Legume crops and biodiversity.

Everwand, Georg; Cass, Susannah; Dauber, Jens; Williams, Michael L.

doi:10.1079/9781780644981.0055

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

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“…Legumes have also an important role in protecting natures' biodiversity. Over the years, the intensification of agriculture production has led to the wide dissemination of the most profitable crops at the expense of landscapes' diversity, as well as, natural habitats of different species (Everwand et al, 2017). Excessive N inputs from massive use of artificial fertilizers may be one major contributor, causing soil acidification and direct toxicity, among other negative consequences (European Commission, 2018a).…”

Section: Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Legumes as a Cornerstone of the Transition Toward More Sustainable Agri-Food Systems and Diets in Europe

Ferreira

Pinto

Vasconcelos

2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Legume grains are important sources of nutrients in human and animal diets and have been so for millennia. Their history as part of traditional diets dates to the origins of agriculture when their benefits for soil health and agricultural productivity started to be realized, mostly empirically, by farmers. In time, legumes have lost their popularity as human food, either because of a negative connotation as “poor man's meat,” occasional gastrointestinal side effects, or habitually longer preparation times when compared to other types of plant foods. Also, the steep rise in the consumption of meat derived foods in the last half of a century has taken a toll on replacing legumes as a major protein source. Alongside this negative trend in consumption, a negative drift in production was also observed, especially in Europe, where legumes currently occupy a minimal fraction of agricultural land. One of the main factors is a loss in competitive edge amongst farmers due to sustained lower public and private investments in breeding programs and legume adapted technology for planting, managing, harvesting, processing, and storing, when compared to cereals. Recently, increased awareness of the need to move to sustainable food systems is revitalizing legume production and consumption in Europe, leading to a compilation of policies and initiatives that aim to put legumes again as foundations for this transition. Legumes have been reinvented in a multitude of products (drinks, cereal bars, bread, meat replacers, snacks, flours, and several others) and included in farming systems of conservation agriculture, organic production, intercropping, and crop rotation, combining ancient traditions of legume production “with a spin,” incorporating new legume technological knowledge in farming systems. However, the transition has been slow and hampered by many cultural, societal, political, and economic impediments. This paper summarizes initiatives that aim to enable the comeback of legumes and their placement in a more prominent position in human diets and agricultural fields and highlights strategies that aim at overcoming the obstacles that impede achieving the development of more sustainable agri-food systems and sustainable diets in Europe.

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Section: Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Legumes as a Cornerstone of the Transition Toward More Sustainable Agri-Food Systems and Diets in Europe

Ferreira

Pinto

Vasconcelos

2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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“…Nevertheless, the effect of conventional grain legume cultivation as part of the current greening reform on pollinating insects, particularly at the landscape scale, is understudied (Everwand, Cass, Dauber, Williams, & Stout, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional groups of wild bees respond differently to faba bean Vicia faba L. cultivation at landscape scale

Beyer

Gabriel

Kirsch

et al. 2020

Journal of Applied Ecology

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1. Concerns about insect declines are growing and the provisioning of ecosystem services like pollination may be threatened. To safeguard biodiversity, greening measures were introduced within the reform of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. One measure commonly applied by farmers is the cultivation of nitrogen fixing crops. Although underlying studies are largely missing, this measure is criticized as providing no significant biodiversity benefit. 2. Using a landscape-scale approach, we selected 30 paired study landscapes (1 km × 1 km) in Germany, that is, 15 study landscapes with faba bean (FB) fields (Vicia faba L.) and 15 without any grain legumes. Flower-visiting wild bees were recorded with transect walks at the field margins of different crops using a stratified sampling approach. We analysed the effect of FB cultivation and landscape composition on the abundance and species richness of wild bees as well as on the functional composition of the bee communities. 3. Bumblebee densities (Bombus spp. Latreille) were more than twice as high in FB compared to control landscapes after the flowering of the beans. Non-Bombus wild bee densities, however, were not affected by FB cultivation, but were enhanced by increasing amounts of semi-natural habitats (SNH). 4. After the beans' blooming had ceased, FB landscapes had a higher proportion of wild bees collecting pollen from Fabaceae than control landscapes. The communityweighted means for bee size, measured as intertegular distance, were not affected by FB cultivation, but we found smaller species and species with shorter tongues with an increasing percentage of SNH. 5. Synthesis and applications. The cultivation of faba bean Vicia faba L. strongly increased bumblebee densities throughout the season. This indicates that also on-field greening measures can support biodiversity. Nevertheless, since only functional groups adapted to faba bean benefit, measures to promote seminatural habitats in agricultural landscapes need to be implemented. We conclude that the combination of on-and off-field measures is essential to maintain farmland biodiversity and the Common Agricultural Policy should furthermore promote both.

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“…To assess the environmental impacts of provisioning ES, either positive (win-win/synergy; e.g. Bareille and Letort 2018;Daryanto et al 2018;Everwand et al 2017) or negative (trade-off; e.g. Gissi et al 2018) externalities of production are considered (e.g.…”

Section: Environmental Externalities Of Provisioning Esmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards an enhanced indication of provisioning ecosystem services in agro-ecosystems

Bethwell

Burkhard

Daedlow

et al. 2021

Environ Monit Assess

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Provisioning ecosystem services play a vital role in sustaining human well-being. Agro-ecosystems contribute a significant share of these services, besides food and fodder and also fuel and fibre as well as regulating and cultural ecosystem services. Until now, the indication of provisioning ecosystem services of agro-ecosystems has been based almost only on yield numbers of agricultural products. Such an indication is problematic due to several reasons which include a disregard of the role of significant anthropogenic contributions to ecosystem service co-generation, external environmental effects and strong dependence on site conditions. We argue for an enhanced indication of provisioning ecosystem services that considers multiple aspects of their delivery. The conceptual base for such an indication has been made by prior publications which have been reviewed. Relevant points were taken up in this article and condensed into a conceptual model in order to develop a more holistic and expanded set of indictors, which was then exemplarily applied and tested in three case studies in Germany. The case studies represent different natural conditions, and the indicator set application showed that ecosystem services (ES) flow—in terms of output alone—does not characterise agro-ecosystems sufficiently. The proposed aspects of provisioning ecosystem services can give a fuller picture, for example, by input-output relationships, as it is possible by just using single indicators. Uncertainties as well as pros and cons of such an approach are elaborated. Finally, recommendations for an enhanced indication of provisioning ecosystem services in agro-ecosystems that can help to integrate agricultural principles with ideas of sustainability and site-specific land use are derived.

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Legume crops and biodiversity.

Cited by 20 publications

References 0 publications

Legumes as a Cornerstone of the Transition Toward More Sustainable Agri-Food Systems and Diets in Europe

Legumes as a Cornerstone of the Transition Toward More Sustainable Agri-Food Systems and Diets in Europe

Functional groups of wild bees respond differently to faba bean Vicia faba L. cultivation at landscape scale

Towards an enhanced indication of provisioning ecosystem services in agro-ecosystems

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