Edited by Stephen K. Hamilton, Julie E. Doll and G. Philip Robertson
Evidence has been mounting for some time that intensive row-crop agriculture as practiced in developed countries may not be environmentally sustainable, with concerns increasingly being raised about climate change, implications for water quantity and quality, and soil degradation. This volume
synthesizes two decades of research on the sustainability of temperate, row-crop ecosystems of the Midwestern United States. The overarching hypothesis guiding this work has been that more biologically based management practices could greatly reduce negative impacts while maintaining sufficient
productivity to meet demands for food, fiber and fuel, but that roadblocks to their adoption persist because we lack a comprehensive understanding of their benefits and drawbacks.
The research behind this book, based at the Kellogg Biological Station (Michigan State University) and
conducted under the aegis of the Long-term Ecological Research network, is structured on a foundation of large-scale field experiments that explore alternatives to conventional, chemical-intensive agriculture. Studies have explored the biophysical underpinnings of crop productivity, the interactions
of crop ecosystems with the hydrology and biodiversity of the broader landscapes in which they lie, farmers' views about alternative practices, economic valuation of ecosystem services, and global impacts such as greenhouse gas exchanges with the atmosphere. In contrast to most research projects,
the long-term design of this research enables identification of slow or delayed processes of change in response to management regimes, and allows examination of responses across a broader range of climatic variability. This volume synthesizes this comprehensive inquiry into the ecology of
alternative cropping systems, identifying future steps needed on the path to sustainability.
1. G. Philip Robertson and Stephen K. Hamilton: Conceptual and Experimental Approaches to Long-term Ecological Research at the Kellogg Biological Station
2. G. Philip Robertson, Katherine L. Gross, Stephen K. Hamilton, Douglas A. Landis, Thomas M. Schmidt, Sieglinde S. Snapp, and Scott M.
Swinton: Farming for Ecosystem Services: An Ecological Approach to Production Agriculture
3. Scott M. Swinton, Christina B. Jolejole-Foreman, Frank Lupi, Shan Ma, Wei Zhang and Huilan Chen: Economic Value of Ecosystem Services from Agriculture
4. Stuart H. Gage, Julie E. Doll, and Gene R.
Safir: A Crop Stress Index to Predict Climatic Effects on Row-crop Agriculture in the U.S. North Central Region
5. Eldor A. Paul, Alexandra Kravchenko, A. Stuart Grandy, and Sherri Morris: Soil Organic Matter Dynamics: Controls and Management for Sustainable Ecosystem Functioning
6. Thomas
M. Schmidt and Clive Waldron: Microbial Diversity in Soils of Agricultural Landscapes and its Relation to Ecosystem Functio
7. Katherine L. Gross, Sarah Emery, Adam S. Davis, Richard G. Smith, and Todd M.P. Robinson: Plant Community Dynamics in Agricultural and Successional Field
8. Douglas
A. Landis and Stuart H. Gage: Arthropod Diversity and Pest Suppression in Agricultural Landscapes
9. Neville Millar and G. Philip Robertson: Nitrogen Transfers and Transformations in Row-crop Ecosystems
10. Bruno Basso and Joe T. Ritchie: Simulating Crop Growth and Biogeochemical Fluxes in
Response to Land Management using the SALUS Model
11. Stephen K. Hamilton: Water Quality and Movement in Agricultural Landscapes
12. Ilya Gelfand and G. Philip Robertson: Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases in Agricultural Ecosystems
13. Scott M. Swinton, Natalie Rector, G. Philip Robertson,
Christina B. Jolejole-Foreman, and Frank Lupi: Farmer Decisions about Adopting Environmentally Beneficial Practices
14. Stuart H. Gage, Wooyeong Joo, Eric P. Kasten, Jordan Fox, and Subir Biswas: Acoustic Observations in Agricultural Landscapes
15. Sieglinde S. Snapp, Richard G. Smith, and
G. Philip Robertson: Designing Cropping Systems for Ecosystem Services
There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.
Stephen K. Hamilton, Julie E. Doll, and G. Philip Robertson are affiliated with the Kellogg Biological Station at Michigan State University.
Alaska's Changing Arctic - Edited by John E. Hobbie and George W. Kling
