30. Social Quality of LifeT E M P E R A T E R E G I O N S T R O P I C A L R E G I O N S Nair, 2007
31. Agroforestry Practices in North America Alley cropping Trees planted in single or grouped rows with crops in the wide alleys between the tree rows Producing specialty crops for medicinal, ornamental, or culinary uses in forested areas Forest farming Strips of perennial vegetation (tree/shrub/grass) planted between croplands/pastures and streams, lakes, wetlands, ponds, etc. Riparian buffer strips Combining trees with forage (pasture or hay) and livestock production Silvopasture Row trees around farms and fields, managed as part of crop or livestock operation to protect crops, animals, and soil from wind hazards Windbreaks
32. SPECIAL SUBMISSIONS: AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Journal of Environmental Quality Volume 40 (3), May – June 2011, pages 784–866.
33. Environmental Quality is becoming a serious issue… EDITORIAL : Published: May 4, 2011 (in print on May 5, 2011) Washing Away the Fields of Iowa To an untrained eye, the fields of Iowa have a reassuring solidity. You cannot tell that the state has lost half its topsoil in the past century. According to a new report from the Environmental Working Group, Iowa’s soil is washing away at rates far higher than anyone realized. … This pace of erosion … has been exacerbated by a fundamental bias in federal farm policy and supports. In the dozen years before 2009, Iowa received nearly $17 billion in subsidies that fostered high-intensity farming and less than $3 billion to support conservation. … there is an intense push to create greater yield on more acreage and less incentive than ever to practice sound soil conservation. This is all the more tragic because the techniques for conserving soil are well understood. It requires planting buffer zones between fields and rivers and contour strips on sloping fieldsand planting regimes that keep crop cover on the soil by rotating between 3 and 4 crops, not just soybeans and corn. It also requires comprehensive conservation regulations and enforcement and, above all, facing the fact that erosion is not nature or bad farmers at work. It is the legacy of bad agricultural policy.
43. Agroforestry and Biodiversity Mixed-species AF can help maintain a higher level of biodiversity in various ways: Intensification of AFS leading to reduced exploitation of protected areas, Increasing biodiversity in working landscapes through the expansion of AFS into traditional farmlands, and Increasing the species diversity of trees in farming systems. Better aquatic diversity in streams and waterways following better water-quality
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45. The “safety-net” effect: The deeper and more extensive tree roots will take up more nutrients from the soil compared to crops with shallower root systems.
46. The reduction of nutrient loading leads to water-quality enhancement in heavily fertilized agricultural landscapes. Water Quality Enhancement
47. Water soluble P (WSP) concentrations by depth in silvopasture and treeless pasture sites on Spodosols in two counties (Alachua and Suwannee) in Florida, USA. Michel et al., 2007.
48. Degraded cropland Riparian buffers for reclamation of degraded croplands … the same site, 15 years later Source: A. M. Gordon and N. Thevathasan, Univ of Guelph, ON, Canada.
49. Multiple Species Riparian Vegetative Buffer Strips (VBS) An effective approach to reducing NPSP (non-point source pollution). Possible mechanisms: enhanced infiltration of runoff and sediment trapping. Tall fescue (Festucaarundinacea), the most effective species in the claypan region near Columbia, MO. VBS reduced sediment, total N, and total P losses by 32, 42, and 46%, resp., compared to control during 2004 to2008 (Udawatta et al., 2011).
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52. Riparian Buffer: Bear Creek National Restoration Watershed (ISU)
53. Carbon Sequestration The process of capture and secure storage of C from the atmosphere It entails the transfer of atmospheric C, especially CO2,and its secure storage in long-lived pools. (UNFCCC = UN Framework Convention on Climate Change)
55. Mitigation (of) & Adaptation (to) Climate Change Mitigation Avoiding emissions and sequestering GHGs: [Technological change and substitution that reduce emissions] Adaptation Reducing the vulnerability of natural systems against actual or expected climate change effects.
67. General Objectives Quantify SOC accumulation and sequestration in different types of agroforestry systems in a variety of ecological and geographical conditions. Determine C storage in different soil fractions up to at least 1 m depth Quantify, wherever possible, C contribution by C3 and C4 plants (~ trees and herbaceous plants) using natural C isotopic differences between the two groups.
68. Changes in soil C stock under different AF vs. non-AF systems (Nair et al., 2010).
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70. High tree density -> high SOC content, esp. in the upper 50 cm soil and <53 µm soil fraction.
71. SOC stock under longer term AF systems with high tree-density (e.g., homegardens, shaded perennials) comparable to that of natural forests.
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