Aquatic ecology
No coral reef without sponges
Scientific Panel on Food Security needed Scientists involved in research on the world food supply from the perspective of different disciplines need to be better organized. This was a frequently voiced sentiment at the conference on food security hosted by Wageningen UR between 29 September and 2 October in Noordwijkerhout in the Netherlands. Only fuller collaboration will put food security policy on a firmer scientific footing. Some participants proposed following the example of the IPCC on climate science. At the Noordwijkerhout conference, 600 scientists from more than 65 countries could attend dozens of workshops and lectures. Martin van Ittersum, personal professor of Plant Production Systems at Wageningen University and his fellow professor Ken
Giller worked for one and a half years on setting up this First International Conference on Global Food Security. Van Ittersum: ‘Normally conferences are gatherings of scientists from the same discipline. We wanted to get all the disciplines relevant to food security together. That meant I didn’t know three quarters of the people at the conference. But that way you get a refreshingly new network, which shakes things up and generates new ideas.’ In two years’ time Columbia University and Cornell University will organize a follow-up conference in New York. Info: www.globalfoodsecurityconference.com, martin.vanittersum@wur.nl
PHOTO CORBIS
Coral reefs owe their existence to the sponges that live on them. This finding was published by a group of Dutch researchers including Ronald Osinga of Wageningen University, part of Wageningen UR, in October in Science. Sponges are primitive water creatures which live off the waste products of corals and algae. The excreta of the sponge are then eaten by reef dwellers such as crabs and worms, which in their turn are food for larger animals. This cycle keeps a supply of food and energy available in nutrient-poor tropical waters. This knowledge is important both for the conservation of coral reefs and for the development of sustainable forms of aquaculture. Info: ronald.osinga@wur.nl
World Food Supply
Biology
The three scientists who won the Spinoza prize in 2009 have published their first joint article on the subject of migraine. In PLoS ONE at the end of August, Wageningen professor Marten Scheffer, a specialist in research on tipping points, Leiden University neurologist Michel Ferrari and Twente University nanotechnologist Albert van den Berg claim that a migraine attack is preceded by a gradual increase in the sensitivity of neurons in the brain. This goes on until a point is reached when the slightest change creates a tipping point and the neurons fire, causing a migraine attack. The scientists still want to calculate precisely where this tipping point occurs. Info: marten.scheffer@wur.nl
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Wageningenworld
PHOTO HOLLANDSE HOOGTE
Migraine publication by Spinoza laureates
Storing rice at a farmers’ cooperative in Burkina Faso.
Aquaculture
More fish farming in Africa The LEI and IMARES Wageningen UR are working with 10 Dutch companies from the fish farming sector, consultancy firm Larive and the Kenyan fisheries institute KMFRI on an integrated chain for farmed fish in East Africa. The demand for animal protein is growing faster than the supply. In order to exploit the market opportunities for farmed
fish, there is a need to raise production and improve efficiency, management and infrastructure. Agricultural Economics Institute the LEI is contributing socio-economic and market expertise to the project, while IMARES brings in technical knowledge of feeds, breeding and fish farming. Info: arie.vanduijn@wur.nl