A global synthesis reveals biodiversity-mediated benefits for crop production
Human land use threatens global biodiversity and compromises multiple ecosystem functions critical to food production. Whether crop yield–related ecosystem services can be maintained by a few dominant species or rely on high richness remains unclear. Using a global database from 89 studies (with 1...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Artículo |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington,DC, USA
2020
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/9472 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax0121 |
| Summary: | Human land use threatens global biodiversity and compromises multiple ecosystem functions critical to
food production. Whether crop yield–related ecosystem services can be maintained by a few dominant
species or rely on high richness remains unclear. Using a global database from 89 studies (with 1475 locations),
we partition the relative importance of species richness, abundance, and dominance for pollination;
biological pest control; and final yields in the context of ongoing land-use change. Pollinator and enemy
richness directly supported ecosystem services in addition to and independent of abundance and dominance.
Up to 50% of the negative effects of landscape simplification on ecosystem services was due to
richness losses of service-providing organisms, with negative consequences for crop yields. Maintaining
the biodiversity of ecosystem service providers is therefore vital to sustain the flow of key agroecosystem
benefits to society. |
|---|