Land-use impacts on crop yield : direct and indirect roles of arthropods and associated ecosystem services in European farmland
(2025) In Landscape Ecology 40(5).- Abstract
Context: Land-use intensification to increase yields is often detrimental to biodiversity undermining the provision of ecosystem services. However, it is questionable if ecosystem service providers contribute to ecological intensification by achieving the same or higher yields than conventional high-intensity agriculture. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to disentangle the effects of local and landscape-scale land-use intensification on arthropod communities and their contribution to ecosystem services and crop yield. A set of meta-analytic structural equation models allowed us to assess direct and indirect relationships in the cascade from land use to yield. Methods: We selected 37 datasets containing information on land use,... (More)
Context: Land-use intensification to increase yields is often detrimental to biodiversity undermining the provision of ecosystem services. However, it is questionable if ecosystem service providers contribute to ecological intensification by achieving the same or higher yields than conventional high-intensity agriculture. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to disentangle the effects of local and landscape-scale land-use intensification on arthropod communities and their contribution to ecosystem services and crop yield. A set of meta-analytic structural equation models allowed us to assess direct and indirect relationships in the cascade from land use to yield. Methods: We selected 37 datasets containing information on land use, community composition, levels of pollination and natural pest control services, and crop yield. We quantified functional diversity of communities by collecting trait information for three exemplary groups of service-providers: bees, ground beetles, and spiders. Results: Local land-use intensification reduced the abundance of all arthropod groups. Spiders were the only group whose species richness was negatively related to a higher percentage of arable land in the landscape. High abundance of bees related positively to oilseed rape pollination and crop yields. In the models for the two predator groups, crop yield was strongly determined by land use, independent of the pest control services provided by natural enemies. Conclusions: Our results suggest a potential for ecological intensification mediated by land-use change in crops where pollination benefits yield, but suggest more nuanced effects for pest control. Our study also calls for experiments on multiple taxonomic groups and ecosystem services that apply comparable methods at similar scales.
(Less)
- author
- Bucher, Roman
; Batáry, Péter
; Baudry, Julia
; Beaumelle, Léa
; Čerevková, Andrea
; de la Riva, Enrique G.
; Djoudi, El Aziz
; Dirilgen, Tara
; Gallé, Róbert
; Kesse-Guyot, Emmanuelle
; O’Reilly, Alison
; Rembiałkowska, Ewa
; Rusch, Adrien
; Smith, Henrik G.
LU
; Stanley, Dara A.
; Roberts, Stuart P.M.
; Ulrich, Werner
and Birkhofer, Klaus
(Less) - organization
- publishing date
- 2025-05
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Agroecology, Ecological intensification, Meta-analytic structural equation models, Pest control, Pollination, Trait-based approach
- in
- Landscape Ecology
- volume
- 40
- issue
- 5
- article number
- 97
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:40351550
- scopus:105004467459
- ISSN
- 0921-2973
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10980-025-02117-w
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025.
- id
- 2816b15b-846b-4b3b-ae68-8437590a4a1f
- date added to LUP
- 2025-08-06 14:25:32
- date last changed
- 2025-08-07 03:00:09
@article{2816b15b-846b-4b3b-ae68-8437590a4a1f,
abstract = {{<p>Context: Land-use intensification to increase yields is often detrimental to biodiversity undermining the provision of ecosystem services. However, it is questionable if ecosystem service providers contribute to ecological intensification by achieving the same or higher yields than conventional high-intensity agriculture. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to disentangle the effects of local and landscape-scale land-use intensification on arthropod communities and their contribution to ecosystem services and crop yield. A set of meta-analytic structural equation models allowed us to assess direct and indirect relationships in the cascade from land use to yield. Methods: We selected 37 datasets containing information on land use, community composition, levels of pollination and natural pest control services, and crop yield. We quantified functional diversity of communities by collecting trait information for three exemplary groups of service-providers: bees, ground beetles, and spiders. Results: Local land-use intensification reduced the abundance of all arthropod groups. Spiders were the only group whose species richness was negatively related to a higher percentage of arable land in the landscape. High abundance of bees related positively to oilseed rape pollination and crop yields. In the models for the two predator groups, crop yield was strongly determined by land use, independent of the pest control services provided by natural enemies. Conclusions: Our results suggest a potential for ecological intensification mediated by land-use change in crops where pollination benefits yield, but suggest more nuanced effects for pest control. Our study also calls for experiments on multiple taxonomic groups and ecosystem services that apply comparable methods at similar scales.</p>}},
author = {{Bucher, Roman and Batáry, Péter and Baudry, Julia and Beaumelle, Léa and Čerevková, Andrea and de la Riva, Enrique G. and Djoudi, El Aziz and Dirilgen, Tara and Gallé, Róbert and Kesse-Guyot, Emmanuelle and O’Reilly, Alison and Rembiałkowska, Ewa and Rusch, Adrien and Smith, Henrik G. and Stanley, Dara A. and Roberts, Stuart P.M. and Ulrich, Werner and Birkhofer, Klaus}},
issn = {{0921-2973}},
keywords = {{Agroecology; Ecological intensification; Meta-analytic structural equation models; Pest control; Pollination; Trait-based approach}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{5}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Landscape Ecology}},
title = {{Land-use impacts on crop yield : direct and indirect roles of arthropods and associated ecosystem services in European farmland}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10980-025-02117-w}},
doi = {{10.1007/s10980-025-02117-w}},
volume = {{40}},
year = {{2025}},
}