Knowledge on the importance of ecosystem services has been further enhanced with the completion of two projects focusing on the topic. The pan-European QuESSA (Quantification of Ecological Services for Sustainable Agriculture) project has presented its findings in a brochure summarising its work and recommendations, while a team from INRA (France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research) has presented its results on the ecosystem services provided by agriculture as part of the country’s EFESE programme (Evaluation Française des Écosystèmes et des Services Écosystémiques).
QuESSA, which included four ENDURE members among its 14 partners, sought to “quantify the key semi-natural habitats (SNH) providing essential ecosystem services (ES) across economically important cropping systems, farming intensities and four European agro-climatic zones.”
To achieve this it first identified the most common vegetation types which support potential ES for the major SNH found on farmed land. Ecosystem service providers (pollinators and natural enemies of pests) were measured leading to the development of a scoring system for the main habitat types.
The actual ES provision was measured in 16 case studies in eight countries, with the ES under investigation including control of crop pests by natural enemies, crop pollination, soil erosion, soil fertility and aesthetic value.
“Data was used to develop mathematical models and maps that explored how the amounts, type and location of SNH influenced ES from farm to European scale,” reports QuESSA. “Models were also used to explore synergies and trade-offs among ES by SNH from habitat to landscape scale and identify unused opportunities to better exploit ES. Investigations of private and public economic benefits, and non-monetary value of selected ES were conducted.”
The brochure accompanying the conclusion of the project provides further details of this work, for example, the work on pollination in sunflower, oilseed rape (OSR), pumpkin and pear, and pest control studies including pollen beetles in OSR and aphids in pumpkin crops.
For both pest control and pollination, QuESSA provides a series of recommendations for farmers, advisers, trainers and policy makers. For example, for pest control, its recommendations include a shift from a curative to a preventive approach to manage pest damage below an economic threshold based on a long-term perspective, the promotion of conservation biological control as an important driver for preserving functional biodiversity in farming landscapes, a greater dissemination of information on important host plants and indigenous natural enemies, free training for farmers and agronomists on conservation biological control and agroecological management of plant and animal communities at both local and landscape scales.
INRA’s French study involved a careful evaluation of 14 services provided by agricultural ecosystems (such as climate regulation, pollination, supply of nitrogen to crops etc.), with the final aim of then being better able to manage them and, in particular, reduce inputs. INRA reports that its ‘ground-breaking’ study paves the way for better ecosystem management but will need to be combined with two other approaches: knowledge on biodiversity and reducing the impact of agricultural practices.
On the supply of nitrogen, for example, the study’s experts assessed the amount of mineral nitrogen provided by the soil ecosystem, both through mineralisation and root symbioses. Using INRA’s STICS crop model, a comparison of the results obtained between current systems and systems under full mineral fertilisation showed that for France’s eight major arable crops, 40 to 50% of the crops’ annual input requirements was provided by the ecosystem service. In every case, the results showed that it would be possible to reduce the inputs of mineral fertilisers currently used.
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