- I am an ecologist working in agricultural sciences.edit
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IntroductionAgroforestry systems provide a number of ecosystem services and are frequently considered as a promising diversification strategy for more sustainable and climate resilient primary production. However, most agroforestry field... more
IntroductionAgroforestry systems provide a number of ecosystem services and are frequently considered as a promising diversification strategy for more sustainable and climate resilient primary production. However, most agroforestry field trials compare only one crop type with a control in open field. Additional comparisons between treatments that influence nutrient and water availability are often not looked at, nor are comparisons between crop species.Materials and MethodsTo deepen our understanding of the ecological processes underlying the potential benefits of agroforestry for food production, the present experimental study addresses three environmental factors (shade, fertilisation and irrigation) on three functionally different crop species (field bean, summer barley, summer rapeseed) and a C4‐grass (Echinochloa crus‐galli) in a Swiss agroforestry system. Crop performance (physiological traits, yield) between functional groups was analysed among treatment combinations of shade, fertilisation and irrigation. Physiological traits included measurements of chlorophyll content, stomatal conductance, specific leaf area and plant height.ResultsSummer barley and field bean showed significant yield declines when shaded (−44% and −38%, respectively), similar to summer rapeseed with a significant biomass decline (−35%). Shade significantly increased the occurrence of lodging in barley. Rapeseed in particular performed better when fertilised (+40% biomass).ConclusionThe results allow to estimate the range of potential yield losses in the competitive zone near mature trees for functionally different crop groups. The findings serve as a decision‐support for species selection in temperate European agroforestry systems.
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This handbook was developed to help facilitate coordinated assessments across multiple field trials of plant teams, specifically, legume-cereal intercrops and grassland mixtures. In preparation of the H2020-funded project DIVERSify we... more
This handbook was developed to help facilitate coordinated assessments across multiple field trials of plant teams, specifically, legume-cereal intercrops and grassland mixtures. In preparation of the H2020-funded project DIVERSify we identified the need for a handbook combining protocols for assessing plant traits as well as agronomic characteristics, filling a gap that other handbooks are not addressing. With the aim of promoting the generation of ‘big data’ from a larger set of agricultural field trials, emphasis has also been on the importance of standardised formats through the use of shared data templates and collection of meta-data
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Increasing plant diversity in agricultural systems provides promising solutions for sustainably increasing crop yield. It remains unclear; however, how plant–plant interactions in diverse systems are mediated by plant genetic variation.... more
Increasing plant diversity in agricultural systems provides promising solutions for sustainably increasing crop yield. It remains unclear; however, how plant–plant interactions in diverse systems are mediated by plant genetic variation. We conducted a greenhouse experiment in which we grew three varieties of common beans with three companion plant species (chickpeas, sorghum, and sunflower) in different combinations (crop mixtures, bean cultivar mixtures, and monocultures), with and without drought stress. We hypothesized that under drought stress, the effect of companion plant species on bean yield would be mediated by the drought tolerance potential of the species. We further hypothesized that this effect would vary across different bean cultivars. Overall, we show that the effect of companion plant species on bean yield was not influenced by drought stress; instead, it was dependent on the identity of the bean variety. This could partially be explained by variation in growth rate...
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Research Interests: Biology, Ecology, Medicine, Multidisciplinary, Population, and 3 moreSpecies Richness, Nectar, and Insect
Where interspecific facilitation favors the establishment of high densities of a beneficiary species, strong intraspecific competition may subsequently impede beneficiary performance. Consequently, the negative influence of intraspecific... more
Where interspecific facilitation favors the establishment of high densities of a beneficiary species, strong intraspecific competition may subsequently impede beneficiary performance. Consequently, the negative influence of intraspecific competition between beneficiary individuals could potentially outweigh the positive influence of interspecific facilitation when, for example, higher densities of a beneficiary are negated by the negative effect of crowding on beneficiary reproduction. The aim of this study was, therefore, to examine the impact of an interspecific interaction on the outcome of intraspecific interactions within the context of plant–plant facilitation. We used the cushion‐forming Azorella selago and a commonly co‐occurring dominant perennial grass species, Agrostis magellanica, on sub‐Antarctic Marion Island as a model system. We assessed the impact of an interspecific interaction (between A. selago and A. magellanica) on the outcome of intraspecific interactions (bet...
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Research Interests: Microbiology, Agronomy, Plant Biology, Biology, Nitrogen Fixation, and 5 moreSorghum, Nutrient, Crop, Legume, and Monoculture
Research Interests: Agronomy, Biology, Nitrogen Fixation, Sorghum, Root-Mean Square Error, and 4 moreNutrient, Crop, Legume, and Monoculture
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There is a drive to improve the sustainability of agricultural systems including the biodiversity component. Cultivar mixtures offer yield benefits from the same land area, but the mechanisms behind this overyielding have not been... more
There is a drive to improve the sustainability of agricultural systems including the biodiversity component. Cultivar mixtures offer yield benefits from the same land area, but the mechanisms behind this overyielding have not been completely worked out. One potential mechanism is improved competition with weeds. We use an experimental approach of varying barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) genotypic and phenotypic diversity to test the hypothesis that increases in diversity have an impact on weed growth strategies and community assembly, or if responses are driven by barley performance. There was no effect of increasing barley mixture diversity on weed traits, either in terms of species means or the community‐weighted mean. However, Functional Richness of the weed community decreased with increasing barley mixture diversity mainly as a result of reduced specific leaf area Functional Richness. This pattern was driven by a reduction in species richness of the weed community rather than by reduced variation within species. Whilst barley phenotype had different impacts on weed traits, there were no specific mixtures of phenotypes or genotypes that had consistent effects on community assembly or weed species responses. The competitive exclusion of weed species could have agronomic and environmental benefits, through better targeting or less frequent use of herbicides. Growing crop mixtures is one of many strategies available to improve agricultural sustainability and resilience, and one that has clear benefits.
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Research Interests: Environmental Science, Plant Ecology, Climate Change, Plant Biology, Ecology, and 15 moreGlobal Warming, Alps, Communities, Biotic interactions, Alpine, Plants, Environmental Gradient, Environmental Conditions, Climate Warming, Plant species, False discovery rate, Gradient Analysis, Growing Season, Abiotic factors, and anthropogenic climate change
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Plant-soil feedbacks (PSF) play a substantial role in determining plant performance in native and foreign habitats. Yet, PSF strength may be altered by climatic parameters, creating synergies. Here, we assess performance of alpine... more
Plant-soil feedbacks (PSF) play a substantial role in determining plant performance in native and foreign habitats. Yet, PSF strength may be altered by climatic parameters, creating synergies. Here, we assess performance of alpine grassland species in their native and in foreign soils in an experiment including different climates.Using soil and seeds sampled from six alpine grassland sites spreading in a gradient from Northern Africa to Northern Europe, we compared plant performance in home soil and in five foreign soils, as well as home and foreign climates (simulated temperature and photoperiod in growth chambers).We found that despite a high variability in plant performance between sites, plants generally performed better in their home soil and home climate, than in foreign soil or in foreign climate. However, an interaction between soil and climate effect caused this better performance in home soil to occur only when in foreign climate. Similarly, performance improved in home cl...
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Plant recruitment interactions (i.e., what recruits under what) shape the composition, diversity, and structure of plant communities. Despite the huge body of knowledge on the mechanisms underlying recruitment interactions among species,... more
Plant recruitment interactions (i.e., what recruits under what) shape the composition, diversity, and structure of plant communities. Despite the huge body of knowledge on the mechanisms underlying recruitment interactions among species, we still know little about the structure of the recruitment networks emerging in ecological communities. Modeling and analyzing the community‐level structure of plant recruitment interactions as a complex network can provide relevant information on ecological and evolutionary processes acting both at the species and ecosystem levels. We report a data set containing 143 plant recruitment networks in 23 countries across five continents, including temperate and tropical ecosystems. Each network identifies the species under which another species recruits. All networks report the number of recruits (i.e., individuals) per species. The data set includes >850,000 recruiting individuals involved in 118,411 paired interactions among 3318 vascular plant sp...