Garden System Research Articles

Local diversity and ecological distribution of arboreal Psocoptera (Insecta) in Sumatra, Indonesia, and implications for conservation

Collections of arboreal Psocoptera from the four major national parks of Sumatra and from a range of habitats outside the parks (including many of the predominant perennial crops) are appraised for diversity and species overlap between habitats. The most speciose family (Psocidae, 72 morphospecies) is investigated to determine possible surrogacy values in relation to the more taxonomically intractable ‘Other Psocoptera’ (17 families, 190 morphospecies), in its incidence in 16 different habitats and four main altitudinal zones. Considerable psocid richness persists in disturbed areas, and the values of protected areas and kebun gardening systems in their conservation are noted.

The forest garden system of Saparua island Central Maluku, Indonesia, and its role in maintaining tree species diversity

The dusuns of Central Maluku which improve fallows by planting spice trees such as clove (Syzygium aromaticum syn. Eugenia aromatica), nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), or coconut (Cocos nucifera) and tending spontaneous regeneration, are an example of a species-rich forest garden system in the eastern hemisphere of the Indonesian archipelago. In this paper we report the influence of site conditions, as slope inclination, soil type, and soil depth, on species composition, tree species diversity, and stand structure in old dusuns in four villages on Saparua, a small island south of Seram. In addition, we compared the floristic composition and stand structure of old dusuns with those of primary forest and advanced fallow vegetation (∼15-yr old). Soil conditions, particularly the depth of the mineral soil layer, and the relief have a major influence on species selection in dusuns. The most common species in old dusuns were absent both in primary forest and forest fallow. Floristic similarity between old dusuns and the unmanaged stands was low. However, in two study villages species richness of old dusuns was similar to that of the primary forest. Old dusuns showed an open structure with an average reduction of basal area by about half compared to the primary forest. Less than half of all individuals found above 10 cm DBH in old dusuns were planted. Only very few species were exclusively planted. Most species were both planted and emerged from spontaneous regeneration. The results indicate the important role of spontaneous regeneration in this forest garden system.

Transforming the ``model'' approach to upland rural development in Vietnam

Three quarters of Vietnam'sland area is in the uplands and foothills,which contain some of the poorest communes inthe country. The Ngoc Lac Natural ResourcesConservation and Management Project, in ThanhHoa Province, is one of several large uplandrural development projects that receivessubstantial funding from foreign governments inVietnam. The project was designed in 1995 toaddress the environmental constraints tosocio-economic development of Ngoc LacDistrict, while improving agriculturalproduction and natural resources management.During the first three years of operation, theproject focused on the introduction anddissemination of various ``model'' technologicalpackages for improved agriculture, forestry,and animal husbandry. These models includedtree nurseries, sloping agricultural landtechnologies, integrated fish pond-livestockpen-home garden systems, and several animalhusbandry activities. However, the distributionof the models was not socially equitable, thesustainability of the models by model farminghouseholds proved problematic, and the adoptionof these technology practices by non-modelhouseholds was quite low. Four lessons can beidentified from past rural developmentexperience: beware of ``participatory'' ruralappraisal, start small and go slowly, introducelimited technologies, and help farmers adaptthe technologies. There are two promisinginitiatives underway in Vietnam. These are theparticipatory curriculum development and theparticipatory technology developmentinitiatives of the Social Forestry SupportProgram.

«Dieu d'eau», eau du barrage. Les populations du Plateau Dogon face aux contraintes: pluviométrie, terre et démographie

AbstractDogon society, readily described as traditional by a certain ethnology, holds within it the seeds of an extraordinary flexibility which enables it to retain the essentials: its apparent conservatism and its underlying internal dynamism. Thus, the relative individualisation of the market gardening system makes up for the shortcomings of a cereal economy that is chronically in deficit; integration into the market is essential to improving the food situation.Dogon social structure is still withstanding the hammer blows of out-migration, monetisation, Islam and Christianity. Is it not the case that some who had left for good do sometimes return? Such is the case with some of the numerous peasants who were transferred by the Church during the drought years to southern Mali where the land was more fertile and the climate wetter. Conversely, the loss of population suffered by the highlands, the accelerated rate of Islamisation (or re-Islamisation) and Christianisation, together with the economic importance of dams are surely speeding up the break-up of the family as a farming unit. This process would be irreversible if the speculative and sometimes individual market-gardening promoted by themanandid not exist. The family as it is today will of course succumb by transforming itself but it still has some future which depends on a number of conditions: the control of grain and cattle by the chief, the deepening of urban poverty which makes emigrants return home, the solving of the problems of the conservation and marketing of shallots, the opening-up of the plain, an outlet for younger sons who have left themananand send back the cereal surplus from their new villages to the highlands. The fragile equilibrium established by the Dogon will survive so long as the dams continue to water these green islands lost in a sea of sandstone.

Sigiriya: research and management at a fifth-century garden complex

Abstract Sri Lanka enjoys a unique situation in Asian and world garden history, having at least three archaeologically well-preserved, planned garden systems, as well several other garden and building complexes, dating from a period of more than rooo years ago.1 Pre-eminent among them are the royal gardens at Sigiriya, ‘the Lion Mountain’, dating from the fifth century and probably the oldest surviving large-scale gardens in Asia. Although Sigiriya is a World Heritage site, the gardens are little known internationally. Even in Sri Lanka it is only as a result of the work under the Cultural Triangle Project through the 1980s that these gardens have become a subject of wide interest.

Rivers of Change: Essays on Early Agriculture in Eastern North America

I. RIVERS OF CHANGE Chapter 1. Intoduction: Fields of Opportunity, Rivers of Change II. AN INDEPENDENT CENTER OF PLANT DOMESTICATION Chapter 2. The Floodplain Weed Theory of Plant Domestication in Eastern North America Chapter 3. The Independent Domesticationof Indigenous Seed-Bearing Plants in Eastern North America Chapter 4. Is It an Indigene or a Foreigner? III. PREMAIZE FARMING ECONOMIES IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA Chapter 5. The Role of Chenopodium as a Domesticate in Premaize Garden Systems of the Eastern United States Chapter 6. Chenopodium berlandieri ssp. Jonesianum: Evidence for a Hopewellian Domesticate form Ash Cave, Ohio Chapter 7. The Economic Potential of Chenopodium berlandieri in Prehistoric Eastern North America Chapter 8. The Economic Potential of Iva annua in Prehistoric Eastern North America Chapter 9. Hopewellian Farmers of Eastern North America Chapter 10. In Search of Choupichoul, the Mystery Grain of the Natchez IV. SYNTHESIS Chapter 11. Origins of Agriculture in Eastern North America Chapter 12. Prehistoric Plant Husbandry in Eastern North America

Observer variation in the radiographic classification of fractures of the neck of the femur using Garden's system.

By means of Kappa statistics, we calculated the inter- and intra-observer variation in the classification of fractures of the neck of the femur according to Garden's system. Radiographs of 96 consecutive patients were assessed independently by six observers who agreed on classification for only 14 fractures (15%). The level of agreement was poor for the overall classification (Kappa = 0.39). When reducing Garden's system into non-displaced (Stage I and II) and displaced fractures (Stage III and IV) the level of agreement became acceptable (Kappa = 0.68). However, problems remain in distinguishing Stage II and Stage III fractures, and further improvements in the classification system are necessary.

Les jardins de case des provinces du Centre et du Sud du Cameroun : description et utilisation d'un système agroforestier traditionnel

Home gardens in the forest areas of the central and southern provinces of Cameroon are characterized by the rich biological diversity of local and introduced species. This study is based on several surveys and field observations of 150 households in 5 villages. It describes the main crops found in this garden system, their applications, and traditional processing methods, and proposes several species with multiple applications that could be introduced or developed in these home gardens.

Forest gardens in the Gunung Palung region of West Kalimanta, Indonesia

A critical need exists throughout the humid tropics for interdisciplinary research that collects, evaluates, and makes available to decision makers the information contained in locally developed land-use systems. One such system is the forest garden developed by residents of several villages in the Gunung Palung region of West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The forest gardens are part of a broader land-use spectrum that contains farms, home gardens, forest gardens, and forest extraction areas in a gradient leading away from the villages to the protected forests in the park. Over the past several years, while conducting a multidisciplinary study of this system, I have come to the conclusion that the forest gardens are a variant of the traditional home garden that have been developed by the local communities in response to the development of new economic markets. In this paper, I provide a baseline description of the study region, methods used, and the different types of forest gardens in the study site. I then conclude with discussions of related land-use systems throughout the world, how forest gardens differ from home gardens, how forest gardens might be formally defined, and future work that will be necessary for a better understanding of these forest garden systems.

Future of forest gardens in the Uvan uplands of Sri Lanka

Forest gardens are traditional agroecosystems in the humid tropics that have evolved a forestlike structure and as such are commonly thought to be a good example of sustainable agriculture. While this may be true in the sense of soil protection and maintenance of biodiversity, they are not necessarily maintainable in the context of competing land use in the landscape. Such appears to be the case of forest gardens in the uplands of Uva Province of Sri Lanka. This paper reports an agroecological analysis of forest gardens and other forms of land use in Uva, and discusses how this understanding can be used to make use of the good properties of forest gardens. It shows that although they have very real environmental and social benefits, they are unable to satisfy the material needs of a rural population undergoing demographic and cultural changes. However, the alternative land-use systems, both private smallholder and state owned, have serious deficiencies with respect to long-term sustainability, and it is essential to develop appropriate alternatives. It should be possible to design a smallholder farming system that incorporates the high productivity of market gardens (i.e., the cultivation of seasonal crops such as vegetables) with, at least, the high stability and biophysical sustainability of the forest garden. Considerable work still needs to be done on the design of such a system as well as the agency for its development and promotion. The paper treats the forest gardens of Uva as a case study from which some general conclusions can be drawn with respect to the conscious development of forest garden systems elsewhere in the tropics.

Cerianthus vogtiDanielssen, 1890 (Anthozoa: Ceriantharia). A species inhabiting an extended tube system deeply buried in deep-sea sediments off Norway

Abstract Box core sampling, dredging and photographic records of sea floor structures at 1244–2926 m depth in the Norwegian Sea show the presence of the tube-dwelling anthozoan Cerianthus vogti Danielssen, 1890 in an abundance of up to 3.5 specimens per m2. This species has not been reported since the original description. C. vogti builds an extended, branched, horizontal tube system, probably several metres long, below the oxic-anoxic boundary layer. This tube system is considered to be a kind of ‘gas pipeline’ through which CH4 and H2S might accumulate and pass to supply chemoautolithotrophic bacteria living in body tissue as symbionts or in the tube itself, i.e. a bacterial gardening system. Through each of these two processes C. vogti may satisfy its food requirements in the oligotrophic deep-sea environment.

Spider Colonization of Agroecosystems: Mode and Source

The means by which spiders arrive in newly cultivated fields were investigated in east Tennessee study plots through collections of cursorial and aerial immigrants into a garden system; through experimental manipulations of garden plots to distinguish between aerial and cursorial immigrants; and through censuses of the spider faunas of garden plots and of neighboring habitats in various stages of succession. The familial compositions of the aerial dispersers and cursorial dispersers differed significantly. Further, the majority of the spiders entering the garden plots arrived via ballooning (passive dispersal on air currents). Mark-recapture experiment results indicate that bordering habitats can contribute spiders if these are physiognomically similar. However, ≍50% of the spider species found in our garden plots were not found in nearby “natural habitats.” This represents a minimum estimate of the contribution of long-distance immigration. These data indicate that spider immigration into agricultural systems is not dependent on a neighboring reservoir (natural habitat).

Kandyan gardens of Sri Lanka

Kandyan Gardens (KG) or Kandyan Forest Gardens (KFG) of Sri Lanka represent a traditional system of perennial cropping which has been in practice for several centuries. It is essentially a system of mixed cropping with a variety of economically valuable groups of tree crops such as spices, fruits, medicinal plants and timber species. However, these systems are usually in small homestead holdings and are practised in a few districts, especially Kandy, Matale and Kurunegalle in the 'mid-country' region of Sri Lanka. In the district of Kandy, this is the most predominant cropping system and hence the name 'Kandyan Gardens' or 'Kandyan Forest Gardens'. The mixed forest-gardening system offers a highly diversified and economically viable form of land use. Similar systems are also being practised in several other densely populated parts of humid lowlands, for example, in India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea in South-east Asia [4, 5, 8, 9]. However, the Kandyan forest garden system is different from these other homegarden systems mostly in terms of the variety of plants grown. Moreover the farmers who practise the Forest garden systems in Sri Lanka enjoy a 'relatively better' level of living by virtue of returns from both the economic cash crops and the subsistence products. Presumably, with improved management, the system has the potential for increased production and better returns. This paper examines the situation with respect to the Kandyan garden system and endeavours to identify the directions of research for the improvement of the system. The data presented in the paper are based on a survey of 30 farms of the locality [7] and on results of mixed cropping experiments conducted by the minor export crops research project [2, 4,5,6].

Working in the garden system (abstract only)

No abstract available.

Multistoried agroforestry garden system in West Sumatra, Indonesia

The agroforestry garden system in Maninjau in West Sumatra is characterized by an intensive integration of forest species and commercial crops, forming a forest-like system. The intimate association of different species provides both subsistence and commercial products which supplement rice production. This complex agroforest is managed by the combination between cultural practices and respect of natural processes of vegetation production and reproduction. It represents a profitable production system and constitutes an efficient buffer between villages and protected forest. It is a good model of association between integration of forest resources and cultivation of cash crops in the form of a sustainable and flexible system.

Studies on vertical garden system: A new landscape concept for urban living space

Vertical gardens are becoming a common component in contemporary garden designs at urban living space because of shrinking land spaces. Successful growing of plants in vertical garden systems depends up on growing container, plants chosen, growing media, etc. Hence a study was carried out in the Department of Horticulture, Annamalai University, with the objectives to study the influence of Coir pith, Stockosorb and Geohumus as components of growing media along with FYM, Vermicompost and Leaf mould compost on growth and performance of ornamental plants for establishment of vertical garden and to study the performance of ornamental plants Viz., Philodendron erubescens Cv. ‘Gold’ and Polyscias fruticosa plants in wooden containers for establishment of vertical garden. The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design in wooden containers, with ten treatment combinations of various growing media mixtures comprising red soil, river sand as basic components in combination with organic manures (FYM, vermicompost, leaf mould compost, coir pith) and hydrogels (Stocksorb and Geohumus). The plant growth characters and ornamental value index were observed. Among the three ornamental plants used, Polyscias fruticosa and Philodendron erubescens are performed better as ornamental plants in vertical garden system with the growing media of Red soil: River sand: Vermicompost @ 1:1:1/2 + Stockosorb(25g).