Description
Soil Health and Intensification of Agroecosystems examines the climate, environmental, and human effects on agroecosystems and how the existing paradigms must be revised in order to establish sustainable production. The increased demand for food and fuel exerts tremendous stress on all aspects of natural resources and the environment to satisfy an ever increasing world population, which includes the use of agriculture products for energy and other uses in addition to human and animal food. The book presents options for ecological systems that mimic the natural diversity of the ecosystem and can have significant effect as the world faces a rapidly changing and volatile climate. The book explores the introduction of sustainable agroecosystems that promote biodiversity, sustain soil health, and enhance food production as ways to help mitigate some of these adverse effects. New agroecosystems will help define a resilient system that can potentially absorb some of the extreme shifts in climate. Changing the existing cropping system paradigm to utilize natural system attributes by promoting biodiversity within production agricultural systems, such as the integration of polycultures, will also enhance ecological resiliency and will likely increase carbon sequestration.
Explores climate, environmental, and human effects on agroecosystems and how existing paradigms must be revised to establish sustainable production
About the Author
Mahdi Al-Kaisi is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Agronomy, at Iowa State University. He has over 30 years of research and outreach expertise in the area of soil carbon dynamics and the interaction of climate and agriculture production systems. His research focuses on the effects of crops and tillage systems, crop residue, cover crops, and nitrogen application on soil carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions, and ecosystem services. As a result of his research, he developed many management tools such as soil carbon index for soils in Iowa, erosion and residue calculators. Dr. Al-Kaisi is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of America, and Soil and Water Conservation Society. Birl Lowery is an Emeritus Professor of Soil Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). He held positions ranging from Assistant Professor to Professor from 1980 to 2014 at UW-Madison, and Senior Associate Dean in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences from 2010 to 2013. In 1973 he obtained a B.S. degree in Agricultural Education from Alcorn University, an M.A. degree in Agricultural Engineering in 1975 from Mississippi State University, and Ph.D. in Soil Physics in 1980 from Oregon State University. His area of research was applied soil physics, which included research on soil temperature and water regimes, erosion, compaction, contaminant flow in soil, and groundwater quality. He and his students and colleagues published their research findings extensively in a wide range of journals, proceedings, popular press, and book chapters. He has served as Associate Editor for numerous journals over his career.
Book Information
ISBN 9780128053171
Author Mahdi M. Al-Kaisi
Format Paperback
Page Count 418
Imprint Academic Press Inc
Publisher Elsevier Science Publishing Co Inc
Weight(grams) 450g
Explores climate, environmental, and human effects on agroecosystems and how existing paradigms must be revised to establish sustainable production
About the Author
Mahdi Al-Kaisi is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Agronomy, at Iowa State University. He has over 30 years of research and outreach expertise in the area of soil carbon dynamics and the interaction of climate and agriculture production systems. His research focuses on the effects of crops and tillage systems, crop residue, cover crops, and nitrogen application on soil carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions, and ecosystem services. As a result of his research, he developed many management tools such as soil carbon index for soils in Iowa, erosion and residue calculators. Dr. Al-Kaisi is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of America, and Soil and Water Conservation Society. Birl Lowery is an Emeritus Professor of Soil Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). He held positions ranging from Assistant Professor to Professor from 1980 to 2014 at UW-Madison, and Senior Associate Dean in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences from 2010 to 2013. In 1973 he obtained a B.S. degree in Agricultural Education from Alcorn University, an M.A. degree in Agricultural Engineering in 1975 from Mississippi State University, and Ph.D. in Soil Physics in 1980 from Oregon State University. His area of research was applied soil physics, which included research on soil temperature and water regimes, erosion, compaction, contaminant flow in soil, and groundwater quality. He and his students and colleagues published their research findings extensively in a wide range of journals, proceedings, popular press, and book chapters. He has served as Associate Editor for numerous journals over his career.
Book Information
ISBN 9780128053171
Author Mahdi M. Al-Kaisi
Format Paperback
Page Count 418
Imprint Academic Press Inc
Publisher Elsevier Science Publishing Co Inc
Weight(grams) 450g
