Multiple ecosystem services in smallholder agriculture
type: CreativeWork
description: Recent research into the ecological origins and social implications of ecosystem services, the benefits ecosystems provide to society, is predicated on the downward trends observed for many services. Current work increasingly emphasizes how interactions among ecosystem services (synergies and trade-offs) affect the delivery of multiple services, from soil fertility at field scales to watershed-scale hydrological function, to global climate regulation. Meanwhile, research on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning has identified substantive linkages between the biodiversity of ecosystems and the services they provide, provoking interest in aligning biodiversity conservation with the sustained delivery of ecosystem services. To better understand the delivery of multiple ecosystem services relevant to smallholder farmer livelihoods in the tropics, the production of wood and livestock forage and the structure and fertility of soils were examined in grazed and improved fallows in western Kenya. The objectives were to investigate fine-scale interactions among ecosystem services, and the potential of fallow plant diversity to enhance levels of multiple services simultaneously, i.e., ecosystem service multi-functionality. To examine influences of fallow vegetation and management on soil structure and fertility, the biomass and functional traits (green tissue N, lignins, polyphenols, lignins+polyphenols) of fallow plants and the condition of soils were quantified. Positive associations of tissue content of lignins+polyphenols with soil organic carbon (SOC) and steady infiltration rates indicated a role of recalcitrant carbon compounds in slowing SOC turnover and supporting soil structural development, while grazed fallows had lower infiltration than improved fallows, likely a result of livestock trampling and soil compaction. To investigate whether woody overstory plants and fallow management generate interactions between the production of wood and li…
abstract: Recent research into the ecological origins and social implications of ecosystem services, the benefits ecosystems provide to society, is predicated on the downward trends observed for many services. Current work increasingly emphasizes how interactions among ecosystem services (synergies and trade-offs) affect the delivery of multiple services, from soil fertility at field scales to watershed-scale hydrological function, to global climate regulation. Meanwhile, research on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning has identified substantive linkages between the biodiversity of ecosystems and the services they provide, provoking interest in aligning biodiversity conservation with the sustained delivery of ecosystem services. To better understand the delivery of multiple ecosystem services relevant to smallholder farmer livelihoods in the tropics, the production of wood and livestock forage and the structure and fertility of soils were examined in grazed and improved fallows in western Kenya. The objectives were to investigate fine-scale interactions among ecosystem services, and the potential of fallow plant diversity to enhance levels of multiple services simultaneously, i.e., ecosystem service multi-functionality. To examine influences of fallow vegetation and management on soil structure and fertility, the biomass and functional traits (green tissue N, lignins, polyphenols, lignins+polyphenols) of fallow plants and the condition of soils were quantified. Positive associations of tissue content of lignins+polyphenols with soil organic carbon (SOC) and steady infiltration rates indicated a role of recalcitrant carbon compounds in slowing SOC turnover and supporting soil structural development, while grazed fallows had lower infiltration than improved fallows, likely a result of livestock trampling and soil compaction. To investigate whether woody overstory plants and fallow management generate interactions between the production of wood and li…
author: Sircely, Jason
language: English
keywords: Ecology, Conservation biology, Agriculture
date published: 2012
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:44:18Z
provider: Columbia University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Columbia University

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.7916/D81G0RZT