Agricultural intensity interacts with landscape arrangement in driving ecosystem services
Gebhardt, Swantje; van Dijk, Jerry; Wassen, Martin J.; Bakker, Martha
(2023) Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, volume 357
(Article)
Abstract
Agricultural intensification has enhanced productivity but also led to enormous ecosystem service and biodiversity losses. Strategic spatial landscape design could counteract this trend, but, the scientific understanding of how ecosystem services respond to agricultural practices on one hand and land use composition and configuration on the other is not complete.
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This study aims to methodically explore how the effect of landscape layout settings on ecosystem services depends on the intensity of agricultural practices in their surroundings. Using the Netherlands as a case study, we used spatial regression models to analyze how agricultural management intensity affects the relationship between spatial composition and configuration metrics and ecosystem service indicators. We found that the effect of large shares of agricultural land use on species richness, pollination and landscape appreciation was increasingly negative with amplified intensity of agricultural practices. With higher agricultural intensity in the surroundings, the positive effects of well-connected natural vegetation on species richness were impaired. In contrast, the negative effects of high-intensity agriculture on pollination service were be buffered well through high shares of natural grassland vegetation. Water-quality related indicators were less affected by variation in spatial metrics and agricultural intensity. The main interactions between agricultural intensity and the spatial metrics were robust at varying scales. Our analysis suggests that both low- and high-intensity agriculture can have a place in future sustainable agricultural systems, provided they are integrated in the appropriate spatial layout. Explicitly addressing farming practices in connection to local spatial settings can improve both landscape planning and ecosystem service modelling.
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Keywords: Agricultural intensity, Ecosystem service, Scale, Spatial configuration, Ecology, Animal Science and Zoology, Agronomy and Crop Science
ISSN: 0167-8809
Publisher: Elsevier
Note: Funding Information: This publication is part of the project Spatial PLanning for ENvironmentally Diverse cIrcular Development (SPLENDID) [GROEN.2019.005] of the research programme GREEN III - A circular agricultural system in the Netherlands: from dream to reality, which is (partly) financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The private and public partners of the project are the province Noord-Brabant, the Foundation Dune farmers & Society (Stichting Gebiedsonderneming Duinboeren & Maatschappij), Brabant Water, the Waterboard De Dommel, the Waterboard Aa en Maas, Biodiversity in Business, the Municipality of Oss, and the Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency. We would like to acknowledge the data providers, Nationale Databank Flora en Fauna (NDFF), Hans Kros, Jaap van Os (both Wageningen University and Research), Luuk van Gerven (Waterboard Aa en Maas), Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), and the Dutch National Institute for Health and Environment (RIVM) for the data access. In addition, we thank J. Camara (Wageningen University and Research) for her support in the research design and planning, B. Immerzeel (Norwegian Institute for Nature Research) for his help in collecting the ecosystem service data, and G. Steur and R. Verburg (both Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development) for sharing their knowledge about generalized linear models and regressions with interaction terms. We thank our reviewers for their helpful comments on the manuscript. Funding Information: This publication is part of the project Spatial PLanning for ENvironmentally Diverse cIrcular Development ( SPLENDID ) [ GROEN.2019.005 ] of the research programme GREEN III - A circular agricultural system in the Netherlands: from dream to reality, which is (partly) financed by the Dutch Research Council ( NWO ). The private and public partners of the project are the province Noord-Brabant, the Foundation Dune farmers & Society (Stichting Gebiedsonderneming Duinboeren & Maatschappij), Brabant Water, the Waterboard De Dommel, the Waterboard Aa en Maas, Biodiversity in Business, the Municipality of Oss, and the Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency. We would like to acknowledge the data providers, Nationale Databank Flora en Fauna (NDFF), Hans Kros, Jaap van Os (both Wageningen University and Research), Luuk van Gerven (Waterboard Aa en Maas), Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), and the Dutch National Institute for Health and Environment (RIVM) for the data access. In addition, we thank J. Camara (Wageningen University and Research) for her support in the research design and planning, B. Immerzeel (Norwegian Institute for Nature Research) for his help in collecting the ecosystem service data, and G. Steur and R. Verburg (both Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development) for sharing their knowledge about generalized linear models and regressions with interaction terms. We thank our reviewers for their helpful comments on the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors
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