia since records began 130 years ago," said Marina Makarova, the chief meteorologist at Russia's Rosgidromet weather service.

"Average temperatures were up to six degrees centigrade higher than the seasonal norms."

Then spring came, and with it much warmer temperatures. Makarova says April saw some days reach 30 C or higher.

The warmer temperatures didn't just bring wild flowers and boosted ice cream sales.

Rainfall was up by a third in eastern Siberia, sparking devastating floods that forced thousands to be evacuated, particularly in the town of Tulun and the surrounding area.

'Huge moths'

Swarms of the Siberian silk moth, whose larvae eat away at conifer trees in the region's forests, have grown rapidly amid the rising temperatures.

The moths are usually inactive during winter and eat in spring, summer and autumn periods which are now lengthening.

"In all my long career as a specialist, I've never seen moths so huge and growing so quickly," said Vladimir Soldatov, a moth expert, who warns of "tragic consequences" for forests.

The larvae, which are taking over larger areas of forest, strip trees of their needles and make them more susceptible to forest fires.

Siberia evokes images of chilly winters, but soaring temperatures this spring saw wild flowers bloom and ice cream sales soar

The moth "has moved 150 kilometres north compared to its usual territory and that's because of global warming," Soldatov told AFP.

In the Krasnoyarsk region of eastern Siberia, more than 120,000 trees have had to be treated to kill the larvae, according to the regional forest protection centre.

Another insect pest, the bark beetle that bores into tree trunks, has also recently colonised the region. It has flourished since 2003 as the climate became milder.

With snow melting earlier in the year in northern Siberia, exposed dry vegetation and soil means fires can spread easily, said Alexei Yaroshenko, who heads the forest section at Greenpeace Russia.

From January to mid-May, fires devastated 4.8 million hectares in Siberia, among them 1.1 million hectares of high-latitude boreal forest, according a Greenpeace report published Tuesday.

This year's fires follow on from exceptionally severe blazes last summer.

Forest fires 'doubled'

Climate change has led the number of forest fires to "double in 10 years," said Vyacheslav Kharuk, the head of the forest monitoring laboratory at the Forest Institute in the city of Krasnoyarsk.

The fires risk cutting the capacity of far-northern boreal forests to retain carbon dioxide and methane, which will lead to higher emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

According to research by Kharuk's laboratory, between 2000 and 2009, around three million hectares of forest caught fire every year. Between 2010 and 2019, the average was six million hectares.

In years to come "the area of the fires will increase to double or four times the size," he predicted.

The news is not all bad: the changing nature of Siberia's landscape will attract new species of birds and animals, Kharuk added.

"Our steppes are getting greener. Our lakes are warming up. Siberia is becoming a more appealing region for animals and for us, too."

But, he says, the number of extreme weather events means he is already starting to "miss our winters with temperatures of minus 40 degrees centigrade"

Connection found between Arctic Oscillation and increased risk of fire in Siberia

From space, Russian cosmonauts fight chess grandmaster to a draw

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Two Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station played chess against an Earth-bound grandmaster on Tuesday, in a celebration of the first such game half a century ago.

Equipped with an electronic chessboard, cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner played in zero gravity against 30-year-old Russian former child prodigy Sergei Karyakin.

The game was broadcast live and ended in a draw after about 15 minutes.

It was organised by the space agency Roscosmos and the Russian Chess Federation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Space-Earth game of chess played on June 9, 1970.

"It's a huge honour for us not to lose to a grandmaster," Ivanishin said, while Vagner added that US astronauts on the ISS watched the game and gave tips.

Karyakin, who played from Moscow's Museum of Cosmonautics, said he was jittery during the game and could not fall asleep until 4 am on the night before the match.

"They played well," he said. "I can say that the human brain functions very well in space, and I have seen this today."

At the age of 12 years and seven months, Karyakin became the world's youngest ever grandmaster.

Ivanishin, Vagner and US astronaut Chris Cassidy arrived on the ISS in April.

On May 31, they were joined by US astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on the first manned private flight to the ISS.

SpaceX made history by becoming the world's first commercial company to send humans to the ISS, leading Russia to lose its long-held monopoly on space travel.

Explore furtherAstronauts leave virus-plagued planet for space station

© 2020 AFP

Siberian oil spill contaminates Arctic lake

Russia declared a state of emergency last week after 21,000 tonnes of diesel leaked from a fuel reservoir that collapsed outside Norilsk

An oil spill that sparked a state of emergency has contaminated a freshwater lake in the Russian Arctic, the regional governor said Tuesday, a claim denied by Norilsk Nickel, the metals giant linked to the leak.

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a state of emergency last week after 21,000 tonnes of diesel leaked from a fuel reservoir that collapsed May 29 outside the Arctic city of Norilsk.

The spill has polluted the ground and waterways, triggering a major clean-up effort.

Norilsk Nickel owns the power plant where the spill originated and its head Vladimir Potanin told Putin last week his company would pay for clean-up efforts estimated at $146 million.

A spokeswoman for the taskforce in charge of the accident clean-up told AFP last week that the spill had been contained.

But officials in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk this week said that high concentrations of polluted water had been discovered beyond floating barriers set in place to stop the fuel from spreading.

"The fuel has got into Pyasino as well. This is a beautiful lake about 70 kilometres (45 miles) long. Naturally, it has both fish and a good biosphere," said Krasnoyarsk region governor Alexander Uss, according to Interfax news agency.

He added that it was important to prevent spilled fuel from reaching the Pyasina River, a vital waterway for the region that flows from the lake into the Kara Sea.

At a video conference on Tuesday, Norilsk Nickel denied that the diesel had polluted the lake or risked reaching the Kara Sea.

"Our samples at the Pyasino Lake show 0.0 percent contamination results," said Sergei Dyachenko, the company's first vice-president and chief operating Officer.

The fuel spill polluted huge stretches of a river in the Russian Arctic, triggering a major clean-up

"The distance from Pyasino Lake to the Kara Sea is more than 5,000 kilometres," he added.

Dyachenko said that "experts on the ground are confident that most of (the spill) can be cleaned," while this must be done before cold weather sets in.

Greenpeace criticises Russian authorities

Greenpeace director in Russia Vladimir Chuprov told AFP Tuesday that it would be a "disaster" if 10,000 tonnes or more of fuel had reached the lake, and criticised authorities for not giving more information about the extent of the spill.

Chuprov also warned of "harmful consequences" if the pollution reaches the Kara Sea, which he said Greenpeace feared would happen.

Its teams have been unable to access the site due to restrictions in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus, he said.

Russian officials have said that the thawing of permafrost as a result of climate change is the likely cause of the fuel tank leak.

Environmentalists and officials say the spill is the worst accident of its kind in the Arctic region, home to much of Russia's oil, gas and mining infrastructure and dogged by pollution since the Soviet era.

Russian officials have ordered a review of at-risk structures built on permafrost.

Norilsk Nickel officials acknowledged Tuesday that the company had not specifically monitored the permafrost up to now, saying it would carry out a complete audit of its buildings and infrastructure in the near future.

Russia sees melting permafrost behind Arctic fuel spill

France's wolf population rises further to 580 adults

French breeders hold a banner reading "no to wolves" as they demonstrate with their animals in Lyon

France's wild wolf population rose again last year, with officials counting 580 adults at winter's end compared with an average of 530 a year ago, France's OFB biodiversity agency said Tuesday.

The government has been allowing grey wolves to multiply despite fierce resistance from livestock owners, who say they are suffering from increased attacks on their flocks.

But this winter's increase was slower than the 23 percent jump seen the previous year, and "survival rates declined," the OFB said, adding that the causes remained unknown.

Wolves were hunted to extinction in France by the 1930s, but gradually started reappearing in the 1990s as populations spread across the Alps from Italy.

Their numbers have grown rapidly in recent years, prompting authorities to allow annual culls to keep their numbers in check, though the predator remains a protected species.

Under a "Wolf Plan" adopted in 2018, the "viability threshold" of 500 animals, the level at which the population is likely to avoid becoming at risk of extinction over a 100-year period, was not expected to be reached until 2023.

Wolves are increasingly spotted across French territory, from the Pyrenees mountains as far north as the Atlantic coastal regions near Dieppe.

But "there are still no packs formed outside the Alps and Jura," the heavily forested region near the Swiss border, the agency said.

The numbers are far below those found in Italy, Romania or Poland, but they have nonetheless infuriated French farmers who say the wolves are decimating their flocks.

Last year, authorities registered 3,741 wolf attacks that led to the deaths of nearly 12,500 animals, mainly sheep.

The government offers compensation for the losses and has set up a range of measures to protect flocks, including patrols by "wolf brigades" in areas where traditional anti-wolf measures, such as dogs, fenced-off areas and additional shepherding, have failed.

That has not been enough to assuage the powerful FNSEA agriculture lobby and other groups, which say they have to wait too long for compensation payments in the face of repeated attacks on their livelihood.

France to step up wolf culls as population surges

Amazon risks combusting with twin fire, virus crises

by Joshua Howat Berger

Fire burning along the BR163 highway in the Amazon rainforest September 2019; experts fear the 2020 fire season could be worse

As tens of thousands of fires consumed the Amazon last year, it seemed the world's biggest rainforest could not be in greater peril.

But now fire season is here again, and the coronavirus pandemic risks making it even worse.

This year, experts say, the huge number of trees already felled in the rainforest could fuel more destructive fires.

Meanwhile, the smoke risks causing a new spike in respiratory emergencies in a region already overwhelmed with them because of coronavirus.

And there is a potentially vicious circle fueling these twin crises: the more the region is consumed by the pandemic, the less environmental authorities have staff and resources to protect the forest; but the more the forest burns, the worse the health crisis will get.

Last August, scenes of the Amazon burning triggered world outcry, as giant swathes of one of Earth's most vital resources sent a thick haze of black smoke all the way to Sao Paulo, thousands of kilometers away.

In a report published Monday, the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) warned that this year, fire season, which typically starts in June with dryer weather, could be far more devastating.

Amazon fires are caused mainly by illegal farmers and ranchers who clear land and torch the trees.

But last year, international scrutiny and Brazil's decision to deploy its army to the region forced many of them to forego the "burn" part of the slash-and-burn method, experts say.

"A deforested area of at least 4,500 square kilometers (1,750 square miles) in the Amazon, three times larger than the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, is ready to burn," IPAM said.

Meanwhile, slashing has increased.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hit a record high of 1,843 square kilometers in the first five months of 2020, according to satellite data.

IPAM said the figure of 4,500 square kilometers would probably double by August.

"If only 60 percent of this estimated area burns, we will have a fire season in the region similar to that of 2019," it said.

"If 100 percent of this area burns, we will be able to witness an unprecedented health calamity in the Amazon region, when adding the effects of COVID-19."

Fuel to the fire

Last year's fires triggered international criticism of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right climate-change skeptic who wants to legalize logging, farming and mining on protected Amazon land.

Bolsonaro initially downplayed the fires as they ripped through the forest with the help of hot temperatures and a long dry season.

But eventually, he gave in to pressure and deployed the army to crack down on deforestation.

The strategy worked—in the short term.

"What I saw in lots of different areas where I work ... is that people just didn't burn. They left the forest on the ground. So then it brings another angle to the story, which is, when is this going to burn?" said Erika Berenguer, an Amazon ecologist at Oxford and Lancaster Universities.

"If it burns now ... we have respiratory illness due to smoke, and we have COVID," she told AFP.

Feedback loop

Brazil, which holds about 60 percent of the Amazon, is the latest epicenter of the pandemic, with the third-highest death toll worldwide.

The Amazon region has been hit hard, with overstretched hospitals and indigenous populations that are especially vulnerable to outside diseases.

Brazil's Amazonas state has just one intensive care unit to serve an area more than four times the size of Germany.

It has had to dig mass graves and store cadavers in refrigerator trucks to cope.

Meanwhile, coronavirus has reduced the authorities' capacity to stop record deforestation driven by illegal agriculture, logging and mining.

"The bad guys and land-grabbers aren't in quarantine while the good guys, police and government agents are fighting the virus," IPAM's director, Andre Guimaraes, told newspaper Globo.

The diversion may be deliberate.

Environment Minister Ricardo Salles was recorded in April saying the government should take advantage of the pandemic distraction to relax regulations.

Meanwhile, air pollution from fires could cause a critical new phase in Brazil's coronavirus crisis.

"This nefarious combination can result in an unprecedented burden on the already fragile and deficient health system in the Amazon," IPAM said.

Brazilian Amazon deforestation hits new Jan-Apr high

Seven factors contributing to American racism

by Sandra Feder, Stanford University JUNE 9, 2020

"American racism is alive and well," begins a new journal article led by Steven O. Roberts, a Stanford psychologist, that arrives during a time of heightened attention to racial injustice in the United States.

In the paper, which is available online and soon to appear in American Psychologist, the journal of the American Psychological Association, the scholars contend that racism is a deeply American problem and identify, based on a review of prior research published on the topic, seven factors contributing to racism in the U.S. today.

"People often define racism as disliking or mistreating others on the basis of race. That definition is wrong," said Roberts, who directs the Social Concepts Lab, part of the psychology department, in the School of Humanities and Sciences. "Racism is a system of advantage based on race. It is a hierarchy. It is a pandemic. Racism is so deeply embedded within U.S. minds and U.S. society that it is virtually impossible to escape."

Roberts, an assistant professor and co-author, Michael Rizzo, a postdoctoral fellow at New York University and the Beyond Conflict Innovation Lab, write that "just as citizens of capitalistic societies reinforce capitalism, whether they identify as capitalist or not, and whether they want to or not, citizens of racist societies reinforce racism, whether they identify as racist or not, and whether they want to or not."

After examining research on racism from psychology, the social sciences and the humanities, the researchers argue that American racism systematically advantages White Americans and disadvantages Americans of color—but that it does not have to. It all starts with awareness, they contend.

"Many people, especially White people, underestimate the depths of racism," Rizzo said. "A lot of attention is rightfully put on the recent murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and far too many others. But people need to understand that those horrific events are a consequence of a larger system. We want readers to walk away with a better understanding of how that system works."

Seven factors

The first three factors Roberts and Rizzo reviewed are: categories, which organize people into distinct groups; factions, which trigger ingroup loyalty and intergroup competition; and segregation, which hardens racist perceptions, preferences and beliefs. Simply put, the U.S. systematically constructs racial categories, places people inside of those categories and segregates people on the basis of those categories, the authors argue.

For example, there is a considerable body of research showing that people, adults and children alike, tend to feel and act more positively toward those they consider to be like them and in their "ingroup." This means that they are likely to treat people from outside of their social circles less favorably.

For many White Americans, their ingroups do not include Black Americans. Part of the reason for this has to do with America's fraught history of racial segregation, which kept White and Black communities separated. Roberts and Rizzo point to studies demonstrating that the amount of exposure a child has to other racial groups early in life affects how they will think about and act toward those groups when they are adults.

Research also shows that children are more attuned to faces of the racial majority group. That is, Black children are better at recognizing White faces than White children are at recognizing Black faces. This disparity can have tragic real-world consequences. In a criminal lineup, for instance, not being able to recognize Black faces, paired with biased preferences and beliefs, increase the odds that an innocent Black suspect will be misidentified as the perpetrator of a crime.

Roberts and Rizzo note that in cases where felony convictions were overturned because of DNA evidence, a significant number of the original convictions were due to incorrect eyewitness identifications.

The remaining four factors the researchers argue contribute to American racism include: hierarchy, which emboldens people to think, feel and behave in racist ways; power, which legislates racism on both micro and macro levels; media, which legitimizes overrepresented and idealized representations of White Americans while marginalizing and minimizing people of color; and passivism, such that overlooking or denying the existence of racism encourages others to do the same. In short, they argue that the U.S. positions and empowers some over others, reinforces those differences through biased media, and then leaves those disparities and media in place.

Of the seven factors they identified, perhaps the most insidious is passivism or passive racism, according to the scholars. This includes an apathy toward systems of racial advantage or denial that those systems even exist.

Discussions about passivism are particularly relevant now, Roberts said, as thousands take to the streets to protest against racism. "If people advantaged by the hierarchy remain passive, it is no surprise that those at the bottom cry out to be heard," he added. "People have been crying for centuries."

Anti-racism

At the end of the review, the scholars call for a move to anti-racism. Inspired by historian Ibram X. Kendi's work, Roberts and Rizzo contribute two new terms to the conversation—reactive anti-racism, defined as challenging racism whenever it appears, and proactive anti-racism, or challenging racism before it appears.

"One of the most important steps for future research will be to shift our attention away from how people become racist, and toward the contextual influences, psychological processes and developmental mechanisms that help people become anti-racist," Roberts and Rizzo wrote. "In a state of increasing racial inequality, we hope to find future students and scholars, both in the U.S. and beyond, well-versed and embedded within a psychology of anti-racism."

In a move that they hope becomes standard, the scholars included an author's statement in their paper indicating that one author, Roberts, identifies as Black American and the other, Rizzo, as White American.

"We [psychologists] often present ourselves as objective observers, but I think it's important to acknowledge our own positionality," Roberts said. "We put it in the author's note to normalize it and say good work can come when people from different identities work together for a common goal."

Blacks' views on racism affect likelihood of self-employment

More information: Steven Roberts et al. The Psychology of American Racism, (2020). DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/w2h73

Journal information: American Psychologist

Provided by Stanford University

UK pesticide standards could be slashed in new trade deals, threatening public health and the environment

by Neil Vowles, University of Sussex

UK consumers are likely to be exposed to larger amounts of more toxic chemicals in their food if trade negotiators from the US have their way, warns a new report out today.

The warning comes alongside new YouGov polling which reveals that almost three quarters (71%) of the British public want the UK Government to resist US attempts to overturn bans on pesticides, even if this means the "best" trade deal cannot be reached.

Authored by Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK), Sustain and University of Sussex trade expert Dr. Emily Lydgate, Toxic Trade highlights that a rise in exposure to hazardous chemicals could be unavoidable for UK consumers because pesticides are not mentioned on food labels.

While far from perfect, the UK currently has some of the most stringent pesticide regulations in the world, meaning that many agricultural products produced elsewhere cannot be sold here.

However, concern is mounting that in the wake of the UK's exit from the EU, trade deals currently under negotiation with the U.S., and planned imminently for Australia and India, will drive down UK pesticide standards.

This not only risks damaging public health but also the environment as trade negotiators push the UK government to allow currently banned hazardous pesticides to be used in UK farms and gardens.

The YouGov poll reveals high levels of concern among consumers, with 71% of those surveyed concerned that a US trade deal will mean larger amounts of pesticides in their food; 79% concerned about impacts to health if UK Government caves to US pressure to lower pesticide standards; and 77% worried about negative impacts on the environment.

Josie Cohen, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Pesticide Action Network, said: "Much attention has been paid to the dangers of 'chlorinated chicken', but the UK public is equally concerned about weakening pesticide protections. We know that US negotiators have our pesticide standards firmly in their sights, and with the talks happening behind closed doors the public has no way of knowing if health and environmental protections are being traded away."

If UK trade negotiators bow the demands of trade partners then the increased risk to human health could be significant:

Compared to UK grapes, American grapes are allowed to contain 1,000 times the amount of the insecticide propargite that can affect sexual function and fertility, and has been linked to cancer and miscarriages.
American apples are allowed to contain 400 times the level of the insecticide malathion than UK apples. Malathion has also been linked to cancer and can impair the respiratory system and cause confusion, headaches and weakness.

The pesticide chlorpyrifos has been shown to negatively affect the cognitive development of foetuses and young children and is banned from use in the UK but is used by farmers in the US and India.

The environmental impacts of a drop in UK pesticide standards could also be significant.

Huge declines in bee populations have been caused by highly toxic neonicotinoids which are currently banned in the UK, but which Australia, the US and India all permit. These countries also authorise pesticides known to contaminate groundwater and harm aquatic ecosystems, such as the herbicides atrazine and diuron.

The report paints an alarming picture of the tactics that overseas negotiators will try to use to water-down standards. US trade officials want the UK to commit to consulting with the US government and private sector before implementing any new pesticide regulations or bans.

Dr. Lydgate, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Law at the University of Sussex, said: "A clear and central objective of US negotiators is for the UK to lower its pesticide standards. The current picture in the UK of intense political pressure coupled with a lack of parliamentary and public scrutiny means the risk of this happening is very high."

The report also highlights the dual risk to UK farmers of reduced pesticide standards.

Vicki Hird, Farm Campaign Coordinator at Sustain, said: "In an already uncertain economic climate, the lowering of pesticide standards could be catastrophic for UK farming as well as the environment. If UK farmers are forced
into using pesticides in order to compete with a flood of cheap food imports then their exports will no longer meet EU standards and they'll lose one of their key markets. 60% of UK agricultural exports currently go to the EU so this could finish off many farming businesses."

The report calls on the UK government to prioritise human health and meet their stated commitment of "leaving the natural environment in a better state than we found it".

Key recommendations for the UK government:

Do not allow any weakening of UK pesticide standards via post-Brexit trade agreements.
Protect UK farmers from being disadvantaged by cheap food imports produced using pesticides, and maintain current pesticide standards so they can continue exporting to the European Union.
Preserve the power for the UK to exercise its right to continually strive for higher levels of consumer and environmental protection.
Ensure that trade agreements are developed in the open with the opportunity for full democratic scrutiny.

India weeds out 27 highly toxic pesticides

Provided by University of Sussex

Parasitic fungi keep harmful blue-green algae in check

When a lake is covered with green scum during a warm summer, cyanobacteria—often called blue-green algae—are usually involved. Mass development of such cyanobacteria is bad for water quality because they can deprive the water of oxygen and produce toxins. But cyanobacteria can become sick, when for instance infected by fungal parasites. Researchers from the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) found out that these infections do not only kill cyanobacteria, they also make them easier to consume for their natural predators. Fungal parasites thus help to slow down the growth of blue-green algae.

Blue-green algal blooms are an increasing problem in waterbodies worldwide: Higher temperatures and growing nutrient loads lead to excessive growth of cyanobacteria. These mass developments affect water quality because many cyanobacteria produce toxins and reduce the oxygen concentration in the water, sometimes leading to death of fish and other aquatic organisms.

The international team led by IGB found that algal growth can be controlled by parasitic fungi. "Many of these algae have long filamentous shapes or grow in colonies, which makes them difficult to be eaten by their natural predators," explains Dr. Thijs Frenken, first author of the study and researcher at IGB and the University of Windsor in Canada. Chytrids, a very common group of fungi, often infect cyanobacteria. The researchers have now shown that, in addition to infecting and killing algae, the fungi "chop" the algae into shorter pieces, making them easier to be eaten by small aquatic organisms. "We knew that fungal infections reduce the growth of cyanobacteria, but now we know that they also make them easier prey," says IGB researcher Dr. Ramsy Agha, head of the study.

Fungi as food supplements for zooplankton

The researchers showed that in addition to "chopping" infected cyanobacteria filaments and making them more vulnerable to predation by small organisms in the water, zooplankton, parasitic fungi themselves serve as a valuable food supplement. Chytrid fungi contain various fats and oils that are an important part of the diet of small freshwater organisms and are not present in blue-green algae. Parasitic fungi therefore serve as an important dietary connection between different levels of aquatic food webs.

"These results show how parasites, although usually perceived as something bad, also have important positive effects on the functioning of aquatic ecosystems," says Professor Justyna Wolinska, head of the IGB research group Disease Evolutionary Ecology.

Fungicides as an underestimated hazard for freshwater organisms

More information: Thijs Frenken et al. Infection of filamentous phytoplankton by fungal parasites enhances herbivory in pelagic food webs, Limnology and Oceanography (2020). DOI: 10.1002/lno.11474

Provided by Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB)

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