Three vignettes : setting the stage -- Constructivism and the evolution of agriculture -- Competition and facilitation among plants : intercropping, weeds, fire, and the plow -- Soils and the emergence of the industrial approach -- The biology of the soil and the emergence of an ecological vision -- The problem of pests--herbivory, disease ecology and biological control -- Biodiversity, imperialism, and agricultural landscapes -- Toward a sustainable future.
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Agroecology is the science of applying ecological concepts and principles to the design, development, and management of sustainable agricultural systems. The Ecology of Agroecosystems highlights a collection of alternative agricultural methodologies and philosophies and provides an interdisciplinary approach that bridges the sociopolitical and historical context of agriculture. It includes the technical issues in a serious and ecological fashion and captures the complex merging of ecology, agriculture, politics and economics in both a historical and contemporary context. Readers will learn not only about the ethical and moral elements related to producing food of questionable quality while possibly impairing the environment, but also about the soil chemistry involved.