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Agroecology: protecting, restoring, and promoting biodiversity

Guest Editors:
Jessica Knapp: Department of Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Andrea Sciarretta: Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy


BMC Ecology and Evolution called for submissions to our Collection on Agroecology: protecting, restoring, and promoting biodiversity. 

The global food system is the predominant driver of biodiversity loss. Food System Impacts on Biodiversity Loss, a 2021 Chatham House report, supported by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Compassion in World Farming, estimates that agriculture alone is the main threat to 86% of the 28,000 species at risk of extinction. To protect, restore and promote biodiversity, there is an increasing need to transition towards more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Jessica Knapp: Department of Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Dr. Knapp is an ecologist interested in how agricultural landscapes best support biodiversity and ecosystem functions, especially how pollinators and their multiple stressors (such as habitat loss, pesticides and climate change) affect pollination services and farmers' agricultural resilience. She enjoys interdisciplinary research, and her projects combine ecological field data and model predictions with psychology and economic valuations to understand the uptake and effectiveness of different pollinator conservation practices across Europe and under climate change scenarios. She is also interested in how agricultural practices expose bees to multiple pesticides and how these effects scale beyond traditional studies focusing on single substances in focal fields. Impact-driven, her research is transdisciplinary. She enjoys communicating and disseminating her work to multiple stakeholders: farmers, agricultural industries (levy boards, seed companies), land managers, beekeepers, scientists, and conservation organizations.
 

Andrea Sciarretta: Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy

Since 2013, Dr. Sciarretta has served as Associate Professor of General and Applied Entomology at the Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences at the University of Molise, Italy. His main research interests are in spatial ecology of insects in complex agro-ecosystems, using moths and fruit flies as model; biodiversity and systematic studies on Lepidoptera in the Palearctic and Afrotropical region, using integrative taxonomy (molecular + morphology); insect monitoring, with focus on traps development, optimization of monitoring networks, automatic monitoring systems; integrated plant protection in fruit crops and use of methods alternative to chemicals (mating disruption, mass trapping, attract and kill). 

About the collection

BMC Ecology and Evolution is calling for submissions to our Collection on Agroecology: protecting, restoring, and promoting biodiversity.

The global food system is the predominant driver of biodiversity loss. Food System Impacts on Biodiversity Loss, a 2021 Chatham House report, supported by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Compassion in World Farming, estimates that agriculture alone is the main threat to 86% of the 28,000 species at risk of extinction. To protect, restore and promote biodiversity, there is an increasing need to transition towards more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems.

To highlight this issue and support the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2: Zero hunger, 6: Clean water and sanitation, 12: Sustainable consumption and production, 13: Climate action, 14: Life below water, 15: Life on land, and 17: Partnerships for the goals, BMC Ecology and Evolution has launched this collection to bring together research on:

  • the development and implementation of sustainable agricultural practices that promote healthy ecosystems
  • upscaling agroecological practices
  • the impact of agroecology practices on pollinators
  • the role of consumers in agro-ecological food systems
  • matter and energy flows in agroecosystems
  • agroecology practices and soil management
  • the ecological management of plagues and diseases
  • ecological restoration in agricultural landscapes
  • the possible use of agroecology to achieve carbon neutrality
  • and agroforestry

Image credit:  Matt Stilwell / stock.adobe.com

  1. Crop raiding and livestock predation negatively impact the views of the local community towards wildlife conservation. Farmers across the African continent, especially those in rural regions, incur financial l...

    Authors: Birhanu Asaye, Wondimagegnehu Tekalign and Taye Dobamo
    Citation: BMC Ecology and Evolution 2024 24:85
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. Poor agricultural practices have drastically threatened insect pollinators’ biodiversity. Little is known in Tanzania about how different agricultural practices affect pollinators’ foraging behavior. This stud...

    Authors: Elvillah William Rweyemamu, Maulid Walad Mwatawala, George Muhamba Tryphone, Marc De Meyer, Sija Kabota and Patroba Masatu Bwire
    Citation: BMC Ecology and Evolution 2024 24:9
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. The global food system is the predominant driver of biodiversity loss. Consequently, there is an increasing need to transition towards more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems to protect, restore and p...

    Authors: Jessica Knapp and Andrea Sciarretta
    Citation: BMC Ecology and Evolution 2023 23:29
    Content type: Editorial Published on:

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Agroecology: protecting, restoring, and promoting biodiversity" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.