Agricultural Intensification and Ecosystem Properties
Abstract
Expansion and intensification of cultivation are among the predominant global changes of this century. Intensification of agriculture by use of high-yielding crop varieties, fertilization, irrigation, and pesticides has contributed substantially to the tremendous increases in food production over the past 50 years. Land conversion and intensification, however, also alter the biotic interactions and patterns of resource availability in ecosystems and can have serious local, regional, and global environmental consequences. The use of ecologically based management strategies can increase the sustainability of agricultural production while reducing off-site consequences.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
REFERENCES AND NOTES
1
Meyer W. B., Turner B. L., Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 23, 39 (1992).
2
O. B. Grigg, The World Food Problem (Blackwell, Oxford, 1993);
Naylor R. L., Falcon W., Savaleta E., Popul. Dev. Rev. 23, 41 (1997).
3
R. L. Naylor, Annu. Rev. Energy Environ.21, 99 (1996).
4
K. K. M. Nambiar, Soil Fertility and Crop Productivity Under Long-Term Fertilizer Use in India (Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, 1994).
5
K. S. Cassmann et al., in Soil Management: Experimental Basis for Sustainability and Environmental Quality, Advances in Soil Science, R. Lal and B. A. Steward, Eds. (Lewis, Boca Raton, FL, 1995), pp. 181–224; K. S. Cassmann, R. Steiner, A. E. Johnston, in Agricultural Sustainability: Economic, Environmental and Statistical Considerations, V. Barnett, R. Payne, R. Steiner, Eds. (Wiley, Chichester, UK, 1995), pp. 231–244.
6
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Agriculture: Towards 2010 (FAO, Rome, 1993).
7
G. P. Robertson, in Agricultural Ecology, L. Jackson, Ed. (Academic Press, New York, in press).
8
M. J. Swift and J. S. I. Ingram, Eds., GCTE Report No. 13. (Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems, Wallingford, UK, 1996).
9
A. G. Power and A. S. Flecker, in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processes in Tropical Forests, G. H. Orians, R. Dirzo, J. H. Cushman, Eds. (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1996), pp. 173–194.
10
Andow D. A., Annu. Rev. Entomol. 36, 561 (1991).
11
Tonhasca A., Byrne D. N., Ecol. Entomol. 19, 239 (1994).
12
E. P. Russell, Environ. Entomol. 18, 590 (1989).
13
M. A. Boudreau, Plant Pathol. 42, 16 (1993);
___, Mundt C. C., Phytopathology 82, 1051 (1992).
14
M. A. Boudreau and C. C. Mundt, Ecol. Appl.4, 729 (1994).
15
A. G. Power, in Agroecology: Researching the Ecological Basis for Sustainable Agriculture, S. R. Gliessman, Ed. (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1990), pp. 47–69.
16
___, Ecology 72, 232 (1991).
17
R. L. Naylor and P. R. Ehrlich, in Natures Services, G. C. Daily, Ed. (Island Press, Washington, DC, 1997), pp. 151–174.
18
P. S. Giller, Biodiversity Conserv. 5, 135 (1996).
19
P. Lavelle, C. Gilot, C. Fragoso, B. Pashanasi, in Soil Resilience and Sustainable Land Use, D. J. Greenland and I. Szabolcs, Eds. (CAB International, Wallingford, UK, 1994), pp. 291–308.
20
P. Lavelle and B. Pashanasi, Pedobiologia 33, 283 (1989).
21
Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Programme, Biology and Fertility of Tropical Soils. TSBF Report 1997 (TSBF, Nairobi, Kenya, 1997); P. Lavelle, personal communication.
22
Special issue on Soil Biodiversity, Agricultural Intensification, and Agroecosystem Function, M. J. Swift, Ed., Appl. Soil Ecol. 6 (August 1997); M. H. Beare, G. Tian, V. M. Reddy, S. C. Srivastava, ibid., p. 87; C. E. Pankhurst, B. M. Doube, V. V. S. R. Gupta, P. R. Grace, Eds., Soil Biota: Management in Sustainable Farming Systems (CSIRO, Australia, 1994).
23
B. R. Critchley et al., Pedobiologia19, 425 (1979); J. A. Ingram and M. J. Swift, in Research Methods for Cereal/Legume Intercropping, S. R. Waddington, A. F. E. Palmer, O. T. Odje, Eds. (CIMMYT, Mexico City, 1989), pp. 200–214; G. Tian, L. Brussaard, B. T. Kang, M. J. Swift, in Driven by Nature—Plant Litter Quality and Decomposition, G. Cadisch and K. E. Giller, Eds. (CAB International, Wallingford, UK, 1997), pp. 125–134.
24
M. H. Beare et al., Ecol. Monogr.62, 569 (1992).
25
M. J. Swift and J. M. Anderson, in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function, E.-D. Schulze and H. A. Mooney, Eds. (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1993), pp. 29–41.
26
E. A. Paul, K. Paustian, E. T. Elliott, C. V. Cole, Soil Organic Matter in Temperate Ecosystems (CRC Press, New York, 1997).
27
I. C. Burke et al., Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 53, 800 (1989).
28
A. K. Metherell et al., in Soil Management and the Greenhouse Effect, R. Lal, J. Kimble, E. Levine, B. A. Stewart, Eds. (Lewis, Boca Raton, FL, 1995), pp. 259–270.
29
K. Paustian, G. P. Robertson, E. T. Elliott, in (28), pp. 69–88.
30
W. J. Parton and P. E. Rasmussen, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 58, 530 (1994).
31
Jenkinson D. S., Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London Ser. B 329, 361 (1990).
32
S. Postel, in State of the World 1996, L. R. Brown, Ed. (Norton, New York, 1996), pp. 40–59.
33
Postel S. L., Daily G. C., Ehrlich P. R., Science 271, 785 (1996).
34
P. M. Vitousek and P. A. Matson, in Biogeochemistry of Global Change: Radiatively Active Trace Gases, R. Oremland, Ed. (Chapman & Hall, New York, 1993), pp. 193–208.
35
K. Paustian, W. J. Parton, J. Persson, Soil Sci.56, 476 (1992).
36
J. M. Scriber, in Nitrogen in Crop Production, R. D. Hauck, Ed. (American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, 1984), pp. 441–460.
37
D. M. Huber, in CRC Handbook of Pest Management in Agriculture, D. Pimentel, Ed. (CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1981), pp. 357–394.
38
Mattson W. J., Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 11, 119 (1980).
39
W. H. Reissig et al., Illustrated Guide to Integrated Pest Management in Rice in Tropical Asia (International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Philippines, 1986).
40
Huber D. M., Watson R. D., Annu. Rev. Phytopathol. 12, 139 (1974).
41
M. A. Altieri and L. L. Schmidt, Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 16, 29 (1986); N. Boatman, Field Margins: Integrating Agriculture and Conservation (British Crop Protection Council, Farnham, UK, 1994).
42
A. G. Power, in Forest Patches in Tropical Landscapes, J. Schelhas and R. Greenberg, Eds. (Island Press, Washington, DC, 1996), pp. 91–110.
43
C. S. Robbins et al., Comparison of Neotropical Migrant Bird Populations Wintering in Tropical Forest, Isolated Fragments, and Agricultural Habits (Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, 1992);
Wunderle J. M., Waide R. B., Condor 95, 904 (1993);
; R. Greenberg, in Forest Patches in Tropical Landscapes, J. Schelhas and R. Greenberg, Eds. (Island Press, Washington, DC, 1996), pp. 59–90.
44
Greenberg R., Salgado Ortiz J., Auk 111, 672 (1994).
45
R. W. Howarth, G. Billen, D. Swaney, A. Townsend, Biogeochemistry 35, 75 (1996).
46
National Research Council, Managing Wastewater in Coastal Urban Areas (National Research Council, Washington, DC, 1993); S. W. Nixon, Ophelia 41, 199 (1995).
47
Williams F. J., Hutchinson G. L., Fehsenfeld F. C., Global Biogeochem. Cycles 6, 351 (1992);
Cicerone R. J., Oremland R. S., ibid. 2, 299 (1988);
; S. J. Hall, P. A. Matson, P. Roth, Annu. Rev. Energy Environ. 21, 311 (1996);
Matson P. A., Billow C., Hall S., Zachariesson J., J. Geophys. Res. 101, 18533 (1996);
; G. P. Robertson, in Agricultural Ecosystem Effects on Trace Gases and Global Climate Change, L. A. Harper, A. R. Mosier, J. M. Duxbury, D. E. Rolston, Eds. (American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, 1993), pp. 95–108.
48
R. Delmas, D. Serca, C. Jambert, Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, in press; E. A. Davidson, W. Kingerlee, Nutrient Cycling and Agroecosystems, in press.
49
Chameides W. L., Kasibhatla P. S., Yienger J., Levy H., Science 264, 74 (1994).
50
P. M. Vitousek et al., Ecol. Appl., in press; J. N. Galloway,
Schlesinger W. H., Levy H., Michaels A., Schnoor J. L., Global Biogeochem. Cycles 9, 235 (1995).
51
Pimentel D., Edwards C. A., Bioscience 32, 595 (1982);
Rische S. J., Pimentel D., Grover H., Ecology 67, 505 (1986).
52
S. Postel and S. Carpenter, in Natures Services, G. C. Daily, Ed. (Island Press, Washington, DC, 1997), pp. 195–214.
53
Crosson P., Science 269, 461 (1995);
; D. Pimentel, Ed., World Soil Erosion and Conservation (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1993).
54
J. K. Lynam and R. W. Herdt, Agric. Econ.3, 381 (1989); A. M. Izac and M. J. Swift, Ecol. Econ. 11, 105 (1994); B. Becker, Issues Agric. 10, 63 (1997).
55
P. L. Woomer and M. J. Swift, Eds., The Biological Management of Tropical Soil Fertility (Wiley, Chichester, UK, 1994).
56
M. J. Swift, in The Role of Soil Biota in Sustainable Agriculture, L. Brussaard and R. Ferrera-Cerrato, Eds. (Advances in Agroecology, Lewis, MI, 1997).
57
Figure is modified from A. S. Donigian Jr. et al. [EPA Report. EPA/600/R-94-067 (1994)].
58
FAOSTAT, statistics database.
59
We thank P. Vitousek, R. Naylor, R. Kelly, and G. Daily for extended discussions on these topics, G. P. Robertson and two anonymous reviewers for thoughtful reviews of earlier drafts, and K. McElwain and B. Techau for assistance with manuscript preparation. Partially supported by grants to W.J.P. (NASA-NAGW-2662, NSF-BSR-9011659, NIH-1-R01-HD33554, and EPA-R824993-01-0), P.A.M. (NASA-NAGW-3869 and USDA-94-37101-0437), and A.G.P. (NSF-9407919 and USDA-95-33120-1877).
(0)eLetters
eLetters is a forum for ongoing peer review. eLetters are not edited, proofread, or indexed, but they are screened. eLetters should provide substantive and scholarly commentary on the article. Embedded figures cannot be submitted, and we discourage the use of figures within eLetters in general. If a figure is essential, please include a link to the figure within the text of the eLetter. Please read our Terms of Service before submitting an eLetter.
Log In to Submit a ResponseNo eLetters have been published for this article yet.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Science
Volume 277 | Issue 5325
25 July 1997
25 July 1997
Submission history
Published in print: 25 July 1997
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Article Usage
Altmetrics
Citations
Cite as
- P. A. Matson et al.
Export citation
Select the format you want to export the citation of this publication.
Cited by
- The Future of Farming and Conservation, Science, 308, 5726, (1257-1258), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.308.5726.1257b
- Integration of Environmental, Agronomic, and Economic Aspects of Fertilizer Management, Science, 280, 5360, (112-115), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.280.5360.112
- Ecosystem Services for 2020, Science, 330, 6002, (323-324), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.1196431
- Smart Investments in Sustainable Food Production: Revisiting Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems, Science, 327, 5967, (822-825), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.1183725
- Forecasting Agriculturally Driven Global Environmental Change, Science, 292, 5515, (281-284), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.1057544
- Reframing the payments for ecosystem services framework in a coupled human and natural systems context: strengthening the integration between ecological and human dimensions, Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, 3, 5, (2017)./doi/10.1080/20964129.2017.1335931
- Global Consequences of Land Use, Science, 309, 5734, (570-574), (2005)./doi/10.1126/science.1111772
Loading...
View Options
Check Access
Log in to view the full text
AAAS login provides access to Science for AAAS Members, and access to other journals in the Science family to users who have purchased individual subscriptions.
- Become a AAAS Member
- Activate your AAAS ID
- Purchase Access to Other Journals in the Science Family
- Account Help
Log in via OpenAthens.
Log in via Shibboleth.
More options
Purchase digital access to this article
Download and print this article for your personal scholarly, research, and educational use.
Buy a single issue of Science for just $15 USD.