Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/2445/100094
Title: | Widening the analysis of Energy Return on Investment (EROI) in agro-ecosystems: Socio-ecological transitions to industrialized farm systems (the Vallès County, Catalonia, c.1860 and 1999) |
Author: | Galán del Castillo, Elena Padró i Caminal, Roc Marco Lafuente, Inés Tello, Enric Cunfer, Geoff Guzmán Casado, Gloria I. González de Molina, Manuel Krausmann, Fridolin Gingrich, Simone Sacristán Adinolfi, Vera Moreno-Delgado, David |
Keywords: | Sistemes agrícoles Biodiversitat Ecologia del paisatge Ús del sòl Agricultural systems Biodiversity Landscape ecology Land use |
Issue Date: | Oct-2016 |
Publisher: | Elsevier B.V. |
Abstract: | Energy balances of farm systems have overlooked the role of energy flows that remain within agro-ecosystems. Yet, such internal flows fulfil important socio-ecological functions, including maintenance of farmers themselves and agro-ecosystem structures. Farming can either give rise to complex landscapes that favour associated biodiversity, or the opposite. This variability can be understood by assessing several types of Energy Returns on Investment (EROI). Applying these measures to a farm system in Catalonia, Spain in 1860 and in 1999, reveals the expected decrease in the ratio of final energy output to total and external inputs. The transition from solar-based to a fossil fuel based agro-ecosystem was further accompanied by an increase in the ratio of final energy output to biomass reused, as well as an absolute increase of Unharvested Phytomass grown in derelict forestland. The study reveals an apparent link between reuse of biomass and the decrease of landscape heterogeneity along with its associated biodiversity. |
Note: | Versió postprint del document publicat a: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.05.012 |
It is part of: | Ecological Modelling, 2016, vol. 336, p. 13-25 |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2445/100094 |
Related resource: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.05.012 |
ISSN: | 0304-3800 |
Appears in Collections: | Articles publicats en revistes (Història Econòmica, Institucions, Política i Economia Mundial) |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|---|
662799.pdf | 2.66 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License