Agroecosystem patterns and land management co-develop through environment, management, and land-use interactions

Mark E. Caulfield, Steven J. Fonte, Jeroen C. J. Groot, Steven J. Vanek, Stephen G. Sherwood, Pedro Oyarzun, Ross Mary Borja, Sam Dumble and Pablo Tittonell ()
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Mark E. Caulfield: WUR - Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen]
Steven J. Fonte: CSU - Colorado State University [Fort Collins]
Jeroen C. J. Groot: WUR - Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen]
Steven J. Vanek: CSU - Colorado State University [Fort Collins]
Stephen G. Sherwood: WUR - Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen]
Pedro Oyarzun: Fundación EkoRural
Ross Mary Borja: Fundación EkoRural
Sam Dumble: Statistics for Sustainable Development
Pablo Tittonell: UPR AIDA - Agroécologie et intensification durables des cultures annuelles - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement

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Abstract: A poor understanding of the interactions between biophysical and social elements within rural mountainous landscapes can lead to suboptimal management and recommendations. The objective of this study was to contribute to more contextualized natural resource management in a rural landscape in the Ecuadorian Andes by (1) identifying biophysical patterns in soil properties, biodiversity, and C stocks that emerge from natural landscape pedogenic processes, resulting from elevation-induced climate gradients, erosion and soil textural patterns, and (2) assessing farm management and land-use effects on and their interactions with these biophysical patterns. Our findings revealed that the climate and soil texture gradients within the landscape led to an exponential increase in SOC with elevation moderated by slope gradient, indicating significant erosion processes. Farmers adapted their farm management according to the observed environmental patterns creating three distinct management zones. Differentiated agricultural management in these zones and asymmetrical distribution of land-uses in turn were observed to significantly influence soil and agroecosystem properties. For example, available P was found to be significantly higher in the upper and middle agricultural management zones (24.0 and 28.7 mg/kg, respectively), where agricultural inputs were higher compared to the lower agricultural management zone (8.9 mg/kg, P

Keywords: Équateur; agroécosystème; gestion foncière; utilisation des terres; gestion de l'exploitation agricole; Co-development; Ecuador; Elevation; Environmental gradients; Farm management; Socio-ecological systems; Soil organic carbon (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05180145v1
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Published in Ecosphere, 2020, 11 (4), pp.e03113. ⟨10.1002/ecs2.3113⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05180145

DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.3113

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