Spatial similarities between European agroforestry systems and ecosystem services at the landscape scale

Abstract

Agroforestry systems are known to provide ecosystem services which differ in quantity and quality from conventional agricultural practices and could enhance rural landscapes. In this study we compared ecosystem services provision of agroforestry and non-agroforestry landscapes in case study regions from three European biogeographical regions: Mediterranean (montado and dehesa), Continental (orchards and wooded pasture) and Atlantic agroforestry systems (chestnut soutos and hedgerows systems). Seven ecosystem service indicators (two provisioning and five regulating services) were mapped, modelled and assessed. Clear variations in amount and provision of ecosystem services were found between different types of agroforestry systems. Nonetheless regulating ecosystems services were improved in all agroforestry landscapes, with reduced nitrate losses, higher carbon sequestration, reduced soil losses, higher functional biodiversity focussed on pollination and greater habitat diversity reflected in a high proportion of semi-natural habitats. The results for provisioning services were inconsistent. While the annual biomass yield and the groundwater recharge rate tended to be higher in agricultural landscapes without agroforestry systems, the total biomass stock was reduced. These broad relationships were observed within and across the case study regions regardless of the agroforestry type or biogeographical region. Overall our study underlines the positive influence of agroforestry systems on the supply of regulating services and their role to enhance landscape structure.

Cross-site analysis of perceived ecosystem service benefits in multifunctional landscapes

“…The study areas were identified as landscapes that most residents identify with and/or depend on for their lifestyles and livelihoods based on knowledge of local members of the research team (Brown et al, 2015b). They represent the major types of multifunctional landscapes in Europe and spread across a large gradient of land-use and biogeographic conditions (Kay et al, 2017) and degrees of rurality ( Supplementary Table A.1). Following the FARO typology of rurality (van Eupen et al, 2012), our study areas cover situations from "deep rural" (e.g.…”

Agroforestry is paying off – Economic evaluation of ecosystem services in European landscapes with and without agroforestry systems

“…Actually, the decision of managing the land as an agroforestry system is not only related to financial profitability but also to other criteria such as to increase the diversification of products, improve biodiversity, animal health and welfare as described by The decline in pollinators and its possible consequence on pollination service has been a key issue at European scale (Zulian et al 2013;Breeze et al 2014). However, as enough nesting and foraging resource for wild pollinators were available in all case study landscapes (Kay et al 2018b), the cost of potentially reduced pollination services had no impact.…”

Loss of soil organic carbon in Swiss long-term agricultural experiments over a wide range of management practices

“…Nevertheless, to date, these studies remain the only ones we know of and thus the generality of this approach, as well as further ecological implications must be explored in more detail. Recent studies, suggest that agroforestry has the potential to sequester C also in Switzerland (Kay et al, 2018). Various combinations of woody plants and crops or grasslands exist.…”