Permaculture Designs & Practices (Pt. 2): Ecological Foundations

 

The principles of permaculture design are deeply rooted in ecology with most of its ideas inspired by the works of ecologist Howard T. Odum on energy flows and complex living systems. In “Permaculture for agroecology: design, movement, practice, and worldview. A review” (2013) Ferguson and Lovell enumerated the agroecological principles (and its allied fields) that provided scientific basis for the permaculture principles published by Mollison (1988), Mollison and Slay (1997), and Holmgren (2004).   The comparison of principles is listed in the table below:

Permaculture Principles	Agroecology and Related Principles
DIVERSITY
Diversity, Plant Stacking & Time Stacking (Mollison, 1988; Mollison & Slay, 1997)     Use and Value Diversity (Holmgren, 2004)	Species and genetic diversification of the agroecosystem in time and space (Reijntjes et al., 1992)   Contain pests through complex trophic levels (Malezieux, 2011)   Maintain landscape heterogeneity and capture environmental gradients (Fischer et al., 2008)
INTERACTION
Edge Effects (Mollison, 1988), Use edges and value the marginal (Holmgren, 2004)   Everything gardens (Mollison, 1988)   Relative location (Mollison & Slay, 1997)   Each important function is supported by many elements (Mollison, 1988), each element performs many functions (Mollison, 1988)	Optimize available resources through synergies between “plants, animals, soil, water, climate and people” (Pretty, 1994, Vandermeer, 1995)   Use complementary functional traits to ensure production and resilience (Malezieux, 2011)   Enhance beneficial biological interactions and synergisms (Reijntjes, et al., 1992)   Enhance recycling of biomass and optimizing nutrient availability and balancing nutrient flow (Reijntjes, et al., 1992)
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
The problem is the solution (Mollison, 1988)   The yield of a system is theoretically unlimited (or only limited by the imagination and information of the designer) (Mollison, 1988)   Make the least change for the greatest possible effect (Mollison, 1988)	No corollary agroecological principles.
ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT
Observe and interact (Holmgren, 2004)   Apply self-regulation and accept feedback (Holmgren, 2004)   Creatively use and respond to change (Holmgren, 2004)   Accelerating succession and evolution (Holmgren, 2004)	Management by experiment (Nudds, 1999)   Mobilize capacity for inquiry (Blann et al., 2003)   Detect and foster novelty (Blann et al., 2003)   Create opportunities for self-organization (Folke et al., 2003)

In support to the review by Ferguson and Lovell (2013), another publication entitled, “Permaculture—Scientific Evidence of Principles for the Agroecological Design of Farming Systems” by Krebs and Bach (2018) discussed the scientific evidence behind Holmgren’s permaculture design principles (2004). Their findings are reported in the table below:

Principle	Approach	Relation	Examples with Evidence
Observe and Interact	Bottom-up	Design process, management	Adaptive management
Catch and Store Energy	Bottom-up	Agroecosystem structure	Organic mulch application Rainwater harvesting measures Woody elements in agriculture
Obtain a Yield	Bottom-up	Design process, management	Emergy evaluation Ecosystems services concept
Apply Self-Regulation and Accept Feedback	Bottom-up	Agroecosystem structure	Enhancement of regulating ecosystem services Natural habitats in agricultural landscapes Wildflower strips
Use and Value Renewable Resources and Services	Bottom-up	Agroecosystem structure	Legumes and animal manure as nutrient source Mycorrhizal fungi
Produce no Waste	Bottom-up	Agroecosystem structure	Animal manure Human excreta Waste products as animal feed
Design from Patterns to Details	Top-down	Agroecosystem structure, Design process	Natural ecosystem mimicry Use of grazing animals in cold and dry climates Structurally complex agroforests in tropical climates
Integrate Rather than Segregate	top-down	Agroecosystem structure	Integration of livestock in corn cropping Cereals and canola used for forage and grain harvest Integration of fish in rice cropping Polyculture (crops)
Use Small and Slow Solutions	top-down	Agroecosystem structure	Inverse productivity-size relationship Agroforestry systems
Use and Value Diversity	top-down	Agroecosystem structure	Plant species diversity Pollinator diversity Habitat diversity Diversified farming systems
Use Edges and Value the Marginal	top-down	Agroecosystem structure	High field border density Field margins Edges with forests
Creatively Use and Respond to Change	top-down	Design process, management	Decision-making under uncertainty Increase ecological resilience Directed natural succession

References

FERGUSON, RAFTER SASS., S.T. LOVELL. 2013. Permaculture for Agroecology: Design, Movement, and Worldview. A Review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development.

KREBS, JULIUS, S. BACH. 2018. Permaculture—Scientific Evidence of Principles for the Agroecological Design of Farming Systems. Sustainability (Switzerland), MDPI AG, 2018 vol: 10 (9).

HOLMGREN, DAVID. 2004. Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability. Permanent Publications. Australia.