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Enhancing Agroecosystem performance and Resilience through Increased Diversification of Landscapes and Cropping Systems
Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene
  • Matthew Z. Liebman, Iowa State University
  • Lisa A. Schulte-Moore, Iowa State University
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
1-1-2015
DOI
10.12952/journal.elementa.000041
Abstract

Over the past two decades, ecologists have gained a considerable amount of insight concerning the effects of biological diversity on how ecosystems function. Greater productivity, greater carbon sequestration, greater retention of nutrients, and greater ability to resist and recover from various forms of stress, including herbivorous pests, diseases, droughts, and floods, are among the effects of increased biological diversity noted in a recent review by Cardinale et al. (2012). The latter effect, often called resilience, is particularly important in managed social-ecological systems, including agroecosystems (Walker and Salt, 2006). In addition to being better able to withstand and recover from disturbances due to pests, weather, and other biophysical factors, resilient agroecosystems can be less susceptible to fluctuations in production costs and market prices.

Comments

This article is from Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene (2015): 1, doi:10.12952/journal.elementa.000041. Posted with permission.

Rights
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Copyright Owner
Matt Liebman and Lisa A. Schulte
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Matthew Z. Liebman and Lisa A. Schulte-Moore. "Enhancing Agroecosystem performance and Resilience through Increased Diversification of Landscapes and Cropping Systems" Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene Vol. 3 (2015) p. 41
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/lisa_schulte/30/