Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment最新文献

{"title":"Landuse affects the likelihood of soil colonization by a key plant pathogen","authors":"Rebecca Lyons ,&nbsp;Anna-Belle C. Clarke ,&nbsp;Hazel R. Lapis-Gaza ,&nbsp;Jiarui Sun ,&nbsp;Henry W.G. Birt ,&nbsp;Anthony B. Pattison ,&nbsp;Paul G. Dennis","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109814","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109814","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Fencing and other biosecurity measures can help to reduce the spread of soil-borne pathogens, but are often compromised by weather, animals and insects. Once contaminated soil spreads beyond a farm, neighbouring land can either help or hinder pathogen dispersal based on its susceptibility to colonization. Fusarium wilt of banana, caused by the soil-borne pathogen <em>Fusarium oxysporum</em> f. sp. <em>cubense</em> (<em>Foc</em>), poses a serious threat to global banana production. In the Wet Tropics Region of Queensland, where most of Australia’s bananas are grown, we found that banana production land is mostly bordered by rainforest, grassland, and sugarcane production areas. In soil inoculation experiments using quantitative PCR, we found that <em>Foc</em> was highly likely to colonize banana soils, moderately likely to colonize sugarcane soils, and unlikely to colonize rainforest or grassland soils, suggesting that rainforest and grassland may act as natural barriers against <em>Foc</em> spread. When sterilized soils were inoculated, <em>Foc</em> proliferated to high levels regardless of landuse, indicating that biotic factors underpin the differential response of landuses to <em>Foc</em> colonization. Differences in the extent and likelihood of <em>Foc</em> soil colonization between soils were associated most strongly with the soil fungal and bacterial community composition and fungal:bacterial biomass ratio. Based on our findings, we propose that future work should explore the use of ground covers, soil amendments and other strategies to improve soil suppressiveness to <em>Foc</em>. Together, our findings offer valuable insights for land managers and demonstrate the importance of rainforest and grassland soils in limiting <em>Foc</em> spread across the landscape.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109814"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144307511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How bacterial traits scale to soil organic matter pool buildup revealed by long-term maize straw mulching experiment","authors":"Zhangmi He ,&nbsp;Xuefeng Zhu ,&nbsp;Feng Zhou ,&nbsp;Mengtao Zhu ,&nbsp;Xuelian Bao ,&nbsp;Fangbo Deng ,&nbsp;Hongbo He ,&nbsp;Xudong Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109816","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109816","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>No-till with maize straw mulching can enhance soil organic matter (SOM) accumulation. Soil bacterial communities, which are sensitive to habitat changes, can influence carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling during SOM pool buildup, yet their temporal mediation under long-term conservation tillage remains unclear. We used 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing to analyze bacterial traits across four maize straw mulching durations, 0 (M0), 6 (M6), 10 (M10), and 14 (M14) years in Northeast China. Compared with aboveground removal, bacteria at M6 exhibited traits of active growth and metabolism, such as higher phylogenetic diversity, increased copiotroph to oligotroph ratio (Copio/Oligo), enhanced species cross-feeding, and greater potential for biomass and carbohydrate biosynthesis efficiency. Similar trends persisted at M10, accompanied by stronger competition between Actinobacteria and other species. Till M14, bacteria further shifted toward reduced efficiency in carbohydrate biosynthesis. Correspondingly, SOM increased by 42.7 % at M10 and by 53.6 % at M14, accompanied by an increased C to N ratio, with M14 also showing higher labile C content. Such findings indicated that SOM pool buildup evolved from initial stability via bacterial turnover, to accelerated accumulation driven by bacterial transformation, and ultimately to enhanced both quantity and C availability. Structural equation modeling highlighted that temporally coupled bacterial succession, shaped by Copio/Oligo and growth strategies in response to shifting C availability, drove changes in SOM quality. Our findings suggest that bacterial traits can be effectively scaled up to understand SOM buildup under long-term maize straw mulching.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109816"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144297245","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Long-term effects of nutrient addition on yield, diversity, and nutritional quality in a Mediterranean grassland under variable rainfall","authors":"Jesús Fernández Habas ,&nbsp;Carla Nogueira ,&nbsp;Maria Conceição Caldeira ,&nbsp;Cristina Saro ,&nbsp;Mariana Carreira ,&nbsp;Miguel N. Bugalho","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109811","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109811","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Global eutrophication and increased precipitation variability affect the dynamics of Mediterranean grasslands, with significant implications for their stability, conservation, and functions, such as providing livestock feed and preserving biodiversity. This study investigates the long-term effects of multiple nutrient additions and the inter-annual precipitation variability on Mediterranean grassland productivity, diversity and nutritional quality. A long-term experiment was conducted using a randomised block design, where N, P, and K were applied in a full factorial combination. The study included two normal precipitation years (2016 and 2018, similar to the long-term average) and two dry years (2017 and 2019). We analysed the effects of nutrient addition and annual precipitation on yield, functional group composition, and plant diversity, while nutritional quality was analysed in 2019. The results reveal nutrient co-limitation effects on grassland productivity. The PK, NP and NPK treatments yielded 736.8 ± 38.1 g DM m⁻², 2.6-fold higher than the remaining treatments (284.6 ± 15.7 g DM m⁻²). Grassland yield declined by 28 % in dry years, irrespective of nutrient addition. Annual precipitation significantly influenced plant species richness, which decreased from 18.4 species m⁻² in normal precipitation years to 12.6 species m⁻² in dry years. Nutrient addition, particularly NPK, provided grasses a competitive advantage, leading to lower plant species richness. The interaction between nutrient addition and annual precipitation influenced legume abundance, with a positive response observed under P and PK treatments, depending on water availability. The proportion of forbs, and the Shannon-Wiener index showed particularly low values in dry years under NPK treatment. Nutrient addition had no significant effect on grassland nutritional quality. These findings underline the long-term effects of multiple nutrient additions and reduced precipitation on Mediterranean grassland diversity and productivity, providing valuable insights for management and conservation policies to sustain these ecosystems under changing environmental conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109811"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144290615","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of different Brachiaria ruziziensis management practices in a crop-livestock integration system on soil health, soybean physiology, and yields","authors":"Laís Guerra Prado ,&nbsp;Eduardo Habermann ,&nbsp;Kátia Aparecida de Pinho Costa ,&nbsp;Luciana Maria da Silva ,&nbsp;João Victor Campos Pinho Costa ,&nbsp;Eduardo da Costa Severiano ,&nbsp;Adriano Carvalho Costa ,&nbsp;João Antônio Gonçalves e Silva ,&nbsp;Lourival Vilela ,&nbsp;Fabiano Guimarães Silva ,&nbsp;Carlos Alberto Martinez","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109808","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109808","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The utilization of <em>Brachiaria ruziziensis</em> (Congo grass) has been consolidated as a strategy to integrate livestock and agriculture (crop-livestock integration system), promoting sustainability and agricultural productivity. However, how different management practices of the forage crop during the off-season affect soil health and soybean physiology remains uncertain. This study aimed to compare conventional soybean cultivation with systems in which soybean is grown under soil cover residues under different <em>Brachiaria ruziziensis</em> management practices (free growth, cutting and regrowth of the forage, and grazing in the off-season) in a crop-livestock integration system, and to evaluate how these systems affect chemical and biological properties, cover biomass production, nutrient concentration, soil microclimate, and respiration. Additionally, physiological parameters, plant growth, and soybean yields were assessed. The experiment was conducted on a Quartzarenic Neosol (Entisol) soil using a randomized complete block design with four replicates. The treatments consisted of biomass production: <em>Brachiaria ruziziensis</em> in free growth; <em>Brachiaria ruziziensis</em> with cutting and regrowth of the forage and <em>Brachiaria ruziziensis</em> under grazing in the off-season and an additional treatment of soybean cultivation without soil cover biomass. Results showed that the free growth of <em>B. ruziziensis</em> produced the highest soil cover biomass, while <em>B. ruziziensis</em> under grazing exhibited higher concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur in the soil cover biomass and improved soil chemical attributes. Regardless of management type, systems with soil cover residues demonstrated lower soil temperatures, higher soil moisture, and increased enzymatic activity. Consequently, soybean plants in crop-livestock integration systems exhibited higher chlorophyll indices, resulting in taller plants with greater aboveground biomass production and an average 20.9 % increase in grain yield compared to soybean grown without soil cover residues. These findings highlight that crop-livestock integration systems in a Quartzarenic Neosol (Entisol) soil contribute to reducing mineral fertilizer, favoring the sustainability of agricultural production. Long-term studies to further explore these effects are strongly encouraged.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109808"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144279527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Crop-precipitation coupling drives deep soil desiccation-revival cycles in semiarid agroecosystems of Chinese Loess Plateau","authors":"Chenyun Bai ,&nbsp;Sidra Sohail ,&nbsp;XiaoDi Tang ,&nbsp;HanYang Tian ,&nbsp;Xiaoyang Han ,&nbsp;Yuanjun Zhu ,&nbsp;Jiangbo Qiao","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109809","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109809","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Precipitation-driven water scarcity imposes a critical constraint on sustainable development in the Chinese Loess Plateau, where the development of desiccated soil layers (DSLs) through persistent soil water deficits has emerged as a major ecological stressor. Although previous studies have extensively characterized the dynamics of DSLs in reforested ecosystems, the mechanisms underlying their formation in agroecosystems remain not fully elucidated. Soil water dynamics throughout 0–300 cm soil profiles under a winter wheat (T<em>riticum aestivum</em> L.)–winter wheat–spring maize (<em>Zea mays</em> L.) rotation system (2003–2022) were systematically investigated using high-resolution monitoring data. The Soil Desiccation Index (SDI) was employed to quantified desiccation severity and evaluate interactions between precipitation variability and cropping patterns. Key findings revealed four primary thematic takeaways:1) Significant interannual fluctuations in soil water storage (SWS: 382.7–924.7 mm), with pronounced seasonal variability (minimum: 560.6 mm in June; maximum: 690.6 mm in October); 2) Drought memory effects dominated interannual dynamics – SDI exceeded 75 % during drought/post-drought years, sustaining strongly/extremely desiccated layers (&gt;8 months), yet all DSLs fully recovered following ≥ 2 consecutive wet years. Non-desiccated layers dominated observations in wet (72 %), normal (65 %), and drought years (49 %), reflecting precipitation-dependent water availability. 3) Deep soil desiccation (&gt;200 cm) showed heightened sensitivity to antecedent precipitation deficits, with SDI-precipitation correlations intensifying with depth (r² = −0.21 at 60–100 cm; −0.41 at 120–200 cm; −0.54 at 220–300 cm; <em>p</em> &lt; 0.01). 4) Spring maize cultivation outperformed winter wheat in soil water retention, particularly during June–September. These findings reveal the intervention mechanisms of cropping pattern adjustments on soil water resilience, clarify the hysteresis response patterns of deep soil drying to precipitation deficits, and enhance the theoretical framework of soil water resilience in semiarid regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109809"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144279526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Seasonality and crop type override the effects of long-term agricultural management on collembolan communities and traits","authors":"Norbert Flórián,&nbsp;Veronika Gergócs-Winkler,&nbsp;Tibor Szili-Kovács,&nbsp;Miklós Dombos","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109810","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109810","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Current agricultural practices, dominated by monocultures and chemical inputs, challenge soil-dwelling mesofauna to adapt to dynamic conditions. We conducted a two-year study within a long-term (50 year) experiment to investigate how monocultures, crop rotations (winter wheat and maize), and fertilisation (organic and mineral) types affect collembolan communities. Based on 360 soil samples, we examined functional and life form traits, as well as taxonomic and functional diversity across seasons. We hypothesised that disturbance-resistant traits would be prevalent in open habitats such as maize fields, while soil-adapted traits would dominate in more closed habitats such as wheat fields and meadows. Our results confirmed these predictions. Maize fields supported dispersal and disturbance-resistant traits but had lower Collembola diversity, whereas wheat fields supported higher diversity and soil-adapted traits, demonstrating that agroecosystems filter functional traits according to crop type and management. Compared to the cropped fields, the control meadow exhibited higher values of traits connected to adaptation to the soil environment and higher species richness. Grouping functional traits into life forms offered clearer ecological insights than examining individual traits alone. Interestingly, soil-adapted traits were more abundant in autumn, following disturbances, rather than during the growing season. This suggests that disturbance-resistant species had already been filtered out, with remaining species primarily inhabiting soil layers under the surface in disturbed areas. Crop rotation, as a form of temporal diversification, favoured dispersal traits, with specific trait patterns influenced by crop type, while fertilisation type had minor effects. Despite long-term exposure to consistent agricultural treatments, plant type and seasonality exerted the strongest influence on Collembola traits and diversity, underscoring the adaptability of these communities to environmental change in agroecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109810"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144262277","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Responses of soil nutrients and enzyme activities to afforestation species and age on China’s Loess Plateau: An investigation from soil aggregates aspect","authors":"Dixing Feng ,&nbsp;Yufei Yao ,&nbsp;Jingyun Zhou ,&nbsp;Weibo Kong ,&nbsp;Jianlun Gao ,&nbsp;Qingyin Zhang ,&nbsp;Xiaoxu Jia ,&nbsp;Ming'an Shao ,&nbsp;Xiaorong Wei ,&nbsp;Liping Qiu","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109804","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109804","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Farmland afforestation has long been considered an effective approach to improve soil structure and nutrients cycling. Whereas, how the tree species and afforestation ages affect soil enzymes associated with carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) cycling at aggregate scale has been less examined. In this study, we examined the effects of farmland afforestation with legume trees (Black locust, <em>Robinia pseudoacacia</em>) at three stand ages (10, 20, and 30 years) and with non-legume trees (Chinese pine, <em>Pinus tabulaeformis</em>) at 30 years on soil organic C (SOC), total N (TN), total P (TP) and the C-, N-, and P- acquiring enzyme activities (EEA_C, EEA_N, and EEA_P) in bulk soils and aggregates in the southern part of China’s Loess Plateau. We found that afforestation with black locust significantly increased the proportion of &gt; 2 mm aggregates and mean weight diameter (MWD) across the 10–30 years, whereas afforestation with Chinese pine reduced &gt; 2 mm aggregates and MWD. Farmland afforestation increased SOC and TN, with greater effect occurring at greater ages for legume trees and in &lt; 0.25 mm fraction, but uniformly decreased TP in soil aggregates. Afforestation increased soil enzyme activities, with greater effects on N enzymes for afforestation with non-legume trees at 0–10 cm and greater effects on C and P enzymes for afforestation with legume trees. In addition, EEA_C and EEA_N were highest in &lt; 0.25 mm aggregate fraction, but EEA_P was independent of aggregate size. The enzyme activities in &gt; 2 mm aggregates accounted for 54 %-60 % of the activities in bulk soils. Our results suggest that enzyme activity was determined mainly by the &gt; 2 mm aggregates and was significantly influenced by afforestation species and ages through changing soil nutrients and aggregate size distribution.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109804"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144262276","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Metagenomics of soil microbiome uncovers community homogenization in agricultural landscapes in Cerrado","authors":"Lucas D. Vieira ,&nbsp;Juliana Silveira dos Santos ,&nbsp;Erica Hasui ,&nbsp;Marcelino Benvindo-Souza ,&nbsp;Daniela de Melo e Silva ,&nbsp;Rosane Garcia Collevatti","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109807","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109807","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Deforestation and land use intensification have been affecting the soil microbiota community, decreasing taxonomic and functional diversity of soil Archaea and Bacteria, and thus affecting key ecosystem functions. Here, we assess the influence of landscape structure and soil physico-chemical properties on microbiota community (Archaea and Bacteria) in agricultural landscapes in the Cerrado ecoregion. We used a metagenomics approach to obtain the soil microbiome community composition in 32 agricultural landscapes, and piecewise structural equation models to conjointly analyze the effects of landscape structure and soil on taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional alpha diversity. We also analyzed the effects of landscape structure and soil properties on community taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity, using multiple matrix regression with randomization. We found that the number and shape of natural vegetation (NV) areas positively affected taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional soil microbiota alpha diversity. Percentage of pasture and shape of NV had a positive influence on phosphorus content. Percentage of savanna and landscape compositional heterogeneity negatively affected soil organic matter content. However, soil properties had only an indirect effect on the microbiota alpha diversity. Taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity and their components, nestedness and turnover, were very low between soil sites, and positively related to the amount of NV in the landscape and soil chromium concentration. Our results show that rather than decreasing Archaea and Bacteria species richness, intensive agriculture is modifying the community’s structure homogenizing species composition between landscapes, leading to a dominance of groups more adapted to intensive agriculture production systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109807"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144254179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Context dependency and differential arthropod responses belie simple agro-ecological management solutions","authors":"Maura Ganz ,&nbsp;Jaboury Ghazoul ,&nbsp;Philippe Jeanneret","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109771","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109771","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Policies promoting agroecological management aim to counteract the adverse effects of agricultural intensification on biodiversity, and ecosystem health with varying effectiveness. This study evaluates the effects of agroecological management practices and environmental heterogeneity on biodiversity, pest control services, and crop yields in winter wheat, barley, and oilseed rape fields in Switzerland. We assessed plant species diversity, pest and predator populations, and crop yield across 44 agricultural fields managed with either conventional or agroecological practices, including the establishment of wildflower strips (WFS) and reduced pesticide use. Vegetation diversity was higher in agroecological fields compared to conventional fields, but this did not lead to an increase in predator populations. While ground-dwelling beetles are potentially enriched, neither spiders or parasitoids, nor pest abundances were higher in agroecological fields. Pest pressure was not affected by predator abundance, while yields were significantly higher in conventional fields, with the differences attributed to farming practices rather than the influence of vegetation diversity or pest presence. The effect of environmental heterogeneity varies across taxa and depends on the landscape feature considered.</div></div><div><h3>Synthesis and applications</h3><div>Our findings indicate that while agroecological practices can enhance vegetation diversity and support a diverse arthropod community, these benefits do not necessarily lead to improved pest control or increased yields. The variability in responses suggests that the effectiveness of such measures is highly context dependent. Therefore, tailored strategies that consider specific crop and landscape characteristics are needed to optimize pest management and maintain productivity in sustainable farming systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109771"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144242086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rhizosphere abundant bacteria enhance buckwheat yield, while rare taxa regulate soil chemistry under diversified crop rotations","authors":"Huan Luo ,&nbsp;Zhiyong Zhang ,&nbsp;Xiaomei Fang ,&nbsp;Zhen Wang ,&nbsp;Zhuo Liu ,&nbsp;Yuanhao Yang ,&nbsp;Kaile Zhang ,&nbsp;Zelin Yi ,&nbsp;Mengqi Ding","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109781","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109781","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Buckwheat is a fast-growing crop valued for its gluten-free grain, high rutin content, adaptability to suboptimal conditions, and minimal nutrient requirements, making it an ideal candidate for sustainable crop rotation systems. Crop rotations are known to profoundly shape the diversity, composition, and complexity of soil microbial communities, ultimately impacting the functioning and productivity of agroecosystems. While soil abundant and rare microbial communities serve distinct ecological roles, the specific effect of different rotation patterns and buckwheat species on these communities within the rhizosphere and their subsequent roles in agriculture functioning remain largely unknown. To address this gap, we conducted a three-year field trial to assess the relationships among soil properties, rhizosphere bacterial communities, and buckwheat yields under three rotation systems: wheat-buckwheat rotation (R1), continuous mono-buckwheat cropping (R2), and soybean–buckwheat rotation (R3), using both common and tartary buckwheat species. Compared to differences between buckwheat species, rotation systems more significantly influenced the attributes of both abundant and rare communities, soil chemical properties, and soil enzyme activities. Notably, R3 had a higher diversity of abundant taxa, enhanced complexity, cohesion, and robustness of abundant bacterial interactions, and a greater number of abundant biomarkers, relative to the monoculture practice in R2. This likely increased the resilience of abundant taxa in the diversified rotation system to stresses and facilitated belowground ecosystem functions, significantly contributing to higher buckwheat yield. In contrast, while R3 also increased diversity of rare taxa and altered their communities, these changes primarily affected soil chemical properties through modulating soil enzyme activities. These findings suggest that the attributes of abundant and rare taxa in the buckwheat rhizosphere, when intensified by the diversified rotation system, played distinct roles in different facets of agroecosystem functioning. Overall, our study highlights the importance of diversifying rotational diversity to bolster agricultural sustainability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144238302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}