Landscape Ecology in Agroecosystems Management

Successful management of agricultural landscapes depends on the recognition of the relationships between the processes and the structures that maintain the system. The rapidly growing science of Landscape Ecology quantifies the ways these ecosystems interact and establishes a link between the activities in one region and repercussions in another. Although science continuously yields new environmentally friendly agricultural technology, the sustainable development of a system will ultimately depend on a farmer''s ability to understand and utilize these advances. The results presented in this book highlight the options for controlling threats and present guidelines for the implementation of environmentally friendly landscape management.

Written by eminent scientists in landscape ecology research, Landscape Ecology in Agroecosystems Management provides a systematic evaluation of the basic ecological functions of the agricultural landscape. It presents a new approach to managing heat balance parameters and evaluates the effectiveness of models for assessing land use changes in rural areas. It also discusses the methods of evaluating matter cycling in agricultural landscapes with emphasis on the process leading to the diffuse pollution problems in ground and surface waters. It reports studies that show how semi-natural habitats maintained in the agricultural landscape constitute important refuge for many plants and animals and thereby enhances biological diversity in farmlands. Finally, it provides guidelines for management of agricultural landscapes for sustainable development of the countryside.

The integration of agriculture and the natural ecosystem in the landscape has recently become a "hot" topic. The review of the achievements in landscape ecology presented in this book clearly demonstrates that landscape ecology is just passing through the threshold between the recognition of various basic processes to being able to manage these processes to achieve