Sustainable land management enhances ecological and economic multifunctionality under ambient and future climate

This study assesses the impact of land management and climate change on the multifunctionality of agroecosystems in Central Germany. Using a large-scale field experiment with five land-use types under ambient and future climate scenarios, the researchers evaluated 14 ecosystem functions. Ecological multifunctionality was measured using averaging approaches with different weightings reflecting stakeholder preferences (farmers, residents, conservation agencies, tourism). An economic multifunctionality measure was also developed based on the aggregate economic value of ecosystem services. Intensive management and future climate decreased ecological multifunctionality in most scenarios. Sustainable management, however, significantly increased both ecological and economic multifunctionality, highlighting its importance for maintaining ecosystem services under climate change.

Friedrich Scherfinger, Martin Schädler, Thomas Reitz, Rui Yin, Harald Auge, Ines Merbach, Christiane Roscher, W Stanley Harpole, Evgenia Blagodatskaya, Julia Siebert, Marcel Cioban, Fabian Marder, Nico Eisenhauer, Martin Quaas