Dainese, M., E. A. Martin, M. A. Aizen, M. Albrecht, I. Bartomeus, R. Bommarco, L. G. Carvalheiro, R. Chaplin-Kramer, V. Gagic, L. A. Garibaldi, J. Ghazoul, H. Grab, M. Jonsson, D. S. Karp, C. M. Kennedy, D. Kleijn, C. Kremen, D. A. Landis, D. K. Letourneau, L. Marini, K. Poveda, R. Rader, H. G. Smith, T. Tscharntke, G. K. Andersson, I. Badenhausser, S. Baensch, A. D. Bezerra, F. J. Bianchi, V. Boreux, V. Bretagnolle, B. Caballero-Lopez, P. Cavigliasso, A. Ćetković, N. P. Chacoff, A. Classen, S. Cusser, F. D. da Silva e Silva, G. A. de Groot, J. H. Dudenhöffer, J. Ekroos, T. Fijen, P. Franck, B. M. Freitas, M. P. Garratt, C. Gratton, J. Hipólito, A. Holzschuh, L. Hunt, A. L. Iverson, S. Jha, T. Keasar, T. N. Kim, M. Kishinevsky, B. K. Klatt, A. Klein, K. M. Krewenka, S. Krishnan, A. E. Larsen, C. Lavigne, H. Liere, B. Maas, R. E. Mallinger, E. Martinez Pachon, A. Martínez-Salinas, T. D. Meehan, M. G. Mitchell, G. A. Molina, M. Nesper, L. Nilsson, M. E. Rourke, M. K. Peters, M. Plećaš, S. G. Potts, D. D. Ramos, J. A. Rosenheim, M. Rundlöf, A. Rusch, A. Sáez, J. Scheper, M. Schleuning, J. M. Schmack, A. R. Sciligo, C. Seymour, D. A. Stanley, R. Stewart, J. C. Stout, L. Sutter, M. B. Takada, H. Taki, G. Tamburini, M. Tschumi, B. F. Viana, C. Westphal, B. K. Willcox, S. D. Wratten, A. Yoshioka, C. Zaragoza-Trello, W. Zhang, Y. Zou, and I. Steffan-Dewenter. 2019. A global synthesis reveals biodiversity-mediated benefits for crop production. Science Advances 5:eaax0121.

Citable PDF link: https://lter.kbs.msu.edu/pub/3862

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.

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax0121

Associated Treatment Areas:

  • Regional or Synthesis

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