TY - JOUR
T1 - Crop and landscape heterogeneity increase biodiversity in agricultural landscapes
T2 - A global review and meta-analysis
AU - Priyadarshana, Tharaka S.
AU - Martin, Emily A.
AU - Sirami, Clélia
AU - Woodcock, Ben A.
AU - Goodale, Eben
AU - Martínez-Núñez, Carlos
AU - Lee, Myung Bok
AU - Pagani-Núñez, Emilio
AU - Raderschall, Chloé A.
AU - Brotons, Lluís
AU - Rege, Anushka
AU - Ouin, Annie
AU - Tscharntke, Teja
AU - Slade, Eleanor M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2024/3/28
Y1 - 2024/3/28
N2 - Agricultural intensification not only increases food production but also drives widespread biodiversity decline. Increasing landscape heterogeneity has been suggested to increase biodiversity across habitats, while increasing crop heterogeneity may support biodiversity within agroecosystems. These spatial heterogeneity effects can be partitioned into compositional (land-cover type diversity) and configurational heterogeneity (land-cover type arrangement), measured either for the crop mosaic or across the landscape for both crops and semi-natural habitats. However, studies have reported mixed responses of biodiversity to increases in these heterogeneity components across taxa and contexts. Our meta-analysis covering 6397 fields across 122 studies conducted in Asia, Europe, North and South America reveals consistently positive effects of crop and landscape heterogeneity, as well as compositional and configurational heterogeneity for plant, invertebrate, vertebrate, pollinator and predator biodiversity. Vertebrates and plants benefit more from landscape heterogeneity, while invertebrates derive similar benefits from both crop and landscape heterogeneity. Pollinators benefit more from configurational heterogeneity, but predators favour compositional heterogeneity. These positive effects are consistent for invertebrates and vertebrates in both tropical/subtropical and temperate agroecosystems, and in annual and perennial cropping systems, and at small to large spatial scales. Our results suggest that promoting increased landscape heterogeneity by diversifying crops and semi-natural habitats, as suggested in the current UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, is key for restoring biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.
AB - Agricultural intensification not only increases food production but also drives widespread biodiversity decline. Increasing landscape heterogeneity has been suggested to increase biodiversity across habitats, while increasing crop heterogeneity may support biodiversity within agroecosystems. These spatial heterogeneity effects can be partitioned into compositional (land-cover type diversity) and configurational heterogeneity (land-cover type arrangement), measured either for the crop mosaic or across the landscape for both crops and semi-natural habitats. However, studies have reported mixed responses of biodiversity to increases in these heterogeneity components across taxa and contexts. Our meta-analysis covering 6397 fields across 122 studies conducted in Asia, Europe, North and South America reveals consistently positive effects of crop and landscape heterogeneity, as well as compositional and configurational heterogeneity for plant, invertebrate, vertebrate, pollinator and predator biodiversity. Vertebrates and plants benefit more from landscape heterogeneity, while invertebrates derive similar benefits from both crop and landscape heterogeneity. Pollinators benefit more from configurational heterogeneity, but predators favour compositional heterogeneity. These positive effects are consistent for invertebrates and vertebrates in both tropical/subtropical and temperate agroecosystems, and in annual and perennial cropping systems, and at small to large spatial scales. Our results suggest that promoting increased landscape heterogeneity by diversifying crops and semi-natural habitats, as suggested in the current UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, is key for restoring biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.
KW - agroecology
KW - biodiversity-friendly farming
KW - compositional and configurational heterogeneity
KW - crop diversity
KW - edge density
KW - field margins
KW - landscape diversity
KW - landscape ecology
KW - pollinators
KW - predators
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85189164928&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/ele.14412
DO - 10.1111/ele.14412
M3 - Article
C2 - 38549269
AN - SCOPUS:85189164928
SN - 1461-023X
VL - 27
JO - Ecology Letters
JF - Ecology Letters
IS - 3
M1 - e14412
ER -