The impact of fungi on soil protist communities in European cereal croplands.

Protists, a crucial part of the soil food web, are increasingly acknowledged as significant influencers of nutrient cycling and plant performance in farmlands. While topographical and climatic factors are often considered to drive microbial communities on a continental scale, higher trophic levels like heterotrophic protists also rely on their food sources. In this context, bacterivores have received more attention than fungivores. Our study explored the connection between the community composition of protists (specifically Rhizaria and Cercozoa) and fungi across 156 cereal fields in Europe, spanning a latitudinal gradient of 3000 km. We employed a machine-learning approach to measure the significance of fungal communities in comparison to bacterial communities, soil abiotic factors, and climate as determinants of the Cercozoa community composition. Our findings indicate that climatic variables and fungal communities are the primary drivers of cercozoan communities, accounting for 70% of their community composition. Structural equation modelling (SEM) unveiled indirect climatic effects on the cercozoan communities through a change in the composition of the fungal communities. Our data also imply that fungivory might be more prevalent among protists than generally believed. This study uncovers a hidden facet of the soil food web, suggesting that the benefits of microbial diversity could be more effectively integrated into sustainable agriculture practices.

Modelling Alternative Economic Incentive Schemes for Semi-Natural Grassland Conservation in Estonia.

Semi-natural grasslands (SNGLs) in Estonia are threatened by abandonment. This threat is leading to concerns about the degradation of biodiversity within grassland communities. Despite the high relevance of economic incentives in this context, how such incentives influence land managers' decision-making regarding the agricultural use of SNGLs has not been investigated. To obtain its socio-ecological implications for policy-making, we developed regionally specific agricultural scenarios (compensation payments, livestock capacity, hey export, and bioenergy production) and an interdisciplinary modelling approach that made it possible to simulate agricultural land use changes through land managers' responses to varied economic conditions. Through this approach, we found that some economic factors hampered the use of SNGLs: the moderate profitability of beef production, labour shortages, and the relatively high profitability of mulching. We observed a positive relationship between SNGLs and habitat suitability for breeding and feeding birds. However, due to the high maintenance costs of SNGLs, the modelling results indicated that increasing the use of SNGLs through public budgets caused crowding-out effects, i.e., the deteriorating market integration of regional agriculture. This study emphasises the need for policy measures aimed at cost-effective, labour-efficient management practices for SNGLs.

Assessing the habitat suitability of agricultural landscapes for characteristic breeding bird guilds using landscape metrics.

Many of the processes behind the decline of farmland birds can be related to modifications in landscape structure (composition and configuration), which can partly be expressed quantitatively with measurable or computable indices, i.e. landscape metrics. This paper aims to identify statistical relationships between the occurrence of birds and the landscape structure. We present a method that combines two comprehensive procedures: the "landscape-centred approach" and "guild classification". Our study is based on more than 20,000 individual bird observations based on a 4-year bird monitoring approach in a typical agricultural area in the north-eastern German lowlands. Five characteristic bird guilds, each with three characteristic species, are defined for the typical habitat types of that area: farmland, grassland, hedgerow, forest and settlement. The suitability of each sample plot for each guild is indicated by the level of persistence (LOP) of occurrence of three respective species. Thus, the sample plots can be classified as "preferred" or "less preferred" depending on the lower and upper quartiles of the LOP values. The landscape structure is characterized by 16 different landscape metrics expressing various aspects of landscape composition and configuration. For each guild, the three landscape metrics with the strongest rank correlation with the LOP values and that are not mutually dependent were identified. For four of the bird guilds, the classification success was better than 80%, compared with only 66% for the grassland bird guild. A subset of six landscape metrics proved to be the most meaningful and sufficiently classified the sample areas with respect to bird guild suitability. In addition, derived logistic functions allowed the production of guild-specific habitat suitability maps for the whole landscape. The analytical results show that the proposed approach is appropriate to assess the habitat suitability of agricultural landscapes for characteristic bird guilds.

Regionalizing land use impacts on farmland birds.

The environmental impacts of land use vary regionally. Differences in geomorphology, climate, landscape structure, and biotope inventories are regarded as the main causes of this variation. We present a methodological approach for identifying regional responses in land use type to large-scale changes and the implications for the provision of habitat for farmland birds. The methodological innovations of this approach are (i) the coupling of impact assessments with economic models, (ii) the linking of cropping techniques at the plot scale with the regional distribution of land use, and (iii) the integration of statistical or monitoring data on recent states. This approach allows for the regional differentiation of farmers' responses to changing external conditions and for matching the ecological impacts of land use changes with regional environmental sensitivities. An exemplary scenario analysis was applied for a case study of an area in Germany, assessing the impacts of increased irrigation and the promotion of energy cropping on farmland birds, evaluated as a core indicator for farmland biodiversity. The potential effects on farmland birds were analyzed based on the intrinsic habitat values of the crops and cropping techniques. The results revealed that the strongest decrease in habitat availability for farmland birds occurred in regions with medium-to-low agricultural yields. As a result of the limited cropping alternatives, the increase in maize production was highest in marginal regions for both examined scenarios. Maize production replaced many crops with good-to-medium habitat suitability for birds. The declines in habitat quality were strongest in regions that are not in focus for conservation efforts for farmland birds.

Assessing the regional impacts of increased energy maize cultivation on farmland birds.

The increasing cultivation of energy crops in Germany substantially affects the habitat function of agricultural landscapes. Precise ex ante evaluations regarding the impacts of this cultivation on farmland bird populations are rare. The objective of this paper was to implement a methodology to assess the regional impacts of increasing energy maize cultivation on the habitat quality of agricultural lands for farmland birds. We selected five farmland bird indicator species with varying habitat demands. Using a crop suitability modelling approach, we analysed the availability of potential habitat areas according to different land use scenarios for a real landscape in Northeast Germany. The model was based on crop architecture, cultivation period, and landscape preconditions. Our results showed that the habitat suitability of different crops varied between bird species, and scenario calculations revealed an increase and a decrease in the size of the potential breeding and feeding habitats, respectively. The effects observed in scenario 1 (increased energy maize by 15%) were not reproduced in all cases in scenario 2 (increased energy maize by 30%). Spatial aggregation of energy maize resulted in a negative effect for some species. Changes in the composition of the farmland bird communities, the negative effects on farmland bird species limited in distribution and spread and the relevance of the type of agricultural land use being replaced by energy crops are also discussed. In conclusion, we suggest a trade-off between biodiversity and energy targets by identifying biodiversity-friendly energy cropping systems.

The utility of the 'Arable Weeds and Management in Europe' database: Challenges and opportunities of combining weed survey data at a European scale.

Over the last 30 years, many studies have surveyed weed vegetation on arable land. The 'Arable Weeds and Management in Europe' (AWME) database is a collection of 36 of these surveys and the associated management data. Here, we review the challenges associated with combining disparate datasets and explore some of the opportunities for future research that present themselves thanks to the AWME database. We present three case studies repeating previously published national scale analyses with data from a larger spatial extent. The case studies, originally done in France, Germany and the UK, explore various aspects of weed ecology (community composition, management and environmental effects and within-field distributions) and use a range of statistical techniques (canonical correspondence analysis, redundancy analysis and generalised linear mixed models) to demonstrate the utility and versatility of the AWME database. We demonstrate that (i) the standardisation of abundance data to a common measure, before the analysis of the combined dataset, has little impact on the outcome of the analyses, (ii) the increased extent of environmental or management gradients allows for greater confidence in conclusions and (iii) the main conclusions of analyses done at different spatial scales remain consistent. These case studies demonstrate the utility of a Europe-wide weed survey database, for clarifying or extending results obtained from studies at smaller scales. This Europe-wide data collection offers many more opportunities for analysis that could not be addressed in smaller datasets; including questions about the effects of climate change, macro-ecological and biogeographical issues related to weed diversity as well as the dominance or rarity of specific weeds in Europe.

Unselective Transport of Phytopathogenic Fusarium Fungi from Litter and Soil by Ground-Dwelling Arthropods Links Semi-Natural and Agricultural Habitats.

The dispersal of propagules, such as fungal spores or seeds by actively moving animals, connects and shapes communities. The dispersal of plant pathogens by arthropods might be a crucial mechanism in the spread of several crop diseases. Ground-dwelling arthropods are potential linkers between fungal communities in semi-natural and agricultural habitats by transporting propagules of Fusarium fungi. We compared the Fusarium communities on the body surface of ground-dwelling arthropods with litter in semi-natural and soil in agricultural habitats with a focus on the Fusarium community. We found three relatively distinct Fusarium communities with moderate overlap. We detected a higher richness of Fusarium species on the body surface of arthropods compared to litter and soil communities. The results suggest that the Fusarium community on the body surface of arthropods relates to the composition observed in litter and soil with limited filtering mechanisms between communities. Ground-dwelling arthropods are relevant agents for the distribution of Fusarium and therefore link fungal communities in adjacent habitats.

Quantifying the Role of Ground Beetles for the Dispersal of Fusarium and Alternaria Fungi in Agricultural Landscapes.

The spread by arthropods (zoochory) is an essential dispersal mechanism for many microorganisms, like plant pathogens. Carabid beetles are very abundant and mobile ground-dwelling insects. However, their role in the dispersal of economically relevant phytopathogens, like Fusarium and Alternaria fungi is basically unknown. We quantified the total fungal, Fusarium, and Alternaria load of carabid species collected in the transition zones between small water bodies and wheat fields by screening (i) their body surface for fungal propagules with a culture-dependent method and (ii) their entire bodies for fungal DNA with a qPCR approach. The analysis of entire bodies detects fungal DNA in all carabid beetles but Alternaria DNA in 98% of them. We found that 74% of the carabids carried fungal propagules on the body surface, of which only half (49%) carried Fusarium propagules. We identified eight Fusarium and four Alternaria species on the body surface; F. culmorum was dominant. The fungal, Fusarium and Alternaria, load differed significantly between the carabid species and was positively affected by the body size and weight of the carabids. Carabid beetles reveal a remarkable potential to disseminate different fungi. Dispersal by ground-dwelling arthropods could affect the spatial-temporal patterns of plant disease and microorganisms in general.

How much do we really lose?-Yield losses in the proximity of natural landscape elements in agricultural landscapes.

Natural landscape elements (NLEs) in agricultural landscapes contribute to biodiversity and ecosystem services, but are also regarded as an obstacle for large-scale agricultural production. However, the effects of NLEs on crop yield have rarely been measured. Here, we investigated how different bordering structures, such as agricultural roads, field-to-field borders, forests, hedgerows, and kettle holes, influence agricultural yields. We hypothesized that (a) yield values at field borders differ from mid-field yields and that (b) the extent of this change in yields depends on the bordering structure. We measured winter wheat yields along transects with log-scaled distances from the border into the agricultural field within two intensively managed agricultural landscapes in Germany (2014 near Göttingen, and 2015-2017 in the Uckermark). We observed a yield loss adjacent to every investigated bordering structure of 11%-38% in comparison with mid-field yields. However, depending on the bordering structure, this yield loss disappeared at different distances. While the proximity of kettle holes did not affect yields more than neighboring agricultural fields, woody landscape elements had strong effects on winter wheat yields. Notably, 95% of mid-field yields could already be reached at a distance of 11.3 m from a kettle hole and at a distance of 17.8 m from hedgerows as well as forest borders. Our findings suggest that yield losses are especially relevant directly adjacent to woody landscape elements, but not adjacent to in-field water bodies. This highlights the potential to simultaneously counteract yield losses close to the field border and enhance biodiversity by combining different NLEs in agricultural landscapes such as creating strips of extensive grassland vegetation between woody landscape elements and agricultural fields. In conclusion, our results can be used to quantify ecocompensations to find optimal solutions for the delivery of productive and regulative ecosystem services in heterogeneous agricultural landscapes.