Grassland productivity and ecosystem services /

• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK : CABI, 2011.
• Subjects: Grassland ecology.; Grasslands.; Rangelands.; Plant Production.; Soil Biology.; Animal Husbandry and Production, (New March 2000); Grasslands and Rangelands.; Meteorology and Climate.; Pollution and Degradation.; Biological Resources (General); Animal production.; Biodiversity.; Biogeochemistry.; Ecosystem services.; Ecosystems.; Environmental impact.; Food security.; Grassland management.; Grassland soils.; Herbivores.; Human activity.; Land use.; Literature reviews.; Natural grasslands.; Productivity.; Soil types.; Sustainability.; Electronic books.
• Online Access: View fulltext via EzAccess

 This book contains 28 chapters with emphasis on the interactive nature of the relationships between the soil, plant, animal and environmental components of grassland systems, both natural and managed. It analyses the present knowledge and the future trends of research for combining the classical view of grasslands, as a resource for secure feeding of an increasing human population, with the more recent perspective of the contribution of grasslands to the mitigation of environmental impacts and biodiversity erosion as consequences of human society activities. The chapters are organized within five sections dealing with the different functions and the main ecosystem services expected from grasslands: (i) domestic herbivore feeding and animal production; (ii) the regulation of biogeochemical cycles and its consequences for the environment; (iii) dynamics of biodiversity hosted by grasslands; (iv) integration of grasslands within sustainable animal production systems; and (v) interactions of grassland areas with other land use systems at the landscape level.