Abstract
AbstractLand‐use changes such as conversion of semi‐natural grasslands to agriculture, silviculture, or high‐intensity pastures affect biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services. However, which ecosystem functions are affected when highly diverse grasslands are converted remains largely unknown. As a model system, we studied 80 grasslands in Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil, comprising exceptionally diverse permanent grasslands that are traditionally managed with burning of accumulated biomass and moderate grazing, and four additional grassland types with different present or historical management: permanent grasslands with reduced or increased current management intensity and secondary grasslands after past agricultural or silvicultural use. We measured ten ecosystem functions covering all major below‐ and aboveground ecosystem components and the processes that link them, using the novel rapid ecosystem function assessment approach. Ecosystem functions included primary and secondary production, and species interactions, that is, herbivory, pollination, predation, seed dispersal, and decomposition. Ecosystem functions differed significantly among grassland types, most distinctly between permanent and secondary grasslands. Historical land‐use changes to agriculture and silviculture led to altered ecosystem functions even after reconversion to grassland, including lower primary and secondary production, lower decomposition, lower seed dispersal capabilities, and higher invertebrate herbivory. Current management practices explained additional variation in some ecosystem functions, including strong positive effects of intensified management on secondary production. Other ecosystem functions such as pollination and predation were not affected. The findings suggest that conversion of grasslands to more intensive land‐use types has long‐lasting consequences for some ecosystem functions, with effects persisting even many years after reconversion, resulting in changes in the ecosystem services provided by these grasslands.
Highlights
Ecosystem services that are essential for human well-being, such as clean water provisioning, soil erosion control, or the pollination of crops, depend on ecosystem functions that are controlled by the species living in an ecosystem (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005)
Additional interest in ecosystem functions comes from applied ecology, where ecosystem functions are increasingly used to evaluate restoration and conservation activities that aim at mitigating effects of habitat loss and land-use change (Meyer et al 2015, Kollmann et al 2016)
In a recent study conducted in the Campos region, we have shown that abiotic conditions and plant species composition and richness were significantly altered by anthropogenic land-use changes (Koch et al 2016)
Summary
Ecosystem services that are essential for human well-being, such as clean water provisioning, soil erosion control, or the pollination of crops, depend on ecosystem functions that are controlled by the species living in an ecosystem (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). There is a need to monitor multiple ecosystem functions after land conversion or restoration activities to improve our understanding of how ecosystem functions are affected by different land-use practices (Rey Benayas et al 2009). This understanding is key for facilitating informed policy decisions (DeFries et al 2004, Lemaire et al 2011, Meyer et al 2015)
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