Land-use history impacts functional diversity across multiple trophic groups

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Conservation Biology
• Agricultural Science

Background:

• Land-use change is a primary driver of global biodiversity loss.
• Biodiversity responses to land-use change are often delayed, yet historical land-use impacts are understudied.
• Previous research often overlooks land-use history, focusing on current landscape factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the long-term effects of 20 years of land-use changes on functional diversity in grasslands.
• To compare the influence of land-use history with other known biodiversity drivers.
• To assess impacts across multiple trophic groups.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a comprehensive database of 220,000 land-use records.
• Analyzed functional diversity across primary producers, mutualists, herbivores, and invertebrate/vertebrate predators.
• Studied 75 grassland fields with diverse land-use histories.

Main Results:

• Land-use history effects on multitrophic trait diversity were comparable in strength to grassland management and current landscape composition.
• Landscapes with historical grassland-to-crop conversion showed reduced animal mobility and resource-acquisition traits.
• Old permanent grasslands supported higher functional biodiversity, likely due to stable, high-quality habitat provision.

Conclusions:

• Grassland-to-crop conversion exerts lasting negative impacts on the functional biodiversity of agricultural ecosystems.
• Land-use legacy effects are critical and must be integrated into conservation strategies for agricultural biodiversity.
• Retaining permanent grassland areas within intensive agricultural landscapes can help mitigate biodiversity loss.