Soil functional zone management: a vehicle for enhancing production and soil ecosystem services in row-crop agroecosystems
There is increasing global demand for food, bioenergy feedstocks and a wide variety of bio-based products. In response, agriculture has advanced production, but is increasingly depleting soil regulating and supporting ecosystem services. New production systems have emerged, such as no-tillage, tha...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2016-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Plant Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpls.2016.00065/full |
| _version_ | 1819205546540007424 |
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| author | Alwyn eWilliams Daniel A. Kane Patrick M. Ewing Lesley W. Atwood Andrea eJilling Meng eLi Yi eLou Adam S. Davis A. Stuart Grandy Sheri C. Huerd Mitchell C. Hunter Roger T. Koide David A. Mortensen Richard G. Smith Sieglinde S. Snapp Kurt A. Spokas Anthony C. Yannarell Nicholas R. Jordan |
| author_facet | Alwyn eWilliams Daniel A. Kane Patrick M. Ewing Lesley W. Atwood Andrea eJilling Meng eLi Yi eLou Adam S. Davis A. Stuart Grandy Sheri C. Huerd Mitchell C. Hunter Roger T. Koide David A. Mortensen Richard G. Smith Sieglinde S. Snapp Kurt A. Spokas Anthony C. Yannarell Nicholas R. Jordan |
| author_sort | Alwyn eWilliams |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | There is increasing global demand for food, bioenergy feedstocks and a wide variety of bio-based products. In response, agriculture has advanced production, but is increasingly depleting soil regulating and supporting ecosystem services. New production systems have emerged, such as no-tillage, that can enhance soil services but may limit yields. Moving forward, agricultural systems must reduce trade-offs between production and soil services. Soil functional zone management (SFZM) is a novel strategy for developing sustainable production systems that attempts to integrate the benefits of conventional, intensive agriculture and no-tillage. SFZM creates distinct functional zones within crop row and inter-row spaces. By incorporating decimetre-scale spatial and temporal heterogeneity, SFZM attempts to foster greater soil biodiversity and integrate complementary soil processes at the sub-field level. Such integration maximizes soil services by creating zones of ‘active turnover’, optimized for crop growth and yield (provisioning services); and adjacent zones of ‘soil building’, that promote soil structure development, carbon storage and moisture regulation (regulating and supporting services). These zones allow SFZM to secure existing agricultural productivity while avoiding or minimizing trade-offs with soil ecosystem services. Moreover, the specific properties of SFZM may enable sustainable increases in provisioning services via temporal intensification (expanding the portion of the year during which harvestable crops are grown). We present a conceptual model of ‘virtuous cycles’, illustrating how increases in crop yields within SFZM systems could create self-reinforcing feedback processes with desirable effects, including mitigation of trade-offs between yield maximization and soil ecosystem services. Through the creation of functionally distinct but interacting zones, SFZM may provide a vehicle for optimizing the delivery of multiple goods and services in agricultural systems, allowing sustainable temporal intensification while protecting and enhancing soil functioning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T04:53:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ee796f40fde24c23b3ebd28ab9071a47 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-462X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T04:53:25Z |
| publishDate | 2016-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Plant Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-ee796f40fde24c23b3ebd28ab9071a472022-12-21T17:59:25ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Plant Science1664-462X2016-02-01710.3389/fpls.2016.00065166891Soil functional zone management: a vehicle for enhancing production and soil ecosystem services in row-crop agroecosystemsAlwyn eWilliams0Daniel A. Kane1Patrick M. Ewing2Lesley W. Atwood3Andrea eJilling4Meng eLi5Yi eLou6Adam S. Davis7A. Stuart Grandy8Sheri C. Huerd9Mitchell C. Hunter10Roger T. Koide11David A. Mortensen12Richard G. Smith13Sieglinde S. Snapp14Kurt A. Spokas15Anthony C. Yannarell16Nicholas R. Jordan17University of MinnesotaMichigan State UniversityUniversity of MinnesotaUniversity of New HampshireUniversity of New HampshireUniversity of IllinoisUniversity of IllinoisUSDA-ARSUniversity of New HampshireUniversity of MinnesotaThe Pennsylvania State UniversityBrigham Young UniversityThe Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity of New HampshireMichigan State UniversityUSDA-ARSUniversity of IllinoisUniversity of MinnesotaThere is increasing global demand for food, bioenergy feedstocks and a wide variety of bio-based products. In response, agriculture has advanced production, but is increasingly depleting soil regulating and supporting ecosystem services. New production systems have emerged, such as no-tillage, that can enhance soil services but may limit yields. Moving forward, agricultural systems must reduce trade-offs between production and soil services. Soil functional zone management (SFZM) is a novel strategy for developing sustainable production systems that attempts to integrate the benefits of conventional, intensive agriculture and no-tillage. SFZM creates distinct functional zones within crop row and inter-row spaces. By incorporating decimetre-scale spatial and temporal heterogeneity, SFZM attempts to foster greater soil biodiversity and integrate complementary soil processes at the sub-field level. Such integration maximizes soil services by creating zones of ‘active turnover’, optimized for crop growth and yield (provisioning services); and adjacent zones of ‘soil building’, that promote soil structure development, carbon storage and moisture regulation (regulating and supporting services). These zones allow SFZM to secure existing agricultural productivity while avoiding or minimizing trade-offs with soil ecosystem services. Moreover, the specific properties of SFZM may enable sustainable increases in provisioning services via temporal intensification (expanding the portion of the year during which harvestable crops are grown). We present a conceptual model of ‘virtuous cycles’, illustrating how increases in crop yields within SFZM systems could create self-reinforcing feedback processes with desirable effects, including mitigation of trade-offs between yield maximization and soil ecosystem services. Through the creation of functionally distinct but interacting zones, SFZM may provide a vehicle for optimizing the delivery of multiple goods and services in agricultural systems, allowing sustainable temporal intensification while protecting and enhancing soil functioning.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpls.2016.00065/fullsoil biodiversitycrop yieldtrade-offsecosystem servicesSoil managementPrecision tillage |
| spellingShingle | Alwyn eWilliams Daniel A. Kane Patrick M. Ewing Lesley W. Atwood Andrea eJilling Meng eLi Yi eLou Adam S. Davis A. Stuart Grandy Sheri C. Huerd Mitchell C. Hunter Roger T. Koide David A. Mortensen Richard G. Smith Sieglinde S. Snapp Kurt A. Spokas Anthony C. Yannarell Nicholas R. Jordan Soil functional zone management: a vehicle for enhancing production and soil ecosystem services in row-crop agroecosystems Frontiers in Plant Science soil biodiversity crop yield trade-offs ecosystem services Soil management Precision tillage |
| title | Soil functional zone management: a vehicle for enhancing production and soil ecosystem services in row-crop agroecosystems |
| title_full | Soil functional zone management: a vehicle for enhancing production and soil ecosystem services in row-crop agroecosystems |
| title_fullStr | Soil functional zone management: a vehicle for enhancing production and soil ecosystem services in row-crop agroecosystems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Soil functional zone management: a vehicle for enhancing production and soil ecosystem services in row-crop agroecosystems |
| title_short | Soil functional zone management: a vehicle for enhancing production and soil ecosystem services in row-crop agroecosystems |
| title_sort | soil functional zone management a vehicle for enhancing production and soil ecosystem services in row crop agroecosystems |
| topic | soil biodiversity crop yield trade-offs ecosystem services Soil management Precision tillage |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpls.2016.00065/full |
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