scholarly journals Habitat percolation transition undermines sustainability in social-ecological agricultural systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Bengochea Paz ◽  
Kirsten Henderson ◽  
Michel Loreau
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Agricultural Expansion ◽  
Percolation Transition ◽  
Effective Measure ◽  
Social Ecological

Steady increases in human population size and resource consumption levels are driving rampant agricultural expansion and intensification in some of the world’s most pristine ecosystems. Habitat loss caused by agriculture puts the integrity of ecosystems at risk, and as a consequence, threatens the persistence of human societies that rely on ecosystem services to produce resources. Here we develop a spatially explicit model describing the coupled dynamics of an agricultural landscape and human population size to study the effect of different land-use management strategies, defined by the levels of agricultural clustering and intensification, on the sustainability of the social-ecological system. We show how gradual agricultural expansion can cause natural habitat to undergo a percolation transition leading to abrupt habitat fragmentation that feedbacks on human’s decision making, causing faster agricultural expansion and aggravating habitat loss and fragmentation. We found that agricultural intensification to spare land from conversion is a successful strategy only in highly natural landscapes and that clustering agricultural land is the most effective measure to preserve landscape connectivity and avoid severe fragmentation. Our work highlights the importance of preserving large connected natural fragments in agricultural landscapes to enhance sustainability.

scholarly journals Habitat percolation transition undermines sustainability in social-ecological agricultural systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Bengochea Paz ◽  
Kirsten Henderson ◽  
Michel Loreau
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Agricultural Expansion ◽  
Percolation Transition ◽  
Effective Measure ◽  
Landscape Degradation ◽  
Social Ecological

Steady increases in human population size and resource consumption are driving rampant agricultural expansion and intensification. Habitat loss caused by agriculture puts the integrity of ecosystems at risk, and threatens the persistence of human societies that rely on ecosystem services. We develop a spatially explicit model describing the coupled dynamics of an agricultural landscape and human population size to study the effect of different land-use management strategies, defined by agricultural clustering and intensification, on the sustainability of the social-ecological system. We show how agricultural expansion can cause natural habitat to undergo a percolation transition leading to abrupt habitat fragmentation that feedbacks on human's decision making, aggravating landscape degradation. We found that agricultural intensification to spare land from conversion is a successful strategy only in highly natural landscapes, and that clustering agricultural land is the most effective measure to preserve large connected natural fragments, avoid severe fragmentation, and thus, enhance sustainability.

scholarly journals Basic principles of reclaimed agricultural landscapes sustainability formation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Vasilyev ◽  
◽  
A. N. Babichev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Moisture Supply ◽  
Irrigated Lands

Purpose: to establish the basic principles of the organization of reclamed agricultural landscapes and to substantiate the use of the agricultural landscape approach in the organization of the territory. Materials and Methods. When preparing this article, the materials of Russian scientists dealing with the issues of soil fertility conservation and ecological sustainability of reclaimed agricultural landscapes were considered. The methods used were analysis, generalization, synthesis and other methods of working with literary sources on this issue. Results. In performing the work, the main principles and indicators were determined, such as productivity, sustainability, the rule of transforming measures for the natural environment, optimization of the agricultural landscape, authenticity, principles of the formation of reclaimed agricultural landscapes, the complexity of the reclamation impact, the required diversity, the uniqueness of the reclamation impact. The basic requirements for the preservation of soil fertility of reclaimed irrigated agricultural landscape have been established. It was found that to maintain ecological balance within the irrigated agricultural landscape, it is necessary to adhere to the indicators of the reclamation load of the natural environment. The limits of agricultural lands saturation in reclaimed agricultural landscapes for various agro-climatic zones have been substantiated and recommended. Conclusions. It has been determined that the coefficient of reclamation loading of irrigated lands, showing the maximum share of irrigated lands that can be irrigated in a particular climatic zone, varies from 0.3 in the forest-steppe zone to 0.60–0.85 in the semi-desert and desert zone. This suggests that with an increase in moisture supply, this indicator decreases, the recommended amount of agricultural land in various agroclimatic zones varies from 30 to 87 %, while the area of arable land should not exceed 20–25 % in a very dry zone, and with an increase in moisture supply, it can increase up to 80 % in the semi-arid zone. The amount of irrigated land in the reclaimed agricultural landscape should not exceed 18–20 %. Irrigated meadows and pastures should account for 1–2 to 5–6 % of the area.

scholarly journals Tinjauan perubahan cara bercocok tanam pada lanskap agrikultur di desa enclave Taman Nasional Bromo Tengger Semeru, Ngadas, Kabupaten Malang

2019 ◽  
pp. 233
Author(s):  
Dian Kartika Santoso ◽  
Antariksa Antariksa ◽  
Sri Utami
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Agroforestry Systems ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Cultivation System ◽  
Landscape Units ◽  
The Right ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

A review of cultivation changes in agricultural landscapes in the enclave village of Bromo TenggerSemeru National Park, Ngadas, Malang Regency Ngadas village is one example of an agricultural villagelocated in the mountains. Ngadas village is located in the enclave of Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park(TNBTS) in the Malang Regency, East Java. The dependence of the community on agricultural land makesNgadas have a strong agrarian image. Ngadas people do more activities in the fields than in the house. Asbasic landscape units in the form of mountains, they have a vulnerability if not used wisely. The problem ofvulnerability to erosion in the agricultural landscape, makes Ngadas Village interesting to study. Primarily,regarding the relationship of landscapes and land conservation efforts that must be made to a complexagricultural landscape. Therefore, there is a need for research that focuses on efforts to conserve land, especially in an agricultural landscape. Research is conducted through qualitative methods with spatial andqualitative descriptive comparative analysis. The results of the study show that changes in farming methodshave several disadvantages that can cause land degradation and reduced productivity in each period, includingthe shifting cultivation system to reduce nutrients, upper slopes planted with tubers and monoculture agriculture.Therefore, it is necessary to have the right recommendations, namely planting upper slopes with hard woodplants, planting with polyculture systems, and agroforestry systems applied on the upper slopes.

scholarly journals Estimating landscape structure effects on pollination for management of agricultural landscapes

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehsan Rahimi ◽  
Shahindokht Barghjelveh ◽  
Pinliang Dong
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fragmentation ◽  
Landscape Structure ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Unit Area ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Edge Density ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
New Forest

Abstract Background The growing human population around the world is creating an increased demand for food. In agricultural landscapes, forests are cleared and turned into agricultural land to produce more food. Increasing the productivity of agricultural land per unit area may prevent extreme forest degradation. Since many agricultural products are dependent on pollinators, it is possible to increase crop production by increasing the pollination rate in the agricultural landscapes. Pollinators are highly dependent on forest patches in agricultural landscapes. Therefore, by creating new forest patches around agricultural fields, we can increase the pollination rate, and thus the crop production. In this regard, estimating the effects of different scenarios of forest fragmentation helps us to find an optimized pattern of forest patches for increasing pollination in an agricultural landscape. Methods To investigate the effect of different forest fragmentation scenarios on pollination, we used simulated agricultural landscapes, including different forest proportions and degrees of fragmentation. Using landscape metrics, we estimated the relationship between pollination and landscape structure for each landscape. Results Our results showed that for increasing pollination, two significant factors should be considered: habitat amount and capacity of small patches to supply pollination. We found that when the capacity of small patches in supplying pollination was low, fragmented patterns of forest patches decreased pollination. With increasing capacity, landscapes with a high degree of forest fragmentation showed the highest levels of pollination. There was an exception for habitat amounts (the proportion of forest patches) less than 0.1 of the entire landscape where increasing edge density, aggregation, and the number of forest patches resulted in increasing pollination in all scenarios. Conclusion This study encourages agriculturists and landscape planners to focus on increasing crop production per unit area by pollinators because it leads to biodiversity conservation and reduces socio-economic costs of land-use changes. We also suggest that to increase pollination in agricultural landscapes by creating new forest patches, special attention should be paid to the capacity of patches in supporting pollinators.

scholarly journals Reproduction of soil resources in the system of sustainable agricultural land use

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Barvinskyi ◽  
◽  
Y. Loshakova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Ecological Stability ◽  
Effective Measure ◽  
Genetic Characteristics ◽  
Soil Resources

The current state of use of soil resources in the agricultural sector of the country is analyzed. It is established that the soil cover, which is the basis of agricultural landscapes, is characterized by high agricultural potential, which allows depending on the climatic conditions of a particular region and genetic characteristics of crops to yield at 30-35 kg / ha of grain units and above. However, due to the significant exceeding of the limit of ecological stability of soils, as evidenced by the practice of agricultural production, various destructive processes are accelerating, which now almost completely covered the lands of the country under intensive cultivation. Particularly vulnerable in this context are the soil resources of Polissya due to the predominantly light particle size distribution and, accordingly, low ability to withstand the negative impact of external factors. It is proved that an effective measure to ensure the preservation and reproduction of soil resources is land management, which ensures the improvement of land relations, planning and organization of rational use and protection of land at all levels from national to economic. In particular, in the Polissya area, this role should be performed by working land management projects to protect lands from acidification, which determine the procedure for chemical reclamation of acid soils in relation to specific socio-economic and environmental conditions of land entities.

scholarly journals Time-delayed biodiversity feedbacks and the sustainability of social-ecological systems

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.-S. Lafuite ◽  
M. Loreau
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Demographic Transition ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Land Conversion ◽  
Social Ecological Systems ◽  
Social Ecological

AbstractThe sustainability of coupled social-ecological systems (SESs) hinges on their long-term ecological dynamics. Land conversion generates extinction and functioning debts, i.e. a time-delayed loss of species and associated ecosystem services. Sustainability theory, however, has not so far considered the long-term consequences of these ecological debts on SESs. We investigate this question using a dynamical model that couples human demography, technological change and biodiversity. Human population growth drives land conversion, which in turn reduces biodiversity-dependent ecosystem services to agricultural production (ecological feedback). Technological change brings about a demographic transition leading to a population equilibrium. When the ecological feedback is delayed in time, some SESs experience population overshoots followed by large reductions in biodiversity, human population size and well-being, which we call environmental crises. Using a sustainability criterion that captures the vulnerability of an SES to such crises, we show that some of the characteristics common to modern SESs (e.g. high production efficiency and labor intensity, concave-down ecological relationships) are detrimental to their long-term sustainability. Maintaining sustainability thus requires strong counteracting forces, such as the demographic transition and land-use management. To this end, we provide integrative sustainability thresholds for land conversion, biodiversity loss and human population size - each threshold being related to the others through the economic, technological, demographic and ecological parameters of the SES. Numerical simulations show that remaining within these sustainable boundaries prevents environmental crises from occurring. By capturing the long-term ecological and socioeconomic drivers of SESs, our theoretical approach proposes a new way to define integrative conservation objectives that ensure the long-term sustainability of our planet.

scholarly journals THE RATIO OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS OF THE KRASNODAR REGION

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.B. Primakov ◽  
◽  
E.G. Tsaloeva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Anthropogenic Impact ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Agricultural Lands ◽  
Environmental Situation ◽  
Krasnodar Region

The article presents the approaches aimed at optimizing the ratio of agricultural lands of the Krasnodar region. The aim of the work is to analyze the load on agricultural land in the Krasnodar region, to determine the ratio of land in agricultural landscapes, to develop measures to improve the environmental situation on agricultural land. The work studies the load on agricultural land in the administrative districts of the Krasnodar region. We identified (ranged) three zones with different degrees of anthropogenic impact. We presented a set of measures aimed at improving the environmental situation in the agricultural landscapes of the region. The choice of a system of measures will depend on the load on the agricultural landscape.

APPLICATION OF SYSTEM DYNAMICS MODEL ON AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anete Zvaigzne ◽  
Andra Blumberga ◽  
Saulius Vasarevičius
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
System Dynamics ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Landscape Fragmentation ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Agricultural Land Use ◽  
System Dynamics Model ◽  
Dynamics Model

Agricultural land comprises an important share of the total terrestrial land. Therefore it plays a crucial role in the health of the so-called foundation of all types of ecosystem services – biodiversity. This research aims at providing a tool for evaluating the state of biodiversity in an agricultural landscape by using different agri-environmental indicators. A system dynamics model is built that encloses agricultural land use parameters, agricultural land use intensity, landscape fragmentation patterns, crop diversity and other aspects that have an important effect on biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. This research is an attempt to use information available for public to assess the degree to which agricultural landscape may benefit from landscape greening activities, changes in crop management activities etc. At the end of this research landscape biodiversity of an intensive farming region in Latvia (Bauska district) will be evaluated.

scholarly journals Multi-temporal analysis of an agricultural landscape transformation and abandonment (Lubietová, Central Slovakia)

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matej Masný ◽  
Lubica Zaušková
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Structure ◽  
Patch Size ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Biosphere Reserve ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Shape Index ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Agricultural Abandonment ◽  
Size Standard

AbstractSocio-political changes in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe in the era of socialism had significant effects on agricultural landscape. Collectivisation (1950 - 1970) lost almost all of traditional agricultural landscapes. On the other hand, the phenomenon of agricultural abandonment started to be significant after 1989. In the model area (part of The Polana Biosphere Reserve) these two processes that formed the agricultural landscape structure were analysed. The analyses were carried out using orthophotos that represented the landscape structure in 1949, 1986 and 2006. It was found that almost complete extinction of the traditional agricultural landscape represented by a mosaic of narrow fields and permanent grasslands occurred during the period. At the same time, increasing trend of abandonment processes was observed. In 2006, non-forestwoody vegetation covered 48% of agricultural land.Natural reforestation as the final stage of agricultural abandonment extended to 46% on the former agricultural land in 2006. Abandonment processes were the most significant already in the period of socialist agriculture. To describe the changes, landscape metrics such as Number of patches (NP), Mean patch size (MPS), Patch size standard deviation (PSSD) and Mean shape index (MSI) were used.

scholarly journals Using the Ecosystem Services Concept to Assess Transformation of Agricultural Landscapes in the European Alps

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Uta Schirpke ◽  
Erich Tasser ◽  
Georg Leitinger ◽  
Ulrike Tappeiner
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
European Alps ◽  
Mountain Grassland ◽  
Social Ecological

Mountain farming sustains human well-being by providing various ecosystem services (ES). In the last decades, socio-economic developments have led to worldwide changes in land-use/cover (LULC), but the related effects on ES have not been fully explored. This study aimed at assessing the impacts of the transformation of agricultural land on ES in the European Alps. We mapped 19 ES within the agriculturally used areas in the year 2000 and analyzed LULC changes by 2018. We compared eight regions with a similar development, regarding social–ecological characteristics, to outline contrasting trends. Our results indicate that the ES decreased most strongly in regions with a massive abandonment of mountain grassland, while ES in the ‘traditional agricultural region’ remained the most stable. In regions with an intensification of agriculture, together with urban sprawl, ES had the lowest values. Across all regions, a shift from ES that are typically associated with mountain farming towards forest-related ES occurred, due to forest regrowth. By relating differing trends in ES to social–ecological developments, we can discuss our findings regarding new landscapes and farming systems across the European Alps. Our quantitative and spatially explicit findings provide a valuable basis for policy development, from the regional to the international/EU level, and for adopting sustainable management strategies.

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