The Main Agroecologycal Structure (MAS) of the Agroecosystems: Concept, Methodology and Applications

Abstract

This document presents, from environmental thinking (ecosystem - culture relations), the concept of the Main Agroecological Structure of Agroecosystems (MAS), considered as a dissipative cultural structure. It discusses its possible applications (resilience, production, diversity) both inside and outside the farms. The MAS can be useful in the land planning on the farms, based on the concept of potential MAS that allows the quantification of the management of internal and external corridors, including natural vegetation. At the same time, it can be useful in the context of landscape management because it shows a series of cultural relations (economic, social, symbolic and technological) hidden from the partial analysis of landscape ecology.