Organic Research - Ecology, Energy and Environment

 

Biodiversity Energy Use General Environmental Impacts Greenhouse Gases Soil and Water Quality Sustainability

Biodiversity

General

• Biodiversity and multiple ecosystem functions in an organic farmscape
• Biodiversity in Organic Horticulture – an Indicator for Sustainability and a Tool for Pest Management
• Diversity of rhizobia in soybean [Glycine max (Vinton)] nodules varies under organic and conventional management
• Do the opportunity costs of providing crop diversity differ between organic and conventional farms? The case of Finnish agriculture
• Agricultural landscape simplification and insecticide use in the Midwestern United States
• Decreased Functional Diversity and Biological Pest Control in Conventional Compared to Organic Crop Fields

• Does Organic Farming Benefit Biodiversity?
• Does soil biota benefit from organic farming in complex vs. simple landscapes?
• Effects of input management and crop diversity on economic returns and riskiness of cropping systems in the semi-arid Canadian Prairie
• The effects of farming system and fertilisers on pests and natural enemies: A synthesis of current research
• The effects of organic agriculture on biodiversity and abundance: a meta-analysis
• Effects of vineyard management on biodiversity at three trophic levels
• Food security and biodiversity: can we have both? An agroecological analysis

• Functional and Structural Microbial Diversity in Organic and Conventional Viticulture: Organic Farming Benefits Natural Biocontrol Agents
• Generalist predators in organically and conventionally managed grass-clover fields: implications for conservation biological control
• How does agricultural biodiversity contribute to food security?
• Landscape structure influences modularity patterns in farm food webs: consequences for pest control
• Long-term organic farming fosters below and aboveground biota: Implications for soil quality, biological control and productivity
• A macro-scale perspective on within-farm management: how climate and topography alter the effect of farming practices
• Microbial community composition and carbon cycling within soil microenvironments of conventional, low-input, and organic cropping systems

• The Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) Organic Research Forum 2010
  • Enhancing Diversity and Reducing Tillage in Organic Vegetable Systems - Part 1 (PDF, 3.3MB) & Part 2 (PDF 5MB)
• Mixed effects of organic farming and landscape complexity on farmland biodiversity and biological control potential across Europe
• Natural and within-farmland biodiversity enhances crop productivity
• Organic agriculture and biodiversity – a global review of research results (ICROFS)
• Organic agriculture promotes evenness and natural pest control
• Organic Farming Boosts Biodiversity

• Relationships between beneficial invertebrates, field margin vegetation, and thrip damage in organic leek fields in eastern England
• Scale matters: the impact of organic farming on biodiversity at different spatial scales
• Seeds in farmland food-webs: Resource importance, distribution and the impacts of farm management
• Small mammals in agricultural landscapes: Opposing responses to farming practices and landscape complexity
• Socioeconomic Obstacles to Establishing a Participatory Plant Breeding Program for Organic Growers in the United States
• Soil Fertility and Biodiversity in Organic Farming
• Trophic structure and major trophic links in conventional versus organic farming systems as indicated by carbon stable isotope ratios of fatty acids
• Weed seedbanks in arable fields: effects of management practices and surrounding landscape

Birds

• NEW!! Reduced pesticide toxicity and increased woody vegetation cover account for enhanced native bird densities in organic orchards
• Agroecology of Birds in Organic and Nonorganic Farmland
• Bird communities of prairie uplands and wetlands
• Birds, plants thrive on UK organic farms
• Effects of organic and soil conservation management on specialist bird species
• Landscape composition influences farm management effects on farmland birds in winter: A pan-European approach
• Landscape-moderated importance of hedges in conserving farmland bird diversity of organic vs. conventional croplands and grasslands
• Mixed effects of landscape structure and farming practice on bird diversity
• Specialist response to proportion of arable land and pesticide input in agricultural landscapes

Fungi

• Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and organic farming
• Impact of long-term conventional and organic farming on the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
• Molecular diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in onion roots from organic and conventional farming systems in the Netherlands
• Positive effects of organic farming on below-ground mutualists: large-scale comparison of mycorrhizal fungal communities in agricultural soils
• Spatial scaling of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal diversity is affected by farming practice

Insects & Other Invertebrates

• NEW!! Agricultural intensification drives landscape-context effects on host–parasitoid interactions in agroecosystems
• NEW!! Investigating the effects of crop type, fertility management and crop protection on the activity of beneficial invertebrates in an extensive farm management comparison trial
• NEW!! Long-term effects of organic, conventional, and integrated crop systems on Carabids
• Assessing the effect of the time since transition to organic farming on plants and butterflies
• Arthropod diversity as affected by agricultural management (organic and conventional farming), plant species, and landscape context
• Comparing organic farming and land sparing: optimizing yield and butterfly populations at a landscape scale
• Crop and field boundary influences on the activity of a wide range of beneficial invertebrate groups on a split conventional/organic farm in northern England
• Effects of flower attractiveness and nectar availability in field margins on biological control by by parasitoids
• Effects of organic farming on plant and arthropod communities: A case study in Mediterranean dryland cereal
• Endemic pollinator response to organic vs. conventional farming and landscape context in the Cape Floristic Region biodiversity hotspot
• Impact of agricultural management systems on carabid beetle communities and invertebrate weed seed predation
• Impact of wildflower strips on biological control of cabbage lepidopterans
• Insect behavioural ecology and other factors affecting the control efficacy of agro-ecosystem diversification strategies
• Landscape and management effects on structure and function of soil arthropod communities in winter wheat
• Organic dairy farming: impacts on insect–flower interaction networks and pollination
• Organic Farming Improves Pollination Success in Strawberries
• Organic farming in isolated landscapes does not benefit flower-visiting insects and pollination
• Relationship of Soybean Aphid to Soybean Plant Nutrients, Landscape Structure, and Natural Enemies
• Responses of plant, insect and spider biodiversity to local and landscape scale management intensity in cereal crops and grasslands
• Responses of stream macroinvertebrates and ecosystem function to conventional, integrated and organic farming
• Seed predation increases with ground beetle diversity in a Wisconsin (USA) potato agroecosystem
• The Value of Woody Hedgerows for Moth Diversity on Organic and Conventional Farms
• Which carabid species benefit from organic agriculture? - a review of comparative studies in winter cereals from Germany and Switzerland

Plants

• NEW!! The β-diversity of arable weed communities on organic and conventional cereal farms in two contrasting regions
• Arable plant communities as indicators of farming practice
• Assessing the effect of the time since transition to organic farming on plants and butterflies
• Effects of organic farming on plant and arthropod communities: A case study in Mediterranean dryland cereal
• How does agricultural intensification modulate changes in plant community composition?
• Plant diversity in crop fields of organic and conventional farms
• Quantifying the effect of organic farming, field boundary type and landscape structure on the vegetation of field boundaries
• Responses of plant, insect and spider biodiversity to local and landscape scale management intensity in cereal crops and grasslands
• Size and composition of weed seedbank in long-term organic and conventional low-input cropping systems

Energy Use

• Comparing energy use and GHG mitigation potentials in organic vs. conventional farming systems
• Effects of input management and crop diversity on non-renewable energy use efficiency of cropping systems in the Canadian Prairie
• Energy and Environmental Issues in Organic and Conventional Agriculture
• Energy efficiency in farming systems: organic and conventional agriculture
• Energy efficiency in small-scale biointensive organic onion production in Pennsylvania, USA
• Energy Input Use in Environmentally Friendly Farming Systems: A Comparative Analysis between Organic and Conventional Dried Fig Production
• Energy self-reliance, net-energy production and GHG emissions in Danish organic cash crop farms

• Energy use and efficiency in organic and conventional systems
• Energy utilization in crop and dairy production in organic and conventional livestock production systems
• Improving Energy Efficiency and GHG Mitigation Potentials in Canadian Organic Farming Systems 
• Life cycle assessment of energy self-sufficiency systems based on agricultural residues for organic arable farms
• Life Cycle Energy and Greenhouse Gas Analysis of a Large-Scale Vertically Integrated Organic Dairy in the United States
• On-farm energy use (Organic Center)
• Rainfed crop energy balance of different farming systems and crop rotations in a semi-arid environment: Results of a long-term trial
• Scenario Modeling Potential Eco-efficiency Gains from a Transition to Organic Agriculture: Life Cycle Perspectives on Canadian Canola, Corn, Soy and Wheat Production

Gereral Environmental Impacts

• NEW!! Legume based plant mixtures for delivery of multiple ecosystem services: An overview of benefits
• NEW!! Using minimum tillage to improve the efficiency of ecosystem service delivery on organic farms
• NEW!! Environmental impacts of organic agriculture in temperate regions
• NEW!! Economic and environmental evaluation of three goal-vision based scenarios for organic dairy farming in Denmark
• NEW!! Life cycle assessment of conventional and organic milk production in the Netherlands
• NEW!! Life cycle assessment of Swiss farming systems: I. Integrated and organic farming

• Agronomic and environmental implications of organic farming systems
• Assessing the ecological soundness of organic and conventional agriculture by means of life cycle assessment (LCA) - a case study of leek production
• Carbon and Global Warming Potential Footprint of Organic Farming (Report to OVCRT)
• The Carbon and Global Warming Potential Impacts of Organic Farming: Does It Have a Significant Role in an Energy Constrained World?
• Comparing the environmental impacts of pasture-based and confinement-based dairy systems using life cycle assessment
• Cost-effectiveness of organic farming for achieving environmental policy targets in Switzerland
• Determining environmental burdens and resource use in agriculture

• Ecological and economic evaluation of Dutch egg production systems
• Ecological services of faba bean
• Environmental assessment of organic soybean (Glycine max.) imported from China to Denmark: a case study
• Environmental assessment of organic juice imported to Denmark: a case study on oranges (Citrus sinensis) from Brazil
• Environmental and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems
• Environmental Impact of Different Agricultural Management Practices: Conventional vs. Organic Agriculture
• Environmental impacts of organic agriculture: a Canadian perspective

• Importance of health and environment as quality traits in the buying decision of organic products
• A Life-Cycle Approach to Characterising Environmental and Economic Impacts of Multifunctional Land-Use Systems: An Integrated Assessment in the UK
• Life cycle assessment of conventional and organic farming
• Measuring the Environmental Benefits of Organic Food Production
• A meta-analysis of the differences in environmental impacts between organic and conventional farming
• Organic agriculture and climate change
• Organic Farming for Health and Prosperity

• Organic farming and resource efficiency (IFOAM)
• Productive, environmental and economic performances assessments of organic and conventional suckler cattle farming systems
• The Rodale Farming Systems Trial: Celebrating 30 Years
• The Science Behind Organic Environmentalism

Greenhouse Gases

• NEW!! Reducing Global Warming and Adapting to Climate Change: The Potential of Organic Agriculture
• Carbon and Global Warming Potential Footprint of Organic Farming (Report to OVCRT)
• Climate balance of organic and conventional foodstuffs compared
• Comparing energy use and GHG mitigation potentials in organic vs. conventional farming systems
• Decisions to reduce greenhouse gases from agriculture and product transport: LCA case study of organic and conventional wheat
• Emissions of nitrous oxide from arable organic and conventional cropping systems on two soil types
• Greenhouse gases and ammonia emissions from organic mixed crop-dairy systems: a critical review of mitigation options
• Greenhouse gas emissions from selected Austrian dairy production systems—model calculations considering the effects of land use change
• Impact of organic pig production systems on CO₂ emission, C sequestration and nitrate pollution

• Improving Energy Efficiency and GHG Mitigation Potentials in Canadian Organic Farming Systems 
• Influence of cropping systems on greenhouse gas emissions
• Is organic farming a mitigation option? – A study on N₂O emission from winter wheat
• Legume-based cropping systems have reduced carbon and nitrogen losses
• Legumes touted as emission fighters
• Management effects on net ecosystem carbon and GHG budgets at European crop sites
• Modelling greenhouse gas emissions from European conventional and organic dairy farms
• Modelling uncertainty for nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions based on a Swedish field experiment with organic crop rotation
• Nitrous oxide emissions from organic and conventional crop rotations in five European countries

• Nitrous oxide emissions from organic farming: the importance of well-timed ley cultivation
• Organic farming and climate change (PDF, 1.3 MB)
• Quantifying reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from composting
• Regenerative Farming:A Solution to Global Warming (PDF, 1.9 MB)
• Scenario Modeling Potential Eco-efficiency Gains from a Transition to Organic Agriculture: Life Cycle Perspectives on Canadian Canola, Corn, Soy and Wheat Production
• Simulating greenhouse gas budgets of four California cropping systems under conventional and alternative management
• Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics Following Application of Pig Slurry for the 19th Consecutive Year
• Soil properties, crop production and greenhouse gas emissions from organic and inorganic fertilizer-based arable cropping systems

Soil and Water Quality

• NEW!! A novel index of land use intensity for organic and conventional farming of Mediterranean cereal fields
• Antibiotic Losses in Leaching and Surface Runoff from Manure-Amended Agricultural Land
• A comparison of soil and water properties in organic and conventional farming systems in England
• Organic Farming: Good Practice for Soil Quality Preservation
• Organic Farming Practices Improve Water Quality in Minnesota
• Plant and Environment Interactions - The Myth of Nitrogen Fertilization
• Soil carbon sequestration in Switzerland - the DOK trial

Sustainability

• Agronomy for Sustainable Agriculture: A Review
• Are biotechnology and sustainable agriculture compatible?
• Assessing a farm's sustainability: insights from resilience thinking
• Conventionalisation of organic farming practices: from structural criteria towards an assessment based on organic principles. A review
• Design, rationale and methodological considerations for a long term alternative cropping experiment in the Canadian plain region
• Ecology in Sustainable Agriculture Practices and Systems
• European Union Integrated Project "Quality Low Input Food"
  • Horizontal activities such as environmental and sustainability audits, cost-benefit analyses and socio-economic impact assessments

• Health and environmental consciousness, costs of behaviour and the purchase of organic food
• Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of Farms Converting to Organic
• Integrating agroecological processes into cropping systems research
• Life cycle environmental impacts of wine production and consumption in Nova Scotia, Canada
• Long-term strategies and flexibility of organic farmers in southeastern France
• Organic Agriculture: The challenge of sustaining food production
• The role of the concept of the natural in organic farming
• A safe operating space for humanity
• Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century
• Utilizing intrinsic robustness in agricultural production systems: Inventions for a sustainable development of agriculture

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