Elucidating Sustainable Agroecosystems across Scales and Disciplines for Food Security
Event details
| Date | 08.10.2013 |
| Hour | 16:15 › 17:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Johan Six, Chair of Sustainable Agroecosystems, Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS), ETH-Zurich, CH |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Abstract:
One of the greatest challenges facing humanity is to provide food security across the world and in the long term. One of the prerequisites to tackle this great challenge is to understand how sustainable agroecosystems function. In my talk, I will present how we have and hope to continue to elucidate the feedbacks between agroecosystem management options (e.g., tillage, organic practices, integrated soil fertility management, etc.), global change (e.g., elevated CO2 , elevated O3, and climate change), and carbon and nutrient cycling. I will make the argument, based on some case studies, of how we need to conduct experimental work from the micro- to landscape scale over day to decadal times scales and subsequently integrate the experimental results within simulation models to interpolate and extrapolate them to the regional and global scale over decadal to century-long time scales. Furthermore, I will present some collaborative work on bio-economic modeling in order to holistically assess the sustainability of agriculture. Finally, I will present some case studies of how to bring our improved understanding into practice to ensure a better food security.
Dr Johan Six received his PhD in Soil Science in 1998 from Colorado State University. His PhD research was conducted at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL). His research focused on the mechanisms underlying greenhouse gas mitigation by no-tillage practices. Dr. Six remained as a Research Scientist at NREL from 1998 until 2002. He led and was involved in many projects investigating the effect of land use change and management on greenhouse gas fluxes in agricultural, grassland and forest ecosystems. At UCDavis, Dr. Six has further developed this line of research with a focus on the feedbacks between ecosystem management options (e.g., tillage, cover cropping, green manuring, sustainable farming, and grazing), global change (e.g., elevated CO2 and climate change), and biogeochemical cycling. More specifically, he studies the complex interactions between soil (e.g, structure, texture and mineralogy), plants (e.g., diversity, nutrient uptake, and root growth), soil biota (e.g. fungi, bacteria, and earthworms), and the carbon and nitrogen cycles in terrestrial ecosystems, especially agroecosystems. Hisgeneral approach is to conduct experimental work from the micro- to landscape scale and subsequently integrate it with modeling to interpolate and extrapolate it to the regional and global scale. The modeling has also as goals to identify gaps in our knowledge, generate testable hypotheses, and test the mechanistic bases of the models. Furthermore, bio-economic modeling is conducted in collaboration with economic and social scientist to holistically assess the sustainability of agriculture. His project sites span from small growers’ fields to intensively-farmed production systems to agricultural research stations. We are involved in a suite of international research projects in Africa, Europe, the US, and Central and South America.
He recently took up a chair position in Sustainable Agroecosystems at ETH-zurich, where he will continue his research program developed at UCDavis, but with more of an emphasis on landscape analyses and global Food Security.
Dr. Six is a Chancelor’s Fellow of the University of California – Davis and a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science.
One of the greatest challenges facing humanity is to provide food security across the world and in the long term. One of the prerequisites to tackle this great challenge is to understand how sustainable agroecosystems function. In my talk, I will present how we have and hope to continue to elucidate the feedbacks between agroecosystem management options (e.g., tillage, organic practices, integrated soil fertility management, etc.), global change (e.g., elevated CO2 , elevated O3, and climate change), and carbon and nutrient cycling. I will make the argument, based on some case studies, of how we need to conduct experimental work from the micro- to landscape scale over day to decadal times scales and subsequently integrate the experimental results within simulation models to interpolate and extrapolate them to the regional and global scale over decadal to century-long time scales. Furthermore, I will present some collaborative work on bio-economic modeling in order to holistically assess the sustainability of agriculture. Finally, I will present some case studies of how to bring our improved understanding into practice to ensure a better food security.
Dr Johan Six received his PhD in Soil Science in 1998 from Colorado State University. His PhD research was conducted at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL). His research focused on the mechanisms underlying greenhouse gas mitigation by no-tillage practices. Dr. Six remained as a Research Scientist at NREL from 1998 until 2002. He led and was involved in many projects investigating the effect of land use change and management on greenhouse gas fluxes in agricultural, grassland and forest ecosystems. At UCDavis, Dr. Six has further developed this line of research with a focus on the feedbacks between ecosystem management options (e.g., tillage, cover cropping, green manuring, sustainable farming, and grazing), global change (e.g., elevated CO2 and climate change), and biogeochemical cycling. More specifically, he studies the complex interactions between soil (e.g, structure, texture and mineralogy), plants (e.g., diversity, nutrient uptake, and root growth), soil biota (e.g. fungi, bacteria, and earthworms), and the carbon and nitrogen cycles in terrestrial ecosystems, especially agroecosystems. Hisgeneral approach is to conduct experimental work from the micro- to landscape scale and subsequently integrate it with modeling to interpolate and extrapolate it to the regional and global scale. The modeling has also as goals to identify gaps in our knowledge, generate testable hypotheses, and test the mechanistic bases of the models. Furthermore, bio-economic modeling is conducted in collaboration with economic and social scientist to holistically assess the sustainability of agriculture. His project sites span from small growers’ fields to intensively-farmed production systems to agricultural research stations. We are involved in a suite of international research projects in Africa, Europe, the US, and Central and South America.
He recently took up a chair position in Sustainable Agroecosystems at ETH-zurich, where he will continue his research program developed at UCDavis, but with more of an emphasis on landscape analyses and global Food Security.
Dr. Six is a Chancelor’s Fellow of the University of California – Davis and a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
- This event is internal
Organizer
- EESS - IIE
Contact
- Prof. Alexandre Buttler, ECOS