Questions : While globalisation favours intensive yield-maximizing agriculture with cropping practices that entail agrobiodiversity loss, extensive production systems still exist in areas of marginal lands such as mountainous regions or islands. It is overdue to study systems, their sustainability and ecology potential models for decentralized environmentally balanced land-use. For purpose, we ...

Since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the use of fossil fuel and the clearing of land have led to a dramatic rise in the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. This increase has significant implications for green plants because CO2 is the prime input to photosynthesis. Leaves are the first point of contact for the majority of carbon transfer from atmosphere to biospher...

Agroforestry can increase the sequestration of carbon (C) in soils of tropical agroecosystems through increased litter and tree pruning inputs. Decomposition of these inputs is a key process in the formation of soil organic matter and in nutrient cycling. Our objectives were to study decay of tree pruning mulch and effects on soil C and N in a shaded coffee agroecosystem in Hawaii. Chipped tree...

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agroecosystems, particularly nitrous oxide (N2O), are an increasing concern. To quantify N2O emissions from agroecosystems, which occur as a result of nitrogen (N) cycling, a new physically-based routine was developed for the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to predict N2O flux during denitrification and an existing nitrification routine was modifi...

Soil fungi are a critical component of agroecosystems and provide ecological services that impact the production of food and bioproducts. Effective management of fungal resources is essential to optimize the productivity and sustainability of agricultural ecosystems. In this review, we (i) highlight the functional groups of fungi that play key roles in agricultural ecosystems, (ii) examine the ...

Owing to complex direct and indirect effects, impacts of higher trophic levels on plants is poorly understood. In tropical agroecosystems, ants interact with crop mutualists and antagonists, but little is known about how this integrates into the final ecosystem service, crop yield. We combined ant exclusion and introduction of invasive and native-dominant species in cacao agroecosystems to test...