Ecosystem services on restored marginal farmland

Abstract

Industrialized agriculture often uses marginal-land restoration to reduce environmental impacts, seeking to generate ecosystem services while maintaining food production on better soils. Here, we describe benefit trajectories for biodiversity, nutrient retention, and soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation up to a decade after conversion of marginal farmlands to grasslands or wetlands. Even in small areas that were restored, biodiversity increased across most trophic levels, driven by colonization of non-agronomic taxa. Nutrient retention by grassland buffers was substantive but seasonal, with losses common outside of the growing season. Although initial SOC gains were modest, a 20-fold increase in recalcitrant root biomass to a depth of 60 cm suggests that SOC storage will accelerate. Overall, even if it were unable to unilaterally and immediately offset nutrient pollution or SOC loss, restoration created multiple benefits. Marginal-land restoration can serve as a necessary and critical component to improved sustainable intensification, especially if partnered with on-field crop management targeting nutrient retention and SOC accumulation.