Functional group richness increases multifunctionality in intensively managed grasslands

Abstract

BackgroundAgricultural yields have increased continuously over the last few decades. However, a focus solely on production can harm the environment. Diversification of agriculture has been suggested to increase production and sustainability. Biodiversity experiments showed positive effects on ecosystems and productivity. However, application of these results to intensively managed grasslands has been questioned due to differences in plant species and management regimes. Research on whether diversity can benefit multifunctionality, that is, an integrated index of multiple ecosystem functions, under intensive management, is still scarce.MethodsTo address this, we manipulated plant species richness from one to six species spanning three functional groups (legumes, herbs, and grasses) in intensively managed multispecies grassland leys and examined seven ecosystem functions.ResultsWe found that multifunctionality increased with functional group and species richness. Legume+herb mixtures showed high multifunctionality, while grass monocultures and mixtures with high proportions of grasses had low multifunctionality. Different plant species and plant communities drove different ecosystem functions. Legumes and herbs improved productivity and water availability, while grasses enhanced invasion resistance. These results indicate that multifunctionality and individual ecosystem functions can be promoted through targeted combinations of plants with complementary ecological traits.ConclusionsPlant diversity can improve multifunctionality also under intensive management, potentially benefitting agroeconomics and sustainability.

Effects of experimental drought and plant diversity on multifunctionality of a model system for crop rotation

“…Savage et al 9 investigated five ecosystem services (including biodiversity-and soil-related services) and management factors in three plant communities and concluded that "a single management solution to maximise the delivery of all ecosystem services is unlikely to exist, as trade-offs also occurred. " Thus our finding that no single community maximised all ecosystem functions is in broad agreement with comparable studies 6,7,9 . We found that diversity strongly affected multifunctionality; however, it was dependent on the combination of species, functional group and relative abundance.…”

“…They also showed that multifunctionality of low-nitrogen mixtures was at least as high as that in high-nitrogen grass monocultures 6 . With a similar design and the same species as in our study, Argens et al 7 investigated seven ecosystem functions (related to agronomy, biodiversity, plant physiology and soil nitrogen), and found that different species compositions promoted different individual functions; although multifunctionality increased with functional group and www.nature.com/scientificreports/ species richness, it was maximal for legume-herb combinations. Dooley et al 8 found higher performance and lower variability across three agronomic functions in four-species mixtures compared to monocultures; they found that trade-offs occurred mostly in monoculture communities.…”

“…There remains significant knowledge gaps (but see Refs. [6][7][8][9] ) about the role of changing plant species diversity as a practical farm-scale measure to improve simultaneous delivery of multiple ecosystem functions and services (multifunctionality) in productive grasslands.Practical adaptation strategies are required to reduce the impact of climate change and drought events on grasslands. Climate change poses multiple challenges for the performance, sustainability and resilience of current and future farming systems 10 .…”

“…There remains significant knowledge gaps (but see Refs. [6][7][8][9] ) about the role of changing plant species diversity as a practical farm-scale measure to improve simultaneous delivery of multiple ecosystem functions and services (multifunctionality) in productive grasslands.…”