Above- and belowground biodiversity jointly tighten the P cycle in agricultural grasslands

Abstract

Experiments showed that biodiversity increases grassland productivity and nutrient exploitation, potentially reducing fertiliser needs. Enhancing biodiversity could improve P-use efficiency of grasslands, which is beneficial given that rock-derived P fertilisers are expected to become scarce in the future. Here, we show in a biodiversity experiment that more diverse plant communities were able to exploit P resources more completely than less diverse ones. In the agricultural grasslands that we studied, management effects either overruled or modified the driving role of plant diversity observed in the biodiversity experiment. Nevertheless, we show that greater above- (plants) and belowground (mycorrhizal fungi) biodiversity contributed to tightening the P cycle in agricultural grasslands, as reduced management intensity and the associated increased biodiversity fostered the exploitation of P resources. Our results demonstrate that promoting a high above- and belowground biodiversity has ecological (biodiversity protection) and economical (fertiliser savings) benefits. Such win-win situations for farmers and biodiversity are crucial to convince farmers of the benefits of biodiversity and thus counteract global biodiversity loss.

Soil-Improving Cropping Systems for Sustainable and Profitable Farming in Europe

“…For example, good-quality soils are more resilient to weather extremes [25] and provide better buffering and cycling of nutrients [26], water purification and regulation, and resilience to pests [27] and climate variability/change [28]. Other ecosystem services provided by soils [29] include provision of biodiversity [30,31] and carbon sequestration, cycling, and regulation [32,33]. Thus, to ensure that sufficient healthy…”

Transition in plant–plant facilitation in response to soil water and phosphorus availability in a legume-cereal intercropping system

“…Biologically diverse communities have been shown to utilize P resources more sufficiently than less diverse communities [ 43 ]. Interspecific facilitation of P accumulation occurs when one species increases soil P availability and the intercropped companion species can benefit from this process [ 44 , 45 ].…”

Plant community stability is associated with a decoupling of prokaryote and fungal soil networks

“…Via these soil chemical pathways, plant diversity decreased bacterial biomass, and other possibly more opportunistic prokaryotes and fungi. Indeed, resource depletion by plant communities is often found to increase with plant diversity (Oelmann et al, 2021; Walde et al, 2021). Soil resource limitation typically limits growth of nutrient acquisitive plant species and therefore plays an essential role in avoiding exclusion of nutrient conservative plant species to maintain diversity at high levels (Grime, 1973).…”