Implications of accounting for management intensity on carbon and nitrogen balances of European grasslands

Blanke, Jan Hendrik; Boke-Olén, Niklas; Olin, Stefan; Chang, Jinfeng; Sahlin, Ullrika; Lindeskog, Mats; Lehsten, Veiko

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0201058

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…In Western Europe, high nitrogen (N) balances have been reported in agriculture for decades, leading to N losses in the form of ammonia, nitrous oxide emissions and nitrate losses to groundwater, which can have negative environmental effects and contribute to climate change (Blanke et al 2018;Bleken et al 2005;van Grinsven et al 2012). In Germany, the N balances of the last 10 years have, almost continuously, been between 80 and 100 kg ha -1 a -1 (BMEL 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen-use efficiency of organic and conventional arable and dairy farming systems in Germany

Chmelíková

Schmid

Anke

et al. 2021

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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Optimising nitrogen (N) management improves soil fertility and reduces negative environmental impacts. Mineral N fertilizers are of key importance in intensive conventional farming (CF). In contrast, organic farming (OF) is highly dependent on closed nutrient cycles, biological N fixation and crop rotations. However, both systems need to minimise N balances and maximise nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE). NUE of organic and conventional crop production systems was evaluated in three regions in Germany by analysing N input, N output and N balance of 30 pairs of one OF and one CF farm each from the network of pilot farms for the period 2009–2011; indicators were calculated using the farm management system REPRO. CF had higher N input in all farm pairs. In 90% of the comparisons, N output of CF was higher than OF, in 7% it was the same and in 3% lower. NUE was higher in 60% of the OF, the same in 37% and lower in only 3%. The NUE of crop production in OF was 91% (arable farms: 83%; mixed/dairy farms: 95%) and the NUE in CF was 79% (arable farms: 77%; dairy farms: 80%). N balance was lower in 90% of the OF. The yearly average N balance was four times higher in CF (59 kg N ha−1 a−1) than in OF (15 kg N ha−1 a−1). The results show a huge individual variability within OF and CF. Organic mixed/dairy farms had the lowest N balances and the highest NUE. A further expansion of OF area can help to reduce high N balances and increase the NUE of crop production.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen-use efficiency of organic and conventional arable and dairy farming systems in Germany

Chmelíková

Schmid

Anke

et al. 2021

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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“…In broad terms at the national level more intensely managed farms will have higher N inputs leading to higher levels of nitrate N e.g. [ 54 – 57 ]. Similarly, increasing intensity of farm management is likely to be linked to more on-field traffic with consequent compaction and density increases.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. Do they really indicate soil quality?

et al. 2021

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Abundance and distribution of earthworms in agricultural fields is frequently proposed as a measure of soil quality assuming that observed patterns of abundance are in response to improved or degraded environmental conditions. However, it is not clear that earthworm abundances can be directly related to their edaphic environment, as noted in Darwin’s final publication, perhaps limiting or restricting their value as indicators of ecological quality in any given field. We present results from a spatially explicit intensive survey of pastures within United Kingdom farms, looking for the main drivers of earthworm density at a range of scales. When describing spatial variability of both total and ecotype-specific earthworm abundance within any given field, the best predictor was earthworm abundance itself within 20–30 m of the sampling point; there were no consistent environmental correlates with earthworm numbers, suggesting that biological factors (e.g. colonisation rate, competition, predation, parasitism) drive or at least significantly modify earthworm distributions at this spatial level. However, at the national scale, earthworm abundance is well predicted by soil nitrate levels, density, temperature and moisture content, albeit not in a simple linear fashion. This suggests that although land can be managed at the farm scale to promote earthworm abundance and the resulting soil processes that deliver ecosystem services, within a field, earthworm distributions will remain patchy. The use of earthworms as soil quality indicators must therefore be carried out with care, ensuring that sufficient samples are taken within field to take account of variability in earthworm populations that is unrelated to soil chemical and physical properties.

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“…In broad terms at the national level more intensely managed farms will have higher N inputs leading to higher levels of nitrate N e.g. [51], [52], [53], [54]. Similarly, increasing intensity of farm management is likely to be linked to more on-field traffic with consequent compaction and density increases.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Darwin was right, in any given field, the spatial variability of earthworm communities in pastures isn’t driven by measurable soil properties

Hodson

Corstanje

Jones

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abundance and distribution of earthworms in agricultural fields is frequently proposed as a measure of soil quality assuming that observed patterns of abundance are in response to improved or degraded environmental conditions. However, it is not clear that earthworm abundances can be directly related to their edaphic environment, as noted in Darwin’s final publication, perhaps limiting or restricting their value as indicators of ecological quality in any given field. We present results from a spatially explicit intensive survey of pastures within United Kingdom farms, looking for the main drivers of earthworm density at a range of scales. When describing spatial variability of earthworm abundance within any given field, the best predictor was earthworm abundance itself within 20 – 30 m of the sampling point; there were no consistent environmental correlates with earthworm numbers, suggesting that biological factors (e.g. colonisation rate, competition, predation, parasitism) drive or at least significantly modify earthworm distributions at this spatial level. However, at the national scale, earthworm abundance is well predicted by soil nitrate levels, density, temperature and moisture content, albeit not in a simple linear fashion. This suggests that although land can be managed at the farm scale to promote earthworm abundance and the resulting soil processes that deliver ecosystem services, within a field, earthworm distributions will remain patchy. The divergence in the interpretative value of earthworm abundance as an ecological indicator is a function of spatial scale, corresponding to species specific biological factors as well as a response to environmental pressures. Species abundance can effectively be used as ecological indicators, even if, at first, distributions seem random. However, care must be exercised, in the sampling design for the indicator species, if its abundance is to be used as a proxy for environmental quality at a particular scale (e.g. a management scale such as field scale).

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Implications of accounting for management intensity on carbon and nitrogen balances of European grasslands

Cited by 11 publications

References 64 publications

Nitrogen-use efficiency of organic and conventional arable and dairy farming systems in Germany

Nitrogen-use efficiency of organic and conventional arable and dairy farming systems in Germany

Earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. Do they really indicate soil quality?

Darwin was right, in any given field, the spatial variability of earthworm communities in pastures isn’t driven by measurable soil properties

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