Agroecology

ISBN-13: 9789400796003 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 330 str.

Konrad Martin; Joachim Sauerborn

Opis

This book represents an interdisciplinary approach to the relevant aspects of agricultural production related to the interactions between natural processes, human activities and the environment. It provides condensed and comprehensive knowledge on the functions of various agroecosystems at the field, landscape and global scale. Understanding and integrating complex ecological processes into field production, land management and food systems is essential in order to deal with the challenges of modern crop and livestock production: the need for food security for the growing human population, and the necessity to combat the detrimental effects of food production on the environment. The book provides the scientific basis required by students and scientists involved in the development of sustainable agroecosystems and contributes to a range of disciplines including Agriculture, Biology, Geography, Landscape Ecology, Organic Farming, Biological Control, and Global Change Ecology.

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"Martin and Sauerborn ... use a broad approach to reach a wide spectrum of readers. The book has been translated very well from the original German. The examples and concepts of agroecology presented are universal. ... This has the potential to be the book that introduces new student cohorts in both biology and agriculture to the other's point of view and to begin a new, productive conversation to the benefit of both. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." (M. J. Stone, Choice, Vol. 51 (4), December, 2013)

Spis treści

1 Introduction
1.1 Basic terms and overview of contents
2 Origin and development of agriculture
2.1 The first humans
2.2 The origins of agriculture
2.3 Progress and impacts of agriculture
2.4 Classification of agroecosystems
2.5 Livestock systems
3 Patterns and processes in ecosystems
3.1 Biotic interactions
3.2 Communities
3.3 Biodiversity
3.4 Succession
3.5 Flows of energy and material
3.6 Ecosystem services
3.7 Global material cycles
4 Crops and their environment
4.1 Radiation and energy
4.2 Water
4.3 Soil
4.4 Crop-associated flora
4.5 Phytophages
4.6 Phytopathogens
5 Management of unwanted organisms
5.1 Weed management
5.2 Pest management
5.3 Management of phytopathogens
6 Production and management of livestock resources
6.1 Grassland-based production systems
6.2 Environmental impacts of livestock production
7 Climate zones and land use
7.1 Global atmospheric circulation
7.2 Climate zones
8 Agroecological aspects of global change
8.1 Global change

O autorze

Konrad Martin is biologist and agroecologist at the University of Hohenheim, Germany.
His specific interests are animal-plant interactions and community ecology. He was involved in various international research projects in countries of Southeast Asia and conducted studies on biological pest control and food webs in agroecosystems, on insect diversity cultivated tropical landscapes, and on the effects of land use change on species interactions.

Joachim Sauerborn studied agricultural sciences at the universities Giessen and Hohenheim, Germany. He conducted studies on weed ecology and agroecology in tropical and subtropical regions and spent a research period at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas in Aleppo, Syria. As a professor for agroecology at the University of Hohenheim, his main research is on land resources management in tropical regions. He has published several books and over 70 articles in refereed journals.

Blurb

This book represents an interdisciplinary approach to the relevant aspects of agricultural production related to the interactions between natural processes, human activities and the environment. It provides condensed and comprehensive knowledge on the functions of various agroecosystems at the field, landscape and global scale. Understanding and integrating complex ecological processes into field production, land management and food systems is essential in order to deal with the challenges of modern crop and livestock production. These are characterized by the need for food security for the growing human population on the one hand, and the necessity to combat the detrimental effects of food production on the environment on the other.

The book provides the scientific basis required by students and scientists involved in the theoretical and practical development of sustainable agroecosystems and contributes to a range of disciplines including Agriculture, Biology, Geography, Landscape Ecology, Organic Farming, Biological Control, and Global Change Ecology.

Specific chapters include: the beginnings and progress of agriculture; abiotic processes and species interactions in agroecosystems; ecology of agricultural soils, weeds, pests and diseases; management and control options; livestock production systems, agroecosystems of the different ecozones of the world; environmental problems including land degradation and effects of land use on biodiversity and ecological cycles; global aspects related to the future of human food production, global climate change and the increasing world population.