Title
Key ecosystem services and ecological intensification of agriculture in the tropical high-Andean Puna as affected by land-use and climate changes
Date Issued
02 January 2017
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
Elsevier B.V.
Abstract
High-altitude ecosystems shelter important reserves of biodiversity, water provision and soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. Climate change, agricultural encroachment, overgrazing, and mining activities are endangering ecosystems sustainability, particularly in the high-Andean Puna. Increasing food demands in a region with limited agricultural land calls for agricultural intensification. Ecological intensification of agriculture is a framework for increasing agricultural productivity by fostering supporting and regulating ecosystem services (ES) while reducing negative environmental impacts. In this review we examine how agriculture use and disturb the provision of key ES in this ecoregion – food, wool and fiber provision, soil fertility, nutrient cycling, soil carbon sequestration, water provision and regulation, genetic resources, pest and disease control, pollination regulation and microclimate regulation. We also propose a set of technologies, practices and policies to preserve (or restore) the provision of these key ES: long fallowing, soil amendments, conservation tillage, rotational grazing, grassland ecological restoration, conservation of agrobiodiversity, modern irrigation and water harvesting, plant breeding, climate change mitigation schemes and payment for ecosystem services, and adapted traditional technologies.
Start page
221
End page
233
Volume
236
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias del medio ambiente Agricultura Ecología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85003956500
Source
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
ISSN of the container
01678809
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus