Description: Agro-Ecosystem Diversity: Impact on Food Security and Environmental Quality presents cutting-edge exploration of developing novel farming systems and introduces landscape ecology to agronomy. It encompasses the broad range of links between agricultural development and ecological impact and how to limit the potential negative results. Presented in seven sections, each focusing on a specific challenge to sustaining diversity, the book provides insights toward the argument that by re-introducing diversity, it should be possible to maintain a high level of productivity of agro-ecosystems while also maintaining and/or restoring a satisfactory level of environment quality and biodiversity.
Brief description: Dr Gilles LEMAIRE has had a 40 year research career at INRA Center in Lusignan devoted to ecophysiology of grasslands and forage crops, grazing ecology and plant-herbivore interactions. He directed the Research Unit "Forage and Grassland Ecophysiology" at INRA Lusignan (1986-1992). He was deputy director of Department Environment & Agronomy of INRA (1993-2002). He retired from INRA in 2009. He had a position of visiting professor at University of Porto-Alegre (Brazil) in 2011-2012. He has been elected as member of Academy of Agriculture of France in 2011.