1. Ecosystem function enhanced by combining four functional types of plant species in intensively managed grassland mixtures: a 3-year continental-scale field experiment
- Author
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Finn, John A., Kirwan, Laura, Connolly, John, Sebastià, M. Teresa, Helgadottir, Aslaug, Baadshaug, Ole H., Bélanger, Gilles, Black, Alistair, Brophy, Caroline, Collins, Rosemary P., Čop, Jure, Dalmannsdóttir, Sigridur, Delgado, Ignacio, Elgersma, Anjo, Fothergill, Michael, Frankow-Lindberg, Bodil E., Ghesquiere, An, Golinska, Barbara, Golinski, Piotr, Grieu, Philippe, Gustavsson, Anne-Maj, Höglind, Mats, Huguenin-Elie, Olivier, Jørgensen, Marit, Kadziuliene, Zydre, Kurki, Päivi, Llurba, Rosa, Lunnan, Tor, Porqueddu, Claudio, Suter, Matthias, Thumm, Ulrich, Lüscher, Andreas, Wilsey, Brian, Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse - Toulouse INP (FRANCE), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - INRA (FRANCE), Environment Research Centre, Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), School of Mathematical Sciences [Dublin], University College Dublin [Dublin] (UCD), Escola Technica Superior d'Enginyeria Agraria, Partenaires INRAE, Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC), Agricultural University of Iceland, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Agriculture and Agri-Food [Ottawa] (AAFC), Teagasc Agriculture and Food Development Authority (Teagasc), National University of Ireland Maynooth (Maynooth University), Aberystwyth University, University of Ljubljana, Centro de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agroalimentaria de Aragon (CITA), Plant Sciences Group, Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen] (WUR), Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Plant Sciences Unit, Research Institute for Agricultural, Fisheries and Food (ILVO), Department of grassland and natural landscape sciences, Poznan University of Life Sciences, AGroécologie, Innovations, teRritoires (AGIR), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research (Bioforsk), Agroscope, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Plant Production Research, Agrifood Research Finland, Universitat de Lleida, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), and University of Hohenheim
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio] ,forage yield ,Monocultures ,Biodiversity ,nitrogen-fixation ,agronomic mixtures ,diversity effect ,ecosystem function ,functional groups ,monocultures ,resource efficiency ,sustainable intensification ,traits ,transgressive overyielding ,01 natural sciences ,Agronomic mixtures ,[SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences ,biodiversity ,2. Zero hunger ,Biomass (ecology) ,Ecology ,Sustainable intensification ,food and beverages ,04 agricultural and veterinary sciences ,Groep Elgersma ,PE&RC ,Traits ,pasture ,[SDE]Environmental Sciences ,Functional groups ,Species evenness ,evenness ,Forage yield ,productivity ,Transgressive overyielding ,Field experiment ,Biology ,diversity ,Resource efficiency ,[SDV.BV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Vegetal Biology ,impacts ,Sowing ,forage ,15. Life on land ,Agronomy ,040103 agronomy & agriculture ,Diversity effect ,0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries ,systems ,Ecosystem function ,Species richness ,Monoculture ,Weed ,richness ,Biologie végétale ,010606 plant biology & botany - Abstract
International audience; A coordinated continental‐scale field experiment across 31 sites was used to compare the biomass yield of monocultures and four species mixtures associated with intensively managed agricultural grassland systems. To increase complementarity in resource use, each of the four species in the experimental design represented a distinct functional type derived from two levels of each of two functional traits, nitrogen acquisition (N 2‐fixing legume or nonfixing grass) crossed with temporal development (fast‐establishing or temporally persistent). Relative abundances of the four functional types in mixtures were systematically varied at sowing to vary the evenness of the same four species in mixture communities at each site and sown at two levels of seed density. Across multiple years, the total yield (including weed biomass) of the mixtures exceeded that of the average monoculture in >97% of comparisons. It also exceeded that of the best monoculture (transgressive overyielding) in about 60% of sites, with a mean yield ratio of mixture to best‐performing monoculture of 1·07 across all sites. Analyses based on yield of sown species only (excluding weed biomass) demonstrated considerably greater transgressive overyielding (significant at about 70% of sites, ratio of mixture to best‐performing monoculture = 1·18). Mixtures maintained a resistance to weed invasion over at least 3 years. In mixtures, median values indicate
- Published
- 2013