IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v6y2014i12p8432-8451d42687.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Scale-Explicit Framework for Conceptualizing the Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Land Use Changes

Author

Listed:
  • Iago Lowe Hale

    (Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA)

  • Wilfred M. Wollheim

    (Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA)

  • Richard G. Smith

    (Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA)

  • Heidi Asbjornsen

    (Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA)

  • André F. Brito

    (Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA)

  • Kirk Broders

    (Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA)

  • A. Stuart Grandy

    (Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA)

  • Rebecca Rowe

    (Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA)

Abstract

Demand for locally-produced food is growing in areas outside traditionally dominant agricultural regions due to concerns over food safety, quality, and sovereignty; rural livelihoods; and environmental integrity. Strategies for meeting this demand rely upon agricultural land use change, in various forms of either intensification or extensification (converting non-agricultural land, including native landforms, to agricultural use). The nature and extent of the impacts of these changes on non-food-provisioning ecosystem services are determined by a complex suite of scale-dependent interactions among farming practices, site-specific characteristics, and the ecosystem services under consideration. Ecosystem modeling strategies which honor such complexity are often impenetrable by non-experts, resulting in a prevalent conceptual gap between ecosystem sciences and the field of sustainable agriculture. Referencing heavily forested New England as an example, we present a conceptual framework designed to synthesize and convey understanding of the scale- and landscape-dependent nature of the relationship between agriculture and various ecosystem services. By accounting for the total impact of multiple disturbances across a landscape while considering the effects of scale, the framework is intended to stimulate and support the collaborative efforts of land managers, scientists, citizen stakeholders, and policy makers as they address the challenges of expanding local agriculture.

Suggested Citation

  • Iago Lowe Hale & Wilfred M. Wollheim & Richard G. Smith & Heidi Asbjornsen & André F. Brito & Kirk Broders & A. Stuart Grandy & Rebecca Rowe, 2014. "A Scale-Explicit Framework for Conceptualizing the Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Land Use Changes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(12), pages 1-20, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:12:p:8432-8451:d:42687
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/12/8432/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/12/8432/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lovell, Sarah Taylor & DeSantis, S'ra & Nathan, Chloe A. & Olson, Meryl Breton & Ernesto Méndez, V. & Kominami, Hisashi C. & Erickson, Daniel L. & Morris, Katlyn S. & Morris, William B., 2010. "Integrating agroecology and landscape multifunctionality in Vermont: An evolving framework to evaluate the design of agroecosystems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(5), pages 327-341, June.
    2. Dale, Virginia H. & Polasky, Stephen, 2007. "Measures of the effects of agricultural practices on ecosystem services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 286-296, December.
    3. J. Mason Earles & Sonia Yeh & Kenneth E. Skog, 2012. "Timing of carbon emissions from global forest clearance," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 2(9), pages 682-685, September.
    4. Richard B. Alexander & Richard A. Smith & Gregory E. Schwarz, 2000. "Effect of stream channel size on the delivery of nitrogen to the Gulf of Mexico," Nature, Nature, vol. 403(6771), pages 758-761, February.
    5. Philip G. Taylor & Alan R. Townsend, 2010. "Stoichiometric control of organic carbon–nitrate relationships from soils to the sea," Nature, Nature, vol. 464(7292), pages 1178-1181, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wilhelm, Jennifer A. & Smith, Richard G. & Jolejole-Foreman, Maria Christina & Hurley, Stephanie, 2020. "Resident and stakeholder perceptions of ecosystem services associated with agricultural landscapes in New Hampshire," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    2. Carlos Bautista-Capetillo & Hugo Márquez-Villagrana & Anuard Pacheco-Guerrero & Julián González-Trinidad & Hugo Júnez-Ferreira & Manuel Zavala-Trejo, 2018. "Cropping System Diversification: Water Consumption against Crop Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-11, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wilfred M. Wollheim & Tamara K. Harms & Andrew L. Robison & Lauren E. Koenig & Ashley M. Helton & Chao Song & William B. Bowden & Jacques C. Finlay, 2022. "Superlinear scaling of riverine biogeochemical function with watershed size," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Brausmann, Alexandra & Bretschger, Lucas, 2018. "Economic development on a finite planet with stochastic soil degradation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 1-19.
    3. Smith, Helen F. & Sullivan, Caroline A., 2014. "Ecosystem services within agricultural landscapes—Farmers' perceptions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 72-80.
    4. Weili Duan & Bin He & Daniel Nover & Guishan Yang & Wen Chen & Huifang Meng & Shan Zou & Chuanming Liu, 2016. "Water Quality Assessment and Pollution Source Identification of the Eastern Poyang Lake Basin Using Multivariate Statistical Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-15, January.
    5. Qingqing Yang & Yanhui Gao & Xinjun Yang & Jian Zhang, 2022. "Rural Transformation Driven by Households’ Adaptation to Climate, Policy, Market, and Urbanization: Perspectives from Livelihoods–Land Use on Chinese Loess Plateau," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-23, July.
    6. Qenani-Petrela, Eivis & Noel, Jay E. & Mastin, Thomas, 2007. "A Benefit Transfer Approach to the Estimation of Agro-Ecosystems Services Benefits: A Case Study of Kern County, California," Research Project Reports 121605, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California Institute for the Study of Specialty Crops.
    7. Rodríguez-Ortega, T. & Olaizola, A.M. & Bernués, A., 2018. "A novel management-based system of payments for ecosystem services for targeted agri-environmental policy," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 34(PA), pages 74-84.
    8. Ashley E. Larsen & Steven D. Gaines & Olivier Deschênes, 2017. "Agricultural pesticide use and adverse birth outcomes in the San Joaquin Valley of California," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, December.
    9. Ehsan Moradi & Jesús Rodrigo-Comino & Enric Terol & Gaspar Mora-Navarro & Alexandre Marco da Silva & Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos & Hassan Khosravi & Manuel Pulido Fernández & Artemi Cerdà, 2020. "Quantifying Soil Compaction in Persimmon Orchards Using ISUM (Improved Stock Unearthing Method) and Core Sampling Methods," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-18, July.
    10. Liem Tran & Robert O’Neill & Elizabeth Smith & Randall Bruins & Carol Harden, 2013. "Application of Hierarchy Theory to Cross-Scale Hydrologic Modeling of Nutrient Loads," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(5), pages 1601-1617, March.
    11. Ilaria Zambon & Artemi Cerdà & Sirio Cividino & Luca Salvati, 2019. "The (Evolving) Vineyard’s Age Structure in the Valencian Community, Spain: A New Demographic Approach for Rural Development and Landscape Analysis," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-13, March.
    12. Sèyi Fridaïus Ulrich Vanvanhossou & Luc Hippolyte Dossa & Sven König, 2021. "Sustainable Management of Animal Genetic Resources to Improve Low-Input Livestock Production: Insights into Local Beninese Cattle Populations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-20, September.
    13. Horacio Augstburger & Fabian Käser & Stephan Rist, 2019. "Assessing Food Systems and Their Impact on Common Pool Resources and Resilience," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-25, April.
    14. Makovníková Jarmila & Pálka Boris & Kološta Stanislav & Flaška Filip & Orságová Katarína & Spišiaková Mária, 2020. "Non-Monetary Assessment and Mapping of the Potential of Agroecosystem Services in Rural Slovakia," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 12(2), pages 257-276, June.
    15. Dörschner, T. & Musshoff, O., 2015. "How do incentive-based environmental policies affect environment protection initiatives of farmers? An experimental economic analysis using the example of species richness," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 90-103.
    16. Wang, Haoluan & Swallow, Brent M., 2017. "Linking Agricultural Land Conservation and Provision of Ecosystem Services: A Choice Experiment Approach," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258537, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    17. Guangzi Li & Jun Cai, 2022. "Spatial and Temporal Differentiation of Mountain Ecosystem Service Trade-Offs and Synergies: A Case Study of Jieshi Mountain, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-16, April.
    18. Fan, Fan & Henriksen, Christian Bugge & Porter, John, 2016. "Valuation of ecosystem services in organic cereal crop production systems with different management practices in relation to organic matter input," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 22(PA), pages 117-127.
    19. Beardmore, Leslie & Heagney, Elizabeth & Sullivan, Caroline A., 2019. "Complementary land use in the Richmond River catchment: Evaluating economic and environmental benefits," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    20. Griewald, Yuliana & Clemens, Gerhard & Kamp, Johannes & Gladun, Elena & Hölzel, Norbert & von Dressler, Hubertus, 2017. "Developing land use scenarios for stakeholder participation in Russia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 264-276.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:12:p:8432-8451:d:42687. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.