How much do we really lose?—Yield losses in the proximity of natural landscape elements in agricultural landscapes
Abstract Natural landscape elements (NLEs) in agricultural landscapes contribute to biodiversity and ecosystem services, but are also regarded as an obstacle for large‐scale agricultural production. However, the effects of NLEs on crop yield have rarely been measured. Here, we investigated how diffe...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2019-07-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5370 |
| _version_ | 1818612490112598016 |
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| author | Larissa Raatz Nina Bacchi Karin Pirhofer Walzl Michael Glemnitz Marina E. H. Müller Jasmin Joshi Christoph Scherber |
| author_facet | Larissa Raatz Nina Bacchi Karin Pirhofer Walzl Michael Glemnitz Marina E. H. Müller Jasmin Joshi Christoph Scherber |
| author_sort | Larissa Raatz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Natural landscape elements (NLEs) in agricultural landscapes contribute to biodiversity and ecosystem services, but are also regarded as an obstacle for large‐scale agricultural production. However, the effects of NLEs on crop yield have rarely been measured. Here, we investigated how different bordering structures, such as agricultural roads, field‐to‐field borders, forests, hedgerows, and kettle holes, influence agricultural yields. We hypothesized that (a) yield values at field borders differ from mid‐field yields and that (b) the extent of this change in yields depends on the bordering structure. We measured winter wheat yields along transects with log‐scaled distances from the border into the agricultural field within two intensively managed agricultural landscapes in Germany (2014 near Göttingen, and 2015–2017 in the Uckermark). We observed a yield loss adjacent to every investigated bordering structure of 11%–38% in comparison with mid‐field yields. However, depending on the bordering structure, this yield loss disappeared at different distances. While the proximity of kettle holes did not affect yields more than neighboring agricultural fields, woody landscape elements had strong effects on winter wheat yields. Notably, 95% of mid‐field yields could already be reached at a distance of 11.3 m from a kettle hole and at a distance of 17.8 m from hedgerows as well as forest borders. Our findings suggest that yield losses are especially relevant directly adjacent to woody landscape elements, but not adjacent to in‐field water bodies. This highlights the potential to simultaneously counteract yield losses close to the field border and enhance biodiversity by combining different NLEs in agricultural landscapes such as creating strips of extensive grassland vegetation between woody landscape elements and agricultural fields. In conclusion, our results can be used to quantify ecocompensations to find optimal solutions for the delivery of productive and regulative ecosystem services in heterogeneous agricultural landscapes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T15:47:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c7a4fd0e3f2f4e1ab8025a88c5f6070f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T15:47:03Z |
| publishDate | 2019-07-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-c7a4fd0e3f2f4e1ab8025a88c5f6070f2022-12-21T22:25:47ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582019-07-019137838784810.1002/ece3.5370How much do we really lose?—Yield losses in the proximity of natural landscape elements in agricultural landscapesLarissa Raatz0Nina Bacchi1Karin Pirhofer Walzl2Michael Glemnitz3Marina E. H. Müller4Jasmin Joshi5Christoph Scherber6Biodiversity Research Institute of Biochemistry and Biology University of Potsdam Potsdam GermanyAgroecology Department of Crop Science Georg‐August‐University Göttingen Göttingen GermanyLeibniz‐Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e.V. Müncheberg GermanyLeibniz‐Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e.V. Müncheberg GermanyLeibniz‐Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e.V. Müncheberg GermanyBiodiversity Research Institute of Biochemistry and Biology University of Potsdam Potsdam GermanyAnimal Ecology Institute of Landscape Ecology University of Münster Münster GermanyAbstract Natural landscape elements (NLEs) in agricultural landscapes contribute to biodiversity and ecosystem services, but are also regarded as an obstacle for large‐scale agricultural production. However, the effects of NLEs on crop yield have rarely been measured. Here, we investigated how different bordering structures, such as agricultural roads, field‐to‐field borders, forests, hedgerows, and kettle holes, influence agricultural yields. We hypothesized that (a) yield values at field borders differ from mid‐field yields and that (b) the extent of this change in yields depends on the bordering structure. We measured winter wheat yields along transects with log‐scaled distances from the border into the agricultural field within two intensively managed agricultural landscapes in Germany (2014 near Göttingen, and 2015–2017 in the Uckermark). We observed a yield loss adjacent to every investigated bordering structure of 11%–38% in comparison with mid‐field yields. However, depending on the bordering structure, this yield loss disappeared at different distances. While the proximity of kettle holes did not affect yields more than neighboring agricultural fields, woody landscape elements had strong effects on winter wheat yields. Notably, 95% of mid‐field yields could already be reached at a distance of 11.3 m from a kettle hole and at a distance of 17.8 m from hedgerows as well as forest borders. Our findings suggest that yield losses are especially relevant directly adjacent to woody landscape elements, but not adjacent to in‐field water bodies. This highlights the potential to simultaneously counteract yield losses close to the field border and enhance biodiversity by combining different NLEs in agricultural landscapes such as creating strips of extensive grassland vegetation between woody landscape elements and agricultural fields. In conclusion, our results can be used to quantify ecocompensations to find optimal solutions for the delivery of productive and regulative ecosystem services in heterogeneous agricultural landscapes.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5370crop productionecosystem servicesedge effectland sharing vs. land sparingnatural habitatswinter wheat |
| spellingShingle | Larissa Raatz Nina Bacchi Karin Pirhofer Walzl Michael Glemnitz Marina E. H. Müller Jasmin Joshi Christoph Scherber How much do we really lose?—Yield losses in the proximity of natural landscape elements in agricultural landscapes Ecology and Evolution crop production ecosystem services edge effect land sharing vs. land sparing natural habitats winter wheat |
| title | How much do we really lose?—Yield losses in the proximity of natural landscape elements in agricultural landscapes |
| title_full | How much do we really lose?—Yield losses in the proximity of natural landscape elements in agricultural landscapes |
| title_fullStr | How much do we really lose?—Yield losses in the proximity of natural landscape elements in agricultural landscapes |
| title_full_unstemmed | How much do we really lose?—Yield losses in the proximity of natural landscape elements in agricultural landscapes |
| title_short | How much do we really lose?—Yield losses in the proximity of natural landscape elements in agricultural landscapes |
| title_sort | how much do we really lose yield losses in the proximity of natural landscape elements in agricultural landscapes |
| topic | crop production ecosystem services edge effect land sharing vs. land sparing natural habitats winter wheat |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5370 |
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