Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T01:31:59.401Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Strategies for research and management in reduced-input agroecosystems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

Paul F. Hendrix
Paul F. Hendrix
Affiliation:
Assistant Research Ecologist, Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602.
Get access

Abstract

Developing reduced-input agroecosystems is a challenge to researchers and practitioners in a number of disciplines. In particular, because of the complexity of managerial inputs, understanding the effects of decreases in levels of one or several inputs presents a difficult experimental problem. Moderate reductionism is proposed as an appropriate hierarchical analysis, which first characterizes system level behavior and then explains it in terms of system components and their interactions. An example is given using reduced nitrogen fertilizer inputs; higher nitrogen use efficiency at lower levels of input is explained by increased nutrient recycling between soil and plant subsystems. Transition from conventional to reduced-input management involves changes in both economic and ecological properties of agroecosystems. Biological, chemical and physical changes, including increased species diversity, tighter nutrient recycling, and longer-term perennial effects, may parallel ecological succession. Hypothetical trends for several such changes are discussed.

Keywords

ecologyN fertilizerreduced inputreductionismproductivityecosystemsmanagerial complexity
Type
Articles
Information
American Journal of Alternative Agriculture , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , Fall 1987 , pp. 166 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Altieri, M. A. 1986. Agroecology: The scientific basis of alternative agriculture. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
2.Bunge, M. 1977. Levels and reduction. Am. J. Physiol. 233:R75–R82.Google ScholarPubMed
3.Coleman, D. C., and Hendrix, P. F.. 1988. Agroecosystem processes. In Pomeroy, L. R. and Alberts, J. J. (eds.). Concepts of Ecosystem Ecology. Springer-Verlag. In press.Google Scholar
4.Cox, G. W. 1979. Agricultural ecology: An analysis of world food production systems. W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, California.Google Scholar
5.Crossley, D. A. Jr., House, G. J., Snider, R. M., Snider, R. J., and Stinner, B. R.. 1984. The positive interactions in agroecosystems. In Lowrance, R., Stinner, B. R., and House, G. J. (eds.). Agricultural Ecosystems: Unifying Concepts. John Wiley & Sons, New York, New York. pp. 73–82.Google Scholar
6.Dabbert, S., and Madden, P.. 1986. The transition to organic agriculture: A multi-year simulation model of a Pennsylvania farm. Am. J. Alternative Agric. 1:99–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Frissel, M. J. (ed.). 1977. Cycling of mineral nutrients in agricultural ecosystems. Agro-Ecosystems 4:1–354.Google Scholar
8.Fukuoka, M. 1985. The natural way of farming: The theory and practice of green philosophy. Japan Publications, Inc., Tokyo.Google Scholar
9.Gallaher, R. N., and Ferrer, M. B.. 1987. Effect of no-tillage vs. conventional tillage on soil organic matter and nitrogen contents. Commun. in Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 18:1061–1076.Google Scholar
10.Hargrove, W. L., Reid, J. T., Touchton, J. T., and Gallaher, R. N.. 1982. Influence of tillage practices on the fertility status of an acid soil double-cropped to wheat and soybeans. Agron. J. 74:684–687.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Langdale, G. W., Hargrove, W. L., and Giddens, J.. 1984. Residue management in double-crop conservation tillage systems. Agron. J. 76:689–694.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Lowrance, R., Hendrix, P. F., and Odum, E. P.. 1986. A hierarchical approach to sustainable agriculture. Am. J. Alternative Agric. 1:169–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Lowrance, R., Stinner, B. R., and House, G. J. (eds.). 1984. Agricultural ecosystems: Unifying concepts. John Wiley & Sons, New York, New York.Google Scholar
14.Lugo, A. E., Sanchez, M. J., and Brown, S.. 1986. Land use and organic carbon content of some subtropical soils. Plant Soil 96:185–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Mitchell, R. 1984. The ecological basis for comparative primary production. In Lowrance, R., Stinner, B. R., and House, G. J. (eds.). Agricultural Ecosystems: Unifying Concepts. John Wiley & Sons, New York, New York. pp. 13–54.Google Scholar
16.Odum, E. P. 1983. Basic ecology. Saunders College Publishing, New York, New York.Google Scholar
17.Phillips, R. R., and Phillips, S. H. (eds.). 1984. Notillage agriculture: Principles and practices. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Rice, C. W., Smith, M. S., and Blevins, R. L.. 1986. Soil nitrogen availability after long-term continuous no-tillage and conventional tillage corn production. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 50:1206–1210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.Sprague, M. A., and Triplett, G. B. (eds.). 1986. Notillage and surface tillage agriculture: The tillage revolution. John Wiley & Sons, New York, New York.Google Scholar
20.Swift, M. J., Heal, O. W., and Anderson, J. M.. 1979. Decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems. University of California Press, Berkeley, California.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21.Wagstaff, H. 1987. Husbandry methods and farm systems in industrialized countries which use lower levels of external inputs: A review. Agric. Ecosystems Environ. 19:1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar