Complex system, weapon of invasion

The newly emerging science of complex systems may be our best weapon against invasion by exotic species, according to CSIRO researcher Mark Lonsdale. Exotic species are one of the three major threats to Australia’s biodiversity, says Dr Lonsdale, and cost the nation billions of dollars each year in lost agricultural revenue and ecosystem degradation. CSIRO Entomology is launching a new project to investigate the processes which take place when invasions of weeds or pest animals take place, says Dr Lonsdale, head of CSIRO Entomology’s Risk Analysis and Biosecurity project.

Dr Joslin Moore, a PhD graduate in invasion theory from Imperial College in London, will work with CSIRO Entomology to determine why some ecosystems are more susceptible to invasion than others, and which species in an ecosystem are particularly important in holding that ecosystem together. "Exotic species have major impacts on the productivity and viability of our agricultural systems", says Dr Moore. "Developing a strategy to stem the flow of exotics is a key to any sustainable environmental future." Dr Moore says that the answer may come from an unlikely source - the branch of applied mathematics called complex systems science, which CSIRO has identified as one of five emerging science disciplines that it will expand over the next few years.

She uses the world wide web as an example. Dr Moore says that most people have tried to link to a web page and instead found an error message - generated when the web page is down. "At any given moment, many web pages world-wide are not functioning. But have you ever stopped to wonder why, despite these failures, most web pages are still available?" she asks. "The answer is because of the structure of the network - the mattern of links between computers that form the web." The world wide web is a special kind of network which is characterised by most nodes (i.e. web pages) being linked to only a few other nodes, which in turn are connected to other nodes via a few key nodes which have many links - the ‘supernodes’. Networks with this structure can withstand random failures, since there is a low chance of being directly connected to any web page that fails. On the other hand, these networks can be devastated if the supernodes fail. Hence, identifying these supernodes and protecting them from failure or attack will greatly increase the overall robustness of the system. Dr Moore says that ecosystems can be considered as natural networks of interactions between species (and the environment).

"If we can identify the ‘supernodes’ in ecosystems then we would be in a much better position to focus our efforts against invasion and maybe stem the flow of exotics," says Dr Moore. "But the first step is to establish how network structure impacts on resistance and resilience to invasion and to identify the kinds of network structures that real ecosystems have".

(CSIRO News Release)

Biotech plants for Nepal

BAHINI BABA PANT

Agronomic crops supply food for human either for direct or indi rect consumption through livestock products. Cereals are regarded as the principal source of carbohydrates, proteins and minerals in human and animal diet. They are also extensively used in fuel, beverage and biopharmaceuticals production. Eight species like wheat, rice, corn, barley, oats, sorghum, rye and millet contribute 60 percentage of cereal production. Wheat and barley together account for more than 40 percentage of the world’s total grain production. Today, it is not astonishing to see cereals as the centre of all research focus.

Rice is the primary source of food for the population living in developing countries. Once a rice-exporting country, Nepal is now importing rice. Wheat is the oldest and most widely cultivated cereal crop in the world. It provides one-fifth of all the calories consumed by human beings. Wheat and rice compete every year for the place of the worlds’ crop of the highest tonnage. However, since wheat has a significantly higher protein content than rice, wheat has replaced rice as the single greatest source of dietary protein in the human diet. It has become one of the basic foods throughout the world and consumption is increasing every year at the expense of the more expensive rice or the less expensive barley and sorghum. Barley ranks fourth in world acreage and production behind wheat, corn and rice.

Modern biotechnology (MB), which is the latest tool of agricultural science that provides additional mechanism and strategies for human struggle against the world’s food production problem, is the essence of the 21st century agricultural revolution. Rice, wheat, corn and barley are the major focus of the biotechnological research and are the prime target plants for genetic manipulation in production of fertile transgenic plants. They are being used by the scientific community to advance crop improvement not only agro-technically but also genetically.

MB is based on the delivery, integration and expression of defined foreign genes into plant cells that can then be grown in-vitro to regenerate plants or transgenic plants. Now scientists have tools to study almost a complete set of plant genes (plants have 30,000 genes) capable of an immense leap in agricultural practices. MB has made it possible to integrate agronomical important traits from all forms of life into crop plants. Scientists are able to exchange plant’s old gene with the desirable new gene and produce transgenic plants. They can transfer agronomical useful genes into the chromosome of plant’s cells isolated from genetically unrelated species or organisms and recover genetically altered plants. The chromosome will pass these genes onto its progeny. The regenerated plant will multiply, harden and can be cultivated in the field.

MB promises yield increase and disease resistance in crops. It produces genotypes with better resistance to environmental stresses and with improved nutrient quality that helps tolerance to environmental stresses and betters the quality of the cereals by modifying key proteins and metabolic processes.

MB offers following advantages: (1) It enables to implant single genes into plants, thus removing the need for extensive backcrossing programs which might span decades, (2) It allows to introduce genes from a wide variety of sources including bacteria, viruses, plants, animals and human, thus greatly expanding the available gene pool, and, (3) It facilitates to isolate plant genes, modification, and re-introduction into the same species, thus producing a plant with novel characteristics.

Benefits derived from Genetically Modified Crops (GMC) are increase in productivity, decrease in use of environmentally hazard chemical fertilizers/pesticides/herbicides, provide resistance to bugs and weeds, and boost mineral deficiencies in crops. In addition, GMC are escalating use to produce biopharmaceuticals. Plant-derived biopharmaceuticals are cost-effective to manufacture and store, and safer than those derived from animals due to possible contamination of human pathogens.

Western countries spend billions of dollars on research in GMC which they are likely to dump in Third World Countries and promote their use in poor countries to help alleviate poverty. For western countries, the genetic resources have been the most precious resources to generate wealth. Last year, 6 million farmers in 16 countries planted GMC on 145 million acres; which includes nine developing countries like India, Colombia, Honduras, Argentina, China, Uruguay, Mexico and Indonesia where GMC like soy, corn, canola, mustard and cotton were planted. The United States accounted for 66 percent of the total biotechnology acreage.

The controversy surrounding the GMC environmental release is that scientists have insufficient knowledge about negative impact on human health, risk to the environment and agriculture. Their cultivation would pose a long-term threat to bio-diversity and eco-system. Developed countries like Japan, Australia and Europe have banned GMC. It is only if a Biotechnology Products Release Law is in place, and a Genetically Modified Products Risk Analysis, Biosecurity and Biosafety Clearing House is established, that Nepal could be saved from the possible permanent scorch of uncontrolled release of genetically modified products. The risky release of transgenic products in the environment will probably create havoc in the Nepalese agriculture leading to health hazards, loss of indigenous resources and knowledge and loss of bio-diversity.

In 1991, the UNIDO/WHO/FAO/UNEP (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation/World Health Organisation/Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/United Nations Environmental Programme) Informal Working Group on Biosafety prepared the "Voluntary Code of Conduct for the Release of Organisms into the Environment". The biosafety documents were developed at the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and is known as the Cartagena Protocol (CP) on Biosafety. CP provides development of a Risk Assessment Searching Mechanism to the official governmental decisions for the release of GMC in accordance with the UNEP International Technical Guidelines for Safety in Biotechnology. The signature Parties need to ensure a certain national level of capacity in order to meet the Protocol’s obligations. It has now become crucial for Nepal to (1) formulate, rectify and pass national legislative and regulatory frameworks, (2) strengthen human resources as well as relevant technical and scientific expertise, by accessing information sharing facilities and communication structures, and (3) establish a GMPBCH for transparency on environmental release of genetically modified plants, foods and organisms.

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