Environmental friendly nitrogen fertilization

With the huge intensification of agriculture and the increasing awareness to human health and natural resources sustainability, there was a shift towards the development of environmental friendly N application approaches that support sustainable use of land and sustain food production. The effectiveness of such approaches depends on their ability to synchronize plant nitrogen demand with its supply and the ability to apply favored compositions and dosages of N-species. They are also influenced by farming scale and its sophistication, and include the following key concepts: (i) Improved application modes such as split or localized ("depot") application; (ii) use of bio-amendments like nitrification and urease inhibitors and combinations of (i) and (ii); (iii) use of controlled and slow release fertilizers; (iv) Fertigation-fertilization via irrigation systems including fully automated and controlled systems; and (v) precision fertilization in large scale farming systems. The paper describes the approaches and their action mechanisms and examines their agronomic and environmental significance. The relevance of the approaches for different farming scales, levels of agronomic intensification and agro-technical sophistication is examined as well.     

Environmental friendly nitrogen fertilization

With the huge intensification of agriculture and the increasing awareness to human health and natural resources sustainability, there was a shift towards the development of environmental friendly N application approaches that support sustainable use of land and sustain food production.The effectiveness of such approaches depends on their ability to synchronize plant nitrogen demand with its supply and the ability to apply favored compositions and dosages of N-species.They are also influenced by farming scale and its sophistication, and include the following key concepts: (i) Improved application modes such as split or localized ("depot") application; (ii) use of bio-amendments like nitrification and urease inhibitors and combinations of (i) and (ii); (iii) use of controlled and slow release fertilizers; (iv) Fertigation-fertilization via irrigation systems including fully automated and controlled systems; and (v) precision fertilization in large scale farming systems. The paper describes the approaches and their action mechanisms and examines their agronomic and environmental significance. The relevance of the approaches for different farming scales, levels of agronomic intensification and agro-technical sophistication is examined as well.     

Mixed crop-livestock systems: an economic and environmental-friendly way of farming?

Intensification and specialisation of agriculture in developed countries enabled productivity to be improved but had detrimental impacts on the environment and threatened the economic viability of a huge number of farms. The combination of livestock and crops, which was very common in the past, is assumed to be a viable alternative to specialised livestock or cropping systems. Mixed crop-livestock systems can improve nutrient cycling while reducing chemical inputs and generate economies of scope at farm level. Most assumptions underlying these views are based on theoretical and experimental evidence. Very few assessments of their environmental and economic advantages have nevertheless been undertaken in real-world farming conditions. In this paper, we present a comparative assessment of the environmental and economic performances of mixed crop-livestock farms v. specialised farms among the farm population of the French ‘Coteaux de Gascogne’. In this hilly region, half of the farms currently use a mixed crop-livestock system including beef cattle and cash crops, the remaining farms being specialised in either crops or cattle. Data were collected through an exhaustive survey of farms located in our study area. The economic performances of farming systems were assessed on 48 farms on the basis of (i) overall gross margin, (ii) production costs and (iii) analysis of the sensitivity of gross margins to fluctuations in the price of inputs and outputs. The environmental dimension was analysed through (i) characterisation of farmers’ crop management practices, (ii) analysis of farm land use diversity and (iii) nitrogen farm-gate balance. Local mixed crop-livestock farms did not have significantly higher overall gross margins than specialised farms but were less sensitive than dairy and crop farms to fluctuations in the price of inputs and outputs considered. Mixed crop-livestock farms had lower costs than crop farms, while beef farms had the lowest costs as they are grass-based systems. Concerning crop management practices, our results revealed an intensification gradient from low to high input farming systems. Beyond some general trends, a wide range of management practices and levels of intensification were observed among farms with a similar production system. Mixed crop-livestock farms were very heterogeneous with respect to the use of inputs. Nevertheless, our study revealed a lower potential for nitrogen pollution in mixed crop-livestock and beef production systems than in dairy and crop farming systems. Even if a wide variability exists within system, mixed crop-livestock systems appear to be a way for an environmental and economical sustainable agriculture.     

Modelling as a tool to redesign livestock farming systems: a literature review

Livestock farming has recently come under close scrutiny, in response especially to environmental issues. Farmers are encouraged to redesign their livestock farming systems in depth to improve their sustainability. Assuming that modelling can be a relevant tool to address such systemic changes, we sought to answer the following question: ‘How can livestock farming systems be modelled to help farmers redesign their whole farming systems?’ To this end, we made a literature review of the models of livestock farming systems published from 2000 to mid-2009 (n = 79). We used an analysis grid based on three considerations: (i) system definition, (ii) the intended use of the model and (iii) the way in which farmers’ decision-making processes were represented and how agricultural experts and farmers were involved in the modelling processes. Consistent rationales in approaches to supporting changes in livestock farming were identified in three different groups of models, covering 83% of the whole set. These could be defined according to (i) the way in which farmers’ decisions were represented and (ii) the model's type of contribution to supporting changes. The first type gathered models that dynamically simulated the system according to different management options; the farmers’ decision-making processes are assumed to consist in choosing certain values for management factors. Such models allow long-term simulations and endorse different disciplinary viewpoints, but the farmers are weakly involved in their design. Models of the second type can indicate the best combination of farm activities under given constraints, provided the farmers’ objectives are profit maximisation. However, when used to support redesigning processes, they address neither how to implement the optimal solution nor its long-term consequences. Models of the third type enable users to dynamically simulate different options for the farming system, the management of which is assumed to be planned according to the farmers’ general objectives. Although more comprehensive, these models do not easily integrate different disciplinary viewpoints and different subsystems, which limits their usefulness as support tools for redesigning processes. Finally, we concluded about what specific requirements should be for modelling approaches if farmers were to be supported in redesigning their whole livestock farming systems using models.     

AM真菌在有机农业发展中的机遇

在农田生态系统中,许多农作物均为丛枝菌根(AM)真菌的优良宿主植物,当AM真菌与这些宿主植物建立共生关系之后,AM真菌的存在有益于宿主植物的生长。然而,传统农业耕作模式中化学肥料和农药的施用、耕作制度的不断调整和非宿主植物的种植等都不利于AM真菌的建植。有机农业生态系统排除了化学肥料和农药的施用,减少了对AM真菌生长不利的因素,促进了土壤中AM真菌数量的增加和群落多样性的提高。同时,AM真菌可以通过多种方式改善土壤物理结构、提高农作物对干旱胁迫的耐受能力以及宿主植物对病虫害的抗性/耐性、抑制杂草生长、促进营养物质的吸收,进而提高植物的生长和改善产品的品质。基于此,围绕AM真菌在有机农业发展中的生态学功能展开论述,分析当前有机农业生态系统存在的问题,探讨利用AM真菌发展有机农业的可行性及其发展的机遇,以期促进AM真菌在有机农业发展中的应用。     

Prospects from agroecology and industrial ecology for animal production in the 21st century

Agroecology and industrial ecology can be viewed as complementary means for reducing the environmental footprint of animal farming systems: agroecology mainly by stimulating natural processes to reduce inputs, and industrial ecology by closing system loops, thereby reducing demand for raw materials, lowering pollution and saving on waste treatment. Surprisingly, animal farming systems have so far been ignored in most agroecological thinking. On the basis of a study by Altieri, who identified the key ecological processes to be optimized, we propose five principles for the design of sustainable animal production systems: (i) adopting management practices aiming to improve animal health, (ii) decreasing the inputs needed for production, (iii) decreasing pollution by optimizing the metabolic functioning of farming systems, (iv) enhancing diversity within animal production systems to strengthen their resilience and (v) preserving biological diversity in agroecosystems by adapting management practices. We then discuss how these different principles combine to generate environmental, social and economic performance in six animal production systems (ruminants, pigs, rabbits and aquaculture) covering a long gradient of intensification. The two principles concerning economy of inputs and reduction of pollution emerged in nearly all the case studies, a finding that can be explained by the economic and regulatory constraints affecting animal production. Integrated management of animal health was seldom mobilized, as alternatives to chemical drugs have only recently been investigated, and the results are not yet transferable to farming practices. A number of ecological functions and ecosystem services (recycling of nutrients, forage yield, pollination, resistance to weed invasion, etc.) are closely linked to biodiversity, and their persistence depends largely on maintaining biological diversity in agroecosystems. We conclude that the development of such ecology-based alternatives for animal production implies changes in the positions adopted by technicians and extension services, researchers and policymakers. Animal production systems should not only be considered holistically, but also in the diversity of their local and regional conditions. The ability of farmers to make their own decisions on the basis of the close monitoring of system performance is most important to ensure system sustainability.     

Consequential Life Cycle Assessment of Pasture‐based Milk Production: A Case Study in the Waikato Region,New Zealand

Farm intensification options in pasture‐based dairy systems are generally associated with increased stocking rates coupled with the increased use of off‐farm inputs to support the additional feed demand of animals. However, as well as increasing milk production per hectare, intensification can also exacerbate adverse impacts on the environment. The objective of the present study was to investigate environmental trade‐offs associated with potential intensification methods for pasture‐based dairy farming systems in the Waikato region, New Zealand. The intensification scenarios selected were (1) increased pasture utilization efficiency (PUE scenario), (2) increased use of nitrogen (N) fertilizer to boost on‐farm pasture production (N fertilizer scenario), and (3) increased use of brought‐in feed as maize silage (MS) (MS scenario). Twelve impact categories were assessed. The PUE scenario was the environmentally preferred intensification method, and the preferred choice between the N fertilizer and MS scenarios depended upon trade‐offs between different environmental impacts. Sensitivity analysis was carried out to test the effects of choice associated with: (1) the approaches used to account for indirect land‐use change (ILUC) and (2) the competing product systems (conventional beef systems) used to handle the co‐product dairy meat for the climate change (CC) indicator. Results showed that the magnitude of the CC indicator results was influenced by the ILUC accounting approaches and the choice associated with a global marginal beef mix, but the relative CC indicator results for the three intensification scenarios remained unchanged.     

Clean Biotechnology for Sustainable Farming

Sustainability would never be achieved farewell as agricultural practices continue beyond the carrying capacity of the ecosystem through the exaggerated abuse of agricultural chemicals. The rapid growth of agricultural productivity in chemical farming systems is shrinking off. Moreover, environmental torrent from agricultural activities jeopardizes agricultural growth in several countries. Problems associated with the wealthy agricultural production in the developed world and underproduction in developing countries necessitate a widely accepted assessment of the present status of agriculture. It is time to install new farming systems committed to following environmental and sustainable approaches, and producing healthy food free from agrochemical residues. Ecologically oriented farming routines are being developed within the frame of the recent achievements in environmental biotechnology, the most important of which is the clean farming system which is increasingly acknowledged as a potential solution to copious problems overlaying present world agriculture. It is a farming system, which aims at evading the routine use of agricultural chemicals and reducing their rates of application. Clean farming systems directly give rise to four environmental biotechnologies, i.e., recycling of composted organic waste, fortifying the rhizosphere soil with biofertilizers, encouraging the use of biopesticides in agricultural practices and bioremediation of polluted agro‐ecosystems.     

Agricultural diversification as an important strategy for achieving food security in Africa

Farmers in Africa have long adapted to climatic and other risks by diversifying their farming activities. Using a multi‐scale approach, we explore the relationship between farming diversity and food security and the diversification potential of African agriculture and its limits on the household and continental scale. On the household scale, we use agricultural surveys from more than 28,000 households located in 18 African countries. In a next step, we use the relationship between rainfall, rainfall variability, and farming diversity to determine the available diversification options for farmers on the continental scale. On the household scale, we show that households with greater farming diversity are more successful in meeting their consumption needs, but only up to a certain level of diversity per ha cropland and more often if food can be purchased from off‐farm income or income from farm sales. More diverse farming systems can contribute to household food security; however, the relationship is influenced by other factors, for example, the market orientation of a household, livestock ownership, nonagricultural employment opportunities, and available land resources. On the continental scale, the greatest opportunities for diversification of food crops, cash crops, and livestock are located in areas with 500–1,000 mm annual rainfall and 17%–22% rainfall variability. Forty‐three percent of the African cropland lacks these opportunities at present which may hamper the ability of agricultural systems to respond to climate change. While sustainable intensification practices that increase yields have received most attention to date, our study suggests that a shift in the research and policy paradigm toward agricultural diversification options may be necessary.     

Review: Associations among goods,impacts and ecosystem services provided by livestock farming

Livestock is a major driver in most rural landscapes and economics, but it also polarises debate over its environmental impacts, animal welfare and human health. Conversely, the various services that livestock farming systems provide to society are often overlooked and have rarely been quantified. The aim of analysing bundles of services is to chart the coexistence and interactions between the various services and impacts provided by livestock farming, and to identify sets of ecosystem services (ES) that appear together repeatedly across sites and through time. We review three types of approaches that analyse associations among impacts and services from local to global scales: (i) detecting ES associations at system or landscape scale, (ii) identifying and mapping bundles of ES and impacts and (iii) exploring potential drivers using prospective scenarios. At a local scale, farming practices interact with landscape heterogeneity in a multi-scale process to shape grassland biodiversity and ES. Production and various ES provided by grasslands to farmers, such as soil fertility, biological regulations and erosion control, benefit to some extent from the functional diversity of grassland species, and length of pasture phase in the crop rotation. Mapping ES from the landscape up to the EU-wide scale reveals a frequent trade-off between livestock production on one side and regulating and cultural services on the other. Maps allow the identification of target areas with higher ecological value or greater sensitivity to risks. Using two key factors (livestock density and the proportion of permanent grassland within utilised agricultural area), we identified six types of European livestock production areas characterised by contrasted bundles of services and impacts. Livestock management also appeared to be a key driver of bundles of services in prospective scenarios. These scenarios simulate a breakaway from current production, legislation (e.g. the use of food waste to fatten pigs) and consumption trends (e.g. halving animal protein consumption across Europe). Overall, strategies that combine a reduction of inputs, of the use of crops from arable land to feed livestock, of food waste and of meat consumption deliver a more sustainable food future. Livestock as part of this sustainable future requires further enhancement, quantification and communication of the services provided by livestock farming to society, which calls for the following: (i) a better targeting of public support, (ii) more precise quantification of bundles of services and (iii) better information to consumers and assessment of their willingness to pay for these services.     

Cyclotides: a natural combinatorial peptide library or a bioactive sequence player?

Abstract

In this perspective review, we focalized our attention on the application of cyclotides in drug discovery. To date, two principal approaches have been explored since now: (i) the use of cyclotides as scaffold in which bioactive peptides can be grafted to improve stability, oral bioactivity and binding to GPCRs; (ii) their application as natural peptides library. For these reasons, cyclotides probably represent today a step further in the development of new tools in drug design.     

Exploiting Co-Benefits of Increased Rice Production and Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emission through Optimized Crop and Soil Management

Meeting the future food security challenge without further sacrificing environmental integrity requires transformative changes in managing the key biophysical determinants of increasing agronomic productivity and reducing the environmental footprint. Here, we focus on Chinese rice production and quantitatively address this concern by conducting 403 on-farm trials across diverse rice farming systems. Inherent soil productivity, management practices and rice farming type resulted in confounded and interactive effects on yield, yield gaps and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (N₂O, CH₄ and CO₂-equivalent) with both trade-offs and compensating effects. Advances in nitrogen, water and crop management (Best Management Practices—BMPs) helped closing existing yield gaps and resulted in a substantial reduction in CO₂-equivalent emission of rice farming despite a tradeoff of increase N₂O emission. However, inherent soil properties limited rice yields to a larger extent than previously known. Cultivating inherently better soil also led to lower GHG intensity (GHG emissions per unit yield). Neither adopting BMPs only nor improving soils with low or moderate productivity alone can adequately address the challenge of substantially increasing rice production while reducing the environmental footprint. A combination of both represents the most efficient strategy to harness the combined-benefits of enhanced production and mitigating climate change. Extrapolating from our farm data, this strategy could increase rice production in China by 18%, which would meet the demand for direct human consumption of rice by 2030. It would also reduce fertilizer nitrogen consumption by 22% and decrease CO₂-equivalent emissions during the rice growing period by 7% compared with current farming practice continues. Benefits vary by rice-based cropping systems. Single rice systems have the largest food provision benefits due to its wider yield gap and total cultivated area, whereas double-rice system (especially late rice) contributes primarily to reducing GHG emissions. The study therefore provides farm-based evidence for feasible, practical approaches towards achieving realistic food security and environmental quality targets at a national scale.     

High-throughput molecular analyses of microbiomes as a tool to monitor the wellbeing of aquatic environments

Aquatic environments are the recipients of many sources of environmental stress that trigger both local and global changes. To evaluate the associated risks to organisms and ecosystems more sensitive and accurate strategies are required. The analysis of the microbiome is one of the most promising candidates for environmental diagnosis of aquatic systems. Culture-independent interconnected meta-omic approaches are being increasing used to fill the gaps that classical microbial approaches cannot resolve. Here, we provide a prospective view of the increasing application of these high-throughput molecular technologies to evaluate the structure and functional activity of microbial communities in response to changes and disturbances in the environment, mostly of anthropogenic origin. Some relevant topics are reviewed, such as: (i) the use of microorganisms for water quality assessment, highlighting the incidence of antimicrobial resistance as an increasingly serious threat to global public health; (ii) the crucial role of microorganisms and their complex relationships with the ongoing climate change, and other stress threats; (iii) the responses of the environmental microbiome to extreme pollution conditions, such as acid mine drainage or oil spills. Moreover, protists and viruses, due to their huge impacts on the structure of microbial communities, are emerging candidates for the assessment of aquatic environmental health.     

Integrated physiological and agronomic modelling of N capture and use within the plant

Today farmers have several constraints to take into account in managing their crops: (i) competitiveness: productivity must be maintained or increased whereas inputs must be decreased, (ii) the environmental consequences of cultural practices: pesticide and fertilizer use must be decreased, and (iii) product quality must be improved and nitrogen nutrition is an important factor in harvest quality. These new constraints sometimes conflict: maximum yield is often obtained with large amounts of N, increasing the risks of N leaching. The determination of rates and dates for nitrogen application must become more precise in this context. Tools are required for the forecasting of crop requirements, the diagnosis of N deficiencies during the crop cycle and breeding of new adapted varieties. Models and diagnosis indicators have been developed to meet these needs, but those relating to nitrogen are often based on empirical relationships. Moreover, the available models and indicators often fail to account for cultivar-specific responses. The improvement of agronomic tools and the breeding of new varieties adapted to new cropping systems should be based on a thorough understanding of the key metabolic processes involved, and the relative contributions of these processes to yield determination in conditions of fluctuating N supply. For both purposes, more information is required about plant and crop N economy. In this paper, the way in which N absorption and use within the plant and crop, plant responses to deficiencies and excesses of nitrogen are taken into account in major agronomic models is described first. The level of sophistication of the modules comprising these models depends on operational objectives. Secondly, the ways in which the most recent molecular plant physiology findings can, and indeed should, be integrated into models at the crop and crop cycle levels are described. The potential value of this approach for improving current agronomic models and diagnostic tools, and for breeding more efficient varieties is also discussed.     

Exploring the potential of participatory systems thinking techniques in progressing SLCA

Purpose

There are a range of systems thinking-based methods well established for participatory actions that allow for greater integration of various mental models and understanding of systems that should be considered in advancing engagement methods in SLCA. This paper highlights the potential application of participatory modelling approaches based in systems thinking theory as a potential entry point in stakeholder inclusion and understanding impact pathways and system behaviour in social life cycle assessment (SLCA).

Methods

We discuss the application of various systems thinking methodologies to SLCA, along with pertinent examples from literature, and develop a framework that integrates both methodologies.

Results and discussion

Here we propose three distinct benefits of group modelling approaches; (1) procedural benefits through the ability to be inclusive of mental models, various perspectives and enhance stakeholder conceptualisation of a system; and the ability to combine both (2) qualitative and (3) quantitative analysis techniques under a cohesive framework. We propose the specific merits of combining the use of agent-based (AB) and system dynamic (SD) modelling in SLCA due to the emphasis upon consumer decisions and behaviour and the inherently dynamic non-linear cause-effect chains that are common in social systems.

Conclusions

We conclude that many facets of participatory modelling techniques can align with SLCA across the methodology, particularly if enhanced consideration of stakeholders and their various values is desired. We recommend the further development and inclusion of participatory systems thinking-based frameworks to advance the SLCA methodology with specific reference to the ability to enhance interpretation through the analysis of feedbacks that may not be addressed in current approaches.

     

Review: Precision livestock farming,automats and new technologies: possible applications in extensive dairy sheep farming

Precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies are becoming increasingly common in modern agriculture. They are frequently integrated with other new technologies in order to improve human–livestock interactions, productivity and economical sustainability of modern farms. New systems are constantly being developed for concentrated farming operations as well as for extensive and pasture-based farming systems. The development of technologies for grazing animals is of particular interest for the Mediterranean extensive sheep farming sector. Dairy sheep farming is a typical production system of the area linked to its historical and cultural traditions. The area provides roughly 40% of the world sheep milk, having 27% of the milk-producing ewes. Developed countries of the area (France, Italy, Greece and Spain – FIGS) have highly specialized production systems improved through animal selection, feeding techniques and intensification of production. However, extensive systems are still practiced alongside intensive ones due to their lower input costs and better resilience to market fluctuations. In the current article, we evaluate possible PLF systems and their suitability to be incorporated in extensive dairy sheep farming as practiced in the FIGS countries. Available products include: electronic identification systems (now mandatory in the EU) such as ear tags, ruminal boluses and sub-cutaneous radio-frequency identification; on-animal sensors such as accelerometers, global positioning systems and social activity loggers; and stationary management systems such as walk-over-weights, automatic drafter (AD), virtual fencing and milking parlour-related technologies. The systems were considered according to their suitability for the management and business model common in dairy sheep farming. However, adoption of new technologies does not take place immediately in small and medium scale extensive farming. As sheep farmers usually belong to more conservative technology consumers, characterized by an average age of 60 and a very transparent community, the dynamics do not favour financial risk taking involved with new technologies. Financial barriers linked to production volumes and resource management of extensive farming are also a barrier for innovation. However, future prospectives could increase the importance of technology and promote its wider adoption. Trends such as global sheep milk economics, global warming, awareness to animal welfare, antibiotics resistance and European agricultural policies could influence the farming practices and stimulate wider adoption of PLF systems in the near future.     

Insect pest management in African agriculture: Challenges in the current millenium

Pest management on a global scale experienced a total revolution after World War II when synthetic organic compounds were in agriculture and public health. However, it soon became apparent that there were many limitations in the use of chemicals for pest management. In agriculture, problems of pest resurgence, secondary pest outbreaks, pest resistance and adverse effects of pesticides on the environment, including human poisoning and toxicity to other non-target organisms, led to the search for alternative approaches to the pest outbreak problem. The 1960s produced new ideas on integrated pest management (IPM) strategies, followed by intensification of the search for biological control agents, which could be incorporated into IPM programmes. New application technologies were developed in the 1970s and 1980s and ecological approaches to the pest problem were spearheaded in the developed world in the 1990s, with extensive studies focused on the whole ecosystem. Important advances in crop production have also taken place in Africa in this century, involving adoption of high yielding varieties, fertilizer application, intensification of crop protection approaches, less shifting cultivation and more mono-cropping systems. However, these advances have led to increasing pest problems which unless tackled imaginatively and intelligently, they could become the most important constraint in crop production in the present millennium. Africa has entered the current millennium with relatively underdeveloped agriculture on a global scale and little investment in research on new pest management technologies that could be used to reduce crop losses. We are still highly dependent on pesticides for pest management. Therefore, the greatest challenges in agriculture in Africa will be the switch from a pesticide based mode of reducing losses due to pests to one that is ecosystem based, making use of insect management techniques which are ecologically and economically sound. Specifically, some of the major challenges in pest management in agriculture in Africa include; (i) reducing the dependence on pesticides, thus avoiding the limitations observed in the past 50 years; (ii) overcoming ignorance of the pest species and their associated community of parasites and predators which has dire consequences on the whole ecosystem; (iii) keeping out exotic pests, which in this millennium have had a devastating blow on the production of some crops and (iv) developing indigenous technologies for pest management (IPM, biocontrol, etc.) and making available to farmers materials for pest management which are affordable, safe, effective and environmentally friendly (e.g. microbial, botanicals, pheromones, genetically engineered products etc.). Both legislative and quarantine measures will have a significant role to play in pest management in the next millennium, but only when practised on a wider geographical area. Information technology (IT) will affect the way we acquire and make use of pest management strategies. Africa is therefore faced with the challenge of building up and improving its infrastructure and expertise on IT if it is to benefit pest management on the continent.     

Assessing Compositional Variability through Graphical Analysis and Bayesian Statistical Approaches: Case Studies on Transgenic Crops

Abstract

New transgenic (GM) crops are subjected to extensive safety assessments that include compositional comparisons with conventional counterparts as a cornerstone of the process. The influence of germplasm, location, environment, and agronomic treatments on compositional variability is, however, often obscured in these pair-wise comparisons. Furthermore, classical statistical significance testing can often provide an incomplete and over-simplified summary of highly responsive variables such as crop composition. In order to more clearly describe the influence of the numerous sources of compositional variation we present an introduction to two alternative but complementary approaches to data analysis and interpretation. These include i) exploratory data analysis (EDA) with its emphasis on visualization and graphics-based approaches and ii) Bayesian statistical methodology that provides easily interpretable and meaningful evaluations of data in terms of probability distributions. The EDA case-studies include analyses of herbicide-tolerant GM soybean and insect-protected GM maize and soybean. Bayesian approaches are presented in an analysis of herbicide-tolerant GM soybean. Advantages of these approaches over classical frequentist significance testing include the more direct interpretation of results in terms of probabilities pertaining to quantities of interest and no confusion over the application     

Population and agricultural intensity in the humid tropics

A review of models of agricultural intensification and their application to the agricultural systems of the humid tropics is presented. Taken into account are the distributions of these systems at various population densities, available data on labor efficiencies, the costs of establishing continuous cropping, and data regarding soils under cultivation and various types of fallow. The findings that fallows much longer than 10 or 15 years serve no known agronomic function, that given preindustrial technology, grass fallows are disadvantageous, even environmentally destructive, and that continuous cropping usually entails a considerable amount of environmental modification support the interpretations that agricultural intensification in the humid tropics is best understood in terms of ecologically optimal strategies at different population densities. Points needing further investigation are highlighted: the reasons for very long fallows, and the comparative labor efficiencies of fallow and continuous cropping systems where crops and environments are similar.     

Contrasting diversity patterns of epigeic arthropods between grasslands of high and low agronomic potential

Increasing demand for food, fuel and fibre promotes the intensification of land-use, particularly in areas favourable for agricultural production. In less-favourable areas, more wildlife-friendly farming systems are often either abandoned or under pressure of conversion, e.g. for bioenergy production. This raises the question, to which extent areas of different agronomic potential contribute to regional biodiversity. To approach this question on a regional scale, we established our study within a region where sites of high and low agronomic potential (AP) alternate on a small spatial scale. We selected 13 high-AP and 13 low-AP grasslands to quantify the contribution of these classes to the regional diversity of four epigeic arthropod taxa (ants, springtails, functional groups of ground beetles, and spiders). The regional diversity (γ) was partitioned into species richness per site (α-diversity), diversity among sites within one class (β_within-diversity), and diversity between the two classes (β_between-diversity). The β-diversity generally accounted for the largest share of the γ-diversity, with patterns of diversity components being highly taxon- and class-specific. Carnivorous carabids had a higher α-diversity at high-AP sites. Ants, springtails, and cursorial spiders had a higher β_within-diversity in low-AP grasslands. Low-AP sites also harboured many more species that occurred exclusively in one grassland class. We conclude that grasslands that may be unfavourable for agricultural production contributed more to regional diversity of epigeic arthropods than favourable grasslands. We therefore suggest that future agricultural schemes should promote arthropod biodiversity by specifically targeting agri-environment schemes or other wildlife-friendly farming approaches to areas of low agronomic potential, since this bears the greatest potential to preserve a comparatively high species turnover (β-diversity) and in consequence high regional diversity.