Disentangling the interrelated abiotic and biotic pathways linking landscape composition and crop production

Autor: Frederik Gerits, Bert Reubens, Lies Messely, Pallieter De Smedt, Dries Landuyt, Annelies Loos, Kris Verheyen
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
ISSN: 1365-2664
0021-8901
DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.14269
Popis: Landscape composition and its related functional agrobiodiversity (FAB) was severely simplified during the last decades. As landscape composition is expected to influence the interrelated microclimate and arthropod community at different scales, this simplification might have led to a decline in multiple agro-ecosystem services, with potential impacts for the growth of crops with different demands from the environment. To study landscape-scale effects on multicrop yield and herbivory in combination with its potential drivers, including functional arthropod community and microclimate, we used standardised 1 m(2) mini-gardens planted with ten different vegetable crops as phytometers. The gardens were installed at locations varying in surrounding landscape composition and the vegetables were selected to have contrasting requirements in terms of growing conditions, pollination services and susceptibility to pests. Monitoring of the mini-gardens was performed in 2018 and 2019 in Flanders (Belgium). We found no relationship between landscape composition in a 500 m radius and crop yield. Considering possible mechanisms, we found that an increasing share of woody vegetation (>3 m high) in the surrounding landscape is important to buffer the temperature and soil moisture variation in the mini-gardens. The share of agricultural land use and urban green (
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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