Biodiversity Conservation and Productivity in Intensive Agricultural Systems

Omer, Amani; Pascual, Unai; Russell, Noel

doi:10.1111/j.1477-9552.2007.00091.x

Cited by 78 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…In modern, intensive agriculture, however, monocultures are planted, and positive interactions and complementary use of resources between species are largely ignored (29). Maintaining high and stable production in these intensive agricultural systems usually requires a high input of chemical fertilizers and pesticides (6).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological mechanisms underlying the sustainability of the agricultural heritage rice–fish coculture system

Xie

Tang

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

329

218

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For centuries, traditional agricultural systems have contributed to food and livelihood security throughout the world. Recognizing the ecological legacy in the traditional agricultural systems may help us develop novel sustainable agriculture. We examine how rice-fish coculture (RF), which has been designated a "globally important agricultural heritage system," has been maintained for over 1,200 y in south China. A field survey demonstrated that although rice yield and rice-yield stability are similar in RF and rice monoculture (RM), RF requires 68% less pesticide and 24% less chemical fertilizer than RM. A field experiment confirmed this result. We documented that a mutually beneficial relationship between rice and fish develops in RF: Fish reduce rice pests and rice favors fish by moderating the water environment. This positive relationship between rice and fish reduces the need for pesticides in RF. Our results also indicate a complementary use of nitrogen (N) between rice and fish in RF, resulting in low N fertilizer application and low N release into the environment. These findings provide unique insights into how positive interactions and complementary use of resource between species generate emergent ecosystem properties and how modern agricultural systems might be improved by exploiting synergies between species. G lobal food security is becoming an acute problem because of the increasing world population (1), the limitation of agricultural resources (e.g., land and water) (2), and the effects of global climate change on crop production (3, 4). World agriculture currently faces great challenges in producing sufficient food while minimizing the negative environmental effects of crop cultivation.In the past 50 y, crop yields have substantially increased, mainly resulting from the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the development of new crop varieties, and the improvement in cultivation methods. The heavy application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides for long periods, however, negatively affects the environment, induces pest resistance to pesticides, and increases agricultural costs (5, 6). As a consequence, modern agriculture now requires "rethinking" (1, 7), and such rethinking should include reconsideration of traditional agricultural systems (8-10).For many centuries, traditional agricultural systems have contributed to food and livelihood security throughout the world (8). Because traditional agricultural systems have been created, shaped, and maintained by generations of farmers who used management practices that were matched to local conditions, and because these systems are based on diverse species and species interactions, traditional agricultural systems reflect a successful adaptation to different environments and are rich in biological diversity (8,11,12). The recognition of the ecological legacy of these traditional agricultural systems and the integration of these unique experiences into our future farm designs could help us to develop more sustainable agriculture. In fact, stud...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological mechanisms underlying the sustainability of the agricultural heritage rice–fish coculture system

Xie

Tang

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

329

218

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“…The underlying process is that locally redundant genotypes or crop/ plant species may take on important functions in other communities or following environmental fluctuations, thereby increasing the stability of agro-ecosystems across time and scale (Loreau et al, 2003;Tascharntke et al, 2005). A number of recent studies find that more diverse agro-ecosystems can be associated with higher (average) productivity in the longer term due to increased temporal stability (Schläpfer, 2002;Tilman et al, 2005;Omer et al, 2007).…”

Section: Agro-ecosystem-level Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

La economía de la conservación de la agrobiodiversidad para la seguridad alimentaria ante el cambio climático

Pascual

Narloch

Nordhagen

et al. 2011

EARN

Self Cite

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Acknowledgements: We would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for the helpful comments and suggestions. Contact author: up211@cam.ac.uk; unai.pascual@bc3research.org.Recibido en junio de 2011. Aceptado en septiembre de 2011. ABSTRACT:Subsistence-based and natural resource-dependent societies are especially vulnerable to climate change. In such contexts, food security needs to be strengthened by investing in the adaptability of food systems. This paper looks into the role of agrobiodiversity conservation for food security in the face of climate change. It identifies agrobiodiversity as a key public good that delivers necessary services for human wellbeing. We argue that the public values provided by agrobiodiversity conservation need to be demonstrated and captured. We offer an economic perspective of this challenge and highlight ways of capturing at least a subset of the public values of agrobiodiversity to help adapt to and reduce the vulnerability of subsistence based economies to climate change. KEYWORDS:Climate change, adaptation, agrobiodiversity, economic incentives, resilience. JEL classification: Q18, Q24, Q54.La economía de la conservación de la agrobiodiversidad para la seguridad alimentaria ante el cambio climático RESUMEN: Las sociedades dependientes de recursos naturales de subsistencia son especialmente vulnerables al cambio climático. En este contexto, la seguridad alimentaria debe de fortalecerse mediante la inversión en la adaptabilidad de los sistemas alimentarios. Este artículo se enfoca en el papel de la conservación de la agrobiodiversidad para la seguridad alimentaria ante el cambio climático y trata la agrobiodiversidad como un bien público que genera servicios básicos para el bienestar humano. Una vez que los valores públicos de la conservación de la agrobiodiversidad son puestos en relieve, éstos deben de ser puestos en valor. Aquí ofrecemos una perspectiva económica de este reto y subrayamos formas para la captura de varios valores públicos de la agrobiodiversidad para la adaptación al cambio climático.

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“…biodiversity) in production related analysis. An exception is the publication by Omer, Pascual and Russell (2007) who conducted an study in the productivity performance and biodiversity conservation in intensive agricultural systems using a stochastic production frontier approach. These authors included a biodiversity index (BI) based on measures of plant species richness to examine the relationship between the state of biodiversity and output in a specialised intensive farming system.…”

Section: Both Positive and Negative Externalities Have Characterised mentioning

confidence: 99%

Provision of environmental output within a multi-output distance function approach

Areal

Tiffin

Balcombe

2012

Ecological Economics

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This paper rede nes technical e ciency by incorporating provision of environmental goods as one of the outputs of the farm within a multi-outptut distance function framework.Permanent and rough grassland area are used as a proxy for the provision of environmental goods. The multi-output distance function approach is used to estimate technical e ciency.A Bayesian procedure involving the use of a Gibbs sampler is used to estimate the farm speci c e ciency as well as the coe cients of the distance function. In addition, a number of explanatory variables for the e ciency were introduced in the analysis and posterior distributions of those were obtained. The methodology is applied to panel data on 215 dairy farms in England and Wales from the Defra Farm Business Survey. Results show that both farm e ciency rankings and determinants of ine ciency change when provision of environmental outputs by farms is incorporated in the e ciency analysis, which may have important political implications.

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Biodiversity Conservation and Productivity in Intensive Agricultural Systems

Cited by 78 publications

References 37 publications

Ecological mechanisms underlying the sustainability of the agricultural heritage rice–fish coculture system

Ecological mechanisms underlying the sustainability of the agricultural heritage rice–fish coculture system

La economía de la conservación de la agrobiodiversidad para la seguridad alimentaria ante el cambio climático

Provision of environmental output within a multi-output distance function approach

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