Paths to ecological intensification trough restoration and agricultural certification

• Grant number: 18/22881-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2019
• Effective date (End): March 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Jean Paul Walter Metzger
• Grantee: Francisco d'Albertas Gomes de Carvalho
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/23457-6 - Interface project: relationships among landscape structure, ecological processes, biodiversity and ecosystem services, AP.BTA.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/21802-4 - When restoration benefits for coffee yield exceed restoration costs?, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

The expansion and intensification promoted by the green revolution doubled the Agriculture production; however, the Agricultural activity is responsible for up to 70% of the terrestrial biodiversity loss. In this regard, the process of ecological intensification, based on the management of organisms providers of Ecosystem Services (ES) important to crops (e.g. pollination), is a valuable option towards a more sustainable Agriculture. Restoration actions on natural areas and Agriculture certification can be used to attend this goal. This project aims to improve the knowledge on paths to an ecological intensification of Agriculture trough three main objectives: (I) evaluate if there are general rules guiding landowners behavior regarding the location of native vegetation areas or to be restored (habitat for ES providing organisms); (II) perform a cost-benefit analyses of different restoration scenarios on coffee landscapes (a important commodity in Brazil); (III) perform an effectivity analyses of certification and its effects on ecological indicators in coffee farms, through a temporal contrafactual approach. We expect that: (I) the disposition to restore and/or conserve native vegetation is positively related with farm's size and the proportion of native vegetation and negatively related to the opportunity cost and to the agricultural suitability. The same negative trend should be verified for the spatial location of the conservation/restoration areas inside the farms; (II) restoration actions will have better cost-benefit in farms immersed in landscapes with intermediate native vegetation cover; and (III) certified farms will have better ecological indicators when compared to non-certified farms. In general, it is expected that a proper planning of restoration and certification efforts contribute to an ecological intensification of Agriculture, favoring an increase in productivity and the maintenance of the biological diversity in rural landscapes. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

D'ALBERTAS, FRANCISCO; GONZALEZ-CHAVES, ADRIAN; BORGES-MATOS, CLARICE; DE ALMEIDA PACIELLO, VITOR ZAGO; MARON, MARTINE; METZGER, JEAN PAUL. Private reserves suffer from the same location biases of public protected areas. Biological Conservation, v. 261, SEP 2021. (13/23457-6, 18/22881-2, 17/26684-4, 17/19411-1)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

CARVALHO, Francisco d'Albertas Gomes de. Paths for an ecological intensification of agriculture through restoration and agriculture certification. 2022. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB) São Paulo.