Agriculture Biogeography
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Progress report Progress in Physical Geography 1–17 ª The Author(s) 2018 Agriculture Biogeography: An Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav emerging discipline in search DOI: 10.1177/0309133318776493 of a conceptual framework journals.sagepub.com/home/ppg Liliana Katinas Museo de La Plata, Argentina Jorge V. Crisci Museo de La Plata, Argentina Abstract The challenge of increasing food production to keep pace with demand, while retaining the essential eco- logical integrity of production systems, requires coordinated action among science disciplines. Thus, 21st- century Agriculture should incorporate disciplines related to natural resources, environmental science, and life sciences. Biogeography, as one of those disciplines, provides a unique contribution because it can generate research ideas and methods that can be used to ameliorate this challenge, with the concept of relative space providing the conceptual and analytical framework within which data can be integrated, related, and struc- tured into a whole. A new branch of Biogeography, Agriculture Biogeography, is proposed here and defined as the application of the principles, theories, and analyses of Biogeography to agricultural systems, including all human activities related to breeding or cultivation, mostly to provide goods and services. It not only encompasses the problem that land use seems scarcely to be compatible with biodiversity conservation, but also a substantial body of theory and analysis involving subjects not strictly related to conservation. Our aim is to define the field and scope of Agriculture Biogeography, set the foundations of a conceptual framework of the discipline, and present some subjects related to Agriculture Biogeography. We present, in summary form, a concept map which summarizes the relationship between agriculture systems and Biogeography, and delineates the current engagement between Agriculture and Biogeography through the discussion of some perspectives from Biogeography and from the agriculture research. Keywords Agriculture Biogeography, anthropogenic biomes, center of origin, climatic change, Countryside Biogeogra- phy, new discipline I. Introduction things to different researchers, and thus it has many ‘schools’ or disciplines. Some examples Biogeography attempts to document and are Conservation Biogeography, Dispersal explain spatial patterns of biological diversity and how they change over timeframes ranging from decades to millions of years – from genes Corresponding author: to communities and ecosystems – across gradi- Liliana Katinas, Divisio´n Plantas Vasculares, Museo de La ents of area, isolation, latitude, climate, depth, Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, 1900 La Plata, Argentina. and elevation. Biogeography means different Email: [email protected] 2 Progress in Physical Geography XX(X) Biogeography, Island Biogeography, and Phy- In 2002, Paul Crutzen suggested that we had logeography. Despite the multiplicity of ideas in left the Holocene and had entered the Anthro- the field, Biogeography is characterized by a pocene because of the global environmental central theme or metaphor that provides a cohe- effects of increased human population and eco- sive common reference point for researchers: nomic development. Our world is changing at the concept of relative space (Crisci et al., an increasing pace, with the population pro- 2003). The concept of relative space is jected to reach nine billion by 2050 (FAO, expressed as a relationship among a set of 2012), and rapidly growing global demand for objects; so, there are as many spaces as relation- food, fiber, and biofuels. ships among sets of objects, physical distance Despite the obvious benefits of Agriculture to being one of these spaces (Gatrell, 1983). There people, modern agricultural practices also are numerous spaces of interest to the agricul- brought with them a high environmental impact ture research that may be generated, analyzed, that took humanity at a crossroad. The two inter- and depicted graphically by biogeographical connected problems that we face are the need approaches, such as: geographic space (e.g. for food production and the loss of biodiversity anthropogenic biomes represented by maps); (as one of several environmental issues at con- phylogenetic space (e.g. place of origin of flict with increasing production) in pursuit of domesticates and identification of wild relatives this need. Biogeographical knowledge plays evidenced by ancestor–descendant relation- an important role as a new way to approach the ships); ecological space (e.g. future crop distri- challenge that Agriculture faces today, moving bution predicted by modeling); and time-space the central focus from the natural to rural land- (e.g. time of origin of domesticates using the scapes without a negative connotation. Agricul- molecular clock). Historically, the geographic tural knowledge is needed as a wake-up call for space has been central to Biogeography, but biogeographers to develop new methods for tak- more recently the other spaces are also playing ing up this challenge. Agriculture Biogeography important roles. is an attempt to make discernible problems that Therefore, Biogeography can provide are hidden in the borders of both disciplines. some conceptual tools and methods for Agri- Why make a new branch of Biogeography? culture for generating cross-disciplinary There is growing recognition that new research. However, with very few exceptions, approaches and different types of expertise are the approaches of Biogeography are more needed to renew science and for bridging focused on natural rather than on agricultural divides within disciplines. Any metaphor, con- systems. Here, we propose Agriculture Bio- cept, theory, and new discipline implies a whole geography as a new discipline that embraces that cannot be adequately explained by the this neglected aspect of both Agriculture and reduction to the properties of its parts; nor is it Biogeography. Agriculture Biogeography is the simple sum of those parts. We expect that defined here as the application of the princi- the establishment of Agriculture Biogeography ples, theories, and analyses of Biogeography will promote a community of scholars, who are to agricultural systems, including all human often entrenched in their ways and less willing activities related to breeding or cultivation, to look outside their realm, that will shape new mostly to provide goods and services (e.g. and different kinds of research. Biogeographers crops, poultry, livestock, pets, forestry, aqua- need to acquire more focus and a more positive culture). What is the value in housing Agri- look towards Agriculture to generate new culture and Biogeography under the same approaches involving an efficient use of space. umbrella framework? Agriculture, on the other hand, needs to Katinas and Crisci 3 acknowledge the contributions of Biogeogra- Research Council, ‘Transforming agricultural phy; a quick search of the agricultural depart- education for a changing world’, proposes that ments’ websites of worldwide universities Agriculture should be redefined to include dis- shows that their curricula lack courses on ciplines such as forestry and nutrition, as well as Biogeography. related areas in natural resources, environmen- The interface between Agriculture and Bio- tal science, and life sciences. geography has been crossed often in both direc- Agriculture Biogeography, as one of these tions, a passage signaled more by the use of related disciplines, would constitute a bridge some methods and approaches than by any between Agriculture and Biogeography that sharp demarcation in content. Yet, in spite of encompasses not only the problem that land use this, the degree of direct, collaborative interac- seems scarcely to be compatible with biodiver- tion between agriculture researchers and bio- sity conservation, but also a substantial body of geographers has remained surprisingly limited. theory and analysis involving subjects not The emerging impression is that a scientific strictly related to conservation, such as the whole (Agriculture Biogeography) greatly search for the centers of origin of domesticated exceeds the sum of its parts (Agriculture plus plants and animals and their future distribution. Biogeography). As with any discipline, Agriculture Biogeo- Our aim is to set the foundations of a con- graphy can be characterized by the kinds of ceptual framework of Agriculture Biogeogra- questions its practitioners ask. Some of these phy, define its field and scope, and present questions include the following. some subjects related to the discipline. We will develop two arguments. First, Agriculture ben- 1. Where did the current domesticated efits (conceptually and methodologically) using plants and animals originate from? the methods of Biogeography, mostly already Where were their distribution areas? in use, to improve its practices. Second, Bio- Where were their domestication cen- geography needs to apply a more positive ters? Where were their dispersal routes? vision to agricultural sites in understanding Where can wild species of the current that they are fundamental for food production domesticated plants and animals be and, therefore, for our own species survival. found? These arguments are presented through various 2. How do current agricultural activities subject matters. We wish to focus attention on modify ecosystems and organism the need for deleting the boundaries between distribution? Agriculture and Biogeography in