Historical changes of energy input into agroecosystems and their landscape ecological consequences, the Lingen/Emsland County (West Germany) case study

• Published in: Agriculture, ecosystems & environment ecosystems & environment, 1988, Vol.20 (4), p.245-258
• Main Author: Mizgajski, Andrzej
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: agriculture; crop production; economic development; ecosystems; energy cost of activities; environmental impact statements; grains; intensification; landscapes; quantitative analysis
• ISSN: 0167-8809; 1873-2305
• DOI: 10.1016/0167-8809(88)90162-4

The present work attempts to associate landscape development with the amount of energy that reaches an agro-ecosystem. An analysis has been made of energy introduced into the system at three historical stages in the agricultural intensification of winter grain production. The energetic inputs needed to transform the ecosystem in connection with afforestation, water amelioration and soil improvement through deep ploughing have been estimated. The results show that energy inputs increase with increasing intensification of agriculture, but so also does the effectiveness of their utilisation. At the same time there is a decrease in the input-output ratio of the energetic value of organic matter. The amount of kinetic energy introduced annually to change the ecosystem is markedly smaller than that of thermal energy associated with grain production. It is kinetic energy, however, that is of primary importance for landscape development, as the flux of this energy, introduced into the agro-ecosystem by man, considerably exceeds the kinetic energy of natural processes. In contrast, the thermal energy introduced by man, is only a fraction of the natural thermal energy reaching the agro-ecosystem and hence is of minor significance as a cause of permanent changes of the landscape.