Environmental Dynamics

The Llanos de Mojos, a region of the southwestern Amazon, is a seasonally flooded savannah located in the Beni department of Bolivia. The area sustained a significant pre-Columbian population up to the arrival of Jesuit missionaries in the late 17 th century. Local communities constructed agricultural landscape modifications to help cultivate crops such as maize, manioc, and sweet potato. Raised fields contributed to soil nutrient intensification and helped to manage flooding. This study examines the relationship between 40,766 raised agricultural fields which were digitized by the Proyecto SIG Arqueológico del Beni using Google Earth and maps of surface flood coverage. Flood maps from 2012-2016 were analyzed using 14-day aggregates of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data provided by the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. These datasets were compared using ArcGIS to examine the extent and variability of yearly flooding as well as the number of raised fields which were subject to seasonal inundation on a year-by-year basis. It was found that despite significant portions of the region being covered by seasonal floods, only 5.79% of the fields were exposed to flooding in total. This study concluded that raised fields were more suited to the containment and dispersion of localized precipitation rather than the dispersion of riverine flooding. Several fields that have paleobotanical associations with maize, manioc, and sweet potato cultivation only experience flooding for 1 out of the 5 years analyzed, supporting their practicality for growing water-sensitive crops.

Empowering farmers to increase productivity by educating them on conservation agriculture (CA) could contribute to reducing vulnerability, alleviating food insecurity, and fighting poverty while being ecologically sustainable in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This study assesses the effect of a CA-promotion agriculture program. Findings suggest that location of the farm, training, having accessed credit, belonging to a farmers' group, and being a vulnerable female all drove adoption to varying degrees and directions. Results also suggest that policy makers and CA practitioners should emphasize the ability that CA has to increase income and food security, which could widen CA adoption.

PurposeWeaknesses in the grades and standards system in low-income countries across Sub-Saharan Africa undermine the transparency of agricultural markets. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ghana and Mozambique rice is predominately sold in open bags and if rice price does not reflect its quality, then inefficiencies may lead to consumer welfare losses. Importantly, it is possible that impoverished communities are priced out of the market due to inflated and inefficient prices. The objective of this study is to examine determinates of rice price by estimating the impact of selected rice quality attributes on rice prices in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana and Mozambique.Design/methodology/approachWe collected 363 rice samples from open air markets in Bukavu (DRC), Nampula (Mozambique) and across Ghana in 2019. Each rice sample was analyzed in a food science lab for the quality attributes: percentage of chalk and brokens, chalk impact, length and length-to-width ra...

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is found in areas of abandoned coal mines in southeast Kansas as a result of mine waste rocks and tailings, and can create problems for the local environment. Soil bacterial populations may act as a reliable indicator of ecosystem health in these human-perturbed areas. The goals of the present study were to assess the bacterial diversity of an acid mine drainage site over a two-year period and to isolate acid-tolerant bacterial species for bioremediation purpose. In fall (2015) and summer (2016), soil samples were aseptically collected from five locations representing diverse topography at an acid mine drainage site in southeast Kansas. Soil texture was evaluated and samples were chemically digested for physicochemical analysis using inductively-coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy. Concentration of bacterial isolates was determined by counting CFUs after dilution plating on tryptic soy agar. Up to thirty morphologically different colonies from each annual sampling were characterized using physiological and biochemical tests and were further identified at the species level using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. In addition, acidophilic bacterial strains were screened using selective differential media. Preliminary data showed that soil pH ranged from 2.5-6.8 and contained varied concentrations of arsenic, manganese, and iron. Total bacterial concentration was 10 2-10 8 CFU/g of soil over two samplings. Biochemical tests revealed a diverse metabolic potential of the bacterial population. Bacterial isolates for both fall and summer samples v were grown in citric acid buffer with varying pH of 3, 4, 5, and 6 and several were found to be acidophilic. PCR amplification of 16S rRNA gene and purification were completed before sending samples off for sequencing to Kansas State University; a phylogenetic analysis was completed for both sampling times and subsequently illustrated with neighbor-joining phylogenetic trees constructed using MEGA 7 software. Baseline measurements of bacterial diversity as well as soil chemistry in acid mine drainage sites in this region, are novel and the findings may have potential use in bioremediation of contaminated acid mine drainage sites.

The social capital of collaboration is a critical part of the research process. While AAAE supports collaboration and inclusivity, analysis has not occurred for what collaborations are occurring. This study addressed collaboration between researchers via a social network analysis of coauthorship in the Journal of Agricultural Education from 2008 to 2017. There were 587 articles published in that time frame with 593 unique authors. The number of articles published annually and number of authors per article increased during the 10-year period. The majority of authors only published one article in the time frame analyzed. After excluding authors who never collaborated on an article, a social network of 582 coauthors was analyzed. There was a general tendency for the most prolific authors to also be the most connected, though there were some outliers. Of note, the majority of the most connected authors received their terminal degrees from one of three institutions. The majority of the m...