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Impact of agroecological management on plant diversity and soil-based ecosystem services in pasture and coffee systems in the Atlantic forest of Brazil
Resumen
The development of agroecosystems that can provide multiple ecosystem services with a reduced need of
external inputs, requires management practices that foster ecological processes to enhance soil quality and crop
productivity. We assessed the direct and indirect impacts of farmers’ management practices on plant diversity,
soil quality and crop productivity in coffee and pasture fields belonging to different types of farms: agroeco logical,
[ver mas...]
The development of agroecosystems that can provide multiple ecosystem services with a reduced need of
external inputs, requires management practices that foster ecological processes to enhance soil quality and crop
productivity. We assessed the direct and indirect impacts of farmers’ management practices on plant diversity,
soil quality and crop productivity in coffee and pasture fields belonging to different types of farms: agroeco logical, conventional, and large-scale. The study was carried out in twelve farms in the Zona da Mata, Brazil. For
each of the total of 24 fields (twelve pastures and twelve coffee) we recorded 41 variables associated with
management practices, indicators of plant diversity (taxonomical, structural and functional diversity) and soil
quality (biological, chemical and physical properties). The direct and indirect effects of management on plant
diversity, soil quality and in the case of coffee, crop productivity, were assessed using structural equation models.
In the case of pastures, we found that increased plant diversity due to agroecological management resulted in
higher soil quality, probably due to higher soil litter cover and plant structural heterogeneity. Yet, practices
presented in the agroecological farms also had a direct negative effect on soil quality, which indicates that
increased plant diversity in pastures needs to be combined with other agroecological management practices than
currently adopted. In the case of coffee, we show that despite the higher weeding intensity and higher use of
external inputs in large-scale and conventional coffee farming systems, these practices did not result in increased
soil quality or coffee productivity as compared to agroecological systems. In contrast, agroecological coffee
management was associated with increased plant diversity, which, in turn, was positively associated with soil
microbial biomass carbon. Our results highlight a causal pathway of agroecological management leading to
increased plant diversity and, in turn, maintenance or increase in soil quality. While no causal link between
agroecological coffee management and coffee productivity could be demonstrated, the biodiversity-mediated
pathway resulted in similar coffee productivity in agroecological farms as compared to conventionally
managed farms, which relied on pesticides and higher inputs of chemical fertilizers. We conclude that agro ecological practices can be efficient to maintain satisfactory crop yields and soil fertility without the need of
intensive use of external inputs and weeding.
[Cerrar]
Autor
Mancini Teixeira, Heitor;
Bianchi, Felix J.J.A.;
Cardoso, Irene María;
Tittonell, Pablo Adrian;
Peña-Claros, Marielos;
Fuente
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 305: Art: 107171 (Enero 2021)
Fecha
2021
Editorial
Elsevier
ISSN
1873-2305
0167-8809
0167-8809
Formato
pdf
Tipo de documento
artículo
Palabras Claves
Derechos de acceso
Abierto
Excepto donde se diga explicitamente, este item se publica bajo la siguiente descripción: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5)