Edge effect is a strong driver of change in fragmented landscapes. In the last few decades, agricultural land-use intensity at field scale has increased and, consequently, the edges between crops and natural vegetation matrix have sharpened. Interspersed crops produce now negative effects not only by direct habitat destruction, but also by inputs of agrochemicals that may spread their effects on the

Both agricultural intensification and abandonment are considered among the main drivers of biodiversity loss, especially for species typical of semi-natural grasslands. In the Mediterranean regions, semi-natural grasslands are often abandoned or replaced by perennial crops such as vineyards and olive groves with potential negative consequences on the associated diversity. However, when these crops

Aggregate carbon (C) pools, which are closely associated with soil organic C (SOC) stability and agricultural productivity, are greatly affected by the composition of soil organic matter (SOM) functional groups. However, the long-term effect of different rice-based rotations on the composition of SOM functional groups remains elusive. In this work, a 10-year field experiment was conducted to assess

Agroforestry systems have been recognised as a possible refuge for biodiversity especially when bordering intact landscapes. The intensification of crop management to increase yields is usually associated with a reduction of shade trees and heavy use of chemicals, typically correlated with a decrease in biodiversity. The relationship between intensity of crop management and biodiversity, however, is

Agricultural intensification is among the major threats to farmland biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Agri-environment schemes in Europe aim to counteract the continuous decrease of permanent grassland habitat and related decline of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. We established new grasslands adjacent to permanent old grasslands to study effects on arthropod pollinators and

Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) plays a vital role in nitrogen supply in agricultural ecosystem but is generally impaired by agricultural fertilization. Understanding the trade-off between fertilization and BNF, and the underlying mechanisms are essential to optimize fertilization management for sustainable agriculture production. In this study, we examined the potential rate of asymbiotic N2 fixation

Biochar application has been recognised as an effective way to improve soil functions. In this study, we investigated how adding biochar as an amendment affects soil biological and physico-chemical properties in grazed pastures in a one-year field-based mesocosm experiment conducted on two contrasting soils – a sil-andic Andosol and a dystric Cambisol. Each site had two pastures managed under different

The cultivation of mass-flowering crops (MFC) can promote pollinators by providing floral resources. However, there is missing knowledge about the effect of MFC cultivation history on bees and their pollination services in agricultural landscapes. We investigated how bee densities in oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) (OSR) fields were affected by past (cultivation area of the preceding three years)

Plant diversification is a strategy for pest management in agroecosystems. However, a major hurdle in the adoption of this management practice by farmers is related to doubts concerning its effects on crop productivity. Here we assess coffee production and natural control of coffee pests in the presence or absence of leguminous trees bearing extrafloral nectaries (Inga edulis). We compared coffee yield

Installing patches of flowering plants is a commonly used strategy to enhance refuge and food resources for pollinators in intensive agricultural landscapes. Here, we evaluated how floral strips and semi-natural habitats impact the taxonomic and functional diversity of wild bees in intensively farmed sunflower fields. Pan traps were used to assess bee richness and functional diversity at 22 sampling

Farmland abandonment can be a significant driver of biodiversity change in many parts of the world. Knowledge of the ecological impact of farmland abandonment at the landscape scale is particularly limited in Asia. We investigated how rice-field abandonment impacts bird diversity (i.e., species richness and composition) during the breeding and wintering seasons. Birds were surveyed in 31 grids (1 × 1 km)

A comprehensive understanding of the effects of tillage practices on soil microbial communities is fundamental to a better understanding of their roles in maintaining or improving the stability of agroecosystems. However, little is known regarding soil microbial co-occurrence patterns and their function in ecosystems shaped by long-term tillage practices. The goal of the present study was to investigate

Natural grasslands in southern Brazil are ecosystems that are naturally adapted to grazing. Despite the productivity and ecological relevance of these ecosystems, the effects of grazing intensity on their soil quality are still underexplored. This work aimed to determine whether increasing the grazing intensity would jeopardize the soil structure in a natural highland grassland in southern Brazil.

In the last decades, the transformation of agriculture and the associated decline in semi-natural grasslands have been major drivers of the loss of spider diversity across Europe, in particular in mountain regions. In the early stages of forest succession, abandoned grasslands exhibit a complex vegetation structure sharing environmental conditions with both open habitats and forests. At the landscape

Food systems need to become more sustainable. There is a need to investigate the agricultural management components that address the sustainability better. Long crop rotations are suggested to be environmentally friendly, yet, little is known how soil microbial communities may be affected by long-term rotation under organic cropping with cover crops and manure and conventional cropping with different

Savanna regions are increasingly developed for agriculture to support population growth, food demand and export economies. This is driving interest in the conversion of natural savanna to cattle grazed pastures or horticultural crops in Northern Australia. Savanna clearing leads to aboveground carbon (C) loss but impacts below-ground are less certain as studies have focused on high rainfall regions

The decline of bees compromises pollination services and connectivity of plant populations, both wild and domesticated. The aim of this study was to evaluate bee diversity in natural wetland island-like habitats — called kettle holes — embedded in an agricultural landscape and its relationship with spatial parameters (kettle-hole area, isolation, neighboring land-use diversity), as well as further

Reduced-tillage systems that augment soil inorganic N availability while reducing N losses can improve the nitrogen-use efficiency of cover crop-based organic cropping systems. We conducted a three year full factorial field experiment in the upper Midwest, USA to examine the effects of strip-tillage and a cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) and hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) cover crop mixture on (1)

Traditional farming landscapes in China consist of small irregular fields with an intimately interspersed semi-natural habitat network of field margins, but are increasingly converted into consolidated ones that consist of standardized fields with reduced areas of field margins and other semi-natural habitat. It is unclear how such farmland consolidation influences pollinator communities, and if there

Land use management of forests and croplands mainly drives the vegetation greening in China. Vegetation greening strongly modulates the trade-off between carbon sequestration via photosynthesis and water loss from evapotranspiration (ET) at the terrestrial ecosystem (representing by ecosystem water use efficiency, WUE). The function of vegetation greening in terrestrial carbon sequestration is well

In Brazil, water management in agriculture is an extremely important issue in terms of water security, as well as in other regions of the world. Thus, the study presents a method to measure the potential water demand in the agricultural sector in two pairs (Pair 1 and Pair 2) of hydrographic sub-basins (SB) inserted in the Piracicaba River basin, located in southeastern Brazil. The methods adopted

Grasslands include some of the most endangered and less protected ecosystems on the planet, such as the Pampa of South America. In the Flooding Pampa where native grasslands were not replaced by crops, glyphosate is frequently sprayed in late-summer every year to increase winter forage productivity for cattle without knowing the impacts on both aboveground and belowground grassland genetic resources

Disentangling the changes of newly input and original organic carbon (OC) and nitrogen (N) after agricultural land-use transition is crucial for understanding the mechanisms behind soil OC and N dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems. However, these dynamics have received little attention so far due to the lack of an approach separating them. In this study, we determined the natural abundance of 13C and

Long-term field experiments have confirmed belowground plant carbon (C) to be two to three times more efficient precursor of soil organic carbon (SOC) than aboveground plant residues. But it remains elusive just when this belowground biomass is relatively stabilized against mineralization: during the initial fast degradation, or on the longer term? A one-year field experiment was set up with biweekly

Nitrogen use in agriculture directly impacts food security, global warming, and environmental degradation. Forage grasses intercropped with maize produce feed for animals and or mulch for no-till systems. Forage grasses may exude nitrification inhibitors. It was hypothesized that brachiaria intercropping increases N recycling and maize grain yield and reduces nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from soil

Landscape simplification and degradation through agricultural intensification is widely recognized as a main driver of biodiversity loss. In intensively used agricultural landscapes, patches of semi-natural habitats and particularly connections between them are of high importance for many taxa. Vegetated connections like hedgerows are especially important for foraging and commuting of mobile taxa such

Intercropping has been shown to increase the productivity of agroecosystems, but the belowground mechanisms for this have not been well elucidated. The soil microbial community produces extracellular enzymes that are responsible for degrading plant residues and maintaining nutrient cycles in the soil. While the effects of plant diversity on enzyme activities have been studied, the results are often

Soil erosion not only affects the redistribution of soil materials but also changes soil respiration (Rs) and its temperature sensitivity (Q10), which plays a significant role in the carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystem. To explore the stoichiometric regulations of Rs and Q10 under erosion and deposition conditions, typical eroded (croplands) and deposited sites (check dams) were selected in the Luoyugou

The preservation of biodiversity and the improvement of soil fertility have become important goals in orchard management; therefore, the standard approach of weed control in the understory of tree rows by repeated frequent use of herbicides needs to be replaced by more sustainable methods. This study presents a technique for establishing a permanent autoregulatory non-competitive plant community as

Stubble return, drainage, and tillage are common practices in rice agriculture, but their integrated effects in the winter season on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (STN) sequestration remain poorly known. A six-year experiment was carried out in a double-rice field to measure CH4 and N2O fluxes and SOC and STN contents, and then the net global warming

High inputs of fertilizer nitrogen (N) in tea fields lead to declining soil pH and high emissions of N2O. Amending the soil with biochar can potentially reduce N2O emissions and alleviate soil acidification. To assess the multi-year effects of wheat straw-derived biochar on N2O emissions and tea yield in tea fields, a three-year (2014–2016) field trial following the wheat straw-derived biochar addition

Land-use and climate change are two of the key forces driving soil organisms’ activity and thus the ecosystem functions they provide. However, potential interactive effects of climate change and different land-use types on soil biological activity still remain unclear. Here, we studied soil biological activity in a large-scale field experiment initiated in 2014 in central Germany with two levels of

Soil erosion exacerbates the reduction of soil organic matter (SOM) and destruction of soil physical structure in agricultural systems, which seriously threatens agricultural ecological environment and global sustainable agriculture development. Owing to rich SOM and nutrients of woody peat results in it’s widely applied in degraded soil for improving land productivity. But how the impacted of woody

Different integrated crop management (ICM) modules have been developed to enhance the productivity and profitability of the rice-wheat rotation (RWR) of the upper Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGPs). As the available options are used quite often singly or with the few combinations, hence in the present study, eight ICM modules have been evaluated; wherein, ICM1&2- conventional transplanted rice fb flatbed

Crop raiding ungulates can cause costly yield losses and conflicts between agriculture, game management, and conservation. It is therefore crucial to know how, where, and when ungulates use different habitats and crops. In this study we used resource selection functions and GPS-tagged red deer Cervus elaphus (n = 38) in two different study areas (North – mainly forested land and South – mainly arable

Retaining trees in low-input agroecosystems could be key to maintain mycelia of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and hence, improve soil fertility and crop performance. We assessed the impact of faidherbia (Faidherbia albida, Fabaceae) and mango (Mangifera indica, Anacardiaceae) trees on AMF and soil fertility in smallholder farmers’ maize fields. Along distance-from-tree gradients (1, 4, 10, 15 m)

Fertilization is an effective measure to decrease soil erosion by promoting vegetation restoration, while it affects soil respiration (Rs) greatly through influencing soil properties and plant root growth. A factorial combination of N addition (0, 50 and 100 kg N ha-1 yr-1 defined as N0, N50, and N100) and P addition (0, 40 and 80 kg P2O5 ha-1 yr-1 defined as P0, P40, and P80) experiment was conducted

The excessive application of chemical fertilizers in intensively managed agricultural fields worldwide has resulted in soil degradation and biodiversity loss. This has contributed to a growing interest in sustainable management, such as organic farming. Until now, studies addressing the impact of conventional and organic management on soil biodiversity and functioning have mainly focused on arable

China's green development has advanced national strategic requirements for excessive nitrogen application, greenhouse gas emission reduction, and efficient production in food systems. However, large challenges still exist in achieving these goals. In this study, a comprehensive meta-analysis and random forest identification were conducted to integrate nitrogen fertilization based nitrous oxide (N2O)

To protect sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) against pests in commercial orchards, pesticides are frequently used, but some have adverse environmental impacts. Natural enemies can deliver protection against pests but compared to the surrounding non-crop habitat their abundance is usually low in intensively managed agricultural systems. Wildflower interventions established for Conservation Biological Control

Management intensive grazing (MIG), also known as rotational grazing or multi-paddock grazing, is purported to sequester carbon (C) in soils compared to other agricultural management systems. Prior research examining the potential for MIG to enhance soil C has been inconclusive, and past investigations have not addressed whether higher nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions may accompany increases in soil C

Agricultural management measures, including tillage, considerably alter the rhizosphere fungal community; however, traditional snapshot sampling fail to represent the rhizosphere fungal community patterns over time. Here, we conducted a continuous study of wheat rhizosphere fungal communities through long-term tillage experiments (consisting of conventional and conservation tillage) to clarify tillage

Despite concerns about the status of wild bees, there have been few studies with repeated sampling of these insects at the same locations using the same method. There is an urgent need for longitudinal studies to understand species- and population-level dynamics and the drivers of change, especially in pollinator-dependent crop systems. We sampled wild bees in highbush blueberry fields in three multi-year

Decreased agricultural diversity from extensive use of the corn (Zea mays L.)- soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) rotation and occasional inclusion of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), has threatened cropping system sustainability. Using specialty oilseeds crops to extend the corn-soybean rotation might improve yields and promote sustainability. We tested whether corn, soybean, and wheat yields would

Biochar, as a soil conditioner, not only improves soil fertility but also changes the bioavailability of heavy metals in soil-crop systems, which may lead to certain environmental issues. To investigate the effect of biochar on the bioavailability of heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Ni, and Pb) in soils, a two-year field experiment with five biochar rates (0, 5, 15, 20, and 40 Mg ha−1) was conducted in yellow-brown

Addition of biochar to soil has been shown to reduce nitrogen (N) leaching in pot experiments, but direct field measurements are scarce, and data is lacking especially from colder, boreal conditions. We studied the effect of soil organic amendments on nitrate (NO3-) and ammonium (NH4+) leaching using the resin bag method, by placing the bags containing ion-exchange resins under the plough layer. We

Socio-economic and environmental drivers are causing large scale abandonment of agricultural land worldwide. Simultaneously, there is growing recognition that urgent and widespread revegetation is required in our agricultural landscapes to restore biodiversity, ecosystem services and promote carbon sequestration. The design of effective revegetation strategies, however, can be limited by a lack of

Agricultural intensification is one of the most important drivers of biodiversity loss. To preserve taxonomic diversity in agricultural landscapes, there is an increasing need for refuge areas within agroecosystems, but best practices for providing such sites are debated. Here, we compared the taxonomic diversity and trait composition of spiders, being important terrestrial predators, among cereal

Background Conservation biological control provides an environment-friendly approach to improve the efficacy of natural enemies. Although numerous studies have demonstrated the potential of semi-natural habitats in promoting biological control in organic or unsprayed agroecosystems, few studies were conducted in conventional agricultural fields. In this study, we investigated the effects of landscape

Global environmental change is causing increases in soil temperatures and alternations in precipitation patterns, which are affecting soil biota in natural and managed systems. Arable soils, generally disturbed due to management practice, are particularly sensitive to a changing environment. However, little is known how warming interacts with precipitation pattern to affect soil fauna and thereby ecosystem

Secondary soil salinization is a common problem in intense agroecosystems such as the plastic shed production (PSP) systems. Understanding the dynamic changes of soil salinity and its negative impacts on crop nutrition is essential for management of PSP systems. In this study, 96 plastic shed orchards were chosen to investigate the impact of long-term PSP on soil salinization in a perennial fruit production

The North China Plain (NCP) is one of the most important regions for food production in China; however, the typical winter wheat–summer maize cropping system has created a continuous decline in groundwater levels, triggering serious ecological problems. Additionally, changes in the evaporation potential in the NCP have altered from decreasing to sharply increasing. Therefore, it is critical to understand