Soil erosion in the humid tropics: A systematic quantitative review

Plant-soil interactions in multistrata agroforestry in the humid tropics

Multistrata agroforestry systems with tree crops comprise a variety of land use systems ranging from plantations of coffee, cacao or tea with shade trees to highly diversified homegardens and multi-storey tree gardens. Research on plant-soil interactions has concentrated on the former. Tree crop-based land use systems are more efficient in maintaining soil fertility than annual cropping systems...

Implications of organic management on yield,tuber quality and soil health in yams in the humid tropics

Global consciousness of food safety, health and environmental issues has stimulated interest in alternative agricultural systems like organic farming. Since information on organic farming of tuber crops is meagre, a field experiment was conducted in split plot design over a five-year period at Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, India. The aims were to evaluate the impact of organic, c...

Soils of the Humid and Sub-humid Tropics

The hydrology of the humid tropics

655 Fresh water is under pressure in the humid tropics from population growth, land use and climate change, all of which are influenced by humans. These pressures are likely to have profound consequences. Here we present a research vision for the humid tropics as an outcome of a community workshop held in Hawaii in March 2011. This report includes various perspectives from the international sci...

Designing Agricultural Ecosystems for the Humid Tropics

Warmth, moisture, and constancy are the environmental factors responsible for the potentially high productivity of the humid tropical lowlands. Ironically, they are also the biome’s greatest ecological constraints to agriculture. Chemical weathering increases with temperature and is three to six times faster in the tropics than in the temperate zone (125, 250). This frequently leads to the deve...