Toward Agroforestry Design: an Ecological Approach

Edited by Shibu Jose and Andrew Gordon

Springer, Advances in Agroforestry Series, Volume 4
2008, 314 pp., ISBN: 978-1-4020-6571-2, Hardcover

Publisher's List Price $219.00

Jose and Gordon's Toward Agroforestry Design is an important reference for anyone interested in exploring or managing the physiological and ecological processes which underlie resource allocation and plant growth in agroforestry systems.

Drawing together a wide range of examples from around the world, the book highlights how recent developments in agroforestry research can contribute to understanding agroforestry system function, and discusses the potential application of agroforestry in addressing a number of environmental and socioecomic issues.

With examples from a wide range of environments - from tropical moist to temperate and semi-arid - the book makes an important step in bringing together the diversity of existing research and starting to draw out common themes and principles which influence these very different systems.

The case studies are divided into sections which cover above-ground processes, below-ground processes, and methodological advances, each section providing an overview of how these studies can contribute to developing conceptual models or frameworks for exploring more specific agroforestry processes. The book concludes with a synthesis of the key questions and research gaps highlighted throughout the text, together with an overview of the potential for applying this kind of knowledge in developing successful agroforestry systems in the future.

Reviewers recommendations:

• The editors are well known in the Agroforestry scene.
• It will be an interesting volume for researchers and advanced students in these fields.
• The issues covered are interesting and give a good overview of the research currently going on in the field of Agroforestry.
• Jose and Gordon are both very good scientists - I have a high degree of confidence in them as editors and would trust that any book they edited would maintain high editorial standards.
• It certainly contains a lot of very interesting material and a diversity of scientific approaches.
• This book would appeal to those conducting research on agroforestry especially in North America.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part I. Understanding Agroforestry Systems: recent advances and future applications

1. Ecological interactions in agroforestry: advances in the last two decades
   Shibu Jose and Andrew Gordon

Part II. Resource Allocation in Agroforestry Systems: above-ground processes

1. Ecological Processes in Integrated Riparian Management Systems in North America
   Maren Oelbermann and Andrew M. Gordon
2. Ecological Function, Development and Design of Shelterbelt Systems in North America
   Carl Mize, James Brandle, Michele Schoeneberger, Gary Bentrup
3. Forage production under and adjacent to Robinia pseudoacacia in central Appalachia, West Virginia
   C.M. Feldhake, D.P. Belesky and E.L. Mathias
4. Competition for light between Pecan (Carya illinoensis K. Kock) and Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) in an alleycropping system in Northwest Florida, USA
   D.S. Zamora, S. Jose, P.K.R. Nair, J.W. Jones, B.J. Brecke and C.L. Ramsey
5. Biophysical interactions between shade trees and coffee in Central American agroforestry systems
   Philippe Vaast, Jean Dauzat and Nicolas Franck
6. Productivity and Resource Capture in Fruit-Based Agroforestry Systems of Highland Guatemala
   J. G. Bellow and P.K.R. Nair
7. Light intensity effects on growth and nutrient use efficiency of tropical legume cover crops
   V. C. Baligar, , N. K. Fageria, A. Paiva, A, Silveira, J. O. de Souza Jr, E. Lucena, J. C. Faria, R. Cabral, A.W. V. Pomella, and J. Jorda Jr
8. Modification of Microclimate in an Alleycropping System in Northern Sudan
   Haider Shapo and Hussein Adam

Part III. Resource Allocation in Agroforestry Systems: below-ground processes

1. Productivity and competition vector changes over two decades in a temperate alleycropping system
   Guntram R. von Kiparski and Andy R. Gillespie
2. Root Competition for Phosphorus between Coconut Palms and Interplanted Dicot Trees along a Soil Fertility Gradient
   H.S. Sanjeev Gowda and B. Mohan Kumar
3. Managing competition for water between crops and coppicing fallows under dry land conditions
   G. Nyamadzawo and P. Nyamugafata
4. Tree foliage polyphenols and nitrogen use in crop-livestock systems of southern Africa: Strategies for increasing efficiency
   P.L. Mafongoya and L. Hove

Part IV. Towards Better Understanding: analytical and modeling tools for agroforestry

1. An Ecological Approach to the Study, Development and Implementation of North American Agroforestry Systems
   J. P. (Hamish) Kimmins and Clide Whelam
2. Measurements and Simulation of Light Availability Related to Growth of Coffee Plants in Agroforestry System with Rubber and Pejibaye Trees
   Ciro A. Righi; Aureny M.P. Lunz; Marcos S. Bernardes; Jos L. Favarin
3. Modeling green manure additions in alley cropping systems: linking soil community dynamics and nitrogen mineralization
   Yolima Carrillo and Carl Jordan
4. Separating the tree-soil-crop interactions in agroforestry parkland systems in Sapon (Burkina Faso) using WaNuLCAS
   Jules Bayala and Sibiri Jean Ouedraogo

Part V. Applying Ecological Knowledge to Agroforestry Design

1. Ecological interactions: where do we go from here?
   Shibu Jose and Andrew Gordon