Diversitas Group

Biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes is the theme of the DIVERSITAS agroBIODIVERSITY network (http://www.agrobiodiversity-diversitas.org/).  There are about a dozen people in the core group of this international network, but many more have been involved in our various activities. Louise Jackson and Lijbert Brussaard (Wageningen University) are co-chairs of the network, and Mirjam Pulleman (Wageningen University)  runs the agroBIODIVERSITY International Project Office of DIVERSITAS.

Our current focus is integrative approaches and tools for quantifying biodiversity, ecosystem services, and social contexts for development of sustainable land use practices. The goal is to combine ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom up’ approaches, so that research on landscape processes is combined with mechanistic understanding of localized ecosystem functions. Conceptual models on productivity/biodiversity/livelihoods relationships are being developed within a set of international sites where scientists have joined local stakeholders in innovation toward biodiversity-friendly sustainable agriculture, based on concerns about current trends toward agricultural intensification and degradation of environmental quality. This involves an ecosystem approach in which biophysical (e.g., ecology, soil science) and social sciences (e.g., economics, anthropology) together provide understanding of the spectrum of patterns and processes that define certain kinds of systems, including their ecological and economic functions and services. A set of guidelines, indicators, and simple models will be developed for determining how research can show the value of the use and conservation of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, in a way that takes an integrated perspective across the landscape mosaic.

A symposium and workshop was held at UC Davis in April, 2008, on integrative approaches for studying biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. The presentations from the symposium are available at http://agrobiodiversity2008.com/sec/meeting.html . The workshop was supported by BESTnet, http://www.ecoservices.asu.edu/bestnet/, an NSF-supported Research Coordinating Network with core members from DIVERSITAS, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis, and the Kearney Foundation of Soil Science.

Jackson, L.E., T. Rosenstock, M. Thomas, J. Wright, and A. Symstad. Managed ecosystems: biodiversity and ecosystem functions in landscapes modified by human use. Chapter 10. In: Biodiversity and Human Impacts (S. Naeem, D. Bunker, A. Hector, M. Loreau and C. Perrings, eds.). Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. In press.

Wright, J., A. Symstad, J.M. Bullock, K. Engelhardt, L.E. Jackson, and E. Bernhardt. Restoring biodiversity and ecosystem function: will an integrated approach improve results? Chapter 12. In: Biodiversity and Human Impacts (S. Naeem, D. Bunker, A. Hector, M. Loreau and C. Perrings, eds.). Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. In press.

Jackson, L.E., L. Brussaard, P.C. de Ruiter, U. Pascual, C. Perrings, and K. Bawa. 2007. Agrobiodiversity. Encyclopedia of Biodiversity. Elsevier Inc.
doi:10.1016/B978-012226865-6/00572-9

Jackson, L.E., K. Bawa, L. Brussaard, U. Pascual, and P. de Ruiter. 2007. Biodiversity in agricultural landscapes: saving natural capital without losing interest. Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment 121:193-195.

            http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/filelibrary/5472/36644.pdf

Jackson, L.E., U. Pascual, and T. Hodgkin. 2007. Utilizing and conserving agrobiodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment 121:196-210.

http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/filelibrary/5472/36645.pdf

van Noordwijk, M., J.-L. Pfund, M. Bakarr, L. Jackson, G. Schroth, K. Hairiah, and L. Joshi. 2006. Agro-biodiversity and CGIAR tree and forest science: approaches and examples from Sumatra. ICRAF Working Paper Number 17. ICRAF Southeast Asia.

            http://groups.ucanr.org/jacksonlab/files/49270.pdf

Perrings, C., L.E. Jackson, K. Bawa, L. Brussaard, S. Brush, T. Gavin, R. Papa, U. Pascual, and P.D. Ruiter. 2006. Biodiversity in agricultural landscapes: saving natural capital without losing interest. Conservation Biology 20:263-264.

            http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/filelibrary/5472/25414.pdf