Disturbance, Succession, and Agroecosystem Management - Agroecology: The Ecology of Sustainable Food Systems - page 245

FIGURE 17.5(b) continued.

of agroforestry: in agrosilviculture, trees are combined with
crops; in silvopastoral systems, trees are combined with
animal production; and in agrosilvopastoral systems, the
farmer manages a complex mixture of trees, crops, and
animals. All agroforestry systems are good examples of
taking advantage of diversity and successional development
for production of food and other farm products.
Incorporating trees into agroecosystems is a practice
with a long history. This is especially true in the tropical
and subtropical regions of the world, where farmers have
long planted trees along with other agricultural crops and
animals to help provide for the basic needs of food, wood

products, and fodder, and to help conserve and protect
their often limited resources (Nair, 1983). Agroforestry
systems in temperate regions of the world are also well
known (Gordon and Newman, 1997) (Figure 17.6).
The objective of most agroforestry systems is to opti-
mize the beneficial effects of the interactions that occur
among the woody components and the crop or animal
components in order to obtain more diversity of products,
lessen the need for outside inputs, and lower the negative
environmental impacts of farming practices. In many
respects, agroforestry systems create the same ecological
benefits as multiple cropping systems, and the research