Harvested perennial grasslands provide ecological benchmarks for agricultural sustainability

Glover, J.; Culman, Steve W.; DuPont, S. Tianna; Broussard, Whitney P.; Young, Lauren M.; Mangan, Margaret E.; John, G.; Crews, Timothy E.; DeHaan, Lee R.; Buckley, Daniel H.; Ferris, H.; Turner, R. Eugene; Reynolds, Heather L.; Wyse, Donald L.

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2009.11.001

Cited by 160 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…2). For example, managed grasslands in Kansas had 43 Mg ha − 1 greater soil C in the surface 1 m than annual cropland 32 . There are few, if any, studies on plant diversity effects on C sequestration in forage and pastureland.…”

Section: Plant Diversity and Soil Carbonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversification and ecosystem services for conservation agriculture: Outcomes from pastures and integrated crop–livestock systems

Sanderson

Archer

Hendrickson

et al. 2013

Renew. Agric. Food Syst.

119

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Conservation agricultural systems rely on three principles to enhance ecosystem services: (1) minimizing soil disturbance, (2) maximizing soil surface cover and (3) stimulating biological activity. In this paper, we explore the concept of diversity and its role in maximizing ecosystem services from managed grasslands and integrated agricultural systems (i.e., integrated crop-livestock-forage systems) at the field and farm level. We also examine trade-offs that may be involved in realizing greater ecosystem services. Previous research on livestock production systems, particularly in pastureland, has shown improvements in herbage productivity and reduced weed invasion with increased forage diversity but little response in terms of animal production. Managing forage diversity in pastureland requires new tools to guide the selection and placement of plant mixtures across a farm according to site suitability and the goals of the producer. Integrated agricultural systems embrace the concept of dynamic cropping systems, which incorporates a long-term strategy of annual crop sequencing that optimizes crop and soil use options to attain production, economic and resource conservation goals by using sound ecological management principles. Integrating dynamic cropping systems with livestock production increases the complexity of management, but also creates synergies among system components that may improve resilience and sustainability while fulfilling multiple ecosystem functions. Diversified conservation agricultural systems can sustain crop and livestock production and provide additional ecosystem services such as soil C storage, efficient nutrient cycling and conservation of biodiversity.

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Section: Plant Diversity and Soil Carbonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversification and ecosystem services for conservation agriculture: Outcomes from pastures and integrated crop–livestock systems

Sanderson

Archer

Hendrickson

et al. 2013

Renew. Agric. Food Syst.

119

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Most studies examining the biogeochemical benefits of perennial plants have focused on direct effects of perennial roots on C storage and N uptake (Glover et al 2010;Robertson et al 2011;Robertson and Vitousek 2009). Apart from these direct impacts, plants indirectly influence C and N cycling through linkages with microbes, which are important to understand in order to model the biogeochemistry of these ecosystems (Treseder et al 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physiological shifts in the microbial community drive changes in enzyme activity in a perennial agroecosystem

Hargreaves

Hofmockel

2013

Biogeochemistry

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Perennial agroecosystems have the potential to promote plant-microbial linkages by increasing the quantity of root carbon entering the soil. However, an understanding of how perennial cropping systems affect microbial communities remains incomplete. The objective of this study was to determine the potential for a fertilized perennial bioenergy cropping system to impact microbial growth and enzyme activity. Three times throughout the growing season we examined the activity of four enzymes involved in decomposition (ß-glucosidase, ß-xylosidase, cellobiohydrolase, and N-acetyl glucosaminidase) in replicated plots of an annual (corn) and perennial-based (switchgrass) cropping system. We also took simultaneous measurements of microbial biomass and potential rates of microbial respiration and net N mineralization. Microbial biomass was unaffected by cropping system. Mid-summer, however, we observed increases in enzyme activity and potential microbial respiration in the perennial system that were independent of microbial biomass, likely in response to labile carbon inputs. Further, we observed lower net N mineralization, higher microbial biomass nitrogen and higher activity of nitrogen liberating enzymes, which are indicative of a community with high nitrogen demands. Overall, our research demonstrates that perennial agroecosystems can affect the physiological capacity of the microbial community, yielding communities with greater nitrogen retention and greater rates of decomposition as a result of allocation of resources towards enzyme production and nitrogen mining. These results can inform biogeochemical models with respect to the importance of temporally dynamic changes in carbon and nitrogen availability and microbial carbon use efficiency as drivers of enzyme production.

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“…Grassland and forage crops have a relatively high yield potential, due to the long growing period, existing root system, and whole-crop harvest (e.g. Evans 1993;Murphy 2005;Glover et al 2010), but growth and regrowth cycles are very sensitive to management (e.g. Slewinski 2012).…”

Section: Driving Forces and Biophysical Limitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intensification of grassland and forage use: driving forces and constraints

Oenema

Klein

Alfaro³

2014

Crop Pasture Sci.

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Abstract. The increasing demand for safe and nutritional dairy and beef products in a globalising world, together with the needs to increase resource use efficiency and to protect biodiversity, provide strong incentives for intensification of grassland and forage use. This paper addresses the question: 'Does intensification of grassland and forage use lead to efficient, profitable and sustainable ecosystems?' We present some notions about intensification of agricultural production, and then discuss the intensification of grassland-based dairy production in The Netherlands, Chile and New Zealand. Finally, we arrive at some conclusions.External driving forces and the need to economise (the law of the optimum) provide strong incentives for intensification, that is, for increasing the output per unit surface area and labour. The three country cases illustrate that intensification of grassland use is a global phenomenon, with winners and losers. Winners are farmers who are able to achieve a high return on investments. Losers are small farmers who drop out of the business unless they broaden their income base. The relationship between intensification and environmental impact is complex. Within certain ranges, intensification leads to increased emissions of nutrients and greenhouse gases to air and use of water per unit surface area, but to decreased emissions when expressed per unit of product. The sustainability of a grassland-based ecosystem is ultimately defined by the societal appreciation of that system and by biophysical and socioeconomic constraints.In conclusion, intensification may lead to more efficient and profitable and, thereby, more sustainable grassland ecosystems. This holds especially for those systems that are currently not sustainable because they are either underutilised and of low productivity or over-exploited and unregulated, and as long as the adapted systems meet societal and ecological constraints.

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Harvested perennial grasslands provide ecological benchmarks for agricultural sustainability

Cited by 160 publications

References 46 publications

Diversification and ecosystem services for conservation agriculture: Outcomes from pastures and integrated crop–livestock systems

Diversification and ecosystem services for conservation agriculture: Outcomes from pastures and integrated crop–livestock systems

Physiological shifts in the microbial community drive changes in enzyme activity in a perennial agroecosystem

Intensification of grassland and forage use: driving forces and constraints

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