Contrary to what BBacon seems to think, there has been extensive
research on this for many years. I did a few literature searchs,
restricting it to corn, to avoid an avalanch of hits. If anyone wants
me to send them the references let me know.
Here are some references you wanted to know about re: soils and No-till mania
for instance:
BIOSCIENCE Vol 48#5, May 1998 "...Hawksworth is director of the United
Kingdom's International Mycological Institute and president of the
International Union of Biological Sciences. Science, he said, knows
"something...of the functional interconnections of different groups of
organisms - you see straightaway that fungi are very important there at the
base - but the ignorance is absolutely huge when we start to look at
numbers of species of bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and so on, which are
clearly crucial in how systems operate. When we start to look at what
happens in soil, we even lack the techniques for examining biodiversity in
a standardized way and relating what the organisms do to functions of
ecological relevance." " end quote, p 348.
There may be plenty of 'information' available; however its ecological
relevance may yet need to be teased into a communicable framework for
growers and policy wonks.
BIOSCIENCE Vol 47#8, Sept,1997
Primary Productivity: the link to global health (pps 477-480)
"More surprisingly, however, the ecophysiologists admitted they had not
been paying enough attention to what was happening below ground - the
productivity of root systems and associated nutrient cycling. (p479)
"Jacques Roy, of the French National Research Center, adds, "To be
useful, ecological models need to incorporate information on the control of
primary productivity. Among the [different controls], atmospheric carbon
dioxide and biodiversity are currently given high research priority. In
most cases, trophic interactions, particularly in the soil, are found to be
a key, but insufficiently understood, factor." (p.480)
BIOSCIENCE Vol 48#7, July, 1998
The Forest Regeneration Puzzle - Biological mechanisms in humus
layer and forest vegetation dynamics (pps 523-530)
"Although theoreticians have tended to overlook the possible role of ground
and belowground organisms, such organisms are also likeky to be involved in
the processes by which distubances and the resulting plant successions
maintain these ecosystems (Finnegan 1984),..." (p 523)
Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 10:56:02 +0000
From: "Steve Diver" <steved@ncatark.uark.edu>
Subject: Re: No-Till Mania and American Gothic
Note: I am forwarding this message from Guy Ames fyi.
Reply to: guya@ncatark.uark.edu
excepted from Guy's posting:
>And of those I consider soil erosion numero uno, since it is the hardest
>to >remedy. Nature does not plow.
Hello Guy, Thanks for the cogent summary and reminder that tillage is
not a mimic of natural systems agriculture.
Cultural domination (e.g.war, industrialism, urbanization, globalism) that
results in farmer removal may not be easier to remedy than soil erosion.
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