Crops grown in mixtures show niche partitioning in spatial water uptake

Schmutz, Anja; Schöb, Christian

doi:10.1111/1365-2745.14088

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…To set the focus also on root functional trait and its plasticity might be a good start (Schneider and Lynch, 2020). We could previously show that plants show plasticity of water uptake in response to plant diversity (Schmutz and Schöb, 2022) – and root traits have the capability to evolve in response to nutrient availably (Grossman and Rice, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mixed cropping can maintain similar yields to monocropping on less land area and with less fertiliser inputs (Li et al, 2023, 2020). These yield benefits of mixtures compared to monocultures can be attributed to a range of mechanisms, such as niche complementarity in resource use (Engbersen et al, 2021; Schmutz and Schöb, 2022) or stimulation of plant growth-promoting microbes (Stefan et al, 2021) that exploit complementarity of the different crop species in mixtures (Brooker et al, 2015; Engbersen et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coadaptation of coexisting plants enhances productivity in an agricultural system

Schmutz

Schöb

2023

Preprint

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Growing crops in more diverse crop systems (i.e. intercropping) is one way to produce food more sustainably. Even though intercropping, compared to average monocultures, is generally more productive, the full yield potential of intercropping might not yet have been achieved as modern crop cultivars are bred to be grown in monoculture. Breeding plants for more familiarity in mixtures, i.e. plants that are adapted to more diverse communities (i.e. adaptation) or even to coexist with each other (i.e. coadaptation) might have the potential to sustainably enhance productivity. In this study, the productivity benefits of familiarity through evolutionary adaptation, where one species adapts to its neighbourhood, and coevolutionary coadaptation, where two or more species adapt to each other, were disentangled in a crop system through an extensive common garden experiment. Furthermore, evolutionary and coevolutionary effects on species-level and community-level productivity were linked to corresponding changes in functional traits. We found evidence for higher productivity and trait convergence with increasing familiarity of the plants composing the community. Furthermore, our results provide evidence for coevolution of plants in mixtures leading to higher productivity of coadapted species. However, with the functional traits measured in our study we could not fully explain the productivity benefits found upon coevolution. Our study is, to our knowledge, the first study that investigated coevolution among randomly interacting plants and was able to demonstrate that coadaptation through coevolution of coexisting species in mixtures promote ecosystem functioning (i.e. higher productivity). This result is particularly relevant for the diversification of agricultural and forest ecosystems, demonstrating the added value of artificially selecting plants for the communities they are familiar with.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coadaptation of coexisting plants enhances productivity in an agricultural system

Schmutz

Schöb

2023

Preprint

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“…Hence, studying interactions among species helps to understand how species are competing with others in the community. Furthermore, breeding of crop species might have reduced phenotypic plasticity (Brooker et al, 2022; Vilela and González-Paleo, 2015), although phenotypic plasticity can help plants to reduce competition (Callaway et al, 2003; Schmutz and Schöb, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transgenerational coexistence history attenuates negative direct interactions and strengthens facilitation

Schmutz

Schöb

2023

Preprint

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Background. Interactions among species are a fundamental aspect of biodiversity and driving ecosystem functioning and services. Species interactions include direct (pairwise) interactions among two species and indirect interactions that occur when a third species interacts with the two others and changes the direct interactions between the two. In a three-species interaction network, these interactions can be transitive (where one species outperforms all others) or intransitive (where each species outperforms another). How direct and indirect interactions influence ecosystem functions in crop systems, and how diversification and evolutionary adaptation can influence those interactions and therefore ecosystem functions has not been studied. Methods. A common garden experiment was conducted with crop communities in monocultures, 2- and 3-species mixtures that had either a common or no coexistence history (i.e. community adaptation) for three years. Net, direct and indirect interaction intensities were estimated and compared between the diversity levels and coexistence histories. Furthermore, species interaction networks were inspected for transitive/intransitive interactions. Results. We found evidence for lower competition in mixtures and for reduced negative direct interaction intensity and enhance facilitative effects upon community adaptation. We could further show that indirect interactions were generally less important for community adaptation than direct interactions. Additionally, we showed that community adaptation has the potential to shift interactions in the species interaction networks from competitive intransitive into pairwise competitive interactions where interactions occurred mainly between two species. Synthesis. Co-adapted crop species with reduced negative interactions might have the potential to enhance productivity especially in more diverse cropping systems. This supports the notion that intercropping is a vital part towards a more sustainable agriculture and one with further yield potential when developing cultivars adapted to grow in mixtures.

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“…Hence, studying interactions among crop species helps to understand how species are competing with others in a crop field. Furthermore, breeding of crop species might have reduced phenotypic plasticity (Brooker et al., 2022; Vilela & González‐Paleo, 2015), although phenotypic plasticity can help plants to reduce competition (Callaway et al., 2003; Schmutz & Schöb, 2023a). Therefore, breeding crops with reduced competition (or enhanced facilitation) and a more cooperative behaviour is a goal (Wuest et al., 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transgenerational coexistence history attenuates negative direct interactions and strengthens facilitation

Schmutz,

Schöb

2023

Journal of Ecology

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Interactions among species are a fundamental aspect of biodiversity and drive ecosystem functioning and services. Species interactions include direct (pairwise) interactions among two species and indirect interactions that occur when a third species interacts and changes the pairwise direct interaction. In a three‐species interaction network, these interactions can be transitive (where one species outperforms all others) or intransitive (where each species outperforms another). Here, we investigate how direct and indirect interactions influence ecosystem functions in crop systems and how diversification and evolutionary adaptation can influence those interactions and therefore ecosystem functions. A common garden experiment was conducted with crop communities in monocultures, 2‐ and 3‐species mixtures that had either a common or no coexistence history (i.e. co‐adaptation) for the three previous years. Net, direct and indirect interaction intensities were estimated and compared between the diversity levels and coexistence histories. Furthermore, species interaction networks were inspected for transitive/intransitive interactions. We found evidence for less intense competition in mixtures and for reduced negative direct interaction intensity and enhanced facilitative effects upon co‐adaptation. We could further show that indirect interactions were generally less important for co‐adaptation than direct interactions. Additionally, we showed that co‐adaptation has the potential to shift interactions in the species interaction networks from competitive intransitive into pairwise competitive interactions where interactions occurred mainly between two species. Synthesis. Co‐adapted crop species with reduced negative interactions might have the potential to enhance productivity, especially in more diverse cropping systems. This supports the notion that intercropping is a vital part towards a more sustainable agriculture and one with further yield potential when developing cultivars optimised for growth in mixtures.

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Crops grown in mixtures show niche partitioning in spatial water uptake

Cited by 10 publications

References 82 publications

Coadaptation of coexisting plants enhances productivity in an agricultural system

Coadaptation of coexisting plants enhances productivity in an agricultural system

Transgenerational coexistence history attenuates negative direct interactions and strengthens facilitation

Transgenerational coexistence history attenuates negative direct interactions and strengthens facilitation

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