Legumes for agroecosystem services and sustainability

Agriculture is a prevailing mean to manage cultivable landscapes across the globe due to strong interconnection with the surroundings. Ecological systems bestow several services which are essential to the welfare of mankind. Agroecosystems are prolific providers of several provisioning ecological services such as food, feed and energy. In turn, agroecosystems are greatly reliant on superior ecological conditions like soil health, water quality and availability, control of soil runoff, etc. Anthropogenic activities aiming to obtain enhanced food productivity result in the destruction of these properties of the ecological system in several ways. However, legume farming plays a vital function in maintaining the qualities of ecosystems. Evaluation of these interconnections of ecosystems and services are desirable to recognize their associations in greatly directive systems. The conservation of ecological services and sustainability in food productivity needs a models wing in agricultural practices which allow a collective approach supporting the mean of enhanced usage of soil, water and other biological sources to improve the ecosystem rather than the solitary way.