Emergent properties as system indicators6/26/2023 The longest running ICLS experiment in subtropical Brazil, it just completed its 20th anniversary.Īlthough crop and livestock production have co-existed and supported each other for millennia, the re-coupling of these components to form more biodiverse agroecosystems has been proposed to regain ecosystem services lost after decades of specialization. Upon my arrival, I was assigned to develop my MSc project at Fazenda do Espinilho, where a long-term ICLS protocol has been underway since 2001 (aka the Tupã experiment, for the Tupanciretã district where the farm is located). Paulo Carvalho, the GPEP studies grazing management, plant-animal interactions and integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS). The Pampas provide habitat for hundreds of bird species that rely directly on its preservation. Right: bird nest on top of a fence in the middle of a native grassland, with several native plant species blooming in the background. As a gaucho myself (a person who was born in Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost State of Brazil, neighboring Uruguay and Argentina) I grew up observing the grazing cattle and sheep on the Pampa grasslands of my family’s ranch (Figure 1).įigure 1: Left: Braford cattle on native Pampa grasslands. With their catchy slogan, “Sharing Opportunities in Grazing Science”, the Grazing Ecology Research Group (GPEP) at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul seemed like the perfect fit for me. From single bites to emergent propertiesĪfter graduating in Agronomy at the Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil, in 2014, I decided to pursue my childhood dream of becoming a scientist. But before I explain, let me backtrack a little and tell you how I got there in the first place. Finding myself among so many smart UCD researchers, I timidly answered that I aimed to unravel the so-called “emergent properties” of integrated crop-livestock systems. During dinner – which was delicious, by the way – people asked about my PhD research. I was very excited to make new friends, and also to taste Jorge’s version of the dish, a Brazilian classic that I found out is also a typical Mexican combination ( arroz e feijão or arroz y frijoles, respectively). Caity, back then a PhD student at the Gaudin Lab who I met in Brazil years ago, had invited me to eat rice & beans at Jorge’s house with some of her friends. Especially when you declare to have traveled to “do a Sandwich”, which is a common usage in Portuguese). In Brazil, where I come from, we call this kind of exchange a ‘Sandwich PhD’ (weird, I know. I had just arrived in town for my six-month exchange with the Gaudin Agroecology Lab at UC Davis.
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