Abstract

Managing agricultural landscapes integrate production, biodiversity conservation and the flow of ecosystem services (ES) is of paramount importance to simultaneously meet production goals and environmental challenges. However, the response of farmland biodiversity and multiple ES to land-use change at multiple spatial scales remains poorly understood. We explored the effects of land-use at local (grassland vs. oilseed rape fields) and landscape scale (cover of permanent grasslands) on the provision of biodiversity (plants, arthropods, birds), five ES (pollination, pest control, soil fertility, carbon storage and water regulation) and overall ES-multifunctionality. ES-multifunctionality was higher in grasslands than in crop fields, by 25.2% above-ground and by 106.1% below-ground. Multiple threshold analyses highlighted a particularly poor level of performance for below-ground functions in crop fields. This habitat type was however capable of providing numerous above-ground functions simultaneously, although at low levels of performance when compared to the maximum values recorded in the study. Grasslands supported higher biodiversity and provision of pollination, soil fertility, carbon storage and water regulation. Landscape composition influenced the provision of multiple ES: a 10% increase in grassland cover in the landscape enhanced above-ground ES-multifunctionality by 11.0% in both habitats. In particular, grasslands cover in the landscape supported the provision of arthropod diversity, pollination and pest control provided by carabids. Synthesis and applications. The results of this field study show the key importance of preserving semi-natural grasslands in agricultural landscapes for the conservation of farmland biodiversity, for the protection of soils and the delivery of multiple ES critical for crop production. Maximization of multifunctionality necessitates the integration at the landscape scale (0.5-2 km) of semi-natural patches within the intensively farmed agricultural matrix. This would require not only the protection of existing grasslands, but also their restoration in simplified landscapes. The promotion of mixed farming (i.e., both crop and livestock production) might increase semi-natural grassland cover at the landscape scale.

Keywords

agroecosystem; farmland biodiversity; multiple ecosystem services; pest control; pollination; soil protection; sustainable agriculture

Published in

Journal of Applied Ecology
2022, Volume: 59, number: 12, pages: 3061-3071
Publisher: WILEY

SLU Authors

• Tamburini, Giovanni

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Universita degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro

• Aguilera Nuñez, Guillermo

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Öckinger, Erik

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

SLU Plant Protection Network


Sustainable Development Goals

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture


UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science
Ecology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14302

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/119438