Faced with the growing problems of climate change, ecosystem degradation, declining agricultural productivity, and uncertain food security, modern agricultural scientists look for potential relief in an ancient practice. Agroforestry, if properly designed, can mitigate greenhouse effects, maintain ecosystem health and biodiversity, provide food sec

Faced with the growing problems of climate change, ecosystem degradation, declining agricultural productivity, and uncertain food security, modern agricultural scientists look for potential relief in an ancient practice. Agroforestry, if properly designed, can mitigate greenhouse effects, maintain ecosystem health and biodiversity, provide food security, and reduce poverty. Poorly implemented agroforestry, however, can not only exacerbate existing problems, but also contribute in its own right to the overall negative effects of our depleted and failing ecosystems. With a diminishing margin for error, a thorough understanding of the ecological processes that govern these complex systems is, therefore, crucial. Drawing on the collective expertise of world authorities, Ecological Basis of Agroforestry employs extensive use of tables and figures to demonstrate how ecologically sustainable agroecosystems can meet the challenges of enhancing crop productivity, soil fertility, and environmental sustainability. Divided into four sections, this comprehensive volume begins with a study of tree-crop interaction in tropical and temperate climates. Contributions cover above and below ground interactions, alley cropping, tri-trophic interactions, ecologically based pest management, and the chemistry and practical potential of chemically mediated plant interactions. The second section investigates root-mediated below ground interactions and their role in enhancing productivity, soil fertility, and sustainability. It includes an extensive study on litter dynamics and factors affecting nutrient release. Applying ecological modeling of complex agroforestry systems, section three demonstrates the use of computer-based designs to ensure profitability. The final section addresses the socio-economic aspects of agroforestry, supplying in-depth knowledge of various farming systems and discussing the technological tools that benefit society in different eco-regions around the world.

Interdisciplinary and integrative research in its formative stage that will provide the scientific basis for establishing long-term stability and sustainability of both the natural resource base upon which agriculture depends and the cultural systems in which they interact. The purpose of this volume is to develop a research approach as well as to give examples of this research.

Agroforestry in Sustainable Agricultural Systems examines the environmental and social conditions that affect the roles and performance of trees in field- and forest-based agricultural production systems. Various types of ecological settings for agroforestry are analyzed within temperate and tropical regions. The roles of soil, water, light, nutrient and pest management in mixed, annual, woody perennial and livestock systems are discussed. Important new case studies from around the world offer innovative strategies that have been used successfully in raising forests and tree products on a sustainable basis for commercial harvesting and for providing other environmental services in land conservation and watershed management.

During the Green Revolution in many developing countries, agroforestry systems tended to reflect modern agricultural systems by their intensive use of fertilizers, pesticides, and site modifications to fit the desired crop. Since the 1980's, agroforestry has learned from traditional indigenous systems to work more closely with the fertility of marginal lands through the use of less intensive cultivation and fallow periods. True to its title, this volume provides a silvicultural framework for thinking about the design and practice of agroforestry systems. Unlike many general agroforestry books, The Silvicultural Basis for Agroforestry Systems emphasizes research and thoughts from a forestry perspective rather than an agricultural one. Many of the examples used in this reference are based on the ecological theory of forests that concern the competition for resources of plant-plant and plant-animal mixtures. This guide also uses the knowledge gained about the temporal and spatial dynamic and productivity of forests as the basis for silvicultural applications in agroforestry systems. The Silvicultural Basis for Agroforestry Systems contains three parts:

North American Agroforestry Explore the many benefits of alternative land-use systems with this incisive resource Humanity has become a victim of its own success. While we’ve managed to meet the needs—to one extent or another—of a large portion of the human population, we’ve often done so by ignoring the health of the natural environment we rely on to sustain our planet. And by deteriorating the quality of our air, water, and land, we’ve put into motion consequences we’ll be dealing with for generations. In the newly revised Third Edition of North American Agroforestry, an expert team of researchers delivers an authoritative and insightful exploration of an alternative land-use system that exploits the positive interactions between trees and crops when they are grown together and bridges the gap between production agriculture and natural resource management. This latest edition includes new material on urban food forests, as well as the air and soil quality benefits of agroforestry, agroforestry’s relevance in the Mexican context, and agroforestry training and education. The book also offers: A thorough introduction to the development of agroforestry as an integrated land use management strategy Comprehensive explorations of agroforestry nomenclature, concepts, and practices, as well as an agroecological foundation for temperate agroforestry Practical discussions of tree-crop interactions in temperate agroforestry, including in systems such as windbreak practices, silvopasture practices, and alley cropping practices In-depth examinations of vegetative environmental buffers for air and water quality benefits, agroforestry for wildlife habitat, agroforestry at the landscape level, and the impact of agroforestry on soil health Perfect for environmental scientists, natural resource professionals and ecologists, North American Agroforestry will also earn a place in the libraries of students and scholars of agricultural sciences interested in the potential benefits of agroforestry.

Agroforestry has come of age during the past three decades. The age-old practice of growing trees and crops and sometimes animals in interacting combinations – that has been ignored in the single-commodity-oriented agricultural and forestry development paradigms – has been brought into the realm of modern land-use. Today agroforestry is well on its way to becoming a specialized science at a level similar to those of crop science and forestry science. To most land-use experts, however, agroforestry has a tropical connotation. They consider agroforestry as something that can and can only be identified with the tropics. That is a wrong perception. While it is true that the tropics, compared to the temperate regions, have a wider array of agroforestry systems and hold greater promise for potential agroforestry interventions, it is also true that agroforestry has several opportunities in the temperate regions too. Indeed, the role of agroforestry is now recognized in Europe as exemplified by this book, North America, and elsewhere in the temperate zone. Current interest in ecosystem management in industrialized countries strongly suggests that there is a need to embrace and apply agroforestry principles to help mitigate the environmental problems caused or exacerbated by commercial agricultural and forestry production enterprises.

Agroforestry -- the practice of integrating trees and other large woody perennials on farms and throughout the agricultural landscape -- is increasingly recognized as a useful and promising strategy that diversifies production for greater social, economic, and environmental benefits. Agroforestry and BiodiversityConservation in Tropical Landscapes brings together 46 scientists and practitioners from 13 countries with decades of field experience in tropical regions to explore how agroforestry practices can help promote biodiversity conservation in human-dominated landscapes, to synthesize the current state of knowledge in the field, and to identify areas where further research is needed. Agroforestry and Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Landscapes is the first comprehensive synthesis of the role of agroforestry systems in conserving biodiversity in tropical landscapes, and contains in-depth review chapters of most agroforestry systems, with examples from many different countries. It is a valuable source of information for scientists, researchers, professors, and students in the fields of conservation biology, resource management, tropical ecology, rural development, agroforestry, and agroecology.

Agroforestry systems are believed to provide a number of ecosystem services; however, until recently evidence in the agroforestry literature supporting these perceived benefits has been lacking. This volume brings together a series of papers from around the globe to address recent findings on the ecosystem services and environmental benefits provided by agroforestry. Specifically, this volume examines four major ecosystem services and environmental benefits: (1) carbon sequestration, (2) biodiversity conservation, (3) soil enrichment and (4) air and water quality. Past and present evidence clearly indicates that agroforestry, as part of a multifunctional working landscape, can be a viable land-use option that, in addition to alleviating poverty, offers a number of ecosystem services and environmental benefits. This realization should help promote agroforestry and its role as an integral part of a multifunctional working landscape the world over. The book should be particularly useful to students, professionals, researchers and policy makers involved in natural resource management, agroforestry, biodiversity conservation, and environmental management. Reprinted from Agroforestry Systems, Volume 76, No. 1 (2009)