Recent changes in the seasonal timing (phenology) of familiar biological events have been one of the most conspicuous signs of climate change. However, the lack of a standardized approach to analysing change has hampered assessment of consistency in such changes among different taxa and trophic levels and across freshwater, terrestrial and marine environments. We present a standardized assessment of 25 532 rates of phenological change for 726 UK terrestrial, freshwater and marine taxa. The majority of spring and summer events have advanced, and more rapidly than previously documented. Such consistency is indicative of shared large scale drivers. Furthermore, average rates of change have accelerated in a way that is consistent with observed warming trends. Less coherent patterns in some groups of organisms point to the agency of more local scale processes and multiple drivers. For the first time we show a broad scale signal of differential phenological change among trophic levels; across environments advances in timing were slowest for secondary consumers, thus heightening the potential risk of temporal mismatch in key trophic interactions. If current patterns and rates of phenological change are indicative of future trends, future climate warming may exacerbate trophic mismatching, further disrupting the functioning, persistence and resilience of many ecosystems and having a major impact on ecosystem services.

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Soils are subject to varying degrees of direct or indirect human disturbance, constituting a major global change driver. Factoring out natural from direct and indirect human influence is not always straightforward, but some human activities have clear impacts. These include land-use change, land management and land degradation (erosion, compaction, sealing and salinization). The intensity of land use also exerts a great impact on soils, and soils are also subject to indirect impacts arising from human activity, such as acid deposition (sulphur and nitrogen) and heavy metal pollution. In this critical review, we report the state-of-the-art understanding of these global change pressures on soils, identify knowledge gaps and research challenges and highlight actions and policies to minimize adverse environmental impacts arising from these global change drivers. Soils are central to considerations of what constitutes sustainable intensification. Therefore, ensuring that vulnerable and high environmental value soils are considered when protecting important habitats and ecosystems, will help to reduce the pressure on land from global change drivers. To ensure that soils are protected as part of wider environmental efforts, a global soil resilience programme should be considered, to monitor, recover or sustain soil fertility and function, and to enhance the ecosystem services provided by soils. Soils cannot, and should not, be considered in isolation of the ecosystems that they underpin and vice versa. The role of soils in supporting ecosystems and natural capital needs greater recognition. The lasting legacy of the International Year of Soils in 2015 should be to put soils at the centre of policy supporting environmental protection and sustainable development.

Аннотация. В сообщении приведены результаты сравнения биохимического состава мышц двухлетков двухпородных кроссов с породами и линиями карпа разного происхождения и амурского сазана. Установлены сочетания, характеризующиеся повышенным уровнем содержания сухого вещества, жира, протеина по сравнению со среднепопуляционным значением, средним уровнем коллекционных белорусских линий, импортных пород и амурским сазаном, выращенным в одинаковых условиях. Средняя масса отобранных для исследования двухлетков составила 531,3 г, с колебаниями от 370,2 до 645,0 г, в основном с низкой и средней степенью изменчивости. Средний уровень содержания сухого вещества у всех опытных кроссов составил 25,85 %, максимальное значение этого показателя отмечено у сочетания немецкий × три прим (27,92 %), минимальное у немецкий × лахвинский чешуйчатый (24,08 %). Низкие значения коэффициента вариации (1,0-9,8 %) указывают на незначительную изменчивость данного показателя у различных межпородных кроссов.

The energy equivalents given in the literature are reviewed and criticised. New equivalents are calculated for protein respiration.The energy equivalent for converting rate of oxygen consumption into rate of heat production (Q cal mg oxygen consumed) is 3.53 cal mg for carbohydrate oxidation, 3.28 cal mg (range 3.22-3.32) for fat oxidation. Q values for the respiration of standard protein are the same at 3.25 cal mg for ureotelic and uricotelic animals, and about 2% less at 3.20 cal mg for ammoniotelic animals. The energy equivalent for converting rate of oxygen consumption into rate of energy loss in excreta (Q cal mg) varies considerably with different excretory products. Values for standard protein are 0.62 cal mg for ammonioteles, 0.58 cal mg for ureoteles, and 0.94 cal mg for uricoteles.The various factors affecting both Q and Q are discussed, and examples of the estimation of general energy equivalents are given.

Conservation tillage has been widely promoted to reduce sediment and nutrient transport from agricultural fields. However, the effect of conservation tillage on sediment and nutrient export in snowmelt-dominated climates is not well known. Therefore, a long-term paired watershed study was used to compare sediment and nutrient losses from a conventional and a conservation tillage watershed in the Northern Great Plains region of western Canada. During the treatment period, dissolved nutrient concentrations were typically greater during spring snowmelt than during summer rainfall events, whereas concentrations of sediment and particulate nutrients were greatest during rainfall events. However, because total runoff was dominated by snowmelt, most sediment and nutrient export occurred during snowmelt. Overall, conservation tillage reduced the export of sediment in runoff water by 65%. Similarly, concentrations and export of nitrogen were reduced by 41 and 68%, respectively, relative to conventional tillage. After conversion to conservation tillage, concentrations and exports of phosphorus (P) increased by 42 and 12%, respectively, with soluble P accounting for the majority of the exported P, especially during snowmelt. Our results suggest that management practices designed to improve water quality by reducing sediment and sediment-bound nutrient export from agricultural fields and watersheds can be less effective in cold, dry regions where nutrient export is primarily snowmelt driven and in the dissolved form. In these situations, it may be more appropriate to implement management practices that reduce the accumulation of nutrients in crop residues and the surface soil.

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