title: Tropical grasslands: A pivotal place for a more multi-functional agriculture.
abstract: Tropical grasslands represent a pivotal arena for the sustainable intensification of agriculture in the coming decades. The abundant ecosystem services provided by the grasslands, coupled with the aversion to further forest destruction, makes sustainable intensification of tropical grasslands a high policy priority. In this article, we provide an inventory of agricultural initiatives that would contribute to the sustainable intensification of the tropical grassland agro-ecosystem, and we recommend a shift in the scientific priorities of animal scientists that would contribute to realization of a more agro-ecological and multi-functional agriculture in the world's tropical grasslands.
authors.affiliation: UMR Modélisation Systémique Appliquée aux Ruminants, INRA, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 75005, Paris, France. Maryline.Boval@agroparistech.fr.
authors.forename: Maryline
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boval
authors.affiliation: INRA, UR143, Unité de Recherches Zootechniques, Petit-Bourg, 97170, Guadeloupe, France.|INRA, UR 767, Ecodéveloppement INRA Domaine Saint-Paul, Site Agroparc 228 route de l'Aérodrome, CS 40509, 84914, Avignon Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Angeon
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Ecology, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Rutgers - the State University of New Jersey, 55 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rudel
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D000818:Animals; D057486:Carbon Cycle; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D005523:Food Supply / Q000592:standards; D065948:Grassland; D060434:Herbivory; D038622:Internationality; D058751:Livestock / Q000254:growth & development; D014329:Tropical Climate
keywords: Agro-ecology; Ecological intensification; Ecosystem services; Grassland; Multi-functional; Tropics