Transcript The Argentinian pampas and agro

The Argentinian pampas and
agro-ecological approaches to
studying pollination of
entomophilous crops
Mariano Devoto
Outline
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My main interests
Focal species (description, importance)
Focal area
Climate conditions
Climate change scenarios
My expertise towards the project
What I want to get from this project
My interests
Focal species: soybean
Insect pollination can increase yield by 18-50%
Sown surface: 20,000,000 ha
Yield 2013/2014: 54,000,000 ton
10% grain world trade (105,000,000 tons)
49% of flour world trade (62,400,000 tons)
48% of oil world trade (8,900,000 tons)
Exports represent 5.5% of Argentina's GDP
Focal area: Pampean region
535 000 km²
Study sites
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Agro-ecosystem
Mosaic of crop fields (soybean, maize,
sunflower and lucerne), sown pastures, and
semi-natural grasslands used for live stock
grazing.
Temperate sub-humid (1022 mm/year).
Mean monthly temperatures: 7.2 °C in July to
23.8 °C in January.
Regional flora includes 25 % of exotic species.
Previous, current and future projects
in the area
2003-2007
Sunflower pollination
2006-2009
Grassland restoration
after agriculture
2008-2011
Impact of agriculture
2012-2015
Linear elements
in the landscape
2014-2016
Soybean pollination at
population, community
and landscape level
N-S temperature gradient
E-W rainfall gradient
Things are likely to get warmer…
…and wetter
My expertise towards the project
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Trained as an agriculture engineer
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Traditional pollination biology
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Community ecology
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Ecological networks (theory and practice)
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Environmental gradients (space and time)
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Climate change simulations
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Modeling stuff
What I want to get from this project
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Good science; interesting challenge
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Long-term international collaboration
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Synergy between projects
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Visitors to Argentina
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A heap of papers