Sustainable Agroecosystems

In order to understand sustainable agriculture and implement it, we need to elucidate 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. Hence, we need to unravel the complex interactions between plants (e.g., diversity, nutrient uptake, and root growth), soil (e.g, structure, texture and mineralogy), soil biota (e.g. fungi, bacteria, and earthworms), and the carbon and nitrogen cycles in agroecosystems across spatial and temporal scales. Furthermore, since agriculture is an human interprise, not only biophysical aspects, but also social and economic dimensions of sustainable agriculture needed to be elucidated. One approach to do so is bio-economic modeling through which the sustainability of agricutural practices are holistically assesed.

• Soil microhabitats mediate microbial response in organic reduced tillage cropping
  Puerta, VL; Pereira, EP; Huang, P; Wittwer, R; Six, J
  APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY, 137 39-48; 10.1016/j.apsoil.2019.01.009 MAY 2019
• On-farm study reveals positive relationship between gas transport capacity and organic carbon content in arable soil
  Colombi, T; Walder, F; Buchi, L; Sommer, M; Liu, KX; Six, J; van der Heijden, MGA; Charles, R; Keller, T
  SOIL, 5 (1):91-105; 10.5194/soil-5-91-2019 MAR 19 2019
• Contrasting nitrogen fluxes in African tropical forests of the Congo Basin
  Bauters, M; Verbeeck, H; Rutting, T; Barthel, M; Mujinya, BB; Bamba, F; Bode, S; Boyemba, F; Bulonza, E; Carlsson, E; Eriksson, L; Makelele, I; Six, J; Ntaboba, LC; Boeckx, P
  ECOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS, 89 (1):10.1002/ecm.1342 FEB 2019
• Conservation tillage and organic farming reduce soil erosion
  Seitz, S; Goebes, P; Puerta, VL; Pereira, EIP; Wittwer, R; Six, J; van der Heijden, MGA; Scholten, T
  AGRONOMY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, 39 (1):10.1007/s13593-018-0545-z FEB 2019
• Early season N2O emissions under variable water management in rice systems: source-partitioning emissions using isotope ratios along a depth profile
  Verhoeven, E; Barthel, M; Yu, LF; Celi, L; Said-Pullicino, D; Sleutel, S; Lewicka-Szczebak, D; Six, J; Decock, C
  BIOGEOSCIENCES, 16 (2):383-408; 10.5194/bg-16-383-2019 JAN 24 2019
• Resilience Assessment of Swiss Farming Systems: Piloting the SHARP-Tool in Vaud
  Diserens, F; Choptiany, JMH; Barjolle, D; Graeub, B; Durand, C; Six, J
  SUSTAINABILITY, 10 (12):10.3390/su10124435 DEC 2018
• Social network to inform and prevent the spread of cocoa swollen shoot virus disease in Ghana
  Andres, C; Hoerler, R; Home, R; Joerin, J; Dzahini-Obiatey, HK; Ameyaw, GA; Domfeh, O; Blaser, WJ; Gattinger, A; Offei, SK; Six, J
  AGRONOMY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, 38 (5):10.1007/s13593-018-0538-y OCT 2018
• Mapping Crop Calendar Events and Phenology-Related Metrics at the Parcel Level by Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) of MODIS-NDVI Time-Series: A Case Study in Central California
  de Castro, AI; Six, J; Plant, RE; Pena, JM
  REMOTE SENSING, 10 (11):10.3390/rs10111745 NOV 2018
• Isolating organic carbon fractions with varying turnover rates in temperate agricultural soils - A comprehensive method comparison
  Poeplau, C; Don, A; Six, J; Kaiser, M; Benbi, D; Chenu, C; Cotrufo, MF; Derrien, D; Gioacchini, P; Grand, S; Gregorich, E; Griepentrog, M; Gunina, A; Haddix, M; Kuzyakov, Y; Kuhnel, A; Macdonald, LM; Soong, J; Trigalet, S; Vermeire, ML; Rovira, P; van Wesemael, B; Wiesmeier, M; Yeasmin, S; Yevdokimov, I; Nieder, R
  SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY, 125 10-26; 10.1016/j.soilbio.2018.06.025 OCT 2018
• Legacy effects of long-term nitrogen fertilizer application on the fate of nitrogen fertilizer inputs in continuous maize
  Poffenbarger, HJ; Sawyer, JE; Barker, DW; Olk, DC; Six, J; Castellano, MJ
  AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT, 265 544-555; 10.1016/j.agee.2018.07.005 OCT 1 2018
• Potentials to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from Swiss agriculture
  Necpalova, M; Lee, J; Skinner, C; Buchi, L; Wittwer, R; Gattinger, A; van der Heijden, M; Mader, P; Charles, R; Berner, A; Mayer, J; Six, J
  AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT, 265 84-102; 10.1016/j.agee.2018.05.013 OCT 1 2018
• Links among warming, carbon and microbial dynamics mediated by soil mineral weathering
  Doetterl, S; Berhe, AA; Arnold, C; Bode, S; Fiener, P; Finke, P; Fuchslueger, L; Griepentrog, M; Harden, JW; Nadeu, E; Schnecker, J; Six, J; Trumbore, S; Van Oost, K; Vogel, C; Boeckx, P
  NATURE GEOSCIENCE, 11 (8):589-+; 10.1038/s41561-018-0168-7 AUG 2018
• Climate-smart sustainable agriculture in low-to-intermediate shade agroforests.
  Blaser WJ, Oppong J, Hart SP, Landolt J, Yeboah E, Six J.
  Nature Sustainability, volume 1, pages 234–239 (2018). doi: 10.1038/s41893-018-0062-8
• Assessing Short-Term Impacts of Management Practices on N2O Emissions From Diverse Mediterranean Agricultural Ecosystems Using a Biogeochemical Model
  Deng, J; Li, CS; Burger, M; Horwath, WR; Smart, D; Six, J; Guo, L; Salas, W; Frolking, S
  JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES, 123 (5):1557-1571; 10.1029/2017JG004260 MAY 2018
• Role of Soil Erosion in Biogeochemical Cycling of Essential Elements: Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus
  Berhe AA; Barnes RT; Six J; Marin-Spiotta E; Jeanloz R; Freeman KH (Ed.)
  ANNUAL REVIEW OF EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES, VOL 46, 46 521-548; 10.1146/annurev-earth-082517-010018 2018
• Improvement of soil structure through organic crop management, conservation tillage and grass-clover ley
  Puerta, VL; Pereira, EIP; Wittwer, R; van der Heijden, M; Six, J
  SOIL & TILLAGE RESEARCH, 180 1-9; 10.1016/j.still.2018.02.007 AUG 2018
• Farmer perceptions of plant-soil interactions can affect adoption of sustainable management practices in cocoa agroforests: a case study from Southeast Sulawesi
  Wartenberg, Ariani C.; Blaser, Wilma J.; Janudianto, K. N.; Roshetko, James M.; van Noordwijk, Meine; Six, Johan
  ECOLOGY AND SOCIETY, 23 (1):10.5751/ES-09921-230118 2018
• Nitrification and coupled nitrification-denitrification at shallow depths are responsible for early season N2O emissions under alternate wetting and drying management in an Italian rice paddy system
  Verhoeven, Elizabeth; Decock, Charlotte; Barthel, Matti; Bertora, Chiara; Sacco, Dario; Romani, Marco; Sleutel, Steven; Six, Johan
  SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY, 120 58-69; 10.1016/j.soilbio.2018.01.032 MAY 2018
• Assessing the degree of localness of food value chains
  Schmitt, Emilia; Dominique, Barjolle; Six, Johan
  AGROECOLOGY AND SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS, 42 (5):573-598; 10.1080/21683565.2017.1365800 2018
• Identifying viable nutrient management interventions at the farm level: The case of smallholder organic Basmati rice production in Uttarakhand, India 
  Ditzler, L.; Breland, T. A.; Francis, C.; Chakraborty, M.; Singh, D. K.; Srivastava, A.; Eyhorn, F.; Groot, J. C. J.; Six, J.; Decock, C.
  AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS, 161: 61-71  10.1016/j.agsy.2017.12.010 MAR 2018
• The century experiment: the first twenty years of UC Davis' Mediterranean agroecological experiment 
  Wolf, Kristina M.; Torbert, Emma E.; Bryant, Dennis; et al. 
  ECOLOGY, 99 (2): 503-503 10.1002/ecy.2105  FEB 2018
• Development of a field-deployable method for simultaneous, real-time measurements of the four most abundant N2O isotopocules 
  Ibraim, Erkan; Harris, Eliza; Eyer, Simon; et al. 
  ISOTOPES IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH STUDIES 54 (1):1-15 10.1080/10256016.2017.1345902  2018
• Phosphorus cycling within soil aggregate fractions of a highly weathered tropical soil: A conceptual model 
  Garland, Gina; Bunemann, E. K.; Oberson, A.; Frossard, E; Snapp, S; Chikowo, R; Six, J
  SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY, 116: 91-98 10.1016/j.soilbio.2017.10.007 JAN 2018
• Agroforestry systems can mitigate the severity of cocoa swollen shoot virus disease 
  Andres, Christian; Blaser, Wilma J.; Dzahini-Obiatey, Henry K.; et al. 
  AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT, 252: 83-92  10.1016/j.agee.2017.09.031 JAN 15 2018
  
  

• Sustainable agriculture across the world
• Carbon cycling in terrestrial and aquatic systems
• Soil fertility management
• Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture
• Global change effects terrestrial ecosystem functioning
• Bioeconomic modeling

• Soil microbiology
• Economic and social aspects of sustainable agriculture
• Plant-soil interactions
• Nutrient use efficiency