There was an emphasis on coffee growing and all global agriculture, towards a more holistic approach to production. In addition to “ecological”, many farmers to include biodynamic and/or regenerative practices that work with Earth to ensure its health and that we do not accept more than we put in. These methods avoid pesticides and chemicals that can harm both the earth and what it produces.
AND new research He discovers how complicated these practices can be. The last study of the coffee farm in Puerto Rico has been shown that some ecological forces are not linear and can drastically affect the manufacturer’s management strategies.
As reported Learning every dayScientists from the School of Environment and Sustainability University of Michigan studied interactions between three different species of ants, as well as predators within 30 years at a coffee farm in Puerto Rico. Pests management strategies on farm, especially ecologically focused, require understanding of internal processing of various species to accurately predict which will be dominant at the moment.
Some species of ants act as a kind of pest control for farmers. In these specific studies, two species acted for this purpose, thus understanding when they are more energetic and present, they can better equip farmers with pest management strategies.
But scientists have found that the interactions between four species were too elaborate to simplify forecasting.
In the study, scientists looked at two types of ecological behavior. The first is the constant cyclical behavior of the loop, which is essentially a game of the dominant species rock, paper, scars, where A Beats B, B Beats C and C Beats A. The second is coexistence through predators, in which the predator feeds on a given species, has an impact on non -reference species.
On the Puerto Rican farm, there is a special species of ants that dominates the other two, and the predator’s fly feeds on this particular species. This adds chaos to the ecological system, and each of the four studied species can be dominant at some point. This is due to the coexistence model through a predator.
But with the change in the appearance of the predator and his victim, he creates oscillating in dominant species. By combining these two systems, scientists were able to track which ecological behavior worked at a certain time and theoretically, and then predict which species would dominate.
If so, information can better lend a hand farmers in a strategy, when pests’ intervention was necessary in comparison with a favorable species of ants, and thus naturally performing most pests.
First of all, the study shows how complicated organic agricultural practices can be. It is not as elementary as composting and avoiding pesticides. It requires intimate understanding of the environment that can be tumultuous. This is another proof that producers act somewhere between agriculture and craftsmanship, and therefore they should receive payment for more work.
