The main objective of the STRADIV project is to define the conditions needed for the ecological transition of agroecosystems based on their biodiversification and their compatibility to a multi scale innovation dynamics built by and with local actors. In the context of small tropical farms, the application of these conditions requires to be unraveled (i) by developing and integrating scientific knowledge on the processes associated with plant diversity and its management and (ii) by designing a dialogue framework to enable farmers and other local stakeholder to strengthen the biodiversification of their agroecosystems by a co-conception approach. The STRADIV project will provide answers to the main bottlenecks preventing a successful ecological transition of agroecosystems. These issues, at the interface of disciplines and scales, are related as well to the management of plant diversity, the integration of biophysical and ecological processes in systems that optimize ecosystem services, as the formalization of a multi-scale and multi-actor dialogue inside functional platforms allowing the enhancement of the negotiation with and between farmers.

On the biophysical side, the STRADIV project aims at disentangling how plant functional diversity and its management alter the ecological processes associated to biogeochemical cycles and to the functioning of living communities. Ultimately, it will establish the biodiversification rules that enhance the provision of ecosystem services (including crop production, regulation of nutrient cycles, pest control) in a contrasted range of agroecosystems representative of tropical conditions.

The specificity of the STRADIV project is to involve multiple actors in the cropping system co-conception process. This is done in arenas of dialogue that associate farmer, stakeholders and researchers. The co-conception process thus relies on a pool of knowledge resulting from biophysical studies and from local knowledge. It bridges biophysical and social and human sciences to concretely address the issue of the ecological transition of cropping systems.

At the interface of disciplines and scales, are related as well to the management of plant diversity, the integration of biophysical and ecological processes in systems that optimize ecosystem services, as the formalization of a multi-scale and multi-actor dialogue inside functional platforms allowing the enhancement of the negotiation with and between farmers.

On the biophysical side, the STRADIV project aims at disentangling how plant functional diversity and its management alter the ecological processes associated to biogeochemical cycles and to the functioning of living communities. Ultimately, it will establish the biodiversification rules that enhance the provision of ecosystem services (including crop production, regulation of nutrient cycles, pest control) in a contrasted range of agroecosystems representative of tropical conditions.