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Ph.D. Soil Science 1991 North Carolina State University |
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| Erick Fernandes is an assistant professor of tropical cropping systems and agroforestry. Prior to joining the Cornell faculty in 1995, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and Leader of NCSU's Tropical Soils Research Program in the Brazilian Amazon. His research focused on improving cropping systems to reduce deforestation and to rehabilitate abandoned land in the Brazilian Amazon (1991-1995). He worked at the International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) where he helped design and implement the first global inventory of tropical agroforestry systems (1982-1986) and was seconded from Cornell University to ICRAF (1998-1999) to Coordinate the Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ASB) Program of the CGIAR. Professor Fernandes is a member of the National Science Foundation's 'doctoral dissertation' review panel in Environmental Biology. He has also contributed as a consulting editor to the journal Agroforestry Systems and is a referee for Acta Amazonica, Soil Science Society of America Journal and World Development. He has worked with smallholder farmers, national and international agricultural and natural resource organizations and donor agencies in 16 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He is currently a scientific advisor to the GEF-funded program of ProNatura, a Brazilian NGO. | ||
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RESEARCH PROGRAM Food production for growing populations in the tropics will result in more land under agriculture. As most of the arable land in the tropics is currently occupied, the pressure is on lands with infertile soils and currently occupied by tropical forests. The rapidly increasing numbers of smallholder farmers on marginal lands, will need technologies designed with a good knowledge of the biophysical, chemical, and physiological constraints to food and wood production. An expanded understanding of tropical soil management and conservation will also be crucial to the successful development of technologies for the rehabilitation and productive use of degraded and abandoned lands. Unsustainable cropping systems can be expected to have a global impact on society and the environment via increased migration, loss of biodiversity, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. A key research challenge is to design and disseminate systems with appropriate crop associations and rotations that maximize soil cover, rooting depth and nutrient utilization efficiency. To make these systems attractive to farmers, I address both productivity and socioeconomic factors. Where farmers are unable to use external inputs, reduced-input production systems will be needed. The rediscovery, selection and use of traditional food crop species, the harnessing of the beneficial effects of mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing symbionts, and the development and use of integrated nutrient and pest management strategies will enhance the resilience of these systems. I hypothesize that such systems will provide farmers with access to good amounts of calories and nutrients even during severe outbreaks of pests, drought, and years of low cash crop prices. My current research focuses on collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches with researchers and farmers to develop and test appropriate cropping systems in the context of farming landscapes in the Brazilian Amazon and Madagascar. |
Integrated Nutrient Management in Agroforestry Systems. SCAS 691 Principles and Practice of Agroforestry. CSS/NTRES/HORT 415 Co-taught with Prof. Ken Mudge and Dr. Louise Buck. Ecology of Agricultural systems. CSS/BIOES 473 Co-taught with Prof. Allison Power. |
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PUBLICATIONS 2000 Fernandes, E.C.M.; Perin, R.and Wandelli, E.; (in press) Designing and establishing agrosilvopastoral systems to rehabilitate abandoned pastureland in the Brazilian Amazon. Agroforestry Systems Ingram, J.S.I. and Fernandes, E.C.M. (in press). Managing Carbon Sequestration in Soils. Agriculture, Ecosystems and the Environment. Barros, E., Neves, A., Blanchart, E.; Fernandes, E.C.M., Wandelli, E. and Lavelle, P. (in press) Soil macro and mesofauna dynamics in agroforestry systems on degraded pastureland in the Brazilian Amazon. Agroforestry Systems. Rueda-Maldonado, B., Blake, R. and Fernandes, E.C.M. Best bet practices for agrosilvopastoral systems with dual purpose cattle in the humid and sub-humid tropics of Latin America. Agroforestry Systems (submitted). Fernandes, E.C.M. (in prepartion) The effect of rock phosphate and arbuscular mycorrhizae on the growth of 5 tropical leguminous tree and pasture species on acid soils Fernandes, E.C.M. (in preparation) The effect of shoot pruning on mycorrhizal infection, nodulation and growth of 5 tropical leguminous tree and pasture species on acid soils Fernandes, E.C.M. (in preparation) Growth, biomass production and nutrient accumulation of 15 provenances of Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Walp. on a typic Paleudult. 1995-1999 (Selected publications) Gallagher, R.S., Fernandes, E.C.M. and McCallie, E. (1999) Weed management through short-term improved fallows in tropical agroecosystems. Agroforestry Systems. 47: 197-221. Styger, E., Rakotoarimanana, J.E.M., Rabevohitra, R. and Fernandes, E.C.M. (1999) Indigenous fruit trees of Madagascar: potential components of agroforestry systems to improve human nutrition and restore biological diversity. Agroforestry Systems. 46: 289-310. Fernandes, E.C.M. (1999) Integrated farming systems to increase and sustain food production in the tropics. Sustainable Agriculture Solutions. 268-275. Novello Press, London. Fernandes, E.C.M., Motavalli, P., Castilla, C., Mukurumbira, L. (1997) Management control of soil organic matter dynamics in tropical land-use systems. Geoderma. 79: 49-67. Fernandes, E.C.M., Biot,Y., Castilla, C., Canto, A.C, Matos, J.C., Garcia, S., Perin, R. and Wandelli, E. (1997) The impact of selective logging and forest conversion for subsistence agriculture and pastures terrestrial nutrient dynamics in the Amazon. Ciencia e Cultura. 49 (1): 34-47. Fernandes, E.C.M. and Matos, J.C. (1995) Agroforestry strategies for alleviating soil chemical constraints to food and fiber production in the Brazilian Amazon. In: Seidl, P.R., Gottlieb, O.R. and Kaplan, M.A.C. (eds.) Chemistry of the Amazon: Biodiversity, Natural Products, and Environmental Issues. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC. pp 34-50. |
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