Abstract
Architectural and functional complexity of the ecosystem is the ecological mirror of the biological diversity of its species composition. Historically, modern agriculture solved acute and chronical problems of hunger, shortages and poverty by unraveling local ecosystems into simplified parallel ecosystems dominated by one crop species. These production sectors (e.g. potato, pigs, wood or fish) today are ecologically stressed and economically unbalanced. The present paper examines the main lines of the ecological architecture of new, durable, complex mixed agrosystems without sectorial discrimi-nation. It also outlines new ways to assess yields and usefulness to be expected from such systems. Web models with multiple inputs and sing-around interactions offer better prospects for this aim than classical yield tables or feed-back models.
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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Oldeman, R.A.A. (1994). Durable Ecocomplexity: Beyond the Threshold of a New Century. In: Struik, P.C., Vredenberg, W.J., Renkema, J.A., Parlevliet, J.E. (eds) Plant Production on the Threshold of a New Century. Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences, vol 61. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1158-4_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1158-4_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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