A multi-criteria index for ecological evaluation of tropical agriculture in southeastern Mexico

PLoS One. 2014 Nov 18;9(11):e112493. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0112493. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to generate an easy to use index to evaluate the ecological state of agricultural land from a sustainability perspective. We selected environmental indicators, such as the use of organic soil amendments (green manure) versus chemical fertilizers, plant biodiversity (including crop associations), variables which characterize soil conservation of conventional agricultural systems, pesticide use, method and frequency of tillage. We monitored the ecological state of 52 agricultural plots to test the performance of the index. The variables were hierarchically aggregated with simple mathematical algorithms, if-then rules, and rule-based fuzzy models, yielding the final multi-criteria index with values from 0 (worst) to 1 (best conditions). We validated the model through independent evaluation by experts, and we obtained a linear regression with an r2 = 0.61 (p = 2.4e-06, d.f. = 49) between index output and the experts' evaluation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Agriculture / methods
  • Agriculture / standards*
  • Algorithms*
  • Biodiversity
  • Ecological Parameter Monitoring / methods*
  • Fertilizers / analysis
  • Mexico
  • Pesticides / analysis
  • Soil / chemistry
  • Trees / physiology
  • Tropical Climate*

Substances

  • Fertilizers
  • Pesticides
  • Soil

Grants and funding

Financial support was obtained from the Conacyt-SEMARNAT Project “Uso sustentable de los recursos naturales en la frontera sur de México” (Sustainable use of natural resources on the southern border of Mexico) (code SEMARNAT-2002-C01-1109). El Colegio de la Frontera Sur provided infrastructural resources. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.