BES Facebook groupAgricultural Ecology
Secretary: Barbara Smith
Aims
- To be a forum for exchange of information between ecologists, conservationists, agricultural researchers, land managers and policy makers
- To consider conservation in the farmed landscape, using ecological theory to address agricultural problems, economic and ecological sustainability of current farming systems, and the implications of agricultural policies.
- To do this: a) through meetings, workshops, field visits, an email bulletin board and a website; b) through contact with other societies.
Upcoming Meetings:
Agricultural Ecology Specialist Interest Group Dinner at the British Ecological Society Annual Meeting
Tuesday 7 September at Piccolino. Meet 8pm at the restaurant.
A chance to meet your colleagues – come along and find our about the groups activities and socialise. All welcome! This is in place of a more formal meeting and will be generously supported by the BES in the form of wine.
If you would like to come , please send email Barbara Smith by 2 September
Predicting the impact of change on agro-ecosystems
To be held at Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK, 5 October 2010
View full programme details [Adobe PDF, 2785 Kb]
Contact: Jonathan Storkey
Recent changes in agricultural land use and crop husbandry have largely occurred with little prior analysis to determine the impact of these changes on the abundance and diversity of biota that are adapted to the farmed landscape. As a result, there has been no contingency for mitigation of the negative effects of the increasing intensification and homogenisation of the cropping landscape. The attempted restoration of the resulting degraded agro-ecosystem now accounts for a significant proportion of the public money invested in the rural economy. The invention of genetically modified crops has had the beneficial effect of focusing the mind of policy makers and the public on the issue of risk assessment in agricultural systems. However, the introduction of GMOs is just one of the potential future changes that may impact farmland biota and the ecosystem services they deliver. Other imminent threats include changes in cropping patterns (including the loss of set-aside, reduction in area of sugar beet grown or large scale planting of bio-energy crops), new pesticide legislation and climate change. Much intellectual energy has been spent already debating the potential impact of particular land use changes. In contrast, this meeting will focus on generic approaches to risk assessment that have the potential to assess the potential impact of a number of these factors in parallel and so equip policy makers with tools for trading-off alternative land use options.
Background to the Group
Agriculture is the predominant land use in Britain and the developed world. The pervasiveness of this type of land use and the fact that it involves fundamental changes in ecological processes means agricultural science is a very important subject in Britain and worldwide.
Because agricultural systems are both an economic and environmental resource agricultural research covers several subject areas which have traditionally remained quite separate. These include population, community and ecosystems ecology, conservation ecology, weed control, crop science, grassland production and forestry production.
There has long been a need for a forum for workers involved in these different areas to exchange information on subjects of mutual concern. The Agricultural Ecology Group aims to bridge the gap between ecologists working in agricultural systems, conservationists with an interest in agricultural systems, crop, grassland and forest scientists working on increasing economic production, weed scientists, and agricultural policy makers. It will integrate very different approaches (ecology, economic production, conservation) to agricultural systems to address common issues. Finally, it will enhance communication among scientists and others working on agricultural systems using meetings, workshops, BES Bulletin reports and an email forum.
Contact:
Barbara Smith
Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust
Burgate Manor
Fordingbridge, Hampshire
SP6 1EF, UK
agricultural@britishecologicalsociety.org
