Knowledge gaps on how to adapt crop production under changing saline circumstances in the Netherlands.

Salinization, the increase and accumulation of salts in water and soil, impacts productivity of arable crops and is exacerbated by climate change. The Netherlands, like several other deltas and semi-arid regions, faces increasing salinization that negatively impacts agriculture and freshwater availability. Although a lot of salinity expertise exist in the Netherlands, several knowledge gaps on the impact of salinization in the Netherlands, as well as steps to facilitate closing this knowledge gaps to improve saline agriculture in the Netherlands, still exist. This review/opinion article moves beyond existing papers on salinization in bringing together various adaptation measures by thoroughly reviewing the measures through a triple P (People, Planet, Profit) lens. Five main salinity adaptation measures of the crop-soil-water continuum are 1) breeding and selection of salt tolerant varieties, 2) increased cultivation of halophytes, 3) soil management interventions, 4) use of biostimulants, and 5) irrigation techniques. These adaptation measures are described, discussed and analysed for their compliance to the sustainable development elements People, Planet and Profit. All five adaptation measures have potential positive impact on livelihood, contribute to food security and generate revenue but on the other hand, these measures may contribute to unwarranted changes of the ecosystem. The paper ends with a concluding chapter in which the bottlenecks and knowledge gaps that need resolving are identified based on the critical, including triple P, assessment of the discussed adaptation measures. Three key knowledge gaps on breeding, agronomy, environmental sciences and socioeconomics are identified with several approaches that lead to insights elucidated. Thereby informing on future research and action plans to optimize implementation of salinity adaptation measures in the Netherlands.

Impact of off-bottom seaweed cultivation on turbulent variation in the hydrodynamic environment: A flume experiment study with mimic and natural Saccharina latissima thalli.

The seaweed industry is growing worldwide to meet future resource needs in terms of food and fuel. In the meantime, the impact of expanding off-bottom seaweed cultivation on its environment is unclear. For example, it remains poorly understood how off-bottom seaweeds affect the local hydrodynamic environment, especially concerning turbulence that is more important for nutrient transport and availability than the mean flow velocity. Here, we carried out well-controlled flume experiments with mimic seaweed thalli, which are available, controllable, and stable, to investigate the impact of off-bottom seaweed canopies on whole-depth flow velocities in terms of both mean flow and turbulence velocity profiles. A careful comparison of behavior in the flow between natural and mimic seaweed thalli was made before these experiments. The results show that the floating seaweed thalli generate a surface boundary layer and have a profound impact on the velocity structure in the bottom boundary layer. More importantly, the generation, growth and dissipation of turbulence in the seaweed thalli area deeply affect the downstream distribution of near-bed turbulent strength and associated bed shear stress. Ignoring this turbulent variation would cause inaccurate predictions of morphological changes of the seabed. Our findings suggest that expanding the seaweed cultivation area may cause high risks of bed degradation and low diffusion in the downstream cultivation area. These findings provide novel insights into the environmental influence of off-bottom seaweed cultivation, with important implications for optimizing management strategies to promote seaweed productivity while minimizing seabed destabilization.

How invasive oysters can affect parasite infection patterns in native mussels on a large spatial scale.

There are surprisingly few field studies on the role of invasive species on parasite infection patterns in native hosts. We investigated the role of invasive Pacific oysters (Magallana gigas) in determining parasite infection levels in native blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) in relation to other environmental and biotic factors. Using hierarchical field sampling covering three spatial scales along a large intertidal ecosystem (European Wadden Sea), we found strong spatial differences in infection levels of five parasite species associated with mussels and oysters. We applied mixed models to analyse the associations between parasite prevalence and abundance in mussels and oysters, and 12 biological and environmental factors. For each parasite-host relationship, an optimal model (either a null, one-factor or two-factor model) was selected based on AIC scores. We found that the density of invasive oysters contributed to three of the 12 models. Other biological factors such as host size (six models), and the density of target or alternative host species (five models) contributed more frequently to the best models. Furthermore, for parasite species infecting both mussels and oysters, parasite population densities were higher in native mussels, attributed to the higher densities of mussels. Our results indicate that invasive species can affect parasite infection patterns in native species in the field, but that their relative contribution may be further mediated by other biological and environmental parameters. These results stress the usefulness of large-scale field studies for detailed assessments of the mechanisms underlying the impacts of invasive species on native host communities.