A Multi-Criteria Index for Ecological Evaluation of Tropical Agriculture in Southeastern Mexico
| Autor: | Salvador Hernández-Daumás, Esperanza Huerta, Ben de Jong, Christian Kampichler, Susana Ochoa-Gaona, Violette Geissen |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2014 |
| Předmět: |
Index (economics)
agroecosystems Ecological Parameter Monitoring lcsh:Medicine Trees land-use change Soil Agricultural land farming systems Pesticides lcsh:Science Fertilizers Mexico Agroecology biodiversity Tropical Climate Multidisciplinary sustainability indicators Ecology business.industry lcsh:R Ecology and Environmental Sciences fuzzy-logic Biology and Life Sciences Agriculture Alterra - Soil physics and land use cropping systems food security Bodemfysica en Landbeheer Soil Physics and Land Management Tillage Agricultural soil science soil properties Environmental science lcsh:Q business Soil conservation Algorithms management Research Article Alterra - Bodemfysica en landgebruik |
| Zdroj: | PLoS ONE 9 (2014) 11 PLoS ONE, 9(11) PLoS ONE PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 11, p e112493 (2014) |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| Popis: | The aim of this study was to generate an easy to use index to evaluate the ecological state of agricultural land from a sustainability perspective. We selected environmental indicators, such as the use of organic soil amendments (green manure) versus chemical fertilizers, plant biodiversity (including crop associations), variables which characterize soil conservation of conventional agricultural systems, pesticide use, method and frequency of tillage. We monitored the ecological state of 52 agricultural plots to test the performance of the index. The variables were hierarchically aggregated with simple mathematical algorithms, if-then rules, and rule-based fuzzy models, yielding the final multi-criteria index with values from 0 (worst) to 1 (best conditions). We validated the model through independent evaluation by experts, and we obtained a linear regression with an r(2) = 0.61 (p = 2.4e-06, d.f. = 49) between index output and the experts' evaluation. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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