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Yann Clough. Photo.

Yann Clough

Professor

Yann Clough. Photo.

Land-use history impacts functional diversity across multiple trophic groups

Author

  • Gaëtane Le Provost
  • Isabelle Badenhausser
  • Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet
  • Yann Clough
  • Laura Henckel
  • Cyrille Violle
  • Vincent Bretagnolle
  • Marilyn Roncoroni
  • Peter Manning
  • Nicolas Gross

Summary, in English

Land-use change is a major driver of biodiversity loss worldwide. Although biodiversity often shows a delayed response to land-use change, previous studies have typically focused on a narrow range of current landscape factors and have largely ignored the role of land-use history in shaping plant and animal communities and their functional characteristics. Here, we used a unique database of 220,000 land-use records to investigate how 20-y of land-use changes have affected functional diversity across multiple trophic groups (primary producers, mutualists, herbivores, invertebrate predators, and vertebrate predators) in 75 grassland fields with a broad range of land-use histories. The effects of land-use history on multitrophic trait diversity were as strong as other drivers known to impact biodiversity, e.g., grassland management and current landscape composition. The diversity of animal mobility and resourceacquisition traits was lower in landscapes where much of the land had been historically converted from grassland to crop. In contrast, functional biodiversity was higher in landscapes containing old permanent grasslands, most likely because they offer a stable and high-quality habitat refuge for species with low mobility and specialized feeding niches. Our study shows that grassland-to-crop conversion has long-lasting impacts on the functional biodiversity of agricultural ecosystems. Accordingly, land-use legacy effects must be considered in conservation programs aiming to protect agricultural biodiversity. In particular, the retention of permanent grassland sanctuaries within intensive landscapes may offset ecological debts.

Department/s

  • Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate

Publishing year

2020

Language

English

Pages

1573-1579

Publication/Series

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Volume

117

Issue

3

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

National Academy of Sciences

Topic

  • Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use

Keywords

  • Agricultural ecosystems
  • Biodiversity loss
  • Functional diversity
  • Grasslands
  • Land-use changes

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0027-8424