The Global Spatial Co-Variation Between Crop Diversity and Landscape Heterogeneity

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Ecology
• Biodiversity Studies

Background:

• Understanding biodiversity in agricultural landscapes is crucial for sustainable farming.
• The relationship between crop diversity and landscape heterogeneity is underexplored globally.
• Previous studies focused on local scales, limiting global insights.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the global relationship between crop species diversity and landscape heterogeneity.
• To identify key landscape features influencing crop diversity worldwide.
• To provide insights for designing multifunctional agricultural landscapes.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of global spatial datasets covering 19,505 agricultural landscapes.
• Calculation of crop and landscape diversity using Shannon entropy.
• Statistical modeling using quantile generalized additive models (QGAM).

Main Results:

• Crop diversity positively correlates with landscape (land cover) diversity globally.
• The relationship is strongest with diverse non-crop land cover and moderate cropland extent (25%-75%).
• Small agricultural field sizes and high topographic heterogeneity are associated with higher crop diversity.

Conclusions:

• Landscape heterogeneity, particularly diverse non-crop land cover and configurational aspects, significantly influences crop diversity.
• Findings support landscape-scale farm diversification strategies for multifunctional agriculture.
• Global insights can guide sustainable agricultural landscape design.