학술논문

Functional redundancy of weed seed predation is reduced by intensified agriculture.
Document Type
Article
Source
Ecology Letters. Apr2024, Vol. 27 Issue 4, p1-12. 12p.
Subject
*WEED seeds
*AGRICULTURE
*PREDATION
*ENVIRONMENTAL degradation
*CROP rotation
Language
ISSN
1461-023X
Abstract
Intensified agriculture, a driver of biodiversity loss, can diminish ecosystem functions and their stability. Biodiversity can increase functional redundancy and is expected to stabilize ecosystem functions. Few studies, however, have explored how agricultural intensity affects functional redundancy and its link with ecosystem function stability. Here, within a continental‐wide study, we assess how functional redundancy of seed predation is affected by agricultural intensity and landscape simplification. By combining carabid abundances with molecular gut content data, functional redundancy of seed predation was quantified for 65 weed genera across 60 fields in four European countries. Across weed genera, functional redundancy was reduced with high field management intensity and simplified crop rotations. Moreover, functional redundancy increased the spatial stability of weed seed predation at the field scale. We found that ecosystem functions are vulnerable to disturbances in intensively managed agroecosystems, providing empirical evidence of the importance of biodiversity for stable ecosystem functions across space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]