The diversity of agroecosystems

Abstract

The diversity of agroecosystems.

The paper analyses the effect of intensification of agricultural activities on agroecosystems functioning and remarks the need to incorporate the scientific basis and agriculture-management models of agroecology that harmonize farm production, the conservation of natural resources and rural development. The importance of diversity in agroecosystems is discussed and the need to identify the kind of diversity to be maintained and favoured with the aim of striking the ecological balance and thereby proposing the most appropriate agricultural practices to favour diversity. Furthermore, the paper shows that organic farming is an effective tool to enhance weed diversity in Mediterranean dryland cereal fields and promotes weed communities with a high number of characteristic segetal species. Moreover, organic practices –mainly the lack of herbicide treatments- produced an increase in weed cover but also a shift in its floristic composition, which favoured broad-lived, insect-pollinated plants and legumes. It is worth studying precisely these interactions in order to establish their effect on upper-level diversity and to identify potential pest or beneficial species from an agronomic point of view.