Benefits of increasing plant diversity in sustainable agroecosystems

TLDR

Recent studies show that increasing plant diversity can benefit natural ecosystems, agroecosystems, and production forests, potentially substituting costly inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, pollinators, and irrigation. The review examines how increasing plant diversity affects crop, forage, and wood production, yield stability, and agroecosystem services, and discusses challenges and recommendations. The authors review studies on diversification strategies such as crop genetic diversity, mixed plantings, crop rotation, agroforestry, and landscape diversification around croplands. Strategically increasing plant diversity consistently boosts crop, forage, and wood yields, yield stability, pollinators, weed suppression, and pest suppression, while effects on soil nutrients and carbon remain unclear; benefits are greatest for sustainably intensifying production and optimizing yields and ecosystem services, and diversification is expected to become essential as monoculture yields decline and demand for ecosystem services rises. Synthesis.

Abstract

Summary Recent studies have revealed many potential benefits of increasing plant diversity in natural ecosystems, as well as in agroecosystems and production forests. Plant diversity potentially provides a partial to complete substitute for many costly agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers, pesticides, imported pollinators and irrigation. Diversification strategies include enhancing crop genetic diversity, mixed plantings, rotating crops, agroforestry and diversifying landscapes surrounding croplands. Here we briefly review studies considering how increasing plant diversity influences the production of crops, forage, and wood, yield stability, and several regulating and supporting agroecosystem services. We also discuss challenges and recommendations for diversifying agroecosystems. There is consistently strong evidence that strategically increasing plant diversity increases crop and forage yield, wood production, yield stability, pollinators, weed suppression and pest suppression, whereas effects of diversification on soil nutrients and carbon remain poorly understood. Synthesis . The benefits of diversifying agroecosystems are expected to be greatest where the aims are to sustainably intensify production while reducing conventional inputs or to optimize both yields and ecosystem services. Over the next few decades, as monoculture yields continue to decelerate or decline for many crops, and as demand for ecosystem services continues to rise, diversification could become an essential tool for sustaining production and ecosystem services in croplands, rangelands and production forests.