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Sustainable Management of Agro-Biodiversity for Agricultural Production and Climate Mitigation

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 April 2023) | Viewed by 5997

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Rahul Datta

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Guest Editor

Department of Agrochemistry, Soil Science, Microbiology and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic
Interests: soil fauna microbial interaction; soil enzymes; soil nutrient cycling; soil remediation; sustainable agriculture; organo-mineral interactions; carbon sequestration in soil; biochar
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Dr. Deepranjan Sarkar

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Guest Editor

Integral Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, Integral University, Lucknow 226026, Uttar Pradesh, India
Interests: soil fertility; plant nutrition; nutrient use efficiency; plant–microbe interactions; carbon sequestration

Dr. Sachidanand Singh

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Guest Editor

Department of Biotechnology (Bioinformatics), Vignan's Foundation for Science, Technology & Research, Guntur Andhra Pradesh 522213, India
Interests: agri-informatics; soil metagenomics; sequencing technology; climate change modelling; systems biology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Despite warnings from experts and governments, we are still witnessing mass extinction events in agroecosystems. The overexploitation of existing natural resources (soil, water, and air) is jeopardizing the whole system; as a result, there is a downturn of agro-biodiversity leading to unproductive lands, groundwater pollution, and air pollution. It is also contributing to climate change and global warming issues (floods, droughts, heatwaves, cyclones, etc.). Present agricultural lands have reached a stage where most soils are infertile (i.e., they produce nothing in the absence of inputs). Ever-growing population and food demand place a huge burden on soils to produce more food. The non-judicious management of nutrient fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, weedicides, and other chemicals is affecting the overall floral and faunal diversity in agroecosystems on a long-term scale. Jeopardizing the environment affects the agriculture sector at greater levels by destroying the natural capital and economy.

Biodiversity is a regulator of agroecosystem functions that largely satisfies the diverse needs of farmers and society. Thus, reducing biodiversity loss and improving the essential ecosystem services provided by biodiversity are key to sustainable agricultural production. This can be achieved through feasible and impactful farming practices which follow ecosystem-based approaches or natural-based solutions. The management and conservation of biodiversity include the consideration of life both above-ground (crops, trees, insects, birds) and below-ground (soil organisms). Participatory approaches such as agronomic practices (crop selection, geometry, and rotation), crop improvement (breeding, genetic resources), soil management (amendments, fertilizers), pest management (insecticides, pesticides), etc. can increase the interactions of species within agroecosystems if our conservation efforts are well organized. Additionally, pest attacks on crops may increase under changing climate. Therefore, framing suitable policies of biodiversity conservation under climate crisis to improve agrobiodiversity hotspots will ensure food and livelihood security.

This Special Issue welcomes contributions from researchers around the world working on sustainable crop production in consideration of environmental (soil, water, and air) issues, including soil restoration, climate mitigation techniques, use of climate-resistant crop varieties, pest management, healthy crop production through balanced nutrient management, high-carbon biomass crops, management of soil nutrients and their interactions with crops and environment, and the techniques involved in pollution control.

Dr. Rahul Datta
Dr. Deepranjan Sarkar
Dr. Sachidanand Singh
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

ecosystem services
environmental risk assessment
biodiversity
sustainable production
ecosystem restoration
conservation practices
carbon sequestration
species‐ and community‐level responses
agroforestry

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 18594 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Role of High Nature Value Farmland for Landscape and Soil Pollution Assessment in a Coastal Delta in China Based on High-Resolution Indicators

by Yingqiang Song, Zeao Zhang, Yan Li, Runyan Zou, Lu Wang, Hao Yang and Yueming Hu

Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6728; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086728 - 16 Apr 2023

Viewed by 1272

Abstract

High nature value farmland (HNVf) plays an important role in improving biodiversity and landscape heterogeneity, and it is effective in curbing soil non-point source pollution and carbon loss in sustainable eco-agricultural systems. To this end, we developed high-resolution (2 m × 2 m) indicators for the identification of potential HNVf based on GF1B remote sensing imaging, including the land cover (LC), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), Shannon diversity (SH), and Simpsons index (SI). The statistical results for LC with high resolution (2 m × 2 m) showed that there was 41.05% of intensive farmland in the study area, and the pixel proportion of the HNVf map (above G3) was 44.30%. These HNVf patches were concentrated in the transition zone around the edge of the intensive farmland and around rivers, with characteristics of HNVf type 2 being significantly reflected. Among the real-life areas from Map World, elements (i.e., linear forests, rivers, and semi-natural vegetation etc.) of HNVf accounted for more than 70% of these regions, while a field survey based on potential HNVf patches also exhibited significant HNVf characteristics in comparison with intensive farmlands. In addition, from 2002 to 2020, the total migration distance of the gravity center of intensive farmland in the study area was 7.65 km. Moreover, four landscape indices (patch COH index, landscape division index, SH, and SI) slowly increased, indicating that the species richness and biodiversity were improved. It was also found that a series of ecological protection policies provide effective guarantees for an improvement in species diversity and the development of HNVf in the study area. In particular, the average contents of As, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn in the HNVf were 20.99 mg kg⁻¹, 121.11 mg kg⁻¹, 21.97 mg kg⁻¹, 29.34 mg kg⁻¹, and 41.68 mg kg⁻¹, respectively, which were lower in comparison with the intensive farmland soil. This is the first HNVf exploration for landscape and soil pollution assessment in a coastal delta in China, and could provide powerful guidance for the ecological protection of farmland soil and the high-quality development of sustainable agriculture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management of Agro-Biodiversity for Agricultural Production and Climate Mitigation)

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25 pages, 588 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Main Agro-Ecological Structure: An Index for Evaluating Agro-Biodiversity in Agro-Ecosystems

by Ingrid Quintero, Yesica Xiomara Daza-Cruz and Tomás León-Sicard

Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 13738; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142113738 - 23 Oct 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2344

Abstract

The agro-biodiversity present in agro-ecosystems is fundamental in guaranteeing sustainability and resilience. However, there are very few approaches for evaluating it and, even less, ones that include indicators to analyze the influence of the structural and spatial configuration of a landscape in order to favor agro-biodiversity connectivity to productive systems. There are also no proposals that include management and conservation practices, and the producer (farmer)’s perceptions, awareness and ability to favor it on their farm. The Main Agro-ecological Structure (MAS) is a new proposed index to describe the agro-biodiversity of agro-ecosystems, including these topics and comprising 10 criteria and 29 indicators. Connection with the main ecological structure of the landscape (CMESL), extension of external connectors (EEC), diversity of external connectors (DEC), extension of internal connectors (EIC), diversity of internal connectors (DIC), land use (LU), management practices (PM), conservation practices (CP), perception, awareness and knowledge (PAK) and action capacity (AC) are the criteria that make up the index. Methodologies for its evaluation are also described, and a possibility of adapting certain indicators according to the ecological and cultural contexts where the farms are located is discussed. The possibility of relating agro-biodiversity, evaluated using the index, to other agro-system attributes or properties would allow for one to consider its importance in the multidimensional sustainability of farms, thought to be the greatest advantage for its application. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management of Agro-Biodiversity for Agricultural Production and Climate Mitigation)

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Other

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12 pages, 999 KiB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Carabid Beetles (Coleoptera) as Indicators of Sustainability in Agroecosystems: A Systematic Review

by Maria M. Makwela, Rob Slotow and Thinandavha C. Munyai

Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 3936; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15053936 - 21 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1564

Abstract

The sustainability of agroecosystems is at risk owing to continuous anthropogenic disturbance. As such, there is a need to evaluate indicator taxa that may be used to monitor the health of agricultural management systems. Carabid beetles are ubiquitous and functionally crucial in agroecosystems while at the same time are sensitive to the changes caused by management practices. Their quick response to anthropogenic disturbances has been proposed as a practical and realistic tool for monitoring the sustainability of agricultural practices. However, there is still disagreement about carabids as possible indicators of agroecosystem sustainability. We conducted a systematic review of the responses of carabid beetles to agricultural systems in different biogeographical areas. We examined whether these beetles could serve as potential indicators of agroecosystem sustainability. The ISI Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Scopus were used to search for papers published from 2000–2019. In total, we included 69 studies indicating the use of carabids to monitor the impact of management practices in agroecosystems. Most studies were conducted in European countries (n = 37), while Southern Africa and East Asia countries were significantly under-represented (n = 10). Carabid beetle response to agroecosystems varied between management practices, with biodiversity indices (n = 41: positive 60%, negative 19%, and neutral 19%) being the most measured response variable, followed by functional diversity (n = 28: positive 67%, negative 25%, and neutral 7%). Overall, our findings highlight the need for more research in underdeveloped countries, to investigate the potential of overlooked carabids and include response variables measuring functional diversity in assessing the sustainability of agricultural management. This will assist policy makers and land managers in making active and informed decisions about agroecological disturbances and management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management of Agro-Biodiversity for Agricultural Production and Climate Mitigation)

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