Managing Biodiversity in Agricultural Ecosystems

Published in three other languages and growing, Managing Biodiversity in Agricultural Ecosystems takes a look at how farmers manage, maintain, and benefit from biodiversity in agricultural production systems. The volume includes the most recent research and developments in the maintenance of local diversity at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. Chapters cover the assessment and farmer management practices for crop, livestock, aquatic, and associated diversity (such as pollinators and soil microorganisms) in agricultural ecosystems; examine the potential role of diversity in minimizing pest and disease pressures; and present studies that exemplify the potential nutritional, ecosystem service, and financial values of this diversity under changing economic and environmental conditions. The volume contains perspectives that combine the thinking of social and biological scientists. Inappropriate or excessive use of inputs can cause damage to biodiversity within agricultural ecosystems and compromise future productivity. This book features numerous case studies that show how farmers have used alternative approaches to manage biodiversity to enhance the stability, resilience, and productivity of their farms, pointing the way toward improved biodiversity on a global scale. As custodians of the world's agricultural biodiversity, farmers are fully invested in ways to create, sustain, and assist in the evolution and adaptation of a variety of plant and animal species. Thus this text is mandatory reading for conservationists, environmentalists, botanists, zoologists, geneticists, and anyone interested in the health of our ecosystem.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Contributors 1. Biodiversity Agriculture and Ecosystem Services 2. Measuring Managing and Maintaining Crop Genetic Diversity 3. An Entry Point to Crop Genetic Diversity 4. Seed Systems and Crop Genetic Diversity in Agroecosystems of Livestock Genetic Resources 5. Measures of Diversity as Inputs for Decisions in Conservation of Livestock Genetic Resources 6. Management of Farm Animal Ge ne tic Resources: Change and Interaction 7. Aquatic Biodiversity in Rice- Based Ecosystems 8. Pollinator Services 9. Management of Soil Biodiversity in Agricultural Ecosystems 10. Diversity and Pest Management in Agroecosystems: Some Perspectives from Ecology 11. Managing Crop Disease in Traditional Agroecosystems: Benefits and Hazards of Genetic Diversity 12. Crop Variety Diversification for Disease Control 13. Managing Biodiversity in Spatially and Temporally Complex Agricultural Landscapes 14. Diversity and Innovation in Smallholder Systems in Response to Environmental and Economic Changes 15. Agrobiodiversity, Diet, and Human Health 16. Comparing the Choices of Farmers and Breeders: The Value of Rice Landraces in Nepal 17. Economics of Livestock Genetic Resources Conservation and Sustainable Use: State of the Art 18. Ecological and Economic Roles of Biodiversity in Agroecosystems Index

About the Author :
Devra I. Jarvis is senior scientist, Agricultural Biodiversity and Ecosystems, in the Diversity for Livelihoods Programme at Bioversity International in Rome. She is the principal author of A Training Guide for In Situ Conservation On-Farm, which has been translated into Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and Chinese, and "A global perspective of the richness and evenness of traditional crop-variety diversity maintained by farming communities," published in the journal PNAS with twenty-eight coresearchers from five continents, which provides global indicators to monitor the loss of diversity in farmers' fields. Christine Padoch is the Matthew Calbraith Perry Curator of Economic Botany at the New York Botanical Garden and an anthropologist. She was the associate scientific coordinator of the worldwide Project on People, Land Management and Environmental Change (PLEC) of the United Nations University. Her books include Conservation of Neotropical Forests: Working from Traditional Resource Use and People of the Tropical Rain Forest. H. David Cooper is senior programme officer for implementation and technical support at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montreal. He was the coordinator and principal author of the Food and Agriculture Organization's first report on the State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources and a lead author on Food and Cultivated Ecosystems in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. He is the editor of Broadening the Genetic Base of Crop Production.

Review :
Recommended. Choice This does make a good contribution to providing an array of management considerations for biological diversity in agroecosystems. -- Richard Baydack Great Plains Research a wonderful book with a wealth of information. -- Rainer W. Bussmann Economic Botany