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The Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus is an invasive species that is present in pioneering populations in Southern Germany. The eastern grey squirrel, originally from North America, was introduced to various locations worldwide, including the UK, where it has largely displaced the native red squirrel. The many-leaved lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) is extensively used in mountain hay meadows in the The Katzbach Mountains in Poland. In Europe, this species has been planted as a fodder crop and as an ornamental, and is now widely naturalized. The number of alien species is continuously increasing, and does not show any sign of saturation at a global level. This fact is described by an international team of 45 researchers in the journal "Nature Communications".

Uprise instead of slow-down

"It had remained unclear whether or not the accumulation of alien species has already reached a point of slow-down", says Hanno Seebens from the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) in Frankfurt, Germany. The first author of the study, has an answer now: “For all groups of organisms on all continents, the number of alien species has increased continuously during the last 200 years. For most groups, even the rate of introduction is highest recently. Barring mammals and fishes, there are no signs of a slow-down and we have to expect more new invasions in the near future.” Mark van Kleunen, professor of ecology at the University of Konstanz and one of the co-authors of the study, expects that the number of alien species will increase further in the near future – "as a consequence of climate change, which makes it possible for many alien plants in our gardens to jump the fence and settle in the wild".

37 % of invaders introduced in the last decades

In the joint research project the researchers established a database of the date an alien species was first detected in a region outside the species’ native range. Using more than 45.000 of these first records of more than 16.000 alien species, they analysed the development of alien species accumulation during the last centuries. The researchers found that 37% of all recorded alien species have been introduced in the last few decades between 1970-2014. At its peak, 585 new species were recorded within one year. This corresponds to more than 1.5 new alien species per day globally. "As the date of first record is not available for most alien species, these numbers are clearly underestimating the full extent of alien species introductions", says Franz Essl from the University of Vienna, senior author of the study.

Rise in bioinvasion comes along human activities

The trends of increase vary among taxonomic groups, which can be attributed to human activities. “We observe a distinct increase in first record rates of vascular plants in the 19th century, probably as a result of the intensification of horticulture. The rates of new introductions of other organisms such as algae, molluscs or insects increased steeply after 1950. This is most likely a consequence of the ongoing globalisation of trade,” explains Seebens.

The unprecedented increase in alien species numbers can have extremely negative impacts on native ecosystems, as native plants might be eliminated and entire ecosystems change. Floras and faunas worldwide assimilate more and more, resulting in a loss of regional variety. Therefore various legislations are currently in force globally attempting to mitigate the introduction of new alien species. "However, our results show that the past efforts have not been effective enough to keep up with ongoing globalisation. There is an urgent need to implement more effective prevention policies at all scales", concludes Essl.

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The Chitosan is mixed with an industrial polyester producing a hybrid fibre that combines the biologically qualities of Chitosan with the mechanical strength of the synthetic polymer. The new fibre is particularly suitable for medical applications such as implants or surgical yarns.

Sea creatures such as crabs or shrimps are not only tasty, but because of the high chitin content in their shells, they are extremely sought after. However, huge quantities of these shells still end up as waste in the bin. Because of its structure-building properties, in addition to cellulose, chitin belongs to the most widespread polysaccharides and is the starting material for the technical production of Chitosan. The biopolymer is again an important raw material for the production of fibres, foams or foils, and because of its biocompatible properties is especially well-suited for medical products.

Utilising waste products

“To find such a great use for a waste product, is a great thing,” enthuses Rolf-Dieter Hund, research group leader at the Institute of Textile Chemistry Textile Machinery and High Performance Materials (ITM) at the TU Dresden. In cooperation with the Halle-based company Heppe Medical Chitosam GmbH, which supplies the world’s pharmaceutical companies with Chitosan, the Dresden research group has now developed a thread that is made of 100 percent Chitosan.

A lot of yarn from a small amount of powder

Using the wet spinning process, the white powder, which was obtained in cleanroom conditions, was then processed into garn by Rolf-Dieter Hund in the laboratory. To do achieve this, the white powder was first dissolved, filtered, freed of air bubbles and then forced through a nozzle with 600 individual holes, each hole 90-microns in diameter. This is how the wafer thin fibres originated for medicine. Lastly, they are washed, dried and provided with a protective layer. The system can spin between 30 and 40 metres of thread per minute. According to Hund, around one and a half kilos of Chitosan powder are needed to produce 7,000 metres of yarn.

Chitosan is bio-compatible but expensive

According to the researchers, the natural spun material from the shells of crustaceans is biocompatible and non-allergenic, and is broken down in the body by the body’s normal enzymes. In light of the above, the range of applications is large. The organic yarn is suitable for wound dressings, surgical sutures or artificial skin or as bone implants, transporters for active ingredients, or as a nutrient medium for stem cell research. The bio-yarn is still considerably more expensive than conventional textile yarn, and until it has become standard for biomedical applications, further tests are necessary.

Creative minds often lack funds to turn their ideas into reality. Among start-ups, crowdfunding has now established itself as an alternative method of investment, complementing more traditional sources of funding. Specialist platforms such as Aescuvest and Medifundo have been set up in the life sciences sector to provide support to companies wishing to secure capital via crowd funding. Since the end of October 2014, Ecocrowd, has, in turn, strongly promoted the issue of sustainability. Well-known supporters of sustainability such as the Deutsche Umweltstiftung and the Umweltsbundesamt [Federal Environmental Agency] are behind the platform. Meanwhile, the larger crowdfunding platforms such as Seedmatch and Companisto continue to back a diverse range of projects.

GLS made history at the end of January by becoming the first bank to provide a crowd-investing platform. Just as with its traditional banking business, it plans to use it to focus on sustainable ideas in Germany. The online portal GLS Crowd will be operated by GLS Crowdfunding GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of CrowdDesk GmbH. "We're delighted, together with GLS bank, to have reached a new milestone in the digitalisation of traditional banking while also being able to contribute towards sustainability,” explains CrowdDesk Director Johannes Laub.

Industrie 4.0 ist auch in der Landwirtschaft angekommen. Hochmoderne Landmaschinen, Handy-Apps oder Satellitenaufnahmen bieten dem Landwirt bereits heute eine Fülle an Informationen zu Bodenbeschaffenheit, Pflanzenwachstum oder Umweltbedingungen. Insbesondere Satellitendaten werden von Agrarforschern seit langem genutzt, um Fragestellungen nach Vegetations- und Bodeneigenschaften zu beantworten. Denn bei der Planung auf einem Pflanzen produzierenden Betrieb müssen die Landwirte möglichst genau wissen, welcher Ertrag an welchem Standort zu erwarten ist. Daran orientieren sich beispielsweise die Fruchtfolge, die Arten- und Sortenwahl, die Intensität der Bodenbearbeitung und die Zufuhr von Nährstoffen.

Vorreiter in der Nutzung digitaler Daten sind die Großkonzerne. Auch hier kommen immer mehr Beobachtungsdaten aus dem All zum Einsatz.  So hat die Agrarsparte des Chemiekonzerns BASF erst kürzlich mit der Europäischen Raumfahrtorganisation (ESA) eine Allianz geschlossen, um mithilfe ihrer Daten neue digitale Anwendungen zu entwickeln, mit denen Landwirte die tägliche Arbeit genauer planen können.

Datenfülle bündeln für bessere Ertragsvorhersage

Das enorme Potenzial, dass in dieser Datenfülle steckt, zukünftig noch besser zu nutzen, ist Anliegen eines im Februar gestarteten Verbundvorhabens. Unter dem Titel „AgriFusion“ haben sich Forscher vom Deutschen GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) mit der Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften Weihenstephan-Triesdorf sowie der Fritzmeier Umwelttechnik GmbH & Co. KG in Aying und der GID GeoInformationsDienst GmbH in Rosdorf zusammengetan, um Daten aus verschiedenen Quellen möglichst effizient zu einer qualitativ hochwertigen Ernteprognose zusammenzuführen. „Die einzelnen Daten sind in der Regel verfügbar, aber sie wurden noch nicht in der erforderlichen Breite zusammengebracht, um zuverlässige Ertragspotenziale zu liefern“, sagt Daniel Spengler vom Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ.

Das Verbundvorhaben wird vom Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (BMEL) mit insgesamt 943.500 Euro geförderten Projekt. Bei den Daten, die zusammengeführt werden sollen, handelt es sich sowohl um standortbezogene bodenkundliche und klimatische Messgrößen, als auch um aus Bodenproben und Karten gewonnene Ertragszahlen der Vergangenheit sowie Bilder und Daten, die von Satelliten, wie dem ESA Erdbeobachtungssatelliten „Sentinel-2“ bereitgestellt werden. „Erst diese Verknüpfung bringt einen wirklichen Mehrwert für die Landwirtschaft“, betont Spengler.

Realitäts-Check für Prognosen

Das entstehende Webmodul „AgriFusion“ soll die Geobasisdaten nicht nur verarbeiten und speichern, es soll auch notwendige Parameter des Betriebs über eine Schnittstelle zu den Managementdaten importieren. Daraus wird dann die gewünschte Ertragserwartungskarte erzeugt. Die Ergebnisse der Dateninterpretation und –fusion können von den Landwirten direkt genutzt und in betriebliche Datenstrukturen integriert werden. Über eine Eingabemaske können zudem Expertenwissen und Erfahrungswerte einfließen und bei der Berechnung der Ertragserwartungskarte berücksichtigt werden. 

Die Verknüpfung soll mithilfe des sogenannten Algorithmus "Transferable Belief Model" (TBM) gelingen. Dieser liefert für jedes Pixel, dessen Größe zwischen 10 und 30 Metern liegt, eine konkrete Ertragserwartung. Die Prognose ist zugleich mit einer Information verknüpft, die angibt, wie vertrauensvoll die Werte sind. „Je größer die Qualität der Eingangsdaten ist, desto größer ist auch die Aussagekraft der Resultate“, erläutert Spengler. Jede Prognose soll zudem in einem Realtitäts-Check unterzogen werden. Dafür haben die Verbundpartner sogenannte Referenzregionen in den Bundesländern Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern und Bayern ausgewählt.

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