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Agroecology

The Ecology of Sustainable Food Systems, Second Edition

Agroecology
  • e-Book: 408 pages
  • Also available in Hardback
  • Published: November 2006
  • ISBN: 978-1-4200043-8-0
  • Publisher: CRC Press

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Providing the theoretical and conceptual framework for this continually evolving field, Agroecology: The Ecology of Sustainable Food Systems, Second Edition explores environmental factors and complexities affecting agricultural crops and animals. Completely revised, updated, and reworked, the second edition contains new data, new readings, new issues and case studies, and new options. It includes two completely new chapters, one on the role of livestock animals in agroecosystems and one on the cultural and community aspects of sustainable food systems.

The author clearly delineates the importance of using an ecosystem framework for determining if a particular agricultural practice, input, or management decision contributes or detracts from sustainability. He explains how the framework provides the ecological basis for the functioning of the chosen management strategy over the long-term. He also examines system level interactions, stressing the need for understanding the emergent qualities of populations, communities, and ecosystems and their roles in sustainable agriculture. Using examples of farming systems in a broad array of ecological conditions, the book demonstrates how to use an ecosystem approach to design and manage agroecosystems for sustainability.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION TO AGROECOLOGY

The Need for Sustainable Food Production Systems

The Agroecosystem Concept

PLANTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

The Plant

Light

Temperature

Humidity and Rainfall

Wind

Soil

Water in the Soil

Fire

Biotic Factors

The Environmental Complex

SYSTEM-LEVEL INTERACTIONS

The Population Ecology of Agroecosystems

Genetic Resources in Agroecosystems

Species Interactions in Crop Communities

Agroecosystem Diversity and Stability

Disturbance, Succession, and Agroecosystem Management

The Energetics of Agroecosystems

Animals in Agroecosystems

THE TRANSITION TO SUSTAINABILITY

Converting to Ecologically Based Management

Indicators of Sustainability

Landscape Diversity and Agroecosystem Management

Community, Culture, and Sustainability

From Sustainable Agroecosystems to Sustainable Food Systems

Glossary

Index

Reviews

The author has had extensive international experience in tropical and temperate agriculture, and numerous farming systems. This experience has provided him with a wealth of material that has found its way into this book. The author clearly is an authority in the field of agro-ecology and teaches on the subject. … agronomists and biologists, as well as general scholars and people interested by sustainability as an attitude or life style will learn about how to put principles into (cropping and whole

food chain) practice. All in all: a good read!

—Patrick Van Damme, University of Gent, Belgium, in Economic Botany