Agroecological and Market Roles of Biologic Diversity in the Cacao Agroforestry Systems of Bahia, Brazil

9422382威廉·E·杜利特尔·诺曼·D·约翰斯得克萨斯大学-奥斯汀生物多样性在巴西巴伊亚可可农林系统中的农业生态和市场作用这项研究将结合环境和市场因素来考察巴西巴伊亚东南部的农林系统，这些系统专门为国际市场生产可可。其目的是了解该地区农民用茂密、多样的本土雨林树冠(称为卡波卡姆)遮蔽可可树的理由，或者用更薄、均匀的进口树木覆盖，并加入化肥和其他技术投入，以实现现代化。研究方法将采用区域和农场规模的阶段。这项区域规模的分析将首次根据档案数据和航空摄影建立这两种农场类型的种植模式，该中心位于巴伊亚州伊塔库纳附近的巴西可可研究中心。这项分析将审查气候和土壤类型的自然环境梯度，以及信贷和技术可获得性的区域差异，以确定耕种类型。拟议的论文研究将有助于理解自然环境、产品市场、个体农民的态度和目标等因素在塑造农林复合系统中的生物多样性水平方面所起的相互作用。这一点尤其重要，因为许多热带国家的农业政策环境有利于发展以市场为导向的农林复合系统。

SBR-9422382 William E. Doolittle Norman D. Johns University of Texas-Austin Agroecological and Market Roles of Biologic Diversity in the Cacao Agroforestry Systems of Bahia, Brazil This research will integrate environmental and market factors to examine the agroforestry systems in southeastern Bahia, Brazil which produce cacao exclusively for an international market. The objective is to understand the rationale of the region's farmers to shade their cacao trees with either a dense, diverse canopy of native rainforest trees, known as cabrocagem, or to modernize with a thinner, homogeneous cover of imported trees and incorporate fertilizers and other technological inputs. The research methodology will employ regional and farm-scale phases. The regional-scale analysis will, for the first time, establish the cultivation patterns of the two farm types based on archive data and aerial photography held in Brazil's Center for Cacao Research near Itabuna, Bahia. This analysis will examine natural environmental gradients in climate and soil type along with regional variation in credit and technology availability for their role in determining the type of cultivation. The proposed dissertation research will contribute to the understanding of the interacting roles that factors of the natural environment, products markets, and individual farmer attitudes and goals play in shaping the level of biological diversity within an agroforestry system. This is especially significant since the agricultural policy environment of many tropical countries favors development of market-oriented systems of agroforestry.