Socioecological effects of swidden management in traditional Maya agroforests in the Selva Lacandona of Chiapas, Mexico.

For millennia, Maya farmers (i.e., milperos) throughout Mesoamerica have managed milpa: sequential agroforests initiated by slashing and burning patches of secondary forest and then cultivating a diverse polyculture of trees and annual crops. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with deforestation, the Mexican government and non-governmental organizations have urged milperos to cease burning. We collaborated with Maya milperos in several communities in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve region in Chiapas, Mexico to determine carbon retained as char in traditional milpas, carbon loss associated with burning, and effects of burning on soil quality. We found the carbon retention of char in Maya milpas (24 ± 6.5% of C in vegetation) is 4-1400% higher than other slash-and-burn agroecosystems reported in the literature. Burning resulted in significant carbon loss of 12.6 (±3.6) t C ha-1 yr-1, but this was partially mitigated by char production (3.0 [±0.6] t C ha-1 yr-1) and incomplete combustion of woody biomass. The effects of burning on soil were minimal, with the only significant changes observed being increases in pH, potassium availability, and cation exchange capacity (2, 100, and 7%, respectively). The mean residence times of charred materials were at least double that of uncharred biomass. While there is a risk that shortening fallow periods would undermine the sustainability of Maya swidden agroecology, proper management and secure land tenure can help maintain intensive production without enduring environmental degradation. The char produced in these swiddens and successional management could allow this agroforestry system to be a long-term carbon sink.

Plant growth rate and nitrogen uptake shape rhizosphere bacterial community composition and activity in an agricultural field.

Plant-microbial interactions in the rhizosphere are an essential link in soil nitrogen (N) cycling and plant N supply. Plant phenotype and genotype interact with the soil environment to determine rhizosphere community structure and activity. However, the relative contributions of plant identity, phenology and soil resource availability in shaping rhizosphere effects are not well understood. Four summer annuals and a collection of maize hybrids were grown in a common garden experiment conducted at two levels of organic nutrient availability. Plant biomass, N accumulation, rhizosphere bacterial community composition, and rhizosphere potential extracellular enzyme activity were assessed at vegetative, flowering and grain-filling stages of maize. Plant N uptake was strongly coupled with protease activity in the rhizosphere. Temporal trends in rhizosphere community composition varied between plant species. Changes in rhizosphere community composition could be explained by variation in plant growth dynamics. These findings indicate that species-level variation in plant growth dynamics and resource acquisition drive variation in rhizosphere bacterial community composition and activity linked to plant N uptake.

Cultivar mixtures: a meta-analysis of the effect of intraspecific diversity on crop yield.

Extensive research has shown that greater plant community diversity leads to higher levels of productivity and other ecosystem services, and such increased diversity has been suggested as a way to improve yield and agricultural sustainability. Increasing intraspecific diversity with cultivar mixtures is one way to increase diversity in agricultural systems. We examined the relationship between intraspecific diversity and yield in cultivar mixtures using a meta-analysis of 91 studies and >3,600 observations. Additionally, we investigated how environmental and management factors might influence this relationship, and if the yield stability of cultivar mixtures differed from that of monocultures. We found that the yield increased by 2.2% overall in cultivar mixtures relative to their monoculture components. Mixtures with more cultivars and those with more functional trait diversity showed higher relative yields. Under biotic stressors, such as disease pressure, and abiotic stressors, such as low levels of soil organic matter and nutrient availability, this diversity effect was stronger, resulting in higher relative yields. Finally, cultivar mixtures generally showed higher yield stability compared to monocultures, especially in response to annual weather variability at a site over time. This practice of mixing cultivars can be integrated into intensified cropping systems where species monocultures dominate, as well as in smallholder cropping systems where low-cost improvements are in demand. Overall, these results suggest that cultivar mixtures are a viable strategy to increase diversity in agroecosystems, promoting increased yield and yield stability, with minimal environmental impact.

Agricultural management and labile carbon additions affect soil microbial community structure and interact with carbon and nitrogen cycling.

We investigated how conversion from conventional agriculture to organic management affected the structure and biogeochemical function of soil microbial communities. We hypothesized the following. (1) Changing agricultural management practices will alter soil microbial community structure driven by increasing microbial diversity in organic management. (2) Organically managed soil microbial communities will mineralize more N and will also mineralize more N in response to substrate addition than conventionally managed soil communities. (3) Microbial communities under organic management will be more efficient and respire less added C. Soils from organically and conventionally managed agroecosystems were incubated with and without glucose ((13)C) additions at constant soil moisture. We extracted soil genomic DNA before and after incubation for TRFLP community fingerprinting of soil bacteria and fungi. We measured soil C and N pools before and after incubation, and we tracked total C respired and N mineralized at several points during the incubation. Twenty years of organic management altered soil bacterial and fungal community structure compared to continuous conventional management with the bacterial differences caused primarily by a large increase in diversity. Organically managed soils mineralized twice as much NO3 (-) as conventionally managed ones (44 vs. 23 µg N/g soil, respectively) and increased mineralization when labile C was added. There was no difference in respiration, but organically managed soils had larger pools of C suggesting greater efficiency in terms of respiration per unit soil C. These results indicate that the organic management induced a change in community composition resulting in a more diverse community with enhanced activity towards labile substrates and greater capacity to mineralize N.

A spatial analysis of phosphorus in the Mississippi river basin.

Phosphorus (P) in rivers in the Mississippi River basin (MRB) contributes to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico and impairs local water quality. We analyzed the spatial pattern of P in the MRB to determine the counties with the greatest January to June P riverine yields and the most critical factors related to this P loss. Using a database of P inputs and landscape characteristics from 1997 through 2006 for each county in the MRB, we created regression models relating riverine total P (TP), dissolved reactive P (DRP), and particulate P (PP) yields for watersheds within the MRB to these factors. Riverine yields of P were estimated from the average concentration of each form of P during January to June for the 10-yr period, multiplied by the average daily flow, and then summed for the 6-mo period. The fraction of land planted in crops, human consumption of P, and precipitation were found to best predict TP yields with a spatial error regression model ( = 0.48, = 101). Dissolved reactive P yields were predicted by fertilizer P inputs, human consumption of P, and precipitation in a multiple regression model ( = 0.42, = 73), whereas PP yields were explained by crop fraction, human consumption of P, and soil bulk density in a spatial error regression model ( = 0.49, = 61). Overall, the Upper Midwest's Cornbelt region and lower Mississippi basin had the counties with the greatest P yields. These results help to point out specific areas where agricultural conservation practices that reduce losses to streams and rivers and point source P removal might limit the intensity or spatial occurrence of Gulf of Mexico hypoxia and improve local water quality.

Sources of nitrate yields in the Mississippi River Basin.

Riverine nitrate N in the Mississippi River leads to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Several recent modeling studies estimated major N inputs and suggested source areas that could be targeted for conservation programs. We conducted a similar analysis with more recent and extensive data that demonstrates the importance of hydrology in controlling the percentage of net N inputs (NNI) exported by rivers. The average fraction of annual riverine nitrate N export/NNI ranged from 0.05 for the lower Mississippi subbasin to 0.3 for the upper Mississippi River basin and as high as 1.4 (4.2 in a wet year) for the Embarras River watershed, a mostly tile-drained basin. Intensive corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] watersheds on Mollisols had low NNI values and when combined with riverine N losses suggest a net depletion of soil organic N. We used county-level data to develop a nonlinear model ofN inputs and landscape factors that were related to winter-spring riverine nitrate yields for 153 watersheds within the basin. We found that river runoff times fertilizer N input was the major predictive term, explaining 76% of the variation in the model. Fertilizer inputs were highly correlated with fraction of land area in row crops. Tile drainage explained 17% of the spatial variation in winter-spring nitrate yield, whereas human consumption of N (i.e., sewage effluent) accounted for 7%. Net N inputs were not a good predictor of riverine nitrate N yields, nor were other N balances. We used this model to predict the expected nitrate N yield from each county in the Mississippi River basin; the greatest nitrate N yields corresponded to the highly productive, tile-drained cornbelt from southwest Minnesota across Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. This analysis can be used to guide decisions about where efforts to reduce nitrate N losses can be most effectively targeted to improve local water quality and reduce export to the Gulf of Mexico.

Investigating the diverse potential of a multi-purpose legume, Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet, for smallholder production in East Africa.

Climate change is posing severe challenges in Africa, where resilient crops are urgently needed to withstand drought periods and unreliable rainfall. Multi-purpose legume species, such as lablab (Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet), have been under-utilized yet have the potential to overcome climate challenges. While lablab is native to Africa, there are few characterized varieties and it is under-utilized by smallholder farmers due to a lack of information and access to varieties. Knowledge is especially lacking on the performance of this crop by genotype, management, and environment. We conducted a two-year field study at two sites to evaluate 29 lablab cultivars under sole and maize intercrop management, with 14 cultivars selected for in-depth study. Cultivars were evaluated on vegetative biomass and grain yield production, with N fixation assessed for one site year. Biomass and grain production differed across environments and cultivars, with only biomass affected by intercropping. Average grain yield was substantially reduced to only 37 kg ha-1 in environments with maximum temperatures greater than 33°C, but biomass production yielded comparable amounts across high temperatures and in dry (<500 mm rainfall) environments. Tradeoffs were found between biomass and grain yield across high yielding cultivars, with the top three grain accessions averaging 612 kg ha-1 of grain and 1.97 Mg ha-1 biomass whereas the top three biomass accessions produced 327 kg ha-1 grain and 2.52 Mg ha-1 biomass across all environments. In a comparison of production and N fixation measurements, cultivars were identified which may have high performance in both. Suitability of lablab for grain and biomass production were visualized across Tanzania in a map comparing max temperature thresholds for grain and biomass against average regional livestock populations. This provides a way forward for identifying potential areas for lablab cultivation as a novel means to enhance fodder and pulse production with smallholder farmers.

The fate of nitrogen in grain cropping systems: a meta-analysis of 15N field experiments.

Intensively managed grain farms are saturated with large inputs of nitrogen (N) fertilizer, leading to N losses and environmental degradation. Despite decades of research directed toward reducing N losses from agroecosystems, progress has been minimal, and the currently promoted best management practices are not necessarily the most effective. We investigated the fate of N additions to temperate grain agroecosystems using a meta-analysis of 217 field-scale studies that followed the stable isotope 15N in crops and soil. We compared management practices that alter inorganic fertilizer additions, such as application timing or reduced N fertilizer rates, to practices that re-couple the biogeochemical cycles of carbon (C) and N, such as organic N sources and diversified crop rotations, and analyzed the following response variables: 15N recovery in crops, total recovery of 15N in crops and soil, and crop yield. More of the literature (94%) emphasized crop recovery of 15N than total 15N recovery in crops and soil (58%), though total recovery is a more ecologically appropriate indicator for assessing N losses. Findings show wide differences in the ability of management practices to improve N use efficiency. Practices that aimed to increase crop uptake of commercial fertilizer had a lower impact on total 15N recovery (3-21% increase) than practices that re-coupled C and N cycling (30-42% increase). A majority of studies (66%) were only one growing season long, which poses a particular problem when organic N sources are used because crops recover N from these sources over several years. These short-term studies neglect significant ecological processes that occur over longer time scales. Field-scale mass balance calculations using the 15N data set show that, on average, 43 kg N x ha(-1) x yr(-1) was unaccounted for at the end of one growing season out of 114 kg N x ha(-1) x yr(-1), representing approximately 38% of the total 15N applied. This comprehensive assessment of stable-isotope research on agroecosystem N management can inform the development of policies to mitigate nonpoint source pollution. Nitrogen management practices that most effectively increase N retention are not currently being promoted and are rare on the landscape in the United States.

Plant Phylogeny and Life History Shape Rhizosphere Bacterial Microbiome of Summer Annuals in an Agricultural Field.

Rhizosphere microbial communities are critically important for soil nitrogen cycling and plant productivity. There is evidence that plant species and genotypes select distinct rhizosphere communities, however, knowledge of the drivers and extent of this variation remains limited. We grew 11 annual species and 11 maize (Zea mays subsp. mays) inbred lines in a common garden experiment to assess the influence of host phylogeny, growth, and nitrogen metabolism on rhizosphere communities. Growth characteristics, bacterial community composition and potential activity of extracellular enzymes were assayed at time of flowering, when plant nitrogen demand is maximal. Bacterial community composition varied significantly between different plant species and genotypes. Rhizosphere beta-diversity was positively correlated with phylogenetic distance between plant species, but not genetic distance within a plant species. In particular, life history traits associated with plant resource acquisition (e.g., longer lifespan, high nitrogen use efficiency, and larger seed size) were correlated with variation in bacterial community composition and enzyme activity. These results indicate that plant evolutionary history and life history strategy influence rhizosphere bacterial community composition and activity. Thus, incorporating phylogenetic or functional diversity into crop rotations may be a tool to manipulate plant-microbe interactions in agricultural systems.