Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Implications for Bioenergy Cropping Systems  Douglas A. Landis Area 4.4 Biodiversity Responses Team Leader, GLBRC Professor of Insect Ecology Department of Entomology, Michigan State University GLBRC Madison April 19, 2011
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Outline ! Background on GLBRC Sustainability Research ! Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services ! Results from the Biodiversity Responses Team ! Implications for Bioenergy Landscapes
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GLBRC Research Areas
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GLBRC Sustainability Research Roadmap
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Biodiversity Team ! Plants ! MI - Kay Gross, Carol Baker, Pam Mosley ! WI - Randy Jackson ! Microbes ! Tom Schmidt, Tracy Teal, Zarraz Lee ! Carolyn Malmstrom, Abby Schrotenboer, Collin Phillipo ! Insects ! MI - Doug Landis, Ben Werling, Rufus Isaacs, Julianna Tuell ! WI - Claudio Gratton, Tim Meehan, Hanna Gaines, Heidi Liere ! Birds ! MI - Bruce Robertson, Patrick Doran, Doug Schemske, ! WI - Tim Meehan www.glbrc.org
Biodiversity in Agricultural Landscapes Â
Tscharntke et al. Ecology Letters 2005
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services ! Ecosystem Services – the benefits people obtain from ecosystems ! Supporting ! Nutrient cycling, soil formation… ! Provisioning ! Food, fuel… ! Regulating ! Pollination, pest suppression... ! Cultural ! Recreation, aesthetic… Costanza et al. Nature 1997 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005 Swinton et al. Am. J of Agric. Econ. 2006 www.glbrc.org
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The Challenge • Human popula0on growth
The Challenge • Human popula0on growth • Cropland & pasture/grazing occupies 35% of the ice-‐free land surface –
Foley et al . 2007 PNAS
Cropland
Grazing
The Challenge • Human popula0on • Cropland & pasture/grazing occupies 35% of the ice-‐free land surface –
Foley et al . 2007 PNAS
• In many of these areas humans are already appropria0ng >50% of NPP –
Cropland
Haberl et al. 2007 PNAS
Grazing
Agricultural Intensification
•
“Declines in species diversity due to agricultural
intensifica0on have been documented for: – – – –
birds (Donald et al. 2001) mammals (Sotherton 1998) insects (Benton et al. 2002) plants (Aebischer 1991) at na0onal and landscape scales.”
Flynn et al. Ecology Letters. 2009
! Can we deliver sustainable bioenergy
systems that preserve the biodiversity on which agriculture depends?
Poten0al Produc0on Systems High Diversity Mixed prairie Early successional Arlington, WI
Poplar trees Native grasses
Switchgrass Miscanthus Corn-Soybean-Canola Corn Low Diversity Kellogg Biological Station, MI
Biofuel Crops and Biodiversity Higher Biodiversity
Lower Biodiversity
§ § § §
Annual Monoculture Exotic High input Corn
Landis & Werling Insect Science 2010 Gardiner et al. BioEnergy Research 2010
Switchgrass
• • • •
Perennial Polyculture Native Low input Mixed prairie
Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services ! Patterns of diversity ! Impact on ecosystem services ! Scale-up to regional models
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Biodiversity Sampling
Plant Biodiversity & Yield Michigan Extensive Sites - Species Richness
! Plant species richness consistently
Mean +/- Std Error
greatest in prairies and lowest in corn
(ANPP) was highest in corn.
! Relative abundance of important species
Prairie
25 Number of Species
! Above-ground net primary productivity
Corn Switchgrass
20 15 10
5 0 0
and functional groups differ
20
40
60 Area (m2)
80
100
120
Species composition was sampled over two years (2008, 2009), n=10
Biomass (g/m2)
Michigan GLBRC Extensive Sites - 2009 Annual Above-ground Production
Michigan GLBRC Extensive Sites - 2009 Relative Abundance
2500
100%
2000
80%
1500
60%
1000
40%
500
20% 0%
0 Corn
Gross & Baker unpub. data
Prairie
Switchgrass
Corn
Prairie
Switchgrass
Other Grass SOSNU PANVI ANOGE FORBS CORN
Microbes: Methanotrophs
8 6 4 2 0 AG
ES
SF
Treatment
MG
DF
(OTUs)
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Methanotroph richness
10
CH4 consumption Methanotroph richness
(OTUs)
(g CH4-C ha-1 day-1)
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Methanotroph richness
Net methane consumption
Methanotroph richness is positively correlated with methane consumption
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
b b
a
Corn
Switchgrass
Prairie
Methanotroph diversity is higher in switchgrass and prairie sites than corn Levine, Teal, Robertson and Schmidt (2011). The ISME Journal. In press Schmidt & Teal unpub. data
Microbes: B/CYDV’s Â
Differences in virus susceptibility most strongly related to biomass accumulation in switchgrass Schrotenboer, A.S., M. Allen, and C.M. Malmstrom. 2011. Global Change Biology Bioenergy (in press).
Microbes: B/CYDV’s and Landscape
! Landscape diversity influences aphid load
! Aphid pressure decreases with increasing landscape diversity within 1.5 km
! Consistent with patterns of B/ CYDV’s at landscape scales
Bee Abundance by Family  Osmia
1000
Megachile Hylaeus
900
Hoplitis Ceratina
No. of bees collected in pan traps
800
Diagonal striped bars indicate stem-nesting bees
Peponapis 700
Melissodes Lasioglossum
600
Halictus Eucera
500
Dufourea Calliopsis
400
Bombus Augochlorella
300
Solid bars indicate ground-nesting bees
Anthophora 200
Andrena Agapostemon
100
Apis mellifera Stelis
0 Corn
Isaacs & Tuell unpub. data
Corn
Switch
Switchgrass
Prairie
Prairie
Sphecodes Nomada
Vertical striped bars indicate clepto-parasitic bees
Pollinator colony health Â
Cumulative wt. gain (g)
Colony weight gain 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0
corn prairie
2
3
4 Week
Tuell, Rich, Meehan and Isaacs unpub. data
5 Final
30 25 20 15 10 5 0
No. of queens
*
P < 0.05
Corn
Prairie
Pollinator colony health Â
Cumulative wt. gain (g)
Colony weight gain 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0
corn prairie
0.8 0.6 2
3
4 Week
5 Final
Wt. per queen (g)
*
P < 0.05
0.4 0.2 0
Tuell, Rich, Meehan and Isaacs unpub. data
Corn
Prairie
Predator Diversity
Family richness (partial residual)
! Predator family richness greatest in diverse grasslands A
B
(A) Corn fields (B) High diversity prairie Werling, Meehan, Gratton, & Landis unpub. data
Predator Communities Â
Werling, Meehan, Gratton, & Landis. In review
Predation Services Â
Werling et al. 2011 Global Change Biology Bioenergy doi: 10.1111/j.1757-1707.2011.01092.x
Valuing Predation Services At Landscape Scales Predators save soybean farmers $13-‐79 acre-‐1 yr -‐1 in reduced pes0cide applica0ons and yield loss
Increased corn in the landscape reduces key predators and biocontrol services in soybean
Cos0ng producers $58 – 671 M yr -‐1 in forgone biocontrol services Gardiner et al. 2009 Ecological Applica0ons Landis et al. 2008 PNAS
(based on actual 2006-‐07 increase in corn in MI, MN, IA, WI)
Develop Empirical Models  1. Experimental results with multiple prey species lead to prediction model 2. Model predictions of current biocontrol 3. Validate model with USDA county insecticide data Y = -0.40X + 0.45
Meehan et al. in prep.
Regional Forecasts  Expanding annual bioenergy crops on marginal lands reduces biocontrol services up to 55%
Expanding perennial bioenergy crops on marginal lands increases biocontrol services up to 127%
Meehan et al. in prep.
Bird: Overall Results 45 40
Species
35 30
Nes0ng Foraging
25 20 15 10 5 0 Corn
Switchgrass
Prairie
State listed (MI) species found in biofuel crops:
Northern Harrier Prairie
Henslow’s Sparrow Prairie
Dickcissel Prairie
Grasshopper Sparrow Prairie
Switchgrass
Bird: Food Sources Â
Arthropod Biomass (marginal means)
80
c
60
b
40
a
20
0
0.6
Arthropod biomass (g) Biomass (g)
Mean # arthropod families
Arthropod diversity--families by habitat
c
0.5 0.4
b
0.3 0.2
a 0.1
a
0.0
Corn Robertson et al. In prep.
Switch Prairie
Corn Switch Prairie
Bird: Species-Area Relationship Â
Species richness
Best model for breeding bird diversity
Log Patch Size (ha) Robertson et al. 2011. Global Change Biology Bioenergy
Prairie Switchgrass Corn
Bird: Landscape Results Do rela(onships between birds and bioenergy crops at the field scale hold at landscape and region scales? Modeled (color map) and actual (points) bird diversity
Data • 2008 NA Breeding Bird Survey • 2008 Cropland Data Layer Results • Landscape-‐scaled bird diversity is nega0vely related to annual and posi0vely related to perennial landcover
Number of species
Meehan, T.D., A.H. Hurlbert and C. Gratton. 2010. PNAS. 107:18533-18538.
Bird: Landscape Implications How will breeding bird diversity change if marginal land goes from perennial to annual land cover, or vice versa? Perennial to annual
Meehan, T.D., A.H. Hurlbert and C. Gratton. 2010. PNAS. 107:18533-18538.
Annual to perennial
Win-Win Scenarios? • Increase biodiversity and ecosystem services
Win-Win Scenarios? • Improve marginal lands
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Conclusions ! Biodiversity supports critical ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes
! Protect and enhance that biodiversity through informed landscape management
! Cellulosic biofuels offer a unique opportunity to rethink agriculture to maximize ecosystem services and enhance sustainability
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Key Biofuel Crop Attributes ! Productive ! economically profitable ! favorable energy return ! land-conserving ! mitigating effect on greenhouse gas emissions ! Perennial ! cost less to maintain ! emit fewer greenhouse gases ! less prone to soil erosion and water pollution ! potential to conserve biodiversity and maintain ecosystem services. !
Polycultural ! pest and disease suppression ! nitrogen fixation ! nutrient and carbon conservation ! pollination services to surrounding crops
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Biodiversity: Publications Insects: Landis, D.A., M.M. Gardiner, W. van der Werf and S.M. Swinton. 2008. Increasing corn for biofuel production reduces biocontrol services in agricultural landscapes. PNAS. 105: 20552-20557. Landis, D.A. and B.P. Werling. 2010. Arthropods and Biofuel Production Systems in North America. Insect Science. 17:1–17, DOI 10.1111/j.1744-7917.2009.01310.x Gardiner, M., J. Tuell, R. Isaacs, J. Gibbs, J. Ascher and D.A. Landis. 2010. Implications of three model biofuel crops for beneficial arthropods in agricultural landscapes. BioEnergy Research. 3:6–19. DOI 10.1007/s12155-009-9065-7 Werling, B.P., T. Meehan, B. Robertson, C. Gratton and D. Landis. 2011. Biocontrol potential varies with changes in biofuelcrop plant communities and landscape perenniality. Global Change Biology-Bioenergy. In press. Birds: Meehan, T.D., A.H. Hurlbert and C. Gratton. 2010. Bird communities in future bioenergy landscapes of the Upper Midwest. PNAS. 107:18533-18538. Webster, C.R., D.J. Flaspohler, R.D. Jackson, T.D. Meehan and C. Gratton. 2010. Diversity, productivity and landscape-level effects in North American grasslands managed for biomass production. Biofuels. 1:451-461. Fletcher Jr., R.J., B.A. Robertson, J. Evans, P.J. Doran, J.R.R. Alavalapati and D.W. Schemske, 2010. Biodiversity conservation in the era of biofuels: Risks and opportunities. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. DOI: 10.1890/090091 Robertson, B.A., P.J. Doran, J.R. Robertson, E.R. Loomis and D.W. Schemske. 2011. Perennial biomass feedstocks enhance avian diversity. Global Change Biology Bioenergy. In press. Robertson, B.A., Doran, P.J., Loomis, E.R., Robertson J.R., & Schemske, D.W. 2011. Avian use of perennial biomass feedstocks as post-breeding and migratory stopover habitat. PLoS One. In press. Microbes: Schrotenboer, A. S., Allen, M., and Malmstrom, C.M., (2011). Modification of native grasses for biofuel production may increase virus susceptibility. Global Change Biology Bioenergy, DOI 10.1111/j.1757-1707.2011.01093.x Levine, U.Y., T.K. Teal, G.P. Robertson and T.M. Schmidt (2011) Agriculture’s impact on microbial diversity and associated fluxes of carbon dioxide and methane. The ISME Journal. In press. www.glbrc.org