Farmers’ practices and landscape heterogeneity are key drivers of biodiversity underlying agroecosystem multifunctionality

Abstract: Given the detrimental effects of intensive agriculture on human and environmental
health, it is crucial to make a transition towards more sustainable cropping systems, conciliating multiple ecosystem functions/services, agricultural production, farmers’ income or life quality. Reducing pesticide use on crops and diversifying (semi-natural) habitats at the landscape scale are considered effective strategies for shifting towards such systems. However, their impacts on agroecosystem multifunctionality remain poorly studied. We investigated the effects of organic and conventional cropping systems and of landscape heterogeneity on agroecosystem multifunctionality in North-western France, with consideration of their ecological, socioeconomic, and agronomic performance. We found a strong trade-off between ecological and crop production (yield) functions. The number of field interventions and amount of nitrogen were the main drivers of agroecosystem multifunctionality and functions. At the landscape scale, habitat diversity had contrasting effects on pest control capacity, pest infestation and yield, whereas increasing amounts of semi-natural habitats enhanced biodiversity conservation and pollination capacity. Our study suggests that reducing within-field intervention and nitrogen fertilization, as well as restoring complex landscape mosaics could be key strategies for enhancing the ecological functions underlying multifunctionality.