Ecosystem Services from Agriculture Across a Management Intensity Gradient in Southwest Michigan PDF Download

Author: Sara Parr Syswerda
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 262

View

Book Description

Author: Stephen K. Hamilton
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190266767
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 449

View

Book Description
Evidence has been mounting for some time that intensive row-crop agriculture as practiced in developed countries may not be environmentally sustainable, with concerns increasingly being raised about climate change, implications for water quantity and quality, and soil degradation. This volume synthesizes two decades of research on the sustainability of temperate, row-crop ecosystems of the Midwestern United States. The overarching hypothesis guiding this work has been that more biologically based management practices could greatly reduce negative impacts while maintaining sufficient productivity to meet demands for food, fiber and fuel, but that roadblocks to their adoption persist because we lack a comprehensive understanding of their benefits and drawbacks. The research behind this book, based at the Kellogg Biological Station (Michigan State University) and conducted under the aegis of the Long-term Ecological Research network, is structured on a foundation of large-scale field experiments that explore alternatives to conventional, chemical-intensive agriculture. Studies have explored the biophysical underpinnings of crop productivity, the interactions of crop ecosystems with the hydrology and biodiversity of the broader landscapes in which they lie, farmers' views about alternative practices, economic valuation of ecosystem services, and global impacts such as greenhouse gas exchanges with the atmosphere. In contrast to most research projects, the long-term design of this research enables identification of slow or delayed processes of change in response to management regimes, and allows examination of responses across a broader range of climatic variability. This volume synthesizes this comprehensive inquiry into the ecology of alternative cropping systems, identifying future steps needed on the path to sustainability.

Author: Maria Christina B. Jolejole
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ecosystem management
Languages : en
Pages : 346

View

Book Description

Author: Maria A. Tsiafouli
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2889452964
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 201

View

Book Description
Agricultural land is subjected to a variety of societal pressures, as demands for food, animal feed, and biomass production increase, with an added requirement to simultaneously maintain natural areas and mitigate climatic and environmental impacts. The biotic elements of agricultural systems interact with the abiotic environment to generate a number of ecosystem functions that offer services benefiting humans across many scales of time and space. The intensification of agriculture generally reduces biodiversity including that within soil, and impacts negatively upon a number of regulating and supporting ecosystem services. There is a global need toward achieving sustainable agricultural systems, as also highlighted in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. There is hence a need for management regimes that enhance both agricultural production and the associated provision of multiple ecosystem services. The articles of this Research Topic enhance our knowledge of how management practices applied to agricultural systems affect the delivery of multiple ecosystem services and how trade-offs between provisioning, regulating, and supporting services can be handled both above- and below-ground. They also show the diversity of topics that need to be considered within the framework of ecosystem services delivered by agricultural systems, from knowledge on basic concepts and newly-proposed frameworks, to a focus on specific ecosystem types such as grasslands and high nature-value farmlands, pollinator habitats, and soil habitats. This diversity of topics indicates the need for broader-scope research, integrated with targeted scientific research to promote sustainable agricultural practices and to ensure food security.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

View

Book Description
Agricultural land is subjected to a variety of societal pressures, as demands for food, animal feed, and biomass production increase, with an added requirement to simultaneously maintain natural areas and mitigate climatic and environmental impacts. The biotic elements of agricultural systems interact with the abiotic environment to generate a number of ecosystem functions that offer services benefiting humans across many scales of time and space. The intensification of agriculture generally reduces biodiversity including that within soil, and impacts negatively upon a number of regulating and supporting ecosystem services. There is a global need toward achieving sustainable agricultural systems, as also highlighted in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. There is hence a need for management regimes that enhance both agricultural production and the associated provision of multiple ecosystem services. The articles of this Research Topic enhance our knowledge of how management practices applied to agricultural systems affect the delivery of multiple ecosystem services and how trade-offs between provisioning, regulating, and supporting services can be handled both above- and below-ground. They also show the diversity of topics that need to be considered within the framework of ecosystem services delivered by agricultural systems, from knowledge on basic concepts and newly-proposed frameworks, to a focus on specific ecosystem types such as grasslands and high nature-value farmlands, pollinator habitats, and soil habitats. This diversity of topics indicates the need for broader-scope research, integrated with targeted scientific research to promote sustainable agricultural practices and to ensure food security.

Author: Sarah M. Gardner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107067626
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 407

View

Book Description
Offers an interdisciplinary exploration of resilience in agriculture, and implications for producers seeking to adapt to change and uncertainty.

Author: A Robson
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0323156223
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 319

View

Book Description
Soil Acidity and Plant Growth emerged from concerns over increasing acidification of soils under improved pastures over wide areas of southern Australia. While the book has its origin in the problems of acidification of Australian soils under pastures, the authors examine soil acidity within a much broader framework, making their views relevant to all agricultural and natural ecosystems on acid soils. The book's first two chapters discuss the chemistry of soil acidity and the ecological processes leading to it. This is followed by separate chapters on biological responses to soil acidity, covering mineralization of soil nitrogen, incidence of plant diseases, plant mycorrhizal associations, symbiotic nitrogen fixation in legumes, and genetic variability in plant response to toxicities. The remaining chapters focus on the correction of soil acidity problems by liming. These include studies on the rates of application and effectiveness of liming materials; and the development and use of computer modelling procedures to help researchers identify the effects and interactions of soil pH on component processes and to provide assistance to farmers in the management of long-term subterranean clover pastures.

Author: Paulo S. Oliveira
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110715975X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 461

View

Book Description
The first volume devoted to anthropogenic effects on interactions between ants and flowering plants, considered major parts of terrestrial ecosystems.

Author: Robert A. Gleason
Publisher: Geological Survey (USGS)
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 74

View

Book Description

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forests and forestry
Languages : en
Pages : 668

View

Book Description