This study tested the effect of oat catch crops on mineral nitrogen (N) leaching losses from cool season fodder beet grazing. Undisturbed soil monolith lysimeters were collected from two grassland sites with soils featuring contrasting texture and water holding capacity (WHC) characteristics. After simulated fodder beet grazing in late autumn or winter, synthetic dairy cow urine was applied. Nitrogen leaching losses were measu...

Functional traits offer a rich quantitative framework for developing and testing theories in evolutionary biology, ecology and ecosystem science. However, the potential of functional traits to drive theoretical advances and refine models of global change can only be fully realised when species‐level information is complete. Here we present the AVONET dataset containing comprehensive functional trait data for all birds, includi...

Phylogeography of Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) was reconstructed from the coat protein gene sequences of a selection of 173 isolates from the 14 countries of mainland Africa where the disease occurred and from the full sequences of 16 representative isolates. Genetic variation was linked to geographical distribution and not to host species as isolates from wild rice always clustered with isolates from cultivated rice of the...

Pollen data from 18,000 14 C yr bp were compiled in order to reconstruct biome distributions at the last glacial maximum in southern Europe and Africa. Biome reconstructions were made using the objective biomization method applied to pollen counts using a complete list of dryland taxa wherever possible. Consistent and major differences from present‐day biomes are shown. Forest and xerophytic woods/scrub were replaced by steppe...