Reduce the environmentally negative aspects of industrial agriculture with an ecologically sound philosophy!
New Dimensions in Agroecology explores the latest developments in the emerging science of agroecology, focusing on how these new concepts and cutting-edge tools will help minimize the impact of agriculture on the environment and foster the use of sustainable agricultural practices. This book expands your scope of thinking by providing information on current innovative agroecological research and education as well as emerging issues, such as biotechnology and climate change. Prominent specialists from around the world offer a diversity of stimulating perspectives and topics that will benefit agricultural researchers, extension personnel, and upper-level students in agroecology, ecology, and agronomy programs.
In New Dimensions in Agroecology, you will learn why conventional agriculture practices frequently result in environmental problems such as eutrophication at the landscape scale, reduction in soil quality, and decreased biodiversity. This timely tool contributes practical suggestions to design sustainable crop and meat production systems that replace current wasteful and unsustainable industrial agriculture to nourish the world without major damage to the health and quality of our total environment. The book points to future possibilities for research and application with the hope that agroecology becomes the new discipline in agricultural issues rather than just a buzzword.
New Dimensions in Agroecology covers groundbreaking investigations on a wide variety of agriculture and ecology, including:
- holistic landscape-level approaches
- the integration of ecological principles into cropping systems
- the utilization of biodiversity in agriculture
- new ways of seeing the soil in agrosystems
- ecological pest management and its extension
- and much more!
- Preface
- New Dimensions in Agroecology for Developing a Biological Approach to Crop Production (David R. Clements and Anil Shrestha)
- Education in Agroecology and Integrated Systems (Charles A. Francis)
- Redesigning Industrial Agroecosystems: Incorporating More Ecological Processes and Reducing Pollution (Eugene P. Odum and Gary W. Barrett)
- Integrating Agroecological Processes into Cropping Systems Research (Stephen R. Gliessman)
- An Agroecological Basis for Designing Diversified Cropping Systems in the Tropics (Miguel A. Altieri and Clara I. Nicholls)
- Soil Ecosystem Changes During the Transition to No-Till Cropping (Tami L. Stubbs, Ann C. Kennedy, and William F. Schillinger)
- The Ecology of Crop-Weed Interactions: Towards a More Complete Model of Weed Communities in Agroecosystems (Bruce D. Maxwell and Edward Luschei)
- Research and Extension Supporting Ecologically Based IPM Systems (Fabián D. Menalled, Douglas A. Landis, and Larry E. Dyer)
- Effects of Key Soil Organisms on Nutrient Dynamics in Temperate Agroecosystems (Joann K. Whalen and Chantal Hamel)
- Nutrient Dynamics: Utilizing Biotic-Abiotic Interactions for Improved Management of Agricultural Soils (Chantal Hamel, Christine Landry, Abdirashid Elmi, Aiguo Liu, and Timothy Spedding)
- Microbial and Genetic Diversity in Soil Environments (Ping Wang and Warren A. Dick)
- Impact of Global Change on Biological Processes in Soil: Implications for Agroecosystem Management (Shuijin Hu and Weijian Zhang)
- The Importance of Biodiversity in Agroecosystems (Lori Ann Thrupp)
- Biophysical and Ecological Interactions in a Temperate Tree-Based Intercropping System (N. V. Thevathasan, A. M. Gordon, J. A. Simpson, P. E. Reynolds, G. Price, and P. Zhang)
- Agricultural Landscapes: Field Margin Habitats and Their Interaction with Crop Production (E. J. P. Marshall)
- Benefits of Re-Integrating Livestock and Forages in Crop Production Systems (E. Ann Clark)
- Nitrogen Efficiency in Mixed Farming Systems (Egbert A. Lantinga, Gerard J. M. Oomen, and Johannes B. Schiere)
- Ecological Context for Examining the Effects of Transgenic Crops in Production Systems (Jennifer A. White, Jason P. Harmon, and D. A. Andow)
- Redesigning Pest Management: A Social Ecology Approach (Stuart B. Hill)
- Research Priorities in Natural Systems Agriculture (T. S. Cox, C. Picone, and W. Jackson)
- Index
- Reference Notes Included
Biography
Anil Shrestha, University of California, Parlier, USA. David Clements
