This is a preprint, a preliminary version of a manuscript that has not completed peer review at a journal. Research Square does not conduct peer review prior to posting preprints. The posting of a preprint on this server should not be interpreted as an endorsement of its validity or suitability for dissemination as established information or for guiding clinical practice.
Article
Power-law productivity and positive regime shift of symbiotic and climate-resilient edible ecosystems
Masatoshi Funabashi
Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc.
Corresponding Author
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Transformative change in primary food production is urgently needed in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss. Although there are a growing number of studies aimed at global policymaking, actual implementations require on-site deep analyses of social-ecological feasibility. Here, we report the first implementations of low-input mixed polyculture of highly diverse crops (synecoculture) in Japan and Burkina Faso. Results showed that the self-organized primary production of ecosystems follows a power law and performs better compared with conventional monoculture methods in 1) promoting diversity and total quantity of products along with rapid increase of in-field biodiversity, especially in a semi-arid environment where local reversal of regime shift is observed; 2) a fundamental reduction of inputs and environmental load; and 3) ecosystem-based autonomous adaptation of the crop portfolio to climatic variability. The overall benefits imply substantial possibilities for a new typology of sustainable farming based on human-guided augmentation of ecosystem services and biodiversity maintenance mechanisms that could overcome the historical trade-off between productivity and biodiversity.
Keywords
Primary Food Production, Biodiversity Loss, Low-input Mixed Polyculture, Synecoculture
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Due to technical limitations, full-text HTML conversion of this manuscript could not be completed. However, the latest manuscript can be downloaded and accessed as a PDF.
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
- SupplementaryData1.csv
Supplementary Data 1
- SupplementaryData2.csv
Supplementary Data 2
- SupplementaryData3.csv
Supplementary Data 3
- SupplementaryData4.csv
Supplementary Data 4
- SupplementaryData5.csv
Supplementary Data 5
- SupplementaryData6.csv
Supplementary Data 6
- SupplementaryData7.csv
Supplementary Data 7
- ExtendedDataFigure1.jpg
- ExtendedDataFigure2.jpg
- ExtendedDataFigure3.jpg
- ExtendedDataFigure4.jpg
- ExtendedDataFigure5.jpg
- ExtendedDataFigure6.jpg
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
History
CURRENT STATUS: Posted
Version 1
Posted 15 Dec, 2020
No community comments so far
Metrics
Comments: 0
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
Learn more about our company.
This is a preprint. It has not completed peer review.
Article
Power-law productivity and positive regime shift of symbiotic and climate-resilient edible ecosystems
Masatoshi Funabashi
Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc.
Corresponding Author
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
History
CURRENT STATUS: Posted
Version 1
Posted 15 Dec, 2020
No community comments so far
Metrics
Comments: 0
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Transformative change in primary food production is urgently needed in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss. Although there are a growing number of studies aimed at global policymaking, actual implementations require on-site deep analyses of social-ecological feasibility. Here, we report the first implementations of low-input mixed polyculture of highly diverse crops (synecoculture) in Japan and Burkina Faso. Results showed that the self-organized primary production of ecosystems follows a power law and performs better compared with conventional monoculture methods in 1) promoting diversity and total quantity of products along with rapid increase of in-field biodiversity, especially in a semi-arid environment where local reversal of regime shift is observed; 2) a fundamental reduction of inputs and environmental load; and 3) ecosystem-based autonomous adaptation of the crop portfolio to climatic variability. The overall benefits imply substantial possibilities for a new typology of sustainable farming based on human-guided augmentation of ecosystem services and biodiversity maintenance mechanisms that could overcome the historical trade-off between productivity and biodiversity.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Due to technical limitations, full-text HTML conversion of this manuscript could not be completed. However, the latest manuscript can be downloaded and accessed as a PDF.