Intensification-driven changes in temperate ecosystem functions: comparison of managed grasslands and tree plantations using a cross-system index
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Modern land management is faced by the challenge of meeting rising demands for food and biomass while maintaining ecosystem functions, but the interactions between management intensity and ecosystem functioning in perennial production systems remain unclear. Here we examined how management intensity affects carbon and nitrogen storage in contrasting perennial ecosystems using a novel cross-system index that harmonizes land-use intensity (LUI) calculations and enables direct comparison of different systems across an intensification gradient. Data from two long-term experimental management trials (pine plantations and upland grasslands, seven years after trial implementation) were used to explore the linkages between management intensity, carbon and nitrogen storage in soils and aboveground biomass. We found that managed grasslands showed a broader range of LUI values, highlighting differences in the levels of management considered to be ‘high intensity’ across systems. Photosynthetic biomass and aboveground nitrogen stocks showed a positive response to LUI gradient in both tree and grassland systems, but the degree of response was stronger in tree plantations. Soil nitrogen decreased with LUI under tree plantations alone, and soil carbon showed no response to management intensity in either system. In general, there was limited evidence of trade-offs between provisioning and regulating services. Our findings demonstrate the usefulness of a cross-system LUI index to compare diverse ecosystem responses. By providing a common framework, our LUI approach offers a valuable tool to disentangle the effects of management intensity on provisioning and regulating services, and identify strategies that reconcile productivity with long-term sustainability.
Source: Ecological Indicators
Authors: Lucie Bon, Laurent Augusto, Frédérique Louault, Pierre Trichet, Juliette M.G. Bloor
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,650
OpenAlex ID: W4417260555