Objective: To identify the environmental services provided by home gardens in nine communities of La Chontalpa region in Tabasco, Mexico. Design/methodology/approach: Having previously identified home gardens, a visit route to nine communities was drawn using cartographic and demographic information. Three home gardens per community were randomly selected. Interviews about the use of home gardens were conducted. Physical environmental factors were measured inside and outside the gardens and soil samples were taken to determine organic matter and carbon contents in the soil. According to their category, the environmental services provided by the home gardens in each community were identified and classified into four types: provisioning, supporting, cultural, and regulating services. Results: Thirteen environmental services were identified as being provided by home gardens. Provisioning and cultural services are present in all localities. The most frequent category is the provision of food, followed by the provision of raw materials and education. Supporting and regulating services were observed in most communities —except for climate regulation, since the environmental conditions only allow gardens to provide the said service in four of the evaluated communities. Limitations on study/implications: Knowledge about the benefits of building home gardens suggests that these agrosystems provide environmental services. Categorizing the environmental services provided by home gardens is therefore important. Findings/conclusions: Home gardens in La Chontalpa, Tabasco, do not only provide provisioning services, but also cultural, supporting, and —to a lesser extent— regulating services.
Although renewable energy holds great promise in mitigating climate change, there are socioeconomic and ecological tradeoffs related to each form of renewable energy. Forest-related bioenergy is especially controversial, because tree plantations often replace land that could be used to grow food crops and can have negative impacts on biodiversity. In this study, we examined public perceptions and ecosystem service tradeoffs between the provisioning services associated with cover types associated with bioenergy crop (feedstock) production and forest habitat-related supporting services for birds, which themselves provide cultural and regulating services. We combined a social survey-based assessment of local values and perceptions with measures of bioenergy feedstock production impacts on bird habitat in four countries: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and the USA. Respondents in all countries rated birds as important or very important (83–99% of respondents) and showed lower enthusiasm for, but still supported, the expansion of bioenergy feedstocks (48–60% of respondents). Bioenergy feedstock cover types in Brazil and Argentina had the greatest negative impact on birds but had a positive impact on birds in the USA. In Brazil and Mexico, public perceptions aligned fairly well with the realities of the impacts of potential bioenergy feedstocks on bird communities. However, in Argentina and the USA, perceptions of bioenergy impacts on birds did not match well with the data. Understanding people’s values and perceptions can help inform better policy and management decisions regarding land use changes.
Objetivo: Realizar un análisis exploratorio del cultivo de la caña de azúcar (CCA) mediante un enfoque de paisaje del desempeño (PD) incluyendo una descripción analítica de hoja balance alimentaria e indicadores de desempeño. Diseño/metodología/aproximación: Tres tablas de datos fueron construidas usando diferentes sistemas de información estadística (SIE) e incluyendo ocho variables –producción, exportaciones, importaciones, consumo per cápita, superficie, valor de la producción (VP), precio pagado al productor (PP) e ingreso unitario sobre el CCA, productos de azúcar y 82 cultivos perennes (SPAP). La descripción analítica fue basada a nivel municipal y una serie temporal (2003-2017). A través del PD, se evaluó el porcentaje de proporción entre el CCA y los SPAP, considerando superficie y el VP. Resultados: El consumo de azúcar equivalente está disminuyendo (37.5 kg persona-1 año-1). Las exportaciones incrementaron y representaron 40% de la producción; las importaciones crecieron moderadamente, pero existe suficiencia alimentaria. Por 15 años, la producción y superficie del CCA ha crecido gradualmente. Los PP mostraron un crecimiento real (34%), en consecuencia, también el VP y el ingreso unitario ($ 55,676 ha-1). En contraste, el rendimiento (84 Mg ha-1) está estancado (5%). La evaluación del PD identificó 94 municipios donde el CCA domina superficie y VP. Limitaciones del estudio/implicaciones: El análisis descriptivo es una herramienta útil para caracterizar sistemas y proporciona mayor claridad sobre la identificación de factores de cambio, selección de datos centrales, así como de facilitar la búsqueda de relaciones causales. Este tipo de estudios, aporta información a temas económicos de gran visión. sin embargo; en lo social, se carece de relaciones vinculantes entre productores e instituciones que concentran los datos, además de que no contiene información ambiental (clima, suelo, etc.) y de manejo agronómico del cultivo de la caña de azúcar en cada estado de la república mexicana. Hallazgos/conclusiones: La integración de diferentes SIE clarifica las interrelaciones entre los temas económicos, particularmente en agricultura
Oil palm plantations face important challenges in terms of balancing agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability. This research synthesis aims to answer key questions regarding the state and knowledge gaps of oil palm (OP) research and technological development (R&D) at a global scale, in Latin America and in Mexico, using all Web of Science® databases and agriculture categories and time spans between 1960 and 2018. Three thousand nine hundred and forty-eight publications were analysed. The research themes started with the generation of agronomic knowledge in 1960. Since 1963, studies in Latin America have focused on yield improvement; since 2010, topics related to agroecology, product quality, health issues, biodiversity, conservation impacts, and biofuel uses have been widely integrated, although some relevant themes are lacking. In addition, considering the high domestic demand for crude palm oil and great available natural resources, few Mexican institutions have participated in publications registered in Web of Science (WOS) on this topic. This research proposes a quick exploratory and reliable instrument for evaluating the agronomic interest of any agricultural production system.
Some oil palm production zones have periods of low rainfall, eliciting to water stress and impacting yields. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the supplementary irrigation application during the dry season, on the water use and the transpiration of oil palm trees, and on morphological changes that occur during the different phenological stages. The monitored site was an oil palm plantation in Jalapa, Tabasco, Mexico (17° 38 N; 92° 56 W; altitude 20 m). There, the plant density is 143 palms ha−1. Two areas of palm trees with ages of 6 and 11 years were located. The soil type was classified as Gleysol. A weather station was placed in a pasture adjacent (1 km) to the plantation. The variables, evaluated from April 1 to June 23, 2017, included the structural characteristics of the plantation, sap flow, transpiration, and the morphological changes at the different phenological stages, which were assessed based on the BBCH scale. The results showed that the water use per palm tree (102–140 kg day−1) and the transpiration (1.59–2.11 mm day−1) were not significantly different among palm trees ages. The application of irrigation during the dry season maintained transpiration in palms of both ages and favoured inflorescence development and fruit formation by shortening the number of days it took the palm plants to reach fruit formation stage (stages 503-700), but increased the number of days required by the bunches to reach maturation (stages 709 to harvest). This study conducted during few months needs to be confirmed by longer term monitoring.
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