Biomass and biofuel crop effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services in the North Central US

Landis, Douglas A.; Gratton, Claudio; Jackson, Randall D.; Gross, Katherine L.; Duncan, David S.; Liang, Chao; Meehan, Timothy D.; Robertson, Bruce A.; Schmidt, Thomas M.; Stahlheber, Karen A.; Tiedje, James M.; Werling, Benjamin P.

doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2017.02.003

Cited by 63 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…However, it should be possible to ensure a consistent supply of biomass by developing a diversity of feedstock sources including switchgrass monocultures and corn stover (~6 Mg ha -1 ), mixed grass stands (~6 Mg ha -1 ), and miscanthus (~16 Mg ha -1 ) into a landscape mosaic surrounding a biorefinery. In addition, the resulting land use and land cover mosaic would likely provide significantly higher levels of other ecosystem services such as higher crop yields in pollinator-dependent crops (Liere et al, 2015), better wildlife habitat (Robertson et al, 2011), and climate stabilization among others (Landis et al, 2017;Ventura et al, 2012). Moreover, where the feasibility and availability of feedstock supply align, these fuelsheds could be expanded with a distributed network of preprocessing and aggregation depots where pretreatment and densification occur .…”

Section: Discussion Ethanol Yields Driven By Biomass Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Environ. [In preparation]) by improving soil health (Robertson et al, 2008;Duran et al, 2016) and increasing pest and pathogen suppression (Werling et al, 2014;Liere et al, 2015;Landis et al, 2017). However, yield stability is likely to come at the expense of attaining the highest possible biomass yields in years with favorable growing conditions (Webster et al, 2010;Duran et al, 2016).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Biomass Production a Stronger Driver of Cellulosic Ethanol Yield than Biomass Quality

et al. 2017

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Core Ideas Fermentable sugars were greatest in corn stover > perennial grasses > polycultures. Corn stover had the highest ethanol content. Miscanthus had the highest ethanol yield potential on a per hectare basis. Ethanol yield potential per hectare of switchgrass ≥ corn stover. Biomass yield was the strongest driver of per hectare ethanol yield. Many crops have been proposed as feedstocks for the emerging cellulosic ethanol industry, but information is lacking about the relative importance of feedstock production and quality. We compared yield and sugar content for seven bioenergy cropping systems in south‐central Wisconsin (ARL) and southwestern Michigan (KBS) during three growing seasons (2012 through 2014). The cropping systems were (i) continuous corn stover (Zea mays L.), (ii) switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), (iii) giant miscanthus (Miscanthus × giganteus Greef & Deuter ex Hodkinson & Renvoize), (iv) hybrid poplar (Populus nigra × P. maximowiczii A. Henry ‘NM6’), (v) native grass mix, (vi) early successional community, and (vii) restored prairie. A high‐throughput pretreatment and fermentation assay showed corn stover with the highest sugar content (213 g glucose kg−1 [Glc] and 115 g xylose kg−1 [Xyl]) followed by the two monoculture perennial grass treatments (154 [Glc] and 88 [Xyl]) and then the herbaceous polycultures (135 [Glc] and 77 [Xyl]). Biomass production and sugar content were combined to calculate ethanol yields. Miscanthus had the highest per hectare ethanol yields (1957 l ha−1 yr−1 ARL, 2485 l ha−1 yr−1 KBS) followed by switchgrass (1091 l ha−1 yr−1 ARL, 1017 l ha−1 yr−1 KBS) and corn stover (1121 l ha−1 yr−1 ARL, 878 l ha−1 yr−1 KBS). Perennial grass cropping systems (i.e., switchgrass and miscanthus) had higher per hectare ethanol yields at both sites relative to diverse systems that included dicots. Despite feedstock differences in fermentable sugars, biomass production was the strongest driver of per hectare ethanol yield.

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Section: Discussion Ethanol Yields Driven By Biomass Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Biomass Production a Stronger Driver of Cellulosic Ethanol Yield than Biomass Quality

et al. 2017

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“…Depending on management practices, maximizing yield often results in tradeoffs with biodiversity-mediated ecosystem services (Bennett, Peterson, and Gordon 2009;Landis et al 2017;Power 2010;Werling et al 2014). It is thus essential to conduct more studies that simultaneously examine multiple ecosystem services and that aim to understand the synergies and tradeoffs among them, how these synergies and tradeoffs change with spatial scale and in time (Bennett, Peterson, and Gordon 2009), and the mechanisms that cause them (Howe et al 2014).…”

Section: Long-term Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is thus essential to conduct more studies that simultaneously examine multiple ecosystem services and that aim to understand the synergies and tradeoffs among them, how these synergies and tradeoffs change with spatial scale and in time (Bennett, Peterson, and Gordon 2009), and the mechanisms that cause them (Howe et al 2014). These studies will provide the tools to communicate effectively with stakeholders and policymakers (Tuner et al 2007;Landis et al 2017) to achieve agricultural multifunctionality.…”

Section: Long-term Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intersection between biodiversity conservation, agroecology, and ecosystem services

Liere

Jha

Philpott

2017

Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems

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Agroecological research has improved our understanding of the drivers and benefits of biodiversity, thus providing the scientific basis needed to achieve agricultural multifunctionality. We review how agroecology has contributed to our understanding of the effects of local and landscape level drivers on beneficial insects, as well as on the ecosystem services they provide. Several syntheses from agroecosystem research indicate that both populations and biodiversity of pollinator and natural enemies decline with increases in local agricultural intensification and that landscape composition and configuration may mediate these local scale effects. Changes in agricultural management may affect predation and pollination services by altering the resource base for natural enemies and pollinators, by altering their species pool, and by modifying their interactions. The effects of these drivers depend on taxonomical or functional groups and landscape context. Studies that directly measure the cascading effects of landscape drivers on pest control and pollination services and plant level benefits are sparse. We propose five research themes to improve our understanding of the interface of agroecology, conservation, and ecosystem service research.

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“…, Landis et al. ). For farmers and ranchers managing their land, ecosystem services measured at smaller scales may be particularly relevant for making management decisions (Jessop et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade‐offs and synergies in a payment‐for‐ecosystem services program on ranchlands in the Everglades headwaters

et al. 2019

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Increasingly, agriculture is recognized as valuable not only for food production, but also for regulating and supporting ecosystem services such as those encompassing biodiversity and water. Various government programs provide incentives to farmers and ranchers to maintain ecosystem services, with an emerging focus on payment‐for‐ecosystem services (PES) programs. However, interactions among ecosystem services, including synergies or trade‐offs, at spatial scales relevant to land managers are not well understood. Here, we examined how a PES program for enhanced water retention on subtropical ranchlands in the headwaters of the Everglades affected seven indicators of ecosystem services and three indicators of disservices within wetlands (local scale) and among wetlands (wetland scale) at four different ranches. We used general linear mixed models and model selection to evaluate the feasibility of explicit, a priori hypotheses using data from 15 wetlands sampled across four participating ranches. Our study indicated that managing for increased water retention could result in both synergies and trade‐offs among ecosystem services. Higher water retention increased wetland plants at both local and wetland scales and was associated with reduced mosquitoes. Trade‐offs included significant declines in forage plant cover and decreases in amphibian abundance with higher water retention. Unimodal non‐linear relationships described responses of macroinvertebrates, fish, mosquito, and non‐native plant abundance to increasing water retention. These complex relationships indicate that optimizing water retention, provisioning services, and wetland biodiversity in ranchlands may not be straightforward. Unimodal non‐linear relationships among water retention and biodiversity suggest there is a threshold of water retention that represents a trade‐off for also maintaining biodiversity. Land use was an important driver of ecosystem disservices, with more intensely managed ranches having a greater potential for ecosystem disservices such as increased cover of non‐native plants, abundant mosquitoes, and lower amphibian abundance. Multidisciplinary collaboration was required to design, implement, monitor, and assess this PES program for trade‐offs and synergies.

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Biomass and biofuel crop effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services in the North Central US

Cited by 63 publications

References 86 publications

Biomass Production a Stronger Driver of Cellulosic Ethanol Yield than Biomass Quality

Biomass Production a Stronger Driver of Cellulosic Ethanol Yield than Biomass Quality

Intersection between biodiversity conservation, agroecology, and ecosystem services

Trade‐offs and synergies in a payment‐for‐ecosystem services program on ranchlands in the Everglades headwaters

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