A global synthesis reveals biodiversity-mediated benefits for crop production

Human land use threatens global biodiversity and compromises multiple ecosystem functions critical to food production. Whether crop yield–related ecosystem services can be maintained by a few dominant species or rely on high richness remains unclear. Using a global database from 89 studies (with 1475 locations), we partition the relative importance of species richness, abundance, and dominance for pollination; biological pest control; and final yields in the context of ongoing land-use change. Pollinator and enemy richness directly supported ecosystem services in addition to and independent of abundance and dominance. Up to 50% of the negative effects of landscape simplification on ecosystem services was due to richness losses of service-providing organisms, with negative consequences for crop yields. Maintaining the biodiversity of ecosystem service providers is therefore vital to sustain the flow of key agroecosystem benefits to society.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Dainese, Matteo, Martin, Emily A, Aizen, Marcelo A, Albrecht, M, Bartomeus, I
Format: Artículo biblioteca
Language:English
Published: Science Advances 2018
Subjects:Biodiversidad||biodiversity||biodiversidade||biodiversité, Ecosistema||ecosystems||ecossistema||écosystème, Cultivo||crops||cultura||plante de culture, Polinizador||pollinators||polinizador||pollinisateur, Ecosystem services, Sede Central,
Online Access:https://repositorio.iica.int/handle/11324/22907
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