ABSTRACT
Ecological sustainability, the ability of life-support systems to maintain the quality of the environment, is a necessary condition for longterm agricultural sustainability at the field, farm, or national level. Research is needed at the watershed/landscape level to address the effects of changes in inputs, land use, or management practices on the ecological sustainability of modem agriculture. This research should address the impact of perturbations on the responses of watersheds relative to objective indicators of sustainability. The design/restoration approach would use a more limited set of land scapes but would provide information on changes in sustainability indicators and watershed responses following changes in field and watershed scale practices. Watersheds can also be used as the geographic basis for other measurements of landscape structure, function, and response. Inputs have a major role in determining the structure, function, and response of agricultural landscapes.
