HARNESSING ECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES AND PHYSIOLOGIC MECHANISMS IN DIVERSIFYING AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS FOR SUSTAINABILITY:EXPERIENCE FROM STUDIES DEPLOYING NATUR-EBASED SOLUTIONS IN SCOTLAND

To achieve the triple challenge of food security,reversing biodiversity declines plus mitigating and adapting to climate change,there is a drive to embed ecological principles into agricultural,value-chain practices and decisionmaking.By diversifying cropping systems at several scales there is potential to decrease reliance on inputs,provide resilience to abiotic and biotic stress,enhance plant,microbe and animal biodiversity,and mitigate against climate change.In this review we highlight the research performed in Scotland over the past 5 years into the impact of the use of ecological principles in agriculture on sustainability,resilience and provision of ecosystem functions.We demonstrate that diversification of the system can enhance ecosystem functions.Soil and plant management interventions,including nature-based solutions,can also enhance soil quality and utilization of legacy nutrients.Additionally,this is facilitated by greater reliance on soil biological processes and trophic interactions.We highlight the example of intercropping with legumes to deliver sustainability through ecological principles and use legumes as an exemplar of the innovation.We conclude that there are many effective interventions that can be made to deliver resilient,sustainable,and diverse agroecosystems for crop and food production,and these may be applicable in any agroecosystem.

Adopting an ecological view of metropolitan landscape: the case of “three circles" system for ecological construction and restoration in Beijing area

Ecological construction and restoration for sustainable development are now a driving paradigm. It is increasingly recognized that ecological principles, especially landscape ecology theory, are not only necessary but also essential to maintain the long-term sustainability worldwide. Key landscape ecology principles—element, structure and process, dynamics, heterogeneity, hierarchies, connectivity, place and time were reviewed, and use Beijing area as a case study to illustrate how these principles might be applied to ecological construction and restoration, to eventually achieve sustainability. An example to more effectively incorporate the ecological principles in sustainable planning in China was presented.

On the Construction of the Harmonious Ecosystem of Enterprises-Lessons from the Low Cost Competition of Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart＇s Darwinism deserves our attention Aiming a the problems caused by Wal-Mart. this article gives a profound analysis on the concept and model of the enterprise ecosystem and expounds basic characters （such as integrity, hierarchy, functionality, autoregalation etc.） with relevant theories and knowledge of systematology and ecology, and puts forward ecological principles for the construction of harmonious enterprises ecosystem （such as principle of interarcton, principle of co-evolution, principle of ecoflow, principle of ecological niche, principle of limiting factor and prlncipte of ecological equilibrium） in order to provide new ideas for enterpises＇operation decisions and to promote the whole enterprise ecosystem to develop more healthily, harmoniously and stcstainabty.