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1. Population cycles have long fascinated ecologists from the time of Charles Elton in the 1920s. The discovery of large population fluctuations in undisturbed ecosystems challenged the idea that pristine nature was in a state of balance. The 10-year cycle of snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus Erxleben) across the boreal forests of Canada and Alaska is a classic cycle, recognized by fur traders for more than 300 years. 2. Since the 1930s, ecologists have investigated the mechanisms that might cause these cycles. Proposed causal mechanisms have varied from sunspots to food supplies, parasites, diseases, predation and social behaviour. Both the birth rate and the death rate change dramatically over the cycle. Social behaviour was eliminated as a possible cause because snowshoe hares are not territorial and do not commit infanticide. 3. Since the 1960s, large-scale manipulative experiments have been used to discover the major limiting factors. Food supply and predation quickly became recognized as potential key factors causing the cycle. Experiments adding food and restricting predator access to field populations have been decisive in pinpointing predation as the key mechanism causing these fluctuations. 4. The immediate cause of death of most snowshoe hares is predation by a variety of predators, including the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis Kerr). The collapse in the reproductive rate is not due to food shortage as was originally thought, but is a result of chronic stress from predator chases. 5. Five major issues remain unresolved. First, what is the nature of the predator-induced memory that results in the prolonged low phase of the cycle? Second, why do hare cycles form a travelling wave, starting in the centre of the boreal forest in Saskatchewan and travelling across western Canada and Alaska? Third, why does the amplitude of the cycle vary greatly from one cycle to the next in the same area? Fourth, do the same mechanisms of population limitation apply to snowshoe hares in eastern North American or in similar ecosystems across Siberia? Finally, what effect will climatic warming have on all the above issues? The answers to these questions remain for future generations of biologists to determine.

Ten percent of Americans are food-insecure. Few known studies have accessed college food insecurity via random sampling. An online cross-sectional survey (n = 1087) was distributed via email to a random sample of undergraduate college students. Food insecurity was determined by the USDA Food Security Short Form. Data were analyzed using JMP Pro. Results: Thirty-six percent of the students were food-insecure. Most food-insecure students were enrolled full-time (93.6%), female (81.2%), received financial aid (77.9%), lived off-campus (75.0%), non-white (59.6%), and employed (51.7%). Food-insecure students had a significantly lower GPA (p < 0.001 *), were more likely to be non-white (p < 0.0001 *), and were more likely to have received financial aid compared to food-secure students (p < 0.0001 *). Food-insecure students were significantly more likely to have lived in government housing, had free or reduced lunch, used SNAP and WIC benefits, and received food from a food bank during childhood (p < 0.0001 * for all). Food-insecure students were significantly less likely to report that they experienced a food shortage to counseling and wellness personnel, a resident assistant, and their parents (p < 0.05 * for all). Discussion: College students might be at greater risk for food insecurity if they are non-white, first-generation students, employed, on financial aid, and have a history of accessing government assistance during childhood.

Background Wild edible plants (WEPs) are non-cultivated and non-domesticated plants used for food. WEPs provided food, nutrition, herbs and other plant products for people in underdeveloped areas, such as the Everest region, to maintain their daily lives. Chenthang Town is the only Sherpa ethnic township in Tibet, China. The core purpose of this research is to investigate, collect and record the WEPs and related local knowledge and functions within the Sherpa community. The ultimate goal is to answer the question of why Sherpa people choose these particular plants. Materials and methods The field study was carried out in the six Sherpa communities of Chenthang Township from September 2019 to August 2020. The WEPs and related local knowledge were collected through semistructured interviews and direct observations. The field work was performed with the assistance of local guides. During the field survey, we collected plant specimens based on the principle of one plant with one vernacular name. In this study, we utilised a use report (UR) and cultural importance index (CI) to evaluate the comprehensive utilization value of WEPs in the daily diet of Sherpa people. Results We interviewed 78 people individually who provided us with 1199 use reports. In total, we collected 84 WEPs belonging to 65 genera in 41 families. These species were identified as 78 distinct ethno-species by local people, and the vernacular name of each ethno-species was recorded. Then, these use reports were classified into six use categories. All these plants were native wild plants. In these plants, Arisaema utile , Sorbus cuspidata and Elaeagnus umbellata have been introduced into home gardens by local people. Following the description of the Sherpa people, we articulated a collection calendar for WEPs. The Sherpa collect WEPs throughout nearly the entire year, January and February being the exceptions. Conclusion The collection calendar of wild edible plants reflects the wisdom of the Sherpa in terms of survival. The Sherpa cleverly survive the food shortage periods by harnessing the phenology of different species. In general, WEPs can provide the Sherpa with seasonal carbohydrates, nutrition, healthcare supplements and other products and services necessary for survival, which is likely why the Sherpa choose these plants.

This article introduces the forum on food shortages during the post-Habsburg transition in the Bohemian Lands and Slovenia. Using examples from these regions, it first outlines the food crisis that developed during World War I and contributed to the internal disintegration of the Habsburg Empire. The article then turns to Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, successor states which, despite their victorious status and optimistic prospects for the future, had to contend with food shortages that lasted well beyond 1918. Shortages remained one of the main challenges to the consolidation of these newly formed states. Finally, and most importantly, the article provides an overview of the state of the art in Czech, Slovene, and international historiography, identifies gaps in knowledge, and presents our approach to the topic.

Qoltso is a seasonal crop that grows as weedy root crop where the land is cultivated for other cerials. The production and productivity of Qoltso is rapidly declining which resulted in food shortage in specific months in the Gamo Highland. The main objective of this research was to assess the impact of Qoltso production decline on food security of rural households in the Gamo Highland. Data were collected from 153 randomly selected rural households in the four sample sites using participatory rural appraisal, in-depth interview and questionnaire. The result indicate that Qoltso productivity declined primarily because agricultural extension workers discourage farmers who produce Qoltso. Secondly, farm households inappropriately manage Qoltso production. Thirdly, of manure/organic fertilizer were becoming scarce. Fourthly, framers were rather encouraged to focus on newly introduced crop varieties (improved seeds). Traditional management practices such as properly cutting and burring the roottop while harvesting the product, collecting and evenly burring small Qoltso (mare), and applying only homemade livestock manure were found to be the major mechanisms to enhance its productivity. However, the result indicated that 75.8% of the studied households faced food shortage between June to September due to the decline of Qoltso production and productivity. This period in fact was the harvest period for Qoltso and households were expected to safely pass the period if Qualso production were not declining. It was recommended that indigenous soil fertility management practices should be implemented to inhance the productivity of the crop. Attention should also be given to the crop by the agricultural extention workers.

It is widely agreed that in industrialized Europe, knowledge on the use of wild food plants shows a decreasing trend with few instances of valorization. We employed a folk history approach in order to understand the changes that have occurred in the use of wild food plants within the lifetime of the older generation living on Saaremaa Island. Comparing current and remembered past uses and evaluating temporal encounters afforded the understanding that, while the general picture of the use of wild food plants seems diverse and promising (89 plant taxa used, median 20 taxa used per person, Informant Consensus Index of 0.9), only 36% of uses have been practiced throughout life. Another third (34%) of uses existed as a childhood memory, which also encompassed taxa useful during times of food shortage, and 20% of the uses recorded were recently abandoned. The uses of wild food plants acquired later in life, at some point during adulthood (4%) or recently (6%), were few in number, rather temporal in nature and affected by fashion trends. To understand the temporal changes in the use of wild food plants and to identify the reasons causing those changes, it may be important for future researchers to document the exact time of the actual use. To ensure the survival of food security–related knowledge, during times of relative food abundance, it is important to ensure the continuity of the use of wild food plants on the family level by educating children through their participation in making food from wild plants.

Behavioral and physiological adaptations are common and successful strategies used by small endothermic species to adjust to unfavorable seasons. Physiological adaptations, such as heterothermy, e.g., torpor, are usually thought to be more effective energy-saving strategies than behavioral adjustments. The African lesser bushbaby, Galago moholi, is physiologically capable of torpor but expresses heterothermy only under conditions of extreme energy limitation, suggesting that it has evolved alternative strategies to compensate energetic bottlenecks. We hypothesized that Galago moholi survives the unfavorable winter period, without —or only rarely— employing torpid phases to save energy, by using behavioral thermoregulation. We compared the ecology and behavior of Galago moholi in summer and winter by telemetric tracking and examined food availability by determination of arthropod and gum availability. We found a significant increase in huddling behavior and a significant increase in the use of enclosed and insulated sleeping sites during winter, as well as a reduction in nightly activity. Galago moholi hunted for insects significantly less in winter than in summer, and increased gum intake in winter, when gum showed an increase in energy content. The availability of high-quality food, albeit in low quantities, presumably enables Galago moholi to stay normothermic throughout the cold, dry period and to focus on reproduction activities. We propose that Galago moholi favors ecological and behavioral adjustments over torpor because these are sufficient to meet energy requirements of this species, and their advantages (flexibility, unrestricted activity, and reproduction) outweigh the energetic benefits of heterothermy.

The importance of forest resources for rural communities’ livelihoods has increasingly been recognized over the last three decades. Forests provide food, generate incomes, provide supporting (nutrient cycling, pollination), and regulating (climate, diseases, water regulation and purification) services for agriculture, in addition to their aesthetic, cultural and spiritual role. However, most of the studies on forest resource use do not focus on the role of landscape organization in addressing the impact of climate variability and the risk of food insecurity. This study aims to examine the contribution of woodlands and trees towards decreasing the risk of food insecurity and the importance of landscape structure and composition in coping with food shortages. It took place in two villages in Burkina Faso, on both ends of the woodlands and tree-cover spectrum. We demonstrate that in both landscapes, ecosystem goods, such as shea nuts and fuelwood, represent a safety net for households during food shortage periods. We demonstrate that households shape their adaptive strategies differently depending on the resources available and the structure of the landscape. People living in a landscape with a savannah matrix (Sorobouly) rely on fuelwood trade to purchase cereals, while those living in a landscape with a parkland matrix (Kalembouly) rely on shea nuts. Agricultural, environmental and climate change policies that reinforce the rights of the most vulnerable to access key resources provided by these landscapes and development programs which assure their sustainable use will simultaneously enhance food security and increase their adaptive capacity in the face of climate change and variability.

Background: Children between the ages of 5 and 14 appear to have a lower risk of dying than both younger and older individuals. Objective: We looked for possible factors influencing the mortality rates of school-age children in Norway during the German occupation from 1940 to 1945, i.e., at a time of poverty and moderate food shortage - and before the general use of vaccines. Methods: We used Norwegian mortality data by age and sex, during the period of 1930-1954, from the Human Mortality Database and obtained the main causes of death, as well as age-specific data from different regions of Norway, from Statistics Norway. Results: Boys and girls aged 5-14 years had lower mortality rates than any other age group below 40, even during the German occupation. However, 5-14-year-old boys as well as 5-9-year-old girls had significantly increased mortality during 1941-1945 as compared to the previous decade. Mortality as a result of diphtheria, pertussis, scarlet fever, and measles increased more than five-fold, surpassing mortality as a result of accidents, whereas mortality from these infections only doubled in adults up to 39 years. During that same period, the body weight of schoolchildren aged 8-13 years dropped slightly. Conclusions: Proper nourishment, being of the utmost importance for a functioning immune system, is key to understanding the potential vulnerability of children at any age. Our study shows how vulnerable even the most resistant children can be. Contribution: The vulnerability of children 5-14 years old may not have been properly taken into account, as was also shown in the recent upward UN revision of 5-14 age mortality in low- and middle-income countries.

Food shortages severely reduce the prospects of insect survival in natural settings, including in the case of herbivorous insects. However, the early starvation experience of some insects has positive effects throughout their entire lifespan. It is important to discuss the effects of refeeding and host plants on the capacity of herbivorous insects to adapt to starvation and low temperatures, considering that starvation resistance is expected to show some degree of adaptive phenotypic plasticity. We tested the relationship between host plant, starvation, and the supercooling capacity of the invasive pest Corythucha marmorata. In particular, we highlighted how early starvation affects the refeeding and recovery phases. Among the various range of hosts, the chrysanthemum lace bug has the fastest growth rate on Helianthus annuus, and the strongest supercooling capacity on Symphyotrichum novi-belgii. Especially, starvation for 2 days increases the rates of survival, development, and number of eggs upon refeeding, in comparison to no starvation. A 3-day starvation period in the nymphal stage significantly increased the supercooling capacity of 5th instar nymphs and adults, as observed in our study.