A Harmonized Nitrous Oxide (N2O) Ocean Observation Network ...
Making soil biodiversity work for ecosystem goods and...
Transcript of Making soil biodiversity work for ecosystem goods and...
Making soil biodiversity work for ecosystem goods and services
Lijbert Brussaard, Dept. of Soil QualityWageningen University, The Netherlands
Making soil biodiversity work for ecosystem
goods and services……..
…..is a challenge to
� scientists
� politicians
� practitioners
� Research and implementation programs rarely consider � Multiple scales� Tradeoffswhereas:
� Biodiversity-based management� Occurs at many scales� Produces outcomes at many
scales
Scale matters Globe
� Introduction� Soil biodiversity and the
greenhouse gas balance� Soil biodiversity for adaptive
agriculture under environmental change
� A landscape perspective on soils, climate change and biodiversity
� A learning network on “functional agrobiodiversity”
� Conclusions
OutlineGlobe
September 2008 issue (40 million readers)
Tim Kasten: “Get our messages right, speak with the same voice (IPCC), take that message to others, using communication experts”
Courtesy of Alfred Hartemink
Gabriele Broll: “Science communication is an academic discipline”
The soil provides key ecosystem goods and services
(Haygarth & Ritz, 2009, Land Use Pol 26S: S87)
Controlpests
Build soil structure
Remove pesticides and nutrients in buffer strips
Support plants viamutualism
Control and cycle plant nutrients
The soil biota contribute to ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes
Source/sink of GHG
Degrade pesticides in field
Break down wastes, make compost
Fix nitrogen
Build soil organic matter
Sequestercarbon
(http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sare.org/publications/explore/images/scenewide2.jpg)
Courtesy of Kate Scow
Making soil biodiversity work for ecosystem
goods and services……..
…...is also a challenge to keeping:
� credibility in science� legitimacy with politicians and the public at large� salience with practitioners
Gabriele Broll: “Is high biodiversity best?”
(cf. Climategate – no Soilgate , please)
� Introduction� Soil biodiversity and the
greenhouse gas balance� Soil biodiversity for adaptive
agriculture under environmental change
� A landscape perspective on soils, climate change and biodiversity
� A learning network on “functional agrobiodiversity”
� Conclusions
OutlineGlobe
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1000 20001200 1400 1600 1800
Year
CO
2 , ppm
CO2
270
310
250
290
N2O
, ppb
N2O
750
1000
1250
1500
1750
CH
4 , ppb
CH4
Greenhouse gas evolution over time
Afforestation and Reforestation
Conservation agriculture
Grassland restoration
Mitigating climate change using soilsMitigating climate change using soils
Biota560 Pg C
Soil OrganicMatter
1500 Pg C
Atmosphere750 Pg C
Ocean~38.000 Pg C
Extractablefossil fuels4000 Pg C
Potential CSequestration
50 Pg C
Sedimentaryrocks
~80.000.000 Pg C
Carbon pools: a global perspective
1 Pg = 1·1015 g
Philippe Ciais: “It is easier to keep the marbles in the jar than to tip them out and try to pick them up again” (quote from W.H. Schlesinger)
� 620,000 - 4,320,000 worms / hectare� Change soil structure and chemistry� Considered very beneficial to soil fertility
Soil biodiversity and the GHG balance:earthworms
Bulk soil
Earthwormburrows
Compacteddrilosphere soil
mineral particles
fresh litter
earthworm labile C inmacro aggregates
+
+
+ +
+
Earthworms enhance C storage
stable C inmicroaggregates
mineral particles
N2O N2O
++
but also N2O emissions
0
2
4
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Soils Oceans Cattle (Fertilizer)industry
Atmosphere Biomassburning
N2O
flux
, Tg
N y
r-1Global sources of N2O emission
1 Tg = 1·1012 g
Tim Kasten: “Agriculture accounts for 30% of global GHG emissions”
Global warming potential
1 g N2O... equals 12 g CH4... equals 296 g CO2...
≈ ≈
Conclusions from research so far:
� Earthworms increase N2O emissions in any studied system
� The earthworm8induced N2O effect and observed interactions reflect the feeding ecologies of different species (earthworm diversity matters!)
� The tradeoff between elevated N2O emission and carbon sequestration remains to be determined
(Rizhiya et al., 2007, Soil Biol Biochem 39: 2058
Bertora et al., 2007, Soil Biol Biochem 40: 1999
Giannopoulos et al., 2010, Soil Biol Biochem 42: 618
Lubbers et al., 2010, Eur J Soil Sci (in press))
Earthworms have effect on:
� Soil structure� Soil organic matter dynamics
� Aggregation and porosity and N2O emissions
CO2 – carbon sequestration
� Water infiltration
biophysical process
earthworm activity
(After Le Bayon & Binet, 2001, Pedobiologia 45: 430)
Earthworm diversity matters
Epigeic Anecic Endogeic
50 cm
Soil management effects
N2O N2O
→ Less C storage→ Less N2O emissions?
→ Slow water infiltration
Conventional tillage
No-tillage
→ More C storage→ More N2O emissions?
→ Rapid water infiltration
Tim Kasten: “Reducing ecosystem degradation requires a lesson in economics: trade-offs and priorities to be made”
Matthias Drösler: “Global warming potential has to be calculated, not just carbon balance”
� Introduction� Soil biodiversity and the
greenhouse gas balance� Soil biodiversity for adaptive
agriculture under environmental change
� A landscape perspective on soils, climate change and biodiversity
� A learning network on “functional agrobiodiversity”
� Conclusions
OutlineGlobe
Environmental filters (biotic and abiotic)
Biodiversity
Trait diversity
(Modified after Lemanceau, Int Soc Microb Ecol J, submitted; courtesy of P Lemanceau)
Examples of traits � Plants
� Growth form
� Leaf/ root morphology
� Specific leaf area
� Root length density
� Canopy/ root system size and architecture
� Leaf/ root chemistry
� C concentration
� Nutrient concentration
� Root turnover
� (Soil) animals� Mouthparts morphology
� Feeding habit
� Mobility
� (Soil) microbes� Ecophysiology
(De Bello et al., 2010, Biodiv Cons 19: 2773)
(Ecosystem functions)
From understanding trait-based community assemblage in natural systems →
human-induced assemblageof trait-based communities in agriculture
Vandana Shiva: Forgotten foods
� Introduction� Soil biodiversity and the
greenhouse gas balance� Soil biodiversity for adaptive
agriculture under environmental change
� A landscape perspective on soils, environmental change and biodiversity
� A learning network on “functional agrobiodiversity”
� Conclusions
OutlineGlobe
Ecosystem services at the landscape level:
We need a landscape view to design ecology-based solutions, combining biodiversity with other renewable resources for adaptation to local ecosystem complexity and social frameworks under climate change
� Considers biodiversity –ecological functions in mosaics of crop production areas and natural habitats
� Sets sustainable management of biodiversity in a social-ecological framework
� Builds upon local experiences and participatory experimentation with diversified production systems
DIVERSITAS agroBIODIVERSITY network
8 research sites representing landscapes positioned along a biodiversity-productivity gradient
and a wide range of socio-economic conditionswww.agrobiodiversity-diversitas.org/
(Jackson et al., 2010, Curr Opinion Env Sci 2: 80)
Planning for ecology-based transformation in the face of (climate) change
Smaller scales:Enabling technologies usingknowledge embedded within the
systemsExamples:� mineral fertilizer, new varieties� models that optimize N
applications� irrigation systems� farm machinery
Larger scales:Transformational technologies for
knowledge-intensive systems
Examples:� conservation agriculture� models that improve breeding
programs� aerobic rice systems� precision farming
Enabling and transformational technologies
(After Keating et al., 2010, Crop Sci, 50: 109)
C sequestration management requires transitional technology
� Introduction� Soil biodiversity and the
greenhouse gas balance� Soil biodiversity for adaptive
agriculture under environmental change
� A landscape perspective on soils, climate change and biodiversity
� A learning network on “functional agrobiodiversity”
� Conclusions
OutlineGlobe
The ELNThe ELN--FAB conceptFAB concept
European Learning Network on Functional AgroBiodiversity
http://www.eln-fab.eu/
Problem definition
� Small scale, fragmented application of “functional”biodiversity (pollination, biocontrol, …)
� Perceived important contribution to sustainable agriculture
� Need for upscalingexperiences and practice
Mission of ELN-FAB
� Platform and facility for exchange of knowledge and practical experiences within EU member states, between farmers, policy makers, scientists, businesses and NGOs, in order to� enable fast and effective
implementation of best practices;� optimize agrobiodiversity benefits� promote sustainable agriculture
Tim Kasten: “Get our messages right, speak with the same voice (IPCC), take that message to others, using communication experts”
Not the whole story…
Vision of ELN-FAB
By 2030 the use of agrobiodiversity to
enhance ecosystem services is fully
integrated into European agricultural policies and practicesin a way that promotes sustainable agricultural
production
� Introduction� Soil biodiversity and the
greenhouse gas balance� Soil biodiversity for adaptive
agriculture under environmental change
� A landscape perspective on soils, climate change and biodiversity
� A learning network on “functional agrobiodiversity”
� Conclusions
OutlineGlobe
Concluding remarks
� There are tradeoffs and synergies between biodiversity-based ecosystem services (example: GHG balance) ―scientists have to inform politicians and practitioners, so they can make well-founded decisions
� Ecology increasingly provides the tools for biodiversity-based production of agricultural goods and ecosystem services
� A landscape perspective on soils, (climate) change and biodiversity, including stakeholder interactions, is necessary (and possible)
� Co-learning of scientists with practitioners is needed in applying “functional” (agro)biodiversity at the landscape scale
Gabriele Broll: “Soil is simple and decomposition is easy to understand!”
Acknowledgements:Ingrid Lubbers, Wageningen, NLJan-Willem van Groenigen, Wageningen, NLMembers of DIVERSITAS’ agroBIODIVERSITY networkMembers of the European Learning Network on Functional
AgroBiodiversity