Abstract
ECOPATH is an ecological modelling software developed for the analysis of aquatic ecosystems. Incorporating elements of ecosystem theory and more recent developments within network analysis of trophic interactions, it computes a series of system attributes. Such quantified properties can also be useful for evaluation of agroecosystems and for providing insights into their ecological performance, productivity and efficiency. This has been demonstrated for integrated agriculture-aquaculture systems at both the farm subsystem and whole-farm level. The paper summarizes the major findings in modelling and analysing agroecosystems using ECOPATH. It is anticipated that this type of approach and comparison of ecological properties across different natural resource management scenarios, and of various levels throughout the agroecological hierarchy, will help identify quantifiable indicators towards ecological sustainability in agricultural development.
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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Dalsgaard, J.P.T., Christensen, V. (1997). Flow modelling with ECOPATH: providing insights on the ecological state of agroecosystems. In: Teng, P.S., Kropff, M.J., ten Berge, H.F.M., Dent, J.B., Lansigan, F.P., van Laar, H.H. (eds) Applications of Systems Approaches at the Farm and Regional Levels Volume 1. Systems Approaches for Sustainable Agricultural Development, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5416-1_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5416-1_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6278-7
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