1. Ecosystem service benefits in a perennial fruit crop: how do insect pollinators, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and soil organic matter shape raspberry production?
- Author
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Kleijn, D., Scheper, J.A., Fijen, T.P.M., Chen, Ke, Kleijn, D., Scheper, J.A., Fijen, T.P.M., and Chen, Ke
- Abstract
Future agriculture faces a twofold challenge: increasing yields to safeguard food security while simultaneously reducing its environmental impact. Ecological intensification has been proposed as a solution to this challenge. It entails the integration of ecosystem service management into farming practices to enhance or maintain yields while minimizing artificial inputs and environmental externalities. An increasing number of empirical studies have shown beneficial effects of ecosystem services on crop production, but the majority of these studies have focused on the effects of only a single ecosystem service in isolation. In contrast, in real-world agricultural systems, crop yield is shaped by several ecosystem services simultaneously. These different ecosystem services may interact (positively or negatively) and their interactions may furthermore depend on agricultural management practices. To assess the potential of ecological intensification in promoting yields and reducing external inputs, it is essential to understand the combined effects of different ecosystem services on agricultural production. The aim of this thesis was to examine whether and to what extent different ecosystem services interactively shape crop yield, and whether and how this is affected by agricultural management. Focusing on raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.), a globally important perennial fruit crop, I examined the potential interactive effects of the ecosystem services provided by insect pollinators, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and soil organic matter (SOM) on the quantity and quality of raspberry production, and whether these effects were influenced by artificial fertilizer inputs.Natural relatives of commercial raspberry are widespread in temperate forests. These natural relatives depend entirely on several ecosystem services for survival and reproduction. Therefore, investigating the effects of ecosystem services on natural raspberry production would be informative to fully understan
- Published
- 2022