Agroforestry has been increasingly recognized as a key example of agroecological praxis contributing to the sustainable intensification of food production while providing a number of additional benefits to society. However, a quantitative synthesis of the impact of agroforestry on soil health and associated ecosystem services in the humid and sub-humid tropics is still lacking. The objective of this study was to quantify the contribution of agroforestry practices to soil-mediated ecosystem services, specifically, regulation of soil erosion, storage of soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N), availability of soil N and phosphorus (P) to crops, and alleviation of soil acidity across the humid and sub-humid tropics. The analysis demonstrated that agroforestry can reduce soil erosion rates by 50 % compared to crop monocultures. This finding is supported by higher infiltration rates, lower runoff, higher proportion of soil macroggregates, and greater stability of soil structure under agroforestry. SOC increased by 21 %, N storage increased by 13 %, available N by 46 % and available P by 11 % while soil pH increased by 2% under agroforestry compared to crop monocultures. We conclude that agroforestry can make significant contributions to provision of soil-mediated ecosystem services in the humid and sub-humid tropics.

中文翻译：

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农林业促进湿润和亚湿润热带地区的土壤健康：荟萃分析

农林业越来越被认为是农业生态实践的一个重要例子，它有助于粮食生产的可持续集约化，同时为社会提供许多额外的好处。然而，仍然缺乏关于农林业对湿润和半湿润热带地区土壤健康和相关生态系统服务影响的定量综合。本研究的目的是量化农林业实践对土壤介导的生态系统服务的贡献，特别是土壤侵蚀的调节、土壤有机碳 (SOC) 和氮 (N) 的储存、土壤 N 和磷 (P) 的可用性作物，并减轻整个潮湿和亚湿润热带地区的土壤酸度。分析表明，与作物单一栽培相比，农林业可以将土壤侵蚀率降低 50%。这一发现得到了更高的入渗率、更低的径流、更高比例的土壤大团聚体以及农林业条件下土壤结构更大稳定性的支持。与作物单一栽培相比，在农林业条件下，SOC 增加了 21%，N 储存量增加了 13%，有效 N 增加了 46%，有效 P 增加了 11%，而土壤 pH 值增加了 2%。我们得出的结论是，农林业可以为湿润和亚湿润热带地区提供土壤介导的生态系统服务做出重大贡献。