Evaluation of agrobiodiversity and its trophic interactions as an indicator of sustainability in productive systems

Abstract

Agriculture has intervened, modifi ed, and simplifi ed ecosystems to obtain some goods and services. Conventional o industrial agriculture emphasizes the use ofexternal inputs and the homogeneity of the landscape; agroecology promotes biodiversity to maximize biological interactions and their ecosystem services. The objectivewas to evaluate agrobiodiversity and its trophic interactions as an indicator of sustainability by comparing: industrial productive systems, and agro-ecological and seminatural sites in the southern Pampas region. Samples were taken of mammals, birds, arthropods, and vegetation; with different indices, the food chains and the stateof the system were evaluated. The results show that agricultural intensifi cation simplifi es landscape structure with a loss of biodiversity and the absence of functionalgroups (herbivores and nectarivorous). In agroecological wheat, the highest density of links was found and in agroecological pastures the highest grouping coeffi cient,this reveals greater cohesion and integration among the components of the system and more mechanisms of self-regulation. The agroecological diversity Index showedno differences between the management, this could be related to the presence of a biological corridor in the conventional fi eld that would be increasing biodiversity. Thekey to achieving sustainable agroecosystems is to procure biodiverse landscapes with patches and corridors of shrub and herbaceous species