| 1. |
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| 2. |
- Aguilera, Guillermo, et al.
(författare)
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Intensive management reduces butterfly diversity over time in urban green spaces
- 2019
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Ingår i: Urban Ecosystems. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1083-8155 .- 1573-1642. ; 22:2, s. 335-344
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Loss and fragmentation of semi-natural grasslands have had negative consequences for grassland biodiversity, such as butterflies. Urban parks and other urban green spaces have so far largely been overlooked as suitable butterfly habitats, although they could potentially sustain diverse butterfly populations over time. We analysed the temporal change in butterfly species assemblages in urban green spaces in the city of Malmö, Southern Sweden. We studied changes in species richness and abundance of butterflies between 2006 and 2015 in 20 public urban green spaces, characterized by different management regimes. We sampled butterflies in traditional parks with intense grass cutting regimes, in semi-natural grasslands mowed only a few times per year, and in un-managed or irregularly managed ruderal sites. We found a slight increase in the total number of butterfly species in the study area, but a general decline in local species numbers in urban green spaces. Traditional urban parks had the greatest loss of species over time, and altogether the lowest number of species. In contrast, semi-natural parks and ruderal sites had higher numbers of butterfly species and also lost fewer species over time. Our study shows that intensive management strategies in urban green spaces have a negative impact on butterfly assemblages over time. We suggest that less intensive management strategies can be used to create high-quality areas for flower-visiting insects in urban green spaces, possibly in combination with planting larval host plant species, depending on the park type and design.
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| 3. |
- Aguilera Nuñez, Guillermo, et al.
(författare)
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Agriculturally Improved and Semi-Natural Permanent Grasslands Provide Complementary Ecosystem Services in Swedish Boreal Landscapes
- 2024
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Ingår i: Agronomy. - 2073-4395. ; 14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Permanent grasslands cover more than a third of European agricultural land and are important for a number of ecosystem services. Permanent grasslands used for agriculture are broadly separated into agriculturally improved and semi-natural grasslands. High cultural and natural values linked to semi-natural grasslands are well documented. However, in boreal and hemi-boreal agricultural landscapes, less information is available about the areal coverage of improved permanent grasslands and their role for ecosystem service provision and biodiversity. In Sweden, grasslands are administratively separated into semi-natural (i.e., land that cannot be ploughed) or arable (i.e., improved temporary or permanent grassland on land that can be ploughed). We used data from a large-scale environmental monitoring program to show that improved permanent grassland (i.e., permanent grasslands on arable fields) may be a previously unrecognised large area of the agricultural land use in Sweden. We show that improved permanent grasslands together with semi-natural grasslands are both comparable but also complementary providers of a range of ecosystem services (plant species richness, plant resources for pollinators and forage amount for livestock production). However, as expected, semi-natural grasslands with the highest-level AESs (special values) show high species richness values for vascular plants, plants indicating traditional semi-natural management conditions and red-listed species. Improved permanent grasslands on arable fields are likely an underestimated but integral part of the agricultural economy and ecological function in boreal landscapes that together with high nature value semi-natural grasslands provide a broad range of ecosystem services.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Aguilera Nuñez, Guillermo
(författare)
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Local and landscape-level impacts of agricultural intensification on arthropod communities and their interaction networks
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Arthropods play a central role in agricultural landscapes being responsible for the delivery of many ecosystem services such as pollination, biological pest control, and nutrient cycling. But the current global decline of arthropods is intensified by habitat modification, loss and fragmentation, pesticide use and other intensive management practices. Thus, it is crucial to understand how such impacts affect ecosystem services provisioning. In this thesis, I aim to explore how the management of local crop fields and landscape composition affect beneficial arthropod communities at different levels, including abundances and diversity of species and species interaction networks. I focus on predaceous and parasitic insects that provide biological pest control and pollinators. I assess i) how crop diversity affects arthropod diversity, ii) how fertilisation affects the local predator community and pest control, iii) how crop type (annual vs perennial) and landscape composition affect the predator-prey and host-parasitoid interaction networks and the implications for pest control. I found that increasing crop diversity in landscapes with a high proportion of seminatural habitats can enhance the diversity of beneficial arthropods. I also detected that organic fertilisation can benefit the abundance of local predators while specialist predators that move into the crop from the surrounding habitats boost biological pest control. I also found that crop type and landscape composition have effects beyond community species composition as also the interaction networks were altered, modifying the network stability and pest control potential. My findings suggest that the main drivers of change in agricultural landscapes affect arthropod communities at different levels. Effects of habitat type and local management can be observed not only in the community composition, but some of the consequences were also reflected in the species interaction networks. Finally, I show that food web ecology can link community composition and ecosystem service provisioning.
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| 6. |
- Aguilera Nuñez, Guillermo, et al.
(författare)
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Organic fertilisation enhances generalist predators and suppresses aphid growth in the absence of specialist predators
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Applied Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0021-8901 .- 1365-2664. ; 58, s. 1455-1465
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biological control by natural enemies is a valuable ecosystem service. The predator community in a crop field is a combination of predators dwelling in the field and those moving into it from the surrounding landscape. The former is mainly affected by field management, the latter more by the composition of the surrounding landscape. Yet, separate and combined effects of local and landscape management on pest suppression have seldom been investigated.We set-up mesocosms within an existing long-term agricultural field experiment to investigate the effects of local management of organic manure or inorganic mineral fertilisation, and simulated the spillover from the surrounding landscape of different predator types: no predators, generalist predators (wolf spiders) and specialist predators (ladybirds). We examined whether aphid density was driven by top-down or bottom-up processes under different fertilisation treatments, and how the magnitude of pest suppression was affected by predator community composition.We found positive synergistic effects between manure fertilisation and predator spillover on the suppression of aphid growth. Top-down suppression of aphids was more effective under manure fertilisation and in presence of specialist predators (ladybirds). Bottom-up effects on the plant biomass growth dominated in inorganically fertilised plots.Organic and inorganic fertilisation gave the same yield, but through different mechanisms. The abundance of locally emerging predators in the manure treatment increased top-down pest suppression yielding plant biomass levels comparable with inorganically fertilised plants, being the latter driven by bottom-up effects.Synthesis and applications. Organic fertilisation enhanced local emergence of predators increasing top-down pest suppression. In contrast, local predator communities were unable to suppress aphid populations in inorganic and no fertilisation treatments. Here, predator inflow from outside the crop field was essential for lowering aphid population growth. Managing landscapes to promote mobile predators emerges as particularly important for crop fields without manure amendments. We advise the active promotion of both local predators in the crop field and mobile predators in the landscape to secure the conservation of biological insect pest suppression.
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| 7. |
- Aguilera Nuñez, Guillermo
(författare)
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Structural divergence of terrestrial arthropod food webs in time and space
- 2017
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Climate change and landscape modification by agricultural intensification and rapid urbanization are two of the processes threatening biodiversity at a global scale. Our knowledge about the effects of this global changes on biodiversity are mostly based on findings at the species level. In this context, it is broadly accepted that agricultural intensification, climate change or pollution modify the number of species and individuals reducing or enhancing biodiversity. However, little attention has been paid to the effects on species interactions; on who interacts with whom and the strength or frequency of those interactions. Modifications at the food web structure can modify its stability and functionality even when species composition remains unaltered. Moreover, some of these interactions such as pollination or pest control sustain ecosystem services and contributes to the benefit of humans. In this essay, I examine how global change drivers impact interaction intensity, diversity and stability among food webs over time and space. In doing so, I explicitly target terrestrial food webs, with a focus on invertebrate networks. Mostly, I will target variation due to global changes such as land management, landscape complexity or climate change. Parasitism in invertebrates and mutualism between plants and pollinators are two networks that have been analyzed quantitatively for variation in their interaction structures in relation to global changes. Some of the variation in the food web complexity where shown to be driven by landscape complexity, geographical distance and time. Interactions, therefore, are dynamic processes and future research needs to take into account this aspect and include the food webs approach when investigating global change effects on natural communities. Thus, new data on how interactions vary the complexity of a network, is a current need to develop new knowledge about effects of global change on species interactions and to improve our predictions about the future of the ecosystems under the continuous changes induced by human activities.
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| 8. |
- Conte, Benedetta, et al.
(författare)
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A 14-gene B-cell immune signature in early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) : a pooled analysis of seven studies
- 2024
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Ingår i: EBioMedicine. - 2352-3964. ; 102
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) displays clinical and biological diversity. From a biological standpoint, immune infiltration plays a crucial role in TNBC prognosis. Currently, there is a lack of genomic tools aiding in treatment decisions for TNBC. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a B-cell/immunoglobulin signature (IGG) alone, or in combination with tumor burden, in predicting prognosis and treatment response in patients with TNBC. Methods: Genomic and clinical data were retrieved from 7 cohorts: SCAN-B (N = 874), BrighTNess (n = 482), CALGB-40603 (n = 389), METABRIC (n = 267), TCGA (n = 118), GSE58812 (n = 107), GSE21653 (n = 67). IGG and a risk score integrating IGG with tumor/nodal staging (IGG-Clin) were assessed for event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) in each cohort. Random effects model was used to derive pooled effect sizes. Association of IGG with pathological complete response (pCR) was assessed in CALGB-40603 and BrighTNess. Immune significance of IGG was estimated through CIBERSORTx and EcoTyper. Findings: IGG was associated with improved EFS (pooled HR = 0.77, [95% CI = 0.70–0.85], I2 = 18%) and OS (pooled HR = 0.79, [0.73–0.85], I2 = 0%) across cohorts, and was predictive of pCR in CALGB-40603 (OR 1.25, [1.10–1.50]) and BrighTNess (OR 1.57 [1.25–1.98]). IGG-Clin was predictive of recurrence (pooled HR = 2.11, [1.75–2.55], I2 = 0%) and death (pooled HR = 1.99, 95% [0.84–4.73], I2 = 79%) across cohorts. IGG was associated with adaptive immune response at CIBERSORTx and EcoTyper analysis. Interpretation: IGG is linked to improved prognosis and pCR in early-stage TNBC. The integration of IGG alongside tumor and nodal staging holds promise as an approach to identify patients benefitting from intensified or de-intensified treatments. Funding: This study received funding from: Associació Beca Marta Santamaria, European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation and Marie Skłodowska–Curie Actions programs, Fundación FERO, Fundación CRIS contra el cáncer, Agència de Gestó d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Fundación Contigo, Asociación Cáncer de Mama Metastásico IV, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, RESCUER, Fundación científica AECC and FSEOM.
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| 9. |
- Cruz, Raquel, et al.
(författare)
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Novel genes and sex differences in COVID-19 severity
- 2022
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Ingår i: Human Molecular Genetics. - : Oxford University Press. - 0964-6906 .- 1460-2083. ; 31:22, s. 3789-3806
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Here, we describe the results of a genome-wide study conducted in 11 939 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive cases with an extensive clinical information that were recruited from 34 hospitals across Spain (SCOURGE consortium). In sex-disaggregated genome-wide association studies for COVID-19 hospitalization, genome-wide significance (P < 5 × 10−8) was crossed for variants in 3p21.31 and 21q22.11 loci only among males (P = 1.3 × 10−22 and P = 8.1 × 10−12, respectively), and for variants in 9q21.32 near TLE1 only among females (P = 4.4 × 10−8). In a second phase, results were combined with an independent Spanish cohort (1598 COVID-19 cases and 1068 population controls), revealing in the overall analysis two novel risk loci in 9p13.3 and 19q13.12, with fine-mapping prioritized variants functionally associated with AQP3 (P = 2.7 × 10−8) and ARHGAP33 (P = 1.3 × 10−8), respectively. The meta-analysis of both phases with four European studies stratified by sex from the Host Genetics Initiative (HGI) confirmed the association of the 3p21.31 and 21q22.11 loci predominantly in males and replicated a recently reported variant in 11p13 (ELF5, P = 4.1 × 10−8). Six of the COVID-19 HGI discovered loci were replicated and an HGI-based genetic risk score predicted the severity strata in SCOURGE. We also found more SNP-heritability and larger heritability differences by age (<60 or ≥60 years) among males than among females. Parallel genome-wide screening of inbreeding depression in SCOURGE also showed an effect of homozygosity in COVID-19 hospitalization and severity and this effect was stronger among older males. In summary, new candidate genes for COVID-19 severity and evidence supporting genetic disparities among sexes are provided.
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| 10. |
- Giannuzzi, Leda, et al.
(författare)
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A Stochastic Characterization of Hydrogen Peroxide-Induced Regulated Cell Death in Microcystis aeruginosa
- 2021
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Microbiology. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1664-302X. ; 12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Regulated cell death (RCD) encompasses the activation of cellular pathways that initiate and execute a self-dismissal process. RCD occur over a range of stressors doses that overcome pro-survival cellular pathways, while higher doses cause excessive damage leading to passive accidental cell death (ACD). Hydrogen peroxide (HP) has been proposed as a potential tool to control harmful cyanobacterial blooms, given its capacity to remove cyanobacterial cells and oxidize cyanotoxins. HP is a source of hydroxyl radicals and is expected to induce RCD only within a limited range of concentrations. This property makes this compound very useful to better understand stress-driven RCD. In this work, we analyzed cell death in microcystin-producing Microcystis aeruginosa by means of a stochastic dose response model using a wide range of HP concentrations (0, 0.29, 1.76, 3.67, 7.35, 14.70, and 29.5 mM). We used flow cytometry and unsupervised classification to study cell viability and characterize transitional cell death phenotypes after exposing cells to HP for 48 and 72 h. Non-linear regression was used to fit experimental data to a logistic cumulative distribution function (cdf) and calculate the half maximal effective concentration (EC50). The EC50 of M. aeruginosa exposed to HP were 3.77 +/- 0.26 mM and 4.26 +/- 0.22 mM at 48 and 72 h, respectively. The derivative of cdf (probability density function; pdf) provided theoretical and practical demonstration that EC50 is the minimal dose required to cause RCD in 50% of cells, therefore maximizing the probability of RCD occurrence. 1.76 mM HP lead to an antioxidant stress response characterized by increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and HP decomposition activity. The exposure of 3.67 mM HP induced a dose-related transition in cell death phenotype, and produced several morphological changes (a less dense stroma, distortion of the cell membrane, partial disintegration of thylakoids, extensive cytoplasmic vacuolation and highly condensed chromatin). The EC50 and the stochastic cdf and pdf together with the multidimensional transitional phenotypic analysis of single cells contribute to further characterize cell death pathways in cyanobacteria.
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| 11. |
- Glimskär, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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Årsrapport för Regional miljöövervakning i landskapsrutor 2023
- 2023
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Denna årsrapport avser de uppdrag som SLU har haft från Länsstyrelsen i Örebro län m.fl. länsstyrelser från och med år 2021, att utföra miljöövervakning med riktad metodik för småbiotoper, gräsmarker och våtmarker i ett stickprov av landskapsrutor. År 2021 var det första året av länsstyrelsernas löpande uppdrag med datainsamling för programperioden 2021-2026, och det är till största delen en direkt fortsättning på verksamheten under föregående period, 2015-2020. Miljöövervakningen utförs inom ramen för tre så kallade gemensamma delprogram inom regional miljöövervakning:Småbiotoper i åkerlandskapetGräsmarkernas gröna infrastrukturVegetation och ingrepp i våtmarker
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| 12. |
- Jimeno, Sonia, et al.
(författare)
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ADAR-mediated RNA editing of DNA : RNA hybrids is required for DNA double strand break repair
- 2021
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 12:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Different roles of specific RNA-related factors in DNA repair have now been reported. Here the authors reveal a role for RNA-editing by ADAR in DNA end resection following double strand break formation and a change in pattern of ADAR2-mediated A-to-I editing. The maintenance of genomic stability requires the coordination of multiple cellular tasks upon the appearance of DNA lesions. RNA editing, the post-transcriptional sequence alteration of RNA, has a profound effect on cell homeostasis, but its implication in the response to DNA damage was not previously explored. Here we show that, in response to DNA breaks, an overall change of the Adenosine-to-Inosine RNA editing is observed, a phenomenon we call the RNA Editing DAmage Response (REDAR). REDAR relies on the checkpoint kinase ATR and the recombination factor CtIP. Moreover, depletion of the RNA editing enzyme ADAR2 renders cells hypersensitive to genotoxic agents, increases genomic instability and hampers homologous recombination by impairing DNA resection. Such a role of ADAR2 in DNA repair goes beyond the recoding of specific transcripts, but depends on ADAR2 editing DNA:RNA hybrids to ease their dissolution.
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| 13. |
- Kehoe, Laura, et al.
(författare)
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Make EU trade with Brazil sustainable
- 2019
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 364:6438, s. 341-
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 14. |
- Miller, Kirsten, et al.
(författare)
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Land-use intensity affects the potential for apparent competition within and between habitats
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Animal Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0021-8790 .- 1365-2656.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Arthropod communities dwelling in adjacent habitats are able to impact one another via shared natural enemies. In agricultural landscapes, drastic differences in resource availability between crop and non-crop habitats cause variation in insect herbivore densities over short distances, potentially driving inter-habitat effects. Moreover, the composition of the landscape in which the habitats are embedded likely affects realised attack rates from natural enemies via impacts on local arthropod community structure.Here, we examine indirect effects between herbivore species within and between habitat types by calculating the potential for apparent competition between multiple populations. Firstly, we aim to determine how disparities in resource availability impact the strength of the potential for apparent competition occurring between habitats, secondly to examine the impact of landscape composition upon these effects, and finally to couch these observations in reality by investigating the link between the potential for apparent competition and realised attack rates.We used DNA metabarcoding to characterise host-parasitoid interactions within two habitat types (with divergent nutrient inputs) at 11 locations with variable landscape composition within an agroecosystem context. We then used these interaction networks to estimate the potential for apparent competition between each host pair and to compare expected versus realised attack rates across the system.Shared natural enemies were found to structure host herbivore communities within and across habitat boundaries. The size of this effect was related to the resource availability of habitats, such that the habitat with high nutrient input exerted a stronger effect. The overall potential for apparent competition declined with increasing land-use intensity in the surrounding landscape and exhibited a discernible impact on realised attack rates upon herbivore species.Thus, our results suggest that increasing the proportion of perennial habitat in agroecosystems could increase the prevalence of indirect effects such as apparent competition among insect herbivore communities, potentially leading to enhanced population regulation via increased attack rates from natural enemies like parasitoid wasps.
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| 15. |
- Raderschall, Chloë, et al.
(författare)
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Legacy of landscape crop diversity enhances carabid beetle species richness and promotes granivores
- 2022
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Ingår i: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0167-8809 .- 1873-2305. ; 340
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is well understood that agricultural expansion and associated loss of semi-natural habitat in the landscape are major drivers for the marked decline in biodiversity. While conserving remaining semi-natural habitat patches is essential to reverse ongoing biodiversity declines, increasing focus has also been put on diversifying cropland itself by increasing landscape crop diversity as a measure of compositional heterogeneity, and reducing field sizes as a measure of configurational heterogeneity. Both these cropland diversification approaches have shown promise to enhance biodiversity in the year of sampling, but it is unknown whether legacies of crop diversity in the landscape promote biodiversity by building up arthropod communities over time. We selected 14 faba bean fields in landscapes dominated by cropland. The fields were chosen along three gradients: landscape crop di-versity of the year of sampling (2017), landscape crop diversity of the previous year (2016) and mean field size in landscapes. Using pitfall traps, we show that the carabid beetle species richness is higher in landscapes with higher crop diversity in the previous year. Especially, granivorous carabid beetles benefitted from legacies of crop diversity. Rove beetles were more abundant and genus rich in landscapes with larger field sizes, while spiders were not responding to any of the landscape variables. A diversity of crops in the landscape and their associated weed communities could provide more diverse food resources and shelter habitats, which build populations of carabid beetle species over time. There is a need to explore the effects of agri-environmental schemes across multiple years to better understand legacy effects, and to structure sustainable agricultural landscapes.
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| 16. |
- Riggi, Laura, et al.
(författare)
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Expert-based model of the potential for natural pest control with landscape and field scale drivers in intensively managed cereal-dominated agricultural landscapes
- 2024
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Ingår i: Ecological Indicators. - 1470-160X .- 1872-7034. ; 159
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Agricultural intensification has contributed to the loss of biodiversity and of the ecosystem services that it supports, such as natural pest control. Decision support tools are needed to understand and predict where natural pest control can be enhanced and pesticide applications decreased. While many studies have assessed the impact of field and landscape-scale management in a range of crops, few attempts have been made to synthesize this knowledge in a single model. In this study, we developed an expert-based moving window model of natural pest control potential. This model builds on the knowledge of 52 experts across Europe regarding the importance of herbaceous areas, forest interiors, and edges, and field scale agricultural management practices (i.e. farming system, field size and crop diversity) for the abundance of generalist predators (e.g. carabids, spiders), specialist predators (e.g. coccinelids) and parasitoid natural enemies. We assessed the model's performance by comparing its predictions to field data on natural enemy abundance from 117 sites in Sweden. The natural pest control potential scores predicted by the model explained 11% of the variation in carabid field abundances. However, the model's performance was less satisfactory for spiders and parasitoids. We provide guidance for improving this indicator, particularly by incorporating more ecological processes, such as accounting for the functional diversity of spiders and the density-dependent effects of parasitoid-host interactions. In addition, the model could be further refined by accounting for non -linear relations and potential threshold effects and interactions among field and landscape-scale management practices. In its current state, the developed indicator can be used to identify areas where further ecological intensification practices can be promoted to enhance natural pest control potential, especially for carabids.
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| 17. |
- Tamburini, Giovanni, et al.
(författare)
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Grasslands enhance ecosystem service multifunctionality above and below-ground in agricultural landscapes
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Applied Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0021-8901 .- 1365-2664. ; 59, s. 3061-3071
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Managing agricultural landscapes integrate production, biodiversity conservation and the flow of ecosystem services (ES) is of paramount importance to simultaneously meet production goals and environmental challenges. However, the response of farmland biodiversity and multiple ES to land-use change at multiple spatial scales remains poorly understood. We explored the effects of land-use at local (grassland vs. oilseed rape fields) and landscape scale (cover of permanent grasslands) on the provision of biodiversity (plants, arthropods, birds), five ES (pollination, pest control, soil fertility, carbon storage and water regulation) and overall ES-multifunctionality. ES-multifunctionality was higher in grasslands than in crop fields, by 25.2% above-ground and by 106.1% below-ground. Multiple threshold analyses highlighted a particularly poor level of performance for below-ground functions in crop fields. This habitat type was however capable of providing numerous above-ground functions simultaneously, although at low levels of performance when compared to the maximum values recorded in the study. Grasslands supported higher biodiversity and provision of pollination, soil fertility, carbon storage and water regulation. Landscape composition influenced the provision of multiple ES: a 10% increase in grassland cover in the landscape enhanced above-ground ES-multifunctionality by 11.0% in both habitats. In particular, grasslands cover in the landscape supported the provision of arthropod diversity, pollination and pest control provided by carabids. Synthesis and applications. The results of this field study show the key importance of preserving semi-natural grasslands in agricultural landscapes for the conservation of farmland biodiversity, for the protection of soils and the delivery of multiple ES critical for crop production. Maximization of multifunctionality necessitates the integration at the landscape scale (0.5-2 km) of semi-natural patches within the intensively farmed agricultural matrix. This would require not only the protection of existing grasslands, but also their restoration in simplified landscapes. The promotion of mixed farming (i.e., both crop and livestock production) might increase semi-natural grassland cover at the landscape scale.
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