Browsing by Author "Chunlin, Long"

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Biodiversity and Phytochemical Quality in Indigenous and State-Supported Tea Management Systems of Yunnan, China.
(2013-02) Ahmed, Selena; Peters, Charles M.; Chunlin, Long; Meyer, Rachel; Unachukwu, Uchenna J.; Litt, Amy; Kennelly, Edward J.; Stepp, John R.
The Chinese government initiated one of the world's largest conservation programs involving agricultural ecosystems with the implementation of the ‘Grain for Green’ (Tui Geng Huan Lin) forest policy between 1999 and 2003. This is the first study to systematically quantify multiple dimensions of biodiversity, phytochemical quality and economic benefits associated with (1) the Grain for Green's tea (Camellia sinensis; Theaceae) initiative; (2) the state's previous forest policy involving tea populations in protected areas and; (3) the indigenous tea agro‐ecosystems replaced or overlooked by this conservation program. There are several novel and unexpected findings. While forest populations contained the greatest ecological diversity, agro‐forests and mixed crop plots were associated with the greatest genetic diversity, phytochemical quality and economic benefits. Indigenous management practices should be incorporated into conservation in China in order to create policies that are more aligned towards biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods while allowing local communities to maintain their cultural identity through agrarian practices.
Environmental Factors Variably Impact Tea Secondary Metabolites in the Context of Climate Change: A Systematic Review
(2019-08) Ahmed, Selena; Griffin, Timothy; Kraner, Debra; Schaffner, Katherine; Sharma, Deepak; Leitch, Alicia; Orians, Colin M.; Han, Wenyan; Stepp, John R.; Robbat, Albert; Matyas, Corene; Chunlin, Long; Dayuan, Xue; Houser, Robert; Cash, Sean
Climate change is impacting food and beverage crops around the world with implications for environmental and human wellbeing. While numerous studies have examined climate change effects on crop yields, relatively few studies have examined effects on crop quality (concentrations of nutrients, minerals, and secondary metabolites). This review article employs a culturally relevant beverage crop, tea (Camelia sinensis), as a lens to examine environmental effects linked to climate change on the directionality of crop quality. Our systematic review identified eighty-six articles as relevant to the review question. Findings provide evidence that shifts in seasonality, water stress, geography, light factors, altitude, herbivory and microbes, temperature, and soil factors that are linked to climate change can result in both increases and decreases up to 50% in secondary metabolites. A gap was found regarding evidence on the direct effects of carbon dioxide on tea quality, highlighting a critical research area for future study. While this systematic review provides evidence that multiple environmental parameters are impacting tea quality, the directionality and magnitude of these impacts is not clear with contradictory evidence between studies likely due to confounding factors including variation in tea variety, cultivar, specific environmental and agricultural management conditions, and differences in research methods. The environmental factors with the most consistent evidence in this systematic review were seasonality and water stress with 14 out of 18 studies (78%) demonstrating a decrease in concentrations of phenolic compounds or their bioactivity with a seasonal shift from the spring and /or first tea harvest to other seasons and seven out of ten studies (70%) showing an increase in levels of phenolic compounds or their bioactivity with drought stress. Herbivory and soil fertility were two of the variables that showed the greatest contradictory evidence on tea quality. Both herbivory and soil fertility are variables which farmers have the greatest control over, pointing to the importance of agricultural management for climate mitigation and adaptation. The development of evidence-based management strategies and crop breeding programs for resilient cultivars are called for to mitigate climate impacts on crop quality and overall risk in agricultural and food systems.
Rapid tool based on a food environment typology framework for evaluating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on food system resilience
(2020) Ahmed, Selena; Downs, Shauna M.; Yang, Chunyan; Chunlin, Long; Ten Broek, Noah; Ghosh-Jerath, Suparna
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and associated mitigation measures are highlighting resiliency and vulnerability of food systems with consequences for diets, food security, and health outcomes. Frameworks and tools are called for to evaluate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as identify entry points for implementing preparedness efforts. We support it is critical to adopt a food environment typology framework based on the different types of food environments that people have access to in order to examine how their relationship with food environments shift with disruptions such as COVID-19 and, ultimately impact diets and food security. Here, we provide an overview of applying a food environment typology framework for developing and implementing a rapid tool to evaluate the effects of COVID-19 on interactions people have with their food environments. This tool was developed on the basis of a preliminary case study with smallholder farmers in China that generated a set of key hypotheses. We modified the tool in order to be applicable to diverse contexts in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. Other researchers can implement the rapid tool presented here during times of COVID-19 as well as other disruptions towards identifying barriers and opportunities for enhancing food system resilience.