Using plant traits to understand the contribution of biodiversity effects to annual crop community productivity.

ABSTRACT: Increasing biodiversity generally enhances productivity through selection and complementarity effects not only in natural, but also in agricultural, systems. However, the quest to explain why diverse cropping systems are more productive than monocultures remains a central goal in agricultural science. In a mesocosm experiment, we constructed monocultures, two- and four-species mixtures from eight crop species with or without fertilizer and both in temperate Switzerland and dry, Mediterranean Spain. We measured physical factors and plant traits and related these in structural equation models to selection and complementarity effects to explain seed yield differences between monocultures and mixtures. Increased crop diversity increased seed yield in Switzerland. This positive biodiversity eff

SUBMITTER: Engbersen N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9286576 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature