scholarly journals Capturing and Evaluating the Effects of the Expansive Species Ailanthus altissima on Agro-Ecosystems on the Ionian Islands

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Yorghos Voutos ◽  
Nicole Godsil ◽  
Anna Sotiropoulou ◽  
Phivos Mylonas ◽  
Pavlos Bouchagier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Farming Systems ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Ailanthus Altissima ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Ionian Islands ◽  
Significant Area ◽  
Olive Groves ◽  
Scattered Trees

There is a significant number of agricultural systems with rich and special biodiversity, characterized as high-nature-value farming systems (HNV) in the Ionian Islands region. These agro-ecosystems cover a significant area in this region and are divided in olive groves and vineyards which, in some cases, cover a significant part of the protected areas (Natura 2000 and SPA). There are solid olive groves but also a large number of scattered trees or clusters, as well as vineyards, which are largely identified as high-quality wine producers. Finally, there are smaller but extremely important examples of HNV, such as the Englouvi plateau in Lefkada. In this study, we propose a method to survey the spread of Ailanthus altissima in olive groves and vineyards (HNV areas) with the scope of evaluating the considered agro-ecosystems, based on the importance of ecosystems and ecosystem services they provide, and preparing a management plan for HNV areas.

A REVIEW OF 10 YEARS' RESEARCH WITH RED CLOVERS UNDER GRAZING IN SOUTHLAND

1989 ◽  
pp. 181-187
Author(s):  
R.J.M. Hay ◽  
D.L. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Tall Fescue ◽  
Red Clover ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Seasonal Growth ◽  
Sheep Grazing ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Late Flowering ◽  
Heavy Weight ◽  
Widespread Acceptance ◽  
Summer Growth

In a series of trials at Grasslands Gore, over 10 years, the late-flowering tetraploid red clover 'Grassland Pawera' was more productive and persistent than other red clover cultivars. The strong summer growth of Pawera meets the need for heavy-weight lamb feed and high quality forage for conservation in intensive sheep farming systems in Southland. Lenient. infrequent defoliation is necessary to maximise DM production and persistence of Pawera. The most compatible of the grasses evaluated was 'Grasslands Roa' tall fescue. However, 'Grasslands Nui' ryegrass will still be the major grass sown with Pawera owing to its widespread acceptance. In ryegrass mixtures, sowing rates of 5-7 kg/ha of red clover were needed to optimise establishment and subsequent yield. Evidence of oestrogenic activity of Pewera to sheep prompted Grasslands Division to select within Pawera for a low formononetin cultivar. Keywords: red clover, Pawera. Hamua, Turoa. G21. G22, G27. oestrogenic activity, Nui ryegrass, Roa tall fescue, Maru phalaris. Southland, sheep grazing, frequency, intensity, quality. seasonal growth

scholarly journals Rapid assessment of historic, current and future habitat quality for biodiversity around UK Natura 2000 sites

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. N. VOGIATZAKIS ◽  
M. T. STIRPE ◽  
S. RICKEBUSCH ◽  
M. J. METZGER ◽  
G. XU ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Rapid Assessment ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Landscape Composition ◽  
Future Scenarios ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Alternative Future ◽  
European Development ◽  
Alternative Scenarios ◽  
Taxonomic Groups

SUMMARYChanges in landscape composition and structure may impact the conservation and management of protected areas. Species that depend on specific habitats are at risk of extinction when these habitats are degraded or lost. Designing robust methods to evaluate landscape composition will assist decision- and policy-making in emerging landscapes. This paper describes a rapid assessment methodology aimed at evaluating land-cover quality for birds, plants, butterflies and bees around seven UK Natura 2000 sites. An expert panel assigned quality values to standard Coordination of Information on the Environment (CORINE) land-cover classes for each taxonomic group. Quality was assessed based on historical (1950, 1990), current (2000) and future (2030) land-cover data, the last projected using three alternative scenarios: a growth-applied strategy (GRAS), a business-as-might-be-usual (BAMBU) scenario, and sustainable European development goal (SEDG) scenario. A quantitative quality index weighted the area of each land-cover parcel with a taxa-specific quality measure. Land parcels with high quality for all taxonomic groups were evaluated for temporal changes in area, size and adjacency. For all sites and taxonomic groups, the rate of deterioration of land-cover quality was greater between 1950 and 1990 than current rates or as modelled using the alternative future scenarios (2000–2030). Model predictions indicated land-cover quality stabilized over time under the GRAS scenario, and was close to stable for the BAMBU scenario. The SEDG scenario suggested an ongoing loss of quality, though this was lower than the historical rate of c. 1% loss per decade. None of the future scenarios showed accelerated fragmentation, but rather increases in the area, adjacency and diversity of high quality land parcels in the landscape.

The Ifugao agricultural landscapes: Agro-cultural complexes and the intensification debate

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 500-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Acabado
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Analysis ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Evolutionary Relationships ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Swidden Cultivation ◽  
Swidden Farming

Most models that explain the development of agricultural systems suggest evolutionary relationships between extensive (e.g. swidden cultivation) and intensive (e.g. wet-rice cultivation) forms of production. Recent information from highland Southeast Asian farming systems questions the validity of this assumption. As a case in point, this article presents the results of a combined ethnographic study and spatial analysis of the Ifugao agricultural system in the northern Philippines, focusing in particular on the relationships among intensive rice terracing, swidden farming and agroforestry (Ifugao forest management). Informed by the Ifugao example, this article suggests that extensive and intensive systems are often concurrent and compatible components of a broad-spectrum lifeway.

Review: Redesigning Canadian prairie cropping systems for profitability, sustainability, and resilience

2015 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 1049-1072 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne R. Thiessen Martens ◽  
Martin H. Entz ◽  
Mark D. Wonneck
Keyword(s):  
Cover Crops ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Agroforestry Systems ◽  
Organic Production ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Canadian Prairie ◽  
Research Education

Thiessen Martens, J. R., Entz, M. H. and Wonneck, M. D. 2015. Review: Redesigning Canadian prairie cropping systems for profitability, sustainability, and resilience. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 1049–1072. Redesign of agricultural systems according to ecological principles has been proposed for the development of sustainable systems. We review a wide variety of ecologically based crop production practices, including crop varieties and genetic diversity, crop selection and rotation, cover crops, annual polyculture, perennial forages, perennial grains, agroforestry systems, reducing tillage, use of animal manures and green manures, soil biological fertility, organic production systems, integrated crop–livestock systems, and purposeful design of farm landscapes (farmscaping), and discuss their potential role in enhancing the profitability, environmental sustainability, and resilience of Canadian prairie cropping systems. Farming systems that most closely mimic natural systems through appropriate integration of diverse components, within a context of supportive social and economic structures, appear to offer the greatest potential benefits, while creating a framework in which to place all other farming practices. Our understanding of ecological relationships within agricultural systems is currently lacking, and a major shift in research, education, and policy will be required to purposefully and proactively redesign Canadian prairie agricultural systems for long-term sustainability.

scholarly journals An integrated approach to improving rural livelihoods: examples from India and Bangladesh

2018 ◽  
Vol 376 ◽  
pp. 45-50
Author(s):  
Barry Croke ◽  
Wendy Merritt ◽  
Peter Cornish ◽  
Geoffrey J. Syme ◽  
Christian H. Roth
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Rural Livelihoods ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Appropriate Technology ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. This paper presents an overview of work in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and SW Bangladesh through a series of projects from 2005 to the present, considering the impact of farming systems, water shed development and/or agricultural intensification on livelihoods in selected rural areas of India and Bangladesh. The projects spanned a range of scales spanning from the village scale (∼  1 km2) to the meso-scale (∼  100 km2), and considered social as well as biophysical aspects. They focused mainly on the food and water part of the food-water-energy nexus. These projects were in collaboration with a range of organisations in India and Bangladesh, including NGOs, universities, and government research organisations and departments. The projects were part funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, and built on other projects that have been undertaken within the region. An element of each of these projects was to understand how the hydrological cycle could be managed sustainably to improve agricultural systems and livelihoods of marginal groups. As such, they evaluated appropriate technology that is generally not dependent on high-energy inputs (mechanisation). This includes assessing the availability of water, and identifying potential water resources that have not been developed; understanding current agricultural systems and investigating ways of improving water use efficiency; and understanding social dynamics of the affected communities including the potential opportunities and negative impacts of watershed development and agricultural development.

scholarly journals Root traits for low input agroecosystems in Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mame Sokhatil Ndoye ◽  
Jimmy Burridge ◽  
Rahul Bhosale ◽  
Alexandre Grondin ◽  
Laurent Laplaze
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Nutrient Uptake ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Root Traits ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Low Input ◽  
Small Holder ◽  
New Cultivars

In Africa, agriculture is largely based on low-input and small-holder farming systems that use little inorganic fertilizers and have limited access to irrigation and mechanization in comparison to modern agricultural systems. Improving agricultural practices and developing new cultivars adapted to these low-input environments, where production already suffers from climate change, is a major priority for ensuring food security in the future. Root phenes improving water and nutrient uptake could represent a solution toward achieving these goals. In this review, we illustrate how breeding for specific root phenes could improve crop adaptation and resilience in Africa using three case studies covering very contrasted low-input agro-ecosystems. We conclude with a discussion on how these phenes could be validated and made available to breeders and agronomists.

scholarly journals Using GIS for management of conflicts in natural protected area in Cindrel mountains

2021 ◽  
Vol 343 ◽  
pp. 09011
Author(s):  
Iulian Alexandru Bratu ◽  
Lucian Dincă
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Information Systems ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Site Management ◽  
Gis Technology ◽  
Old Growth Forest ◽  
Legal Nature ◽  
Protected Natural Areas ◽  
Geo Database

This study reflects the possibility of using the GIS technology for the management and resolution of conflicts between stakeholders in the management of protected natural areas that cover large surfaces, such as Natura 2000 sites. The research is accomplished in Frumoasa site from Cindrel Mountains, where a conflict of a legal nature was analysed, in the extinguishment of which the technology of geographical information systems was used. In this sense, the presence of the species and habitats that are found on the surface of the incriminated forest was analysed and the comparison with the list of species and habitats that was the basis for declaring the surface as a nature 2000 site. In the next stage, both the site management plan and the forest management plan were analysed in order to identify inconsistent potentials. Then, maps of the presence and distribution of species and habitats were made, with the protection and conservation measures adopted. Also, special attention was paid to the identification of primary and old-growth forest, their distribution and measures for their conservation. The conclusions include improvements can be made to the management of the incriminated areas, accompanied by the geo-database.

scholarly journals Evaluación comparativa multifuncional de sistemas agrarios mediante AHP: Aplicación al olivar ecológico, integrado y convencional de Andalucía

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Parra López ◽  
Javier Calatrava Requena ◽  
Tomás De Haro Giménez
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Analytic Hierarchy ◽  
Complex Decision Making ◽  
Olive Groves ◽  
Complex Decision ◽  
Hierarchy Process

Even though multifunctionality concept is reflected, implicit or explicitly, in the design of actual agrarian policies, its consideration when analysing and assessing farming systems is relatively limited in the scientific literature. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is proposed with this aim. AHP is a multicriteria discrete decision support technique that is used in complex decision making. This methodology is stated jointly with a proposed procedure to measure relative agreement among decision makers and uniformity of alternatives’ performances in group decision making. Finally AHP is implemented in the assessment of organic, integrated and conventional olive groves in Andalusia considering criteria of a different nature – economic, technical, sociocultural and environmental –. The final purpose is determining the more interesting growing techniques from a holistic point of view for all the society in the medium/long-term on the basis of knowledge of experts on olive.

scholarly journals Sustainable Agricultural Systems: A Bibliometrics Analysis of Ecological Modernization Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 9635
Author(s):  
Lucia Rocchi ◽  
Antonio Boggia ◽  
Luisa Paolotti
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Current State ◽  
Alternative Systems ◽  
Diversified Farming Systems ◽  
Sustainable Agricultural Systems

Agricultural systems need to be more sustainable. Nowadays, the global food production has a remarkable impact in terms of greenhouse gases production, terrestrial acidification, eutrophication and land consumption. Moreover, one of the effects of unsustainable agriculture is depletion of ecosystem services (ES) on which agricultural systems themselves are dependent. Alternative agricultural systems are possible: the aim of this review was to analyze one of these alternative systems, i.e., strong ecological modernization, to understand relevant topics and current state of the art connected with it. As a result that strong ecological modernization can be considered an ecosystem services-based farming system, we focused on the development of topics related to ecosystem services but also to diversification. The review has been conducted applying a bibliometrics approach to recognize the main papers, authors, organization and countries, as well as trend topics and main themes investigated. The results showed that basic research content involves agrobiodiversity, agroecology and diversified farming systems. At the same time, the review revealed a lack about the social and economic dimensions of sustainability that need to be addressed for promoting a true transition to a strong ecological modernization.

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