Biodiversity in Agroecosystems (Advances in Agroecology)

316 Pages·1998·1.33 MB·English

by  Wanda W. Collins

BIODIVERSITY
IN
AGROECOSYSTEMS
Edited by
Wanda W. Collins and
Calvin O. Qualset
© 1999 by CRC Press LLC.
Acquiring Editor: John Sulzycki
Project Editor: Maggie Mogck
Marketing Manager: Becky McEldowney
Cover design: Dawn Boyd
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Biodiversity in agroecosystems / edited by Wanda Williams Collins, Calvin O. Qualset.
p. cm.—(Advances in agroecology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56670-290-9 (alk. paper)
1. Agricultural ecology. 2. Biological diversity. 3. Agricultural systems.
I. Collins, Wanda Williams. II. Qualset, Calvin O. III. Series.
S589.7.B575 1998
630—dc21 98-13056
CIP
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Preface
Diversity in biological resources (biodiversity) evolved to fill the innumerable
environmental niches of the Earth. It is manifest in all except the most extreme
global environments. Humans have exploited this diversity and shaped it over mil-
lennia to meet basic needs for survival. Thus, biodiversity has been an integral and
essential feature in the evolution of agriculture. Agrobiodiversity, that part of the
full spectrum of diversity on which humans directly depend for food and fiber,
represents plants, animals, and microbes that are greatly modified by the domesti-
cation process to the extent that many of them cannot survive in the environments
of their progenitors.
Ancient farmers knew well the necessity of having different crops or animal
breeds and different varieties of each crop or breed in case of failure of one or the
other for various reasons. They also explored and utilized the rich diversity of flavors,
textures, and aromas available in their plant and animal species.
The management of agrobiodiversity is temporally and spatially integrated into
agroecosystems. How agroecosystem management affects ecosystems in general is
a subject of intensive research, debate, and controversy. Both intensive and extensive
agricultural systems are essential to the sustainability of the global human popula-
tion. In turn, these systems are dependent upon the existence of a rich reservoir of
agrobiodiversity and its use in ways that complement and enhance biodiversity in
its natural state. As is evident throughout this book, there are examples of severe
negative impacts of agricultural activities on biodiversity, mainly through degrada-
tion of natural habitats. Biodiversity losses are becoming recognized and, through
research and practice, are slowly being mitigated. At the same time, there are
examples of agriculture practices that enhance biodiversity and one of the great
challenges for the next century will be to discover additional ways for achieving
complementarity of food, fiber, and energy production and biodiversity conservation.
Today’s farmers, using both traditional and high-technology methods, also under-
stand that the continued success of their agriculture depends upon conserving,
maintaining, and using the diversity that is so under threat now. It is also important
that conservationists and policy makers have a thorough understanding of agricul-
tural processes so they can discover practical ways to facilitate both agricultural
production and natural resource conservation.
This book is designed to emphasize just how important biodiversity is to agri-
culture. The various chapters point out the positive effects of agriculture on helping
to conserve and protect the diversity on which it depends. The effects of agricultural
growth, genetic uniformity, and dependence on high levels of external inputs are
also highlighted. The book is intended to present the reader with a broad view of
the interplay of biodiversity and agriculture with chapters addressing soil microbes,
insects, plants, animals, rangelands, and agro-forestry. Other chapters discuss the
efforts to conserve, maintain, and effectively use plant and animal diversity most
important to agriculture. Still other chapters delve into the value of genetic diversity
to agriculture and the interaction with surrounding habitats and species. Finally, the
integration of new biotechnologies into traditional and industrial agricultural systems
© 1999 by CRC Press LLC.
can have great impact on the quality of biodiversity and help shape strategies for its
conservation.
We believe that sharing this knowledge and these experiences by some of the
world’s most knowledgeable experts will provide readers with a broad appreciation
and heightened awareness of the stakes involved in the future preservation of these
natural resources.
Wanda W. Collins
Calvin O. Qualset
© 1999 by CRC Press LLC.
The Editors
Wanda W. Collins, Ph.D., currently is the Deputy Director General for Research
at the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru. She is the author of more than 40
journal articles on genetics and plant breeding, several book chapters, and numerous
extension and popular publications.
Dr. Collins is a graduate of North Carolina State University where she received
her Ph.D. in both Plant Pathology and Genetics in 1976. She joined the school’s
Department of Horticultural Science that same year and became a full professor in
1986. She has been doing research on vegetable breeding and genetics (sweetpotato
and potato) since 1976 and traveled to Peru to research the genetic resources of the
Ipomoea species (wild relatives of the sweetpotato). Between 1996 and 1998, Dr.
Collins also spent over 2 years on study leave at the World Bank in Washington,
D.C. as Agricultural Research Advisor, Environmentally Sustainable Development
Vice Presidency.
She is one of the originators and the first chair of the Sweetpotato Crop Genetics
Committee which advises the U.S. Germplasm System on sweetpotato germplasm.
Her many memberships and contributions to the field of horticulture include Chair
of the Board of Trustees for the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute,
member of the Executive Board for the American Society of Horticultural Science,
and as the current President of the American Society of Horticultural Science.
Calvin O. Qualset, Ph.D., is Director of the Genetic Resources Conservation
Program of the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of
California, Davis. Before retiring as a professor in 1994, he held the positions of
Chair of the Department of Agronomy and Range Science and Assistant Dean for
Plant Sciences and Pest Management at UC Davis. He also served as Assistant
Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville from 1964 to 1967 before
moving to California.
He is active in developing biological conservation strategies and conducts
research on plant genetic resource conservation and genetics. He serves on the Board
of Trustees of the American Type Culture Collection as a representative of the
Genetics Society of America. He coordinates the International Triticeae Mapping
Initiative and is Principal Investigator on McKnight Foundation and BARD-funded
projects in Mexico and Israel on in situ conservation of crop plants and genetic
mapping of wheat. He has served on numerous reviews of international centers for
the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, of university depart-
ments, and of current issues in agriculture and biology for the National Science
Foundation and National Research Council.
Dr. Qualset held Fulbright Fellowships to Australia and Yugoslavia and served
as president of the American Society of Agronomy and of the Crop Science Society
of America. He has received citations for work in plant breeding from the U.S.
National Council of Commercial Plant Breeders and the Mexican National Institute
of Agriculture and Forestry. He has authored more than 190 scientific papers and
developed numerous varieties of wheat, oat, and triticale.
© 1999 by CRC Press LLC.
Contributors
Miguel A. Altieri Joel I. Cohen
Center for Biological Control Project Manager, Intermediary
ESPM-Division of Insect Biology Biotechnology Service
201 Wellman – 3012 International Service for National
University of California at Berkeley Agricultural Research (ISNAR)
Berkeley, CA 94720-3112 The Hague, The Netherlands
([email protected]) ([email protected])
Stuart S. Bamforth Wanda W. Collins (Editor)
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Deputy Director General for Research
Organismal Biology International Potato Center
Tulane University Apartado 1558
New Orleans, LA 70118-5698 Lima 12, Peru
([email protected])
Mary E. Barbercheck
Department of Entomology Cornelis de Haan
North Carolina State University World Bank
Raleigh, NC 27695-7634 1818 H Street N.W.
([email protected]) Washington, D.C. 20433
([email protected])
Gary W. Barrett
Michael I. Goldstein
Institute of Ecology
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
University of Georgia
Science
Athens, GA 30602-2202
([email protected]) Texas A&M State University
210 Nagle Hall
Terry A. Barrett College Station, TX 77843-2258
Institute of Ecology ([email protected])
University of Georgia
Douglas Gollin
Athens, GA 30606-2202
([email protected]) Department of Economics
Fernald House, Williams College
Harvey W. Blackburn Williamstown, MA 01267 and
Research Leader Affiliate Scientist, Economics Program
USDA Sheep Experiment Station Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento
H.C. 62, Box 2010 de Maiz y Trigo (CIMMYT)
Dubois, ID 83423 Lisboa 27, Apdo. Postal 6-641,
([email protected]) CP 06600 Mexico, D.F.
([email protected])
Lara M. Coburn
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Keith Hammond
Science Animal Production and Health Division
Texas A&M State University Food and Agriculture Organization of
210 Nagle Hall the United Nations
College Station, TX 77843-2258 00100 Rome, Italy
([email protected]) ([email protected])
© 1999 by CRC Press LLC.
Geoffrey C. Hawtin Clara I. Nicholls
Director General Department of Entomology
International Plant Genetic Resources University of California at Davis
Institute (IPGRI) Davis, CA 95616
Via delle Sette Chiese 142 ([email protected])
Rome, Italy
([email protected]) John David Peles
Savannah River Ecology
Ann C. Kennedy Laboratory
USDA-ARS Drawer E
Pullman, WA 99164-6421 Aiken, SC 29806
([email protected]) ([email protected])
Thomas E. Lacher, Jr. Keith S. Pike
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Irrigated Agriculture Research and
Science Extension Center
Texas A&M State University Washington State University
210 Nagle Hall Prosser, WA 99350
College Station, TX 77843-2258 ([email protected])
([email protected])
Jon K. Piper
Roger R. B. Leakey Department of Biology
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Bush Bethel College
Estate North Newton, KS 67117
Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0QB ([email protected])
Scotland, U.K.
([email protected]) Calvin O. Qualset (Editor)
Director, Genetic Resources
Helen W. Leitch Conservation Program
International Livestock Research University of California at Davis
Institute Davis, CA 95616
Box 30709 ([email protected])
Nairobi, Kenya
([email protected]) Robert E. Rhoades
Department of Anthropology
Virginia D. Nazarea University of Georgia
Department of Anthropology Athens, GA 30602
University of Georgia ([email protected])
Athens, GA 30602
([email protected]) R. Douglas Slack
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
Deborah A. Neher Science
Department of Biology Texas A&M State University
University of Toledo 210 Nagle Hall
Toledo, OH 43606 College Station, TX 77843
([email protected]) ([email protected])
© 1999 by CRC Press LLC.
Melinda Smale Neil E. West
Economics Program Department of Rangeland Resources
Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento Utah State University
de Maiz y Trigo (CIMMYT) Logan, UT 84322
Lisboa 27, Apdo. Postal 6-641 ([email protected])
CP 06600 Mexico, D.F
([email protected])
Petr Stary´
Institute of Entomology
Czech Academy of Sciences
Branisovska 31,
370 05 Ceské Budejovice
Czech Republic
© 1999 by CRC Press LLC.
Contents
Chapter 1
Microbial Diversity in Agroecosystem Quality
Ann C. Kennedy
Chapter 2
Soil Microfauna: Diversity and Applications of Protozoans in Soil
Stuart S. Bamforth
Chapter 3
Diversity and Function of Soil Mesofauna
Deborah A. Neher and Mary E. Barbercheck
Chapter 4
Uses of Beneficial Insect Diversity in Agroecosystem Management
Petr Stary´ and Keith S. Pike
Chapter 5
Biodiversity, Ecosystem Function, and Insect Pest Management in
Agricultural Systems
Miguel A. Altieri and Clara I. Nicholls
Chapter 6
Livestock and Biodiversity
Harvey W. Blackburn and Cornelis de Haan
Chapter 7
Managing for Biodiversity of Rangelands
Neil E.West
Chapter 8
Agroforestry for Biodiversity in Farming Systems
Roger R. B. Leakey
Chapter 9
The Role of Agroecosystems in Wildlife Biodiversity
Thomas E. Lacher, Jr., R. Douglas Slack, Lara M. Coburn, and
Michael I. Goldstein
Chapter 10
Natural Systems Agriculture
Jon K. Piper
© 1999 by CRC Press LLC.
Chapter 11
Managing Agroecosystems as Agrolandscapes: Reconnecting
Agricultural and Urban Landscapes
Gary W. Barrett, Terry A. Barrett, and John David Peles
Chapter 12
Local Management of Biodiversity in Traditional Agroecosystems
Robert E. Rhoades and Virginia D. Nazarea
Chapter 13
Valuing Genetic Diversity: Crop Plants and Agroecosystems
Douglas Gollin and Melinda Smale
Chapter 14
Conserving and Using Crop Plant Biodiversity in Agroecosystems
Wanda W. Collins and Geoffrey C. Hawtin
Chapter 15
Implementing the Global Strategy for the Management of Farm
Animal Genetic Resources
Keith Hammond and Helen W. Leitch
Chapter 16
Agroecosystem Quality: Policy and Management Challenges for
New Technologies and Diversity
Joel I. Cohen
© 1999 by CRC Press LLC.