Thomas Cherico Wanger, PhD

Associate Professor | Westlake University | China

Adjunct Senior Researcher | University of Göttingen | Germany

时间：2020年1月10日（周五）晚19:00

地点：中国农业大学资环学院2-102

联系人：刘云慧  宇振荣

电话：010-62734819

Abstract

The growing demands on agricultural yields to secure the required food, fibre, and bioenergy leads not only to benefits for governments, corporations, and farmers, but also to environmental degradation. These trade-offs between economic, social, and ecological factors are affected by climate change and are critical determinants of crop production strategies. For example, the choice of fertilizer and pesticide inputs determines the amount of pests in a system, resulting crop yields, income structures, but also agricultural impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services such as pollination. Instead of these chemically intensive production systems, agricultural diversification has been advocated as an alternative to protect ecosystem services and thereby enhance crop yields.

Dr Wanger will speak about the role of agricultural diversification as a potential solution to climate-related yield declines in cocoa, a major trade commodity used to make chocolate. Past work in Indonesia, the third largest cocoa producer globally has shown that effective shade management of plantations can produce high yields and benefit biodiversity. In his current work, he use hand-pollination of cocoa to increase yields and farmers’ income in Indonesia in diversified cocoa production systems. He will also speak about previous work on biological pest control in Asia’s rice systems, future research plans, and a recent global research initiative – the Global Agroforestry Network – to understand and improve production in agroforestry systems globally through coordinated research activities.

Bio

Dr. Tom Wanger is a global agro-ecologist and interdisciplinary scientist working as Associate Professor at Westlake University, China and ‘Senior Researcher’ in the Agroecology Group at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Tom is a graduate from the University of Adelaide, Australia and the National University of Singapore, Singapore (PhD, Environmental Sciences and Statistics) and former Postdoc at Stanford University, US & SLU, Sweden. Tom and his students are working broadly on solutions for sustainable natural resource use. Specifically, his research and teaching is focused on sustainable crop production strategies, land use change impacts on biodiversity and people, stakeholder perceptions and deep learning. Besides his career in research, Tom also is the Research Director of AMAP Brazil and previously held senior management positions e.g., at WWF and a technology start-up.