Integrating Agriculture, Conservation and Ecotourism: Examples from the Field pdf

Integrating Agriculture, Conservation
and Ecotourism: Examples from the Field
Issues in Agroecology – Present Status
and Future Prospectus
Volume 1
Series Editors
W. Bruce Campbell and Silvia López Ortíz
For other titles published in this series, go to
/>W. Bruce Campbell • Silvia López Ortíz
Editors
Integrating Agriculture,
Conservation and Ecotourism:
Examples from the Field
ISSN 2211-2405 e-ISSN 2211-2413
ISBN 978-94-007-1308-6 e-ISBN 978-94-007-1309-3
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-1309-3
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York
Library of Congress Control Number: 2011930868
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011
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Editors
W. Bruce Campbell
Cardno ENTRIX
701 University Avenue
Suite 200

Sacramento, California
95825 USA

Silvia López Ortíz
Colegio de Postgraduados
Campus Veracruz
Km. 86.5 Carretera Federal Xalapa- Veracruz
via Paso de Ovejas
entre Paso San Juan y Puente Jula
Tepetates, Veracruz, Mexico
C.P. 91690

and
Colegio de Postgraduados
Campus Veracruz
Apartado Postal 421
Veracruz, Mexico, C.P. 91700
v
Foreword
Finding Ways Forward, Together…
Agroecology encompasses not only aspects of ecology and agriculture, but the
ecology of sustainable food production systems, including the technology and
related societal and cultural values (e.g. Gliessman 1998; Altieri and Hecht 1990;
Altieri 1989, 1987, 1983) to better promote healthy and functional environments for
a sustainable quality of life (see also Castillo et al. 2005). To provide effective com-
munication regarding the status and advances in this burgeoning field, connections
must be established with many disciplines including (but not limited to) ecology,
agriculture, sociology, anthropology, environmental sciences, ethics, rural develop-
ment, policy and management, and economics, to provide integrated points of view
that will help lead to a more sustainable construction of values than conventional

commercial economics alone. Such designs are inherently complex and dynamic,
and go beyond the individual farm to include landscapes, communities, and biogeo-
graphic regions by emphasizing their unique agricultural and ecological values, and
their biological, societal, and cultural components and processes. This multifaceted
perspective provides immense insight on dealing with systems level issues and
contributing to the development of sustainable societies.
The concept of agroecology is not new; early agrarian and small-scale agroforestry-
oriented populations knew what plant and animal species would coexist well and have
sufficient yields in given local environments. However, as societies grew, they became
spatially larger and more fixed in space and time; no longer migrating or moving, and
requiring increasingly greater resource inputs to survive. As such, many (if not most)
traditional and local-scale farming practices succumbed to the pressures of societal
advances by occupying more space, intensively using more resources and existing
spaces, and becoming more monoculturally and commercially oriented. Such prac-
tices were promoted because they not only continued to supply the dietary needs of a
growing population, but they also were seen as unlocking the hidden potential in
nature for greater food production and economic growth; often focusing on the evolv-
ing power of technological advances to help do so. Indeed, improvements in food
vi Foreword
storage and food delivery systems permitted agricultural products to be available for
longer periods of time and for international distribution and trade. No longer present
were the natural, diverse, and coevolved local ecological systems. Landscapes became
more homogeneous and intensively managed with tremendous energy inputs to sat-
isfy growing market demands, even for species not suited to the area. Left in place to
operate continuously, the earlier low-level and chronic impacts to ecosystems have
now become acute, and the more familiar means of managing or ameliorating such
problems no longer function effectively. These legacies of accumulating impacts, in
concert with those from modern society, have led us to the realization that our current
systems are not sustainable in their present form; many strong changes and fresh per-
spectives are needed.

During the early 1900s, a union between agronomy and ecology was, in fact,
promoted (Gliessman 1998; Klages 1928), and scientists explored the local
(e.g. soil) and regional (e.g. climate) environmental conditions promoting crop
adaptations. After World War II, however, the resultant economic and population
surges caused a rift to develop between ecologists (who experimented in natural
systems) and agronomists (who worked in cultivated agricultural systems). It wasn’t
until the 1970s that either group began to officially recognize the value of and work
in the other, such that the academic and scientific literature began to incorporate the
term agroecology and the concept of agroecosystem with increasing frequency. Key
among these was the work of Mexican ethnobotanist Efraim Hernández Xolocotzi
who researched indigenous cultivation systems (Hernández Xolocotzi 1977), and
recognized that as socioeconomic forces became more influential on food produc-
tion systems, ecological connections within these systems would decline. Although
we cannot eliminate commercial production because of societal needs, Gliessman
(1998) suggested that as the similarity in structure and function between agroeco-
systems and natural systems grew in their respective biogeographic regions, so did
the capacity for sustainability. Is it possible then, to create a more sustainable, secure
and equitable future for food production by recovering knowledge from centuries of
traditional agricultural practices and modifying it based on what we know of natural
systems so that it can be blended with the development of new technologies and
societal needs? Within the pages of this and succeeding volumes of Issues in
Agroecology exist numerous and diverse examples of how various solutions have
been found, how diverse conditions affect possible outcomes, and how some condi-
tions can be changed to improve progress toward sustainable objectives. Within
each contribution is the constant presence of scale; whether temporal, geographic,
social or economic in scope, as this factor is one of the most difficult to engender,
implement or manage, and may sometimes be unpredictable. Political and socio-
economic issues also are common and sometimes overriding sources of influence.
Issues In Agroecology – Present Status and Future Prospectus is the result of
7 years of planning, gestation, and countless, tireless hours of discussion with col-

leagues, students and rural peoples regarding local, regional and larger scale issues.
This review series was produced from the realization that since the 1980s there has
been tremendous growth in the agricultural and agroecological literature at all scales
of observation; growth that requires critical assessments and syntheses from the
vii
Foreword
point of view of sustainability. Quite simply, are our collective efforts, irrespective
of scale of analysis, region of application or topic of work, orienting us along paths
toward improved sustainability, or are we still suffering from obscured vision by
being ‘lost in the forest through the trees’? Such a multifaceted question not only
prompts a multidisciplinary approach in each invited review, but a multiscaled per-
spective in the assessment as well. Hence, the series approaches this question and
the corresponding complex panorama of interrelated and integrated topics by pre-
senting authoritative, comprehensive, and analytical reviews from leading scientists
in all areas of agroecology worldwide. Authors for each review represent a collab-
orative mix sufficient to provide strong summaries and scholarly advances, and to
identify inaccuracies, gaps, and needs to improve the foundations for discussion
leading to novel routes of research activity, application of management methodolo-
gies, and education and outreach programs. Each review represents a concise and
up-to-date synthesis of the rapidly growing quantity of scientific information in its
respective topic within the highly interdisciplinary field of agroecology.
The first four Volumes of the review series (published twice per year) are oriented
around particular themes that have arisen from growing interest in the literature,
sufficiently enough to promote their own cohesive syntheses:
Volume 1 – Integrating Agriculture, Conservation, and Ecotourism: Examples from
the Field
Volume 2 – Integrating Agriculture, Conservation, and Ecotourism: Societal
Influences
Volume 3 – Sustainable Food Production Includes Human and Environmental Health
Volume 4 – Propagation for Consumption and Ornamental Trade

Later volumes will contain more individualized review topics, including guest
edited volumes.
Given the interrelated and integrated nature of themes, issues and topics
underneath the rather broad umbrella of agroecology, certain broad thematic con-
siderations will always be fundamentally interwoven in reviews. In particular, the
value of sustainability and the environment, the concern over the future of the
world’s food supply, and that institutional and political factors are very often more
influential than technical ones with regard to dealing with sustainability issues.
Coupled with the informed assessments of the routes to realize future potential,
the review series is expected to be an essential part of the scientific method and a
necessity for researchers, teachers, students, and field professionals when dealing
with increasing global environmental and socioeconomic change. This format
will make Issues In Agroecology – Present Status and Future Prospectus a highly
citable review series that is guaranteed to enlighten researchers, technology users,
educators, students, and the general public on the status and advances in agroeco-
logical topics around the world.
November 30, 2010 Dr. W. Bruce Campbell
Dr. Silvia López Ortíz
CoEditors-In-Chief
viii Foreword
References
Altieri MA (1983) Agroecology. University of California Press, Berkeley
Altieri MA (1987) Agroecology: the scientific basis of alternative agriculture. Westview Press,
Boulder
Altieri MA (1989) Agroecology: a new research and development paradigm for world agriculture.
Agric Ecosyst Environ 27:37–46
Altieri MA, Hecht SB (eds.) (1990) Agroecology and small farm development. CRC Press,
Boca Raton
Castillo A, Torres A, Velásquez A, Bocco G (2005) The use of ecological science by rural produc-
ers: a case study in Mexico. Ecol Appl 15(2):745–756

Gliessman SR (1998) Agroecology: ecological processes in sustainable agriculture. Ann Arbor
Press, Chelsea
Hernández Xolocotzi E (ed.) (1977) Agroecosistemas de Mexico: contribuciones a la ensenanza,
investigacion, y divulgacion agricola. Colegio de Postgraduados, Chapingo
Klages KHW (1928) Crop ecology and ecological crop geography in the agronomic curriculum.
J Am Soc Agron 20:336–353
ix
Acknowledgements
The realization of this review series is a large step forward for agroecology as a
science, a movement, and a practice on an international scale, as well as for its sus-
tainable evolution. Yet, such endeavors require a great deal of continuous and tire-
less collaborative effort from a diverse array of people. Hence, we are indebted to
Dr. Maryse Walsh, Jacco Flipsen and Melanie van Overbeek of Springer Science
and Business Media B.V., Dordrecht, and to the many reviewers of the initial series
plans whose past and present commitment to the concept and publication of this
series is invaluable. We thank the members of the international editorial committee,
Dr. Alexander Wezel, Dr. Louise Jackson, Dr. Miguel A. Altieri, Dr. Ted Lefroy and
Dr. Juan J. Villalba, who have given of themselves tremendously to promote the
birth and continued production of this series.
November 30, 2010 Dr. W. Bruce Campbell
Dr. Silvia López Ortíz
CoEditors-in-Chief

xi
Contents
Agroecology – Interpretations, Approaches and Their Links to Nature
Conservation, Rural Development and Ecotourism 1
Alexander Wezel and Jean-Claude Jauneau
Organic Compost and Manufactured Fertilizers:
Economics and Ecology 27

David C. Weindorf, James P. Muir, and Cesáreo Landeros-Sánchez
Global Perspectives on Birds in Agricultural Landscapes 55
Ron J. Johnson, Julie A. Jedlicka, John E. Quinn, and James R. Brandle
A Review of Ecosystem Services, Farmer Livelihoods,
and Value Chains in Shade Coffee Agroecosystems 141
Shalene Jha, Christopher M. Bacon, Stacy M. Philpott, Robert A. Rice,
V. Ernesto Méndez, and Peter Läderach
Ecosystem Services from Smallholder Forestry and Agroforestry
in the Tropics 209
Travis Idol, Jeremy Haggar, and Linda Cox
Sustainable Development of an Agricultural Region – The Case
of the Allgäu, Southern Germany 271
Sabine Weizenegger and Alexander Wezel
Index 299

xiii
Contributors
Series Editors
Dr. W. Bruce Campbell is a Visiting Professor at Colegio de Postgraduados,
Campus Veracruz, Mexico, and a Senior Project Scientist with Cardno ENTRIX,
Sacramento, California, USA. He is an aquatic and terrestrial ecologist focusing on
the development of strategies to detect and interpret the changes in biological com-
munities, assemblages, and populations resulting from environmental impact, habi-
tat alteration, harvesting pressure, resource use, introductions of exotic species, and
conservation and restoration practices. Such work is essential for the development
and maintenance of functional foundations in ecological and agroecological research
and management, as well as in the development of sustainable resource initiatives.
To understand these changes and the foundations behind them, he also focuses on
identifying the components and processes that define various systems and how these
definitions change with observational scale. These objectives foster greater under-

standing of how to improve or help maintain natural productivity and ecological
function while also benefiting human society and promoting sustainable practices.
Email:
Dr. Silvia López Ortíz is an Associate Professor at Colegio de Postgraduados,
Campus Veracruz, Mexico. Her research focuses on plant-herbivore interactions,
how body condition of livestock influences the ability of the animals to detoxify plant
secondary compounds as well as affecting their ability to avoid those plants with
higher concentrations of toxins, and how management practices can best be applied
to reduce problems associated with consumption of toxic plants. She is involved in
researching how different grazing management schemes alter pasture plant commu-
nity structure, and how such changes translate to changes in ruminant dietary quality
and pasture health and stability. She is currently researching native forage trees that
can be used by farmers as a strategy to produce more and higher quality forage dur-
ing the dry season. She has identified as many as 30 species of native trees that could
be used as forage; in particular guacimo (Guazuma ulmifolia Lam.), which has shown
strong success in outreach studies with local farmers who are planting the tree to
create silvopastoral systems. Email:
xiv Contributors
Series Associate Editors
Dr. Alexander Wezel is an Associate Professor of Agroecology, and French
Coordinator of the European Master of Science Program in Agroecology in the
Department of Agroecosystems, Environment and Production at ISARA-Lyon,
France. He is an agroecologist and landscape ecologist working with various topics
related to land use and resource conservation in the tropics and subtropics. Over the
last few years his research has focused on analysing and defining agroecology as a
scientific discipline, as well as on research projects dealing with agroecosystem analy-
sis and management and on relating effects from agricultural practices with water
quality and biodiversity. He is actively engaged in work related to agroecology, land-
scape ecology, agroecosystems management, management of biodiversity, homegar-
dens, and traditional agriculture in the tropics and subtropics. Email:

Dr. Louise Jackson is Professor and Cooperative Extension Specialist in the
Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at the University of California, Davis,
California, USA. She holds the Orr Chair in Environmental Plant Science and is
co-chair of the DIVERSITAS network on agrobiodiversity. Her research is focused
on utilizing biodiversity to increase ecosystem services in intensive agricultural sys-
tems, ranging from the molecular to the ecosystem and landscape scales. She also is
active in developing participatory processes for public involvement in biodiversity
issues across agricultural landscapes, especially as relevant to climate change. She
is a frequent contributor to regional, national, and international organizations on
topics related to plant and soil ecology, agricultural sustainability, utilization of bio-
diversity, and land use change. Email:
Dr. Miguel A. Altieri is a Professor of Agroecology at the University of California,
Berkeley, California, USA, in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and
Management. He has served as a Scientific Advisor to the Latin American
Consortium on Agroecology and Development (CLADES) in Chile, an NGO net-
work promoting agroecology as a strategy for sustainable small farm development
in the region. He also served for 4 years as the General Coordinator for the United
Nations Development Program of Sustainable Agriculture Networking and
Extension which aims at capacity building in agroecology among NGOs and the
scaling-up of successful local sustainable agricultural initiatives in Africa, Latin
America and Asia. He was the chairman of the NGO committee of the Consultative
Group on International Agriculture Research whose mission was to ensure that the
research agenda of the 15 International Agricultural Research Centers benefited the
poor farmers. Currently, he is advisor to the FAO-GIAHS program (Globally
Ingenious Agricultural Heritage Systems), which is devoted to identifying and
dynamically conserving traditional farming systems in the developing world. He
also is the general coordinator of the Latin American Scientific Society of
Agroecology (www.agroeco.org/socla). His research focuses on the application of
agroecological principles for the design of biodiverse, resilient and durable agricul-
tural systems. Email:

xv
Contributors
Dr. Ted Lefroy is Director, Centre for Environment, at the University of Tasmania,
Hobart, Tasmania. He trained in agricultural science and spent 7 years working in
rural development and extension in Queensland and Papua New Guinea before
returning to southwestern Australia to work with watershed groups on a United
Nations Man and the Biosphere Project on integrated resource management and
conservation around the World Heritage Fitzgerald River National Park. He has
since held research positions with state Department’s of Agriculture, The University
of Western Australia and CSIRO involving leadership of interdisciplinary research
teams working with land managers to minimize the impacts of agriculture on natu-
ral resources and biodiversity. In 2005 he was appointed Professor of Environment
and Director of the Centre for Environment at the University of Tasmania.
Email:
Dr. Juan J. Villalba is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Wildland
Resources at Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA. His research focuses on
understanding the mechanisms that influence food selection and intake in herbi-
vores, with the aim of creating efficient alternatives to manage animals and their
environment. He also serves as Research Coordinator of the program BEHAVE
(www.behave.net), a worldwide network of scientists, producers, land managers,
and extension personnel committed to integrating behavioral principles and pro-
cesses with local knowledge to enhance ecological, economic, and social values of
rural and urban communities and landscapes. Email:
Authors for Volume 1
Dr. Jean-Claude Jauneau is a socio-economist at ISARA-Lyon, France. His work
focuses on evaluating rural development programs (LEADER programs, assess-
ment of services in mountain areas), working with agri-environmental policies
(at local, regional or national levels), with programs concerning the remuneration of
non-market functions in agriculture in Regional Nature Parks, and with the evalua-
tion of small dairy farm sustainability in France. He is actively engaged in work

dealing with agricultural economics, agricultural and rural policies, agri-
environmental measures, and assessment of rural development policies and
programs. Email:
Dr. David C. Weindorf is an Associate Professor of Soil Classification and Land
Use, and SPESS Graduate Advisor at the Louisiana State University Agricultural
Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. He is a Fulbright Scholar with active interna-
tional research collaborations with the Institute of Soil Sciences – Chinese Academy
of Sciences (Nanjing, China) and Universitatea de Ştiinţe Agricole şi Medicină
Veterinară (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). His research is focused on new technologies in
field soil surveys, land use/management, high resolution soil surveys, and interna-
tional systems of soil taxonomy. He is a frequent contributor to regional, national,
and international organizations on topics related to soil morphology/ classification/
xvi Contributors
genesis, natural resource management, and field soil survey technologies. He serves
as Editor of Soil Survey Horizons and is an active contributor to the National
Cooperative Soil Survey (USDA-NRCS). Email:
Dr. James P. Muir is a Professor in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at
Texas AgriLife Research (Agricultural Experiment Station), Texas A & M University
System, Stephenville, Texas, USA. He is actively involved in studying vegetative
strategies for soil phosphorus reduction and the subsequent reduced phosphorus
runoff from land receiving dairy manure, researching dairy composts in silage
rotations to improve phosphorus cycling in dairies, and performing field trials
to test annual and perennial grasses and legumes as manure-phosphorus sinks.
Email:
Dr. Cesáreo Landeros-Sánchez received his B.Sc. as an Agonomist Engineer spe-
cializing in irrigation in 1981 from the Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo, México,
his M.Sc. in Water Management in 1987 from the Agricultural University of
Wageningen, The Netherlands, and his Ph.D. in Water Management-Water Table
Fluctuation and Solute Redistribution from Cranfield University, Silsoe College,
UK. He is a Research Professor at Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus Veracruz

(Tropical Agroecosystems), Mexico, where his work focuses on sustainable water
management, water contamination, and soil and water conservation in tropical
crops. As well, he works on the agricultural management of sugar cane with regard
to irrigation and drainage, nitrogen fertilization, harvest residue utilization (trash),
and filter-cake compost application. Email:
Dr. Ron J. Johnson is a Professor of Wildlife Ecology and BioSustainability in the
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Clemson University, Clemson,
South Carolina, USA. Dr. Johnson has worked with birds in agricultural systems for
over 35 years, including bird damage management in agriculture and bird conserva-
tion and function in agroecosystems, especially the role of birds in the suppression
of insect pests. He has evaluated the wildlife habitat interface between cropland and
a variety of non-crop habitats including windbreaks, wooded and herbaceous ripar-
ian corridors and fencerows, grassland habitats, and wildlife in organic and non-
organic agricultural systems. Recently, he led the initiation of the development of
the Healthy Farm Index, assessment of interest and potential for wildlife-friendly
farm certification, and an evaluation of relationships among farm birds, climate, and
insect food resources. Email:
Dr. Julie A. Jedlicka is, at the time of this writing, a near-completion doctoral stu-
dent at the University of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA. She
has over 10 years of experience researching avian behavior and conservation within
forest and agricultural systems. Her ornithological research includes studying avian
microhabitat use in Costa Rican cloud forest, documenting foraging niche-shifts of
warblers in Mexican shade coffee farms, and conducting meta-analyses on the
effects of natural enemy biodiversity in suppressing arthropod herbivores. She is
interested in the roles birds play at reducing insect pest populations, including
research merging avian conservation with insect pest management in California
vineyards. Email:
xvii
Contributors
Dr. John E. Quinn is a post-doctoral researcher in the School of Natural Resources

at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. His research focuses on
birds in organic agroecosystems, particularly their breeding success and functional
roles. His broad research interests emphasize concerns within biodiversity and
conservation; in particular avian ecology, agroecology, restoration of working
landscapes, and the role of birds as a medium for environmental awareness and
education. Email:
Dr. James R. Brandle is a Professor of Agroforestry, Applied Ecology, and
Shelterbelt Ecology in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska,
Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. Over the past 30 years his research has focused on the
influence of shelterbelts on crop production with particular interest in the mechanics
of wind movement in shelter, the microclimate created in shelter, the resulting yield
benefits and the economics associated with shelterbelt performance. As part of these
efforts he has evaluated various sustainable agriculture practices including conver-
sion issues related to organic production. Current projects are related to vegetation
diversity and the resulting biodiversity associated with predator-prey relationships
and control of crop pests, feeding behavior of bird species, and management options
for optimizing lady beetle foraging in alfalfa. Email:
Dr. Shalene Jha is a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of
California, Berkeley, California, USA, and her primary research interest is to under-
stand how local and regional agroecological landscapes influence plant and pollina-
tor communities, their gene flow processes, and their ability to provide ecosystem
services. Broadly, this research program covers topics in landscape genetics, polli-
nation ecology, native bee community ecology, and foraging ecology. By integrat-
ing ecological research with molecular evolution analyses and GIS tools, her
research aims to reveal how best to manage landscapes in order to support robust
native pollinator and seed-disperser communities, conserve key dispersal processes
for native plants, and provide valuable ecosystem services to agricultural communi-
ties. Email:
Dr. Christopher M. Bacon is a political ecologist, and at the time this volume was
written, was a S.V. Ciriacy-Wantrup Fellow in the Department of Geography at the

University of California, Berkeley, California, USA. Currently, he is an Assistant
Professor in the Environmental Policy Institute at Santa Clara University, California,
USA. He has conducted participatory action research in Mesoamerica for more than
a decade, taught university courses, consulted, and contributed to developing a
campus-wide hands-on sustainability curriculum. His work focuses on the role of
smallholder cooperatives and alternative agri-food networks in enabling more sus-
tainable livelihoods and reducing hunger. Email:
Dr. Stacy M. Philpott is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental
Sciences, at the University of Toledo, Ohio, USA. She received her Ph.D. in Ecology
from the University of Michigan and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the
Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. Her research interests include community
ecology, ecosystem services, and linkages between agroecology and conservation.
xviii Contributors
Her research focuses on coffee agroecosystems and she has experience working in
such areas and surrounding landscapes in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Indonesia. She
has a background in theoretical ecology and human rights and dedicates her efforts
towards putting ecological knowledge into practice to improve farmer livelihoods
while conserving biodiversity. She currently works on understanding how coffee
agroecosystems and urban gardens contribute to biodiversity conservation. Email:

Dr. Robert A. Rice is a geographer at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center
(SMBC), Washington, DC, USA, conducting research and addressing policy issues
related to migratory bird habitat and conservation. His research interests focus upon
the intersection between agricultural activities and the natural environment, as well
as the socioeconomic benefits derived from diverse agroforestry systems. He cur-
rently is looking at soil carbon in agroforestry systems with different shade manage-
ment regimes. Email:
Dr. V. Ernesto Méndez is an Assistant Professor of Agroecology and Environmental
Studies in the Environmental Program and the Department of Plant and Soil Science
at the University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA. His work analyzes inter-

actions between agroecology, rural livelihoods, and environmental conservation in
agricultural landscapes and agro-food systems. He also is interested in applying and
critically evaluating participatory action research (PAR) approaches. A native of El
Salvador, he holds a B.S. in Crop Science from California Polytechnic State
University, an M.S. in Tropical Agroforestry from the Tropical Research and
Education Center in Costa Rica, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from the
University of California at Santa Cruz. Email:
Dr. Peter Läderach is the Central America Leader of the Decision and Policy
Analysis Program (DAPA) of the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture
(CIAT). He has 10 years of experience in the development and implementation of
spatial analyses and supply chain tools for coffee and cocoa, including analyses of
the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector in Central America and the
Caribbean. Email:
Dr. Travis Idol is an Associate Professor of Tropical Forestry and Agroforestry at
the University of Hawaii-Manoa, Hawaii, USA. He was trained in forest soils and
biogeochemistry at Purdue University. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher in
mycorrhizal ecology at the University of California, Davis. His research interests
include studying the productivity, silviculture, and biogeochemistry of restored
native forests in Hawaii, evaluation of coffee agroforestry systems, and the design
of agroforestry systems with native plants as a means for restoring degraded and
alien-dominated forests. Email:
Dr. Jeremy Haggar is Leader of the Tree Crops in the Agroforestry Program at the
Tropical Agricultural Centre for Research and Higher Education (CATIE). He was
trained in tropical agroecology at the University of Cambridge. He worked as a
postdoctoral researcher for the University of Florida studying the sustainability of
xix
Contributors
tropical agroecosystems, and as Forestry Coordinator for the Organization for
Tropical Studies, both based at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. Subsequently
he worked for the World Agroforestry Centre, ICRAF in Mexico studying agrofor-

estry as an alternative to slash and burn agriculture on the Yucatan Peninsula.
Currently, he is based in Managua, Nicaragua, where he coordinates regional proj-
ects to reinforce the production and business capacity of producer organizations in
Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to produce and sell sustainable and quality
coffees. He is working on the evaluation of the environmental services that coffee
production can provide and how those services may be compensated by socially and
environmentally responsible markets. He is developing and validating processes to
facilitate adaptation to climate change for coffee producing families and actors in
the value chain. Email:
Dr. Linda J. Cox is a Community Economic Development Specialist in the
Department of Natural Resource and Environmental Management at the University
of Hawaii-Manoa, Hawaii, USA. Her areas of expertise include entrepreneurship,
sustainable natural resource management, sustainable development, business man-
agement, and human resource development on domestic and international scales.
Email:
Dr. Sabine Weizenegger is a regional manager for the LEADER-Program in the
Allgäu in Germany. She has worked on actor-oriented management of protected
areas in sub-Saharan Africa at the University of Munich, on projects dealing with
tourism and sustainable development in Benin, and with European cultural land-
scapes and the economic effects to protected areas. She works on introducing meth-
ods of regional development and LEADER to non-European countries on a free-lance
basis. Her work involves geography, tourism and sustainable development, protected
areas, rural development, regional development, cultural landscapes, and developing
countries. Email:

1
W.B. Campbell and S. López Ortíz (eds.), Integrating Agriculture, Conservation
and Ecotourism: Examples from the Field, Issues in Agroecology – Present Status
and Future Prospectus 1, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-1309-3_1,
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Abstract Different interpretations and definitions of agroecology are currently
used world-wide. They vary from agroecology as a practice, agroecology as a move-
ment, and varying approaches to agroecology as a scientific discipline, which are
the plot/field, the agroecosystem, and the food system approach. The evolution of
the interpretations and definitions are often closely linked to differences in the
historical development of agroecology in different countries and regions of the
world. More and more topics have become related to agroecology in recent years.
In the second part of this review, we analyse and discuss the integration and linking
of rural development, nature conservation and ecotourism, both within and to the
framework of agroecology.
1 Introduction
In recent years, agroecology has increasingly become a topic of global interest and
concern. This rise in popularity is due to the need to respond to the diverse chal-
lenges facing agriculture such as sustainable production, food security, climate
change, conservation of biodiversity in agroecosystems, and rural development.
These challenges involve global and systems aspects and cannot be attacked using
A. Wezel (
*
)
Department of Agroecosystems, Environment and Production, ISARA Lyon,
23, rue Jean Baldassini, 69364 Lyon cedex 07, France
e-mail:
J C. Jauneau
Department of Social Science and Management, ISARA Lyon,
23, rue Jean Baldassini, 69364 Lyon cedex 07, France
e-mail:
Agroecology – Interpretations, Approaches
and Their Links to Nature Conservation,
Rural Development and Ecotourism
Alexander Wezel and Jean-Claude Jauneau

2 A. Wezel and J C. Jauneau
only disciplinary approaches. Hence, agroecology as a scientific discipline might be
particularly suited, because interdisciplinary and systems approaches are major
foundations of many present agroecology interpretations. However, to understand
the issue better, we must start from the beginning; the origins of agroecology. Since
the first use of the term ‘agroecology’ in the early twentieth century, its meanings,
definitions, interpretations and approaches have changed enormously up to the
present. Thus, this review will summarise the evolution of the topic starting with an
historical overview of agroecology as a scientific discipline and the actual defini-
tions and approaches used. The review will then present different utilisations of the
term agroecology as a science, a movement, and a practice. As well, our synthesis
will analyse and discuss the integration and linking of rural development, nature
conservation and ecotourism, both within and to the framework of agroecology.
2 Historical Overview of Agroecology
2.1 Initial Phase: 1930s–1960s
The history of agroecology began with Bensin (1928), who first used the term agro-
ecology. According to López i Gelats (2004), it was Bensin who traced the term
agroecology to 1928 from the Czechoslovak Botanical Society. Bensin (1930) sug-
gested the term agroecology to describe the use of ecological methods on commer-
cial crop plants. Agroecology would hence be preliminarily defined as the application
of ecology in agriculture. Some years later, Bensin (1938) dealt with agroecology as
a basic science of agriculture.
In the 1950s, several articles were written by the German ecologist/zoologist
Tischler (e.g. Tischler 1950). In these papers, he presented the results of his agroeco-
logical research, in particular on pest management, and discussed unsolved problems
concerning soil biology, insect biocoenosis interactions and plant protection in agri-
cultural landscapes, including non-cultivated ecosystems such as hedgerows. His
book, published in 1965, was probably the first to be entitled ‘Agroecology’ (Tischler
1965). He analysed different agroecological components (plants, animals, soils and
climate) and their interactions within an agroecosystem as well as the impact of

human agricultural management on these components. This approach combined
ecology (interactions among biological components at the field level, or agroecosys-
tem) and agronomy (integration of agricultural management). Further publications in
the 1950s and 1960s dealt with pest management and zoology (e.g. Heydemann
1953) or field crops (Vavilov 1957).
Between the 1930s and 1960s other works on agroecology were published. The
first book was published by the German zoologist Friederichs (1930) on agricul-
tural zoology and related ecological/environmental factors for plant protection.
This book also presented different pest management strategies, including biological
control and the role of natural ecosystems for pest management, and evaluated the
3
Agroecology – Interpretations, Approaches and Their Links to Nature Conservation
economic impact of pest damage. His approach was very similar to that of Tischler.
A second important book was published by the American agronomist Klages
(1942) in which he dealt with the distribution of crop plants on a physiological
basis. He also analysed the ecological, technological, socio-economic and historical
factors influencing their production. In addition, Klages (1928) is one of the first
papers dealing with agroecology, but without using the term explicitly.
At the end of the 1960s, the French agronomist Hénin (1967) defined agronomy
as being ‘an ecology applied to plant production and agricultural land management’ –
which is very close to Bensin’s definition – without actually using the word
agroecology. Something similar can be stated for the Italian author Azzi (1956),
who defined agricultural ecology as the study of the physical characteristics of envi-
ronment, climate and soil, in relation to the development of agricultural plants. The
foundations of his work were already laid 30 years earlier (Azzi 1928). More details
about the first phase of the history of agroecology as well as the roots of agroecol-
ogy before the year 1928 can be found in Wezel and Soldat (2009). This first phase
in the history of agroecology concerned only agroecology as a science (Fig. 1).
Later interpretations of agroecology were enlarged to gradually include interpreta-
tions of agroecology as a movement and as a practice. More details about this evolu-

tion will be presented after the historical overview.
2.2 Expansion of Agroecology as a Science: 1970s–1980s
As for the starting phase, very few publications can be found during the 1970s which
used the term agroecology (Fig. 2). Since the 1980s, this quantity changed signifi-
cantly with an increasing publication rate up to the present. During the 1980s, many
publications dealt with agroecological zones or zoning (e.g. Henricksen 1986), or
agricultural production related to different crops or to livestock (e.g. Moss 1980). At
the end of the 1980s, sustainability and sustainable development became topics
within agroecology (e.g. Altieri 1989; Dover and Talbot 1987) as well as alternative
agriculture (Altieri 1987).
1930
1 970
Science PracticeMovement
Science
Fig. 1 Major interpretations
of agroecology from a
historical perspective
4 A. Wezel and J C. Jauneau
Since the beginning of the 1980s, agroecology has emerged as a distinct methodology
and conceptual framework for the study of agroecosystems (e.g. Puia and Soran 1984).
Agroecology at that time was defined as the global study of agroecosystems protecting
natural resources, with a view to design and manage sustainable agroecosystems
(Altieri 1989). The key concept of agroecosystem emerged in the 1970s. The term
was formerly suggested by the ecologist Odum (1969, quoted in Altieri 1995), who
considered agroecosystems as ‘domesticated ecosystems’, intermediate between
natural and fabricated ecosystems. Another new orientation in agroecology at the
time was research into traditional farming systems and agroecosystems in tropical
and subtropical developing countries (e.g. Arrignon 1987; Conway 1987; Altieri
et al. 1983). Cox and Atkins (1979) was another important agroecology publication
in the 1970s and 1980s. They provided a very broad overview and in-depth analyses

of different factors and dynamics in agroecosystems, but also raised political, eco-
nomic and energy-related questions regarding agricultural systems in developing
and developed countries.
2.3 Institutionalisation and Consolidation of Agroecology: 1990s
During the 1990s, agroecological research expanded and consolidated, and several
important textbooks were published (e.g. Gliessman 1997, 1990; Altieri 1995;
Carroll et al. 1990). During this period, the number of publications dealing with
agroecological zones, characterization, zoning or land-use classification, as well as
with sustainability and sustainable agriculture increased enormously (e.g. Thomas
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
1930−
1939
1940−
1949
1950–
1959
1960–
1969
1970–
1979
1980–
1984

1885–
1989
1990–
1994
1995–
1999
2000–
2004
2005–
2009
Average number of publications per year
Fig. 2 Average number of publications using the word agroecology or agroecological in the title
or in the author keywords for different periods from 1930 to 2009 (Note: 10-year periods from
1930 to 1979, afterwards 5-year periods)