Advance in the Research on Agroforestry Ecosystem Services

Agroforestry ecosystem is an integrated land management pattern that combines agriculture and forestry. Agroforestry is practiced globally in the regions of agricultural production. Researches on agroforestry have been focusing in the ecosystem services in the recent years. The concept and development of agroforestry are described, and the recent researches on ecosystem services are reviewed. The focus and the direction of future works on agroforestry ecosystem services were also discussed. Growing researches show that agroforestry provides many ecosystem services for human being which include providing of diverse products, enhancing of carbon sequestration, improving of soil fertility, conserving of biodiversity and preventing of soil and water loses. The future researches include: long-term dynamic monitoring of agroforestry ecosystem services; the establishment of comprehensive evaluation method; the responses of agroforestry ecosystem to global climate changes.