scholarly journals A global synthesis reveals biodiversity-mediated benefits for crop production

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Dainese ◽  
Emily A. Martin ◽  
Marcelo A. Aizen ◽  
Matthias Albrecht ◽  
Ignasi Bartomeus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Biological Pest Control ◽  
Global Database

ABSTRACTHuman land use threatens global biodiversity and compromises multiple ecosystem functions critical to food production. Whether crop yield-related ecosystem services can be maintained by few abundant species or rely on high richness remains unclear. Using a global database from 89 crop systems, we partition the relative importance of abundance and species richness for pollination, biological pest control and final yields in the context of on-going land-use change. Pollinator and enemy richness directly supported ecosystem services independent of abundance. Up to 50% of the negative effects of landscape simplification on ecosystem services was due to richness losses of service-providing organisms, with negative consequences for crop yields. Maintaining the biodiversity of ecosystem service providers is therefore vital to sustain the flow of key agroecosystem benefits to society.

scholarly journals A global synthesis reveals biodiversity-mediated benefits for crop production

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. eaax0121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Dainese ◽  
Emily A. Martin ◽  
Marcelo A. Aizen ◽  
Matthias Albrecht ◽  
Ignasi Bartomeus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Biological Pest Control ◽  
Global Database

Human land use threatens global biodiversity and compromises multiple ecosystem functions critical to food production. Whether crop yield–related ecosystem services can be maintained by a few dominant species or rely on high richness remains unclear. Using a global database from 89 studies (with 1475 locations), we partition the relative importance of species richness, abundance, and dominance for pollination; biological pest control; and final yields in the context of ongoing land-use change. Pollinator and enemy richness directly supported ecosystem services in addition to and independent of abundance and dominance. Up to 50% of the negative effects of landscape simplification on ecosystem services was due to richness losses of service-providing organisms, with negative consequences for crop yields. Maintaining the biodiversity of ecosystem service providers is therefore vital to sustain the flow of key agroecosystem benefits to society.

scholarly journals A review of regulation ecosystem services and disservices from faunal populations and potential impacts of agriculturalisation on their provision, globally

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 1-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Gutierrez-Arellano ◽  
Mark Mulligan
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Service Use ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Structure Degradation ◽  
Animal Populations

Land use and cover change (LUCC) is the main cause of natural ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss and can cause a decrease in ecosystem service provision. Animal populations are providers of some key regulation services: pollination, pest and disease control and seed dispersal, the so-called faunal ecosystem services (FES). Here we aim to give an overview on the current and future status of regulation FES in response to change from original habitat to agricultural land globally. FES are much more tightly linked to wildlife populations and biodiversity than are most ecosystem services, whose determinants are largely climatic and related to vegetation structure. Degradation of ecosystems by land use change thus has much more potential to affect FES. In this scoping review, we summarise the main findings showing the importance of animal populations as FES providers and as a source of ecosystem disservices; underlying causes of agriculturalisation impacts on FES and the potential condition of FES under future LUCC in relation to the expected demand for FES globally. Overall, studies support a positive relationship between FES provision and animal species richness and abundance. Agriculturalisation has negative effects on FES providers due to landscape homogenisation, habitat fragmentation and loss, microclimatic changes and development of population imbalance, causing species and population losses of key fauna, reducing services whilst enhancing disservices. Since evidence suggests an increase in FES demand worldwide is required to support increased farming, it is imperative to improve the understanding of agriculturalisation on FES supply and distribution. Spatial conservation prioritisation must factor in faunal ecosystem functions as the most biodiversity-relevant of all ecosystem services and that which most closely links sites of service provision of conservation value with nearby sites of service use to provide ecosystem services of agricultural and economic value.

scholarly journals Biodiversity, functional roles and ecosystem services of groundwater invertebrates

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Boulton ◽  
Graham D. Fenwick ◽  
Peter J. Hancock ◽  
Mark S. Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Water Purification ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Water Infiltration ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Functional Relationships ◽  
Spatio Temporal

Recent surveys of groundwater invertebrates (stygofauna) worldwide are yielding rich troves of biodiversity, with significant implications for invertebrate systematists and phylogeneticists as well as ecologists and groundwater managers. What is the ecological significance of this high biodiversity of invertebrates in some aquifers? How might it influence groundwater ecosystem services such as water purification or bioremediation? In terrestrial ecosystems, biodiversity is typically positively correlated with rates of ecosystem functions beneficial to humans (e.g. crop pollination). However, the links between biodiversity, ecosystem function, and ecosystem services in groundwater are unknown. In some aquifers, feeding, movement and excretion by diverse assemblages of stygofauna potentially enhance groundwater ecosystem services such as water purification, bioremediation and water infiltration. Further, as specific taxa apparently play ‘keystone’ roles in facilitating ecosystem services, declines in abundance or even their extinction have serious repercussions. One way to assess the functional significance of biodiversity is to identify ‘ecosystem service providers’, characterise their functional relationships, determine how service provision is affected by community structure and environmental variables, and measure the spatio-temporal scales over which these operate. Examples from Australian and New Zealand alluvial aquifers reveal knowledge gaps in understanding the functional importance of most stygofauna, hampering effective protection of currently undervalued groundwater ecosystem services.

scholarly journals Differential effects of soil-based agricultural diversification on arthropods and crop yield

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elinor M. Lichtenberg ◽  
Ivan Milosavljević ◽  
Alistair J. Campbell ◽  
David Crowder
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Functional Groups ◽  
Crop Yield ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Habitat Diversity ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
No Tillage ◽  
Agricultural Diversification

Agricultural diversification often promotes biodiversity and ecosystem services by increasing habitat diversity. However, responses to agricultural diversification are context dependent, differentially impacting functional groups of service-providing organisms and crop yields. Conservation and no tillage are promoted as agricultural diversification practices that increase soil heterogeneity and habitat diversity. Here we investigated whether soil tillage practices in canola crop fields altered arthropod biodiversity or yield, and how effects of field-scale diversification compared to landscape-scale habitat context. We focused on effects of high, medium, or no tillage on five functional groups with unique diets and reproductive strategies: (i) herbivores, (ii) kleptoparasites, (iii) parasitoids, (iv) pollinators, and (v) predators. Effects of agricultural diversification on arthropod abundance and diversity varied across functional groups. Pollinators responded to on-farm soil diversification, benefiting from medium tillage. Predators and herbivores responded most strongly to landscape-scale habitat composition and were more abundant in landscapes with more semi-natural habitat. However, variation in arthropod communities had little effect on canola crop yield, which was lowest in fields with no tillage. Policy implications: Our results indicate that natural history differences among arthropod functional groups mediate how habitat availability affects biodiversity. Crop yields, however, showed no response to biodiversity of ecosystem service providers. Our research highlights the need to determine the contexts in which soil diversification practices meet a multi-faceted goal of simultaneously supporting natural biodiversity, ecosystem services, and crop yield.

scholarly journals Benefits of crop diversification for biodiversity and ecosystem services

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Beillouin ◽  
T. Ben-Ari ◽  
E. Malézieux ◽  
V. Seufert ◽  
D. Makowski
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Crop Diversification ◽  
Global Database ◽  
Meta Analyses

AbstractIncreasing the diversity of cultivated crops, species or cultivars is expected to help preserve biodiversity and enhance ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. But individual local experiments evaluating crop diversification practices and even meta-analytical synthesis of experimental studies are scattered in their scope, quality and geographical focus. In an effort to make sense of this trove of information, we integrate the results of 5,662 experiments representing more than 48,600 paired observations over 80 experimental years, through the compilation of 83 meta-analyses covering more than 120 crops and 85 countries. The diversification strategies analyzed in the literature are diverse and are here regrouped into five broad categories (i.e., agroforestry, associated plants, intercropping, crop rotation and cultivar mixture). Our exhaustive literature synthesis shows that overall, crop diversification significantly enhances crop yields (median effect +13%), associated biodiversity (+24%), and several ecosystem services including water quality (+84%), pest and disease control (+63%), and soil quality (+11%). While these aggregated global results support the many benefits of adopting more diversified cropping systems, we also identified high variability between meta-analyses for most of the diversification practices examined. This strong global heterogeneity highlights the importance of contextual information about agricultural diversification for local decision-making. Our global database provides important insights into the contextual performance of crop diversification practices that can provide this needed guidance to agricultural and environmental decision-making.

scholarly journals Soil carbon management in large-scale Earth system modelling: implications for crop yields and nitrogen leaching

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 745-768 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Olin ◽  
M. Lindeskog ◽  
T. A. M. Pugh ◽  
G. Schurgers ◽  
D. Wårlind ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Carbon Storage ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Nitrogen Leaching ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Trade Offs

Abstract. Croplands are vital ecosystems for human well-being and provide important ecosystem services such as crop yields, retention of nitrogen and carbon storage. On large (regional to global)-scale levels, assessment of how these different services will vary in space and time, especially in response to cropland management, are scarce. We explore cropland management alternatives and the effect these can have on future C and N pools and fluxes using the land-use-enabled dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS (Lund–Potsdam–Jena General Ecosystem Simulator). Simulated crop production, cropland carbon storage, carbon sequestration and nitrogen leaching from croplands are evaluated and discussed. Compared to the version of LPJ-GUESS that does not include land-use dynamics, estimates of soil carbon stocks and nitrogen leaching from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems were improved. Our model experiments allow us to investigate trade-offs between these ecosystem services that can be provided from agricultural fields. These trade-offs are evaluated for current land use and climate and further explored for future conditions within the two future climate change scenarios, RCP (Representative Concentration Pathway) 2.6 and 8.5. Our results show that the potential for carbon sequestration due to typical cropland management practices such as no-till management and cover crops proposed in previous studies is not realised, globally or over larger climatic regions. Our results highlight important considerations to be made when modelling C–N interactions in agricultural ecosystems under future environmental change and the effects these have on terrestrial biogeochemical cycles.

scholarly journals Impacts of Urbanization and Associated Factors on Ecosystem Services in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration, China: Implications for Land Use Policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yushuo Zhang ◽  
Xiao Lu ◽  
Boyu Liu ◽  
Dianting Wu
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Primary Productivity ◽  
Soil Conservation ◽  
Associated Factors ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Water Retention ◽  
Net Primary Productivity

Conflicts between ecological conservation and socio-economic development persisted over many decades in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration (BTH). Ecosystem services were affected drastically by rapid urbanization and ecological restoration programs in the BTH since 2000. This study aims to identify the spatial patterns of the four types of ecosystem services (net primary productivity (NPP), crop production, water retention, and soil conservation) in 2000 and 2010, and to make clear the impacts of urbanization and associated factors on the spatial patterns of ecosystem services. Based on the quantification of ecosystem services, we assessed the spatial patterns and changes, and identified the relationships between the type diversity of ecosystem services and land-use change. We also analyzed the effect of the spatial differentiation of influencing factors on ecosystem services, using the geographical detector model. The results showed that the average value of crop production increased substantially between 2000 and 2010, whereas the net primary productivity decreased significantly, and the water retention and soil conservation decreased slightly. The ecosystem services exhibited a spatial similar to that of influencing factors, and the combination of any two factors strengthened the spatial effect more than a single factor. The geomorphic factors (elevation and slope) were found to control the distribution of NPP, water retention, and soil conservation. The population density was responsible for crop production. We also found that the urbanization rate plays a major indirect role in crop production and water retention when interacting with population density and slope, respectively. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) indirectly influences the spatial distribution of NPP when interacting with geomorphic factors. These findings highlight the need to promote new strategies of land-use management in the BTH. On the one hand, it is necessary to carefully select where new urban land should be located in order to relieve the pressure on ecosystem services in dense urban areas. On the other hand, the maintenance of ecological restoration programs is needed for improving vegetation coverage in the ecological functional zones in the medium and long term.

THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AGRICULTURE IN WEST AFRICA: A BIO-ECONOMIC MODELING APPROACH

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (04) ◽  
pp. 1950015
Author(s):  
BORIS O. K. LOKONON ◽  
AKLESSO Y. G. EGBENDEWE ◽  
NAGA COULIBALY ◽  
CALVIN ATEWAMBA
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Economic Modeling ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Impact

This paper investigates the impact of climate change on agriculture in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). To that end, a bio-economic model is built and calibrated on 2004 base year dataset and the potential impact is evaluated on land use and crop production under two representative concentration pathways coupled with three socio-economic scenarios. The findings suggest that land use change may depend on crop types and prevailing future conditions. As of crop production, the results show that paddy rice, oilseeds, sugarcane, cocoa, coffee, and sesame production could experience a decline under both moderate and harsh climate conditions in most cases. Also, doubling crop yields by 2050 could overall mitigate the negative impact of moderate climate change. The magnitude and the direction of the impacts may vary in space and time.

scholarly journals Land-use intensity alters networks between biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and services

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (45) ◽  
pp. 28140-28149
Author(s):  
María R. Felipe-Lucia ◽  
Santiago Soliveres ◽  
Caterina Penone ◽  
Markus Fischer ◽  
Christian Ammer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Land Use Intensity ◽  
Trophic Groups ◽  
Human Wellbeing ◽  
Multiple Components ◽  
Provisioning Ecosystem Services ◽  
Positive Correlations

Land-use intensification can increase provisioning ecosystem services, such as food and timber production, but it also drives changes in ecosystem functioning and biodiversity loss, which may ultimately compromise human wellbeing. To understand how changes in land-use intensity affect the relationships between biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and services, we built networks from correlations between the species richness of 16 trophic groups, 10 ecosystem functions, and 15 ecosystem services. We evaluated how the properties of these networks varied across land-use intensity gradients for 150 forests and 150 grasslands. Land-use intensity significantly affected network structure in both habitats. Changes in connectance were larger in forests, while changes in modularity and evenness were more evident in grasslands. Our results show that increasing land-use intensity leads to more homogeneous networks with less integration within modules in both habitats, driven by the belowground compartment in grasslands, while forest responses to land management were more complex. Land-use intensity strongly altered hub identity and module composition in both habitats, showing that the positive correlations of provisioning services with biodiversity and ecosystem functions found at low land-use intensity levels, decline at higher intensity levels. Our approach provides a comprehensive view of the relationships between multiple components of biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and ecosystem services and how they respond to land use. This can be used to identify overall changes in the ecosystem, to derive mechanistic hypotheses, and it can be readily applied to further global change drivers.

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