Ecological intensification and arbuscular mycorrhizas: a meta-analysis of tillage and cover crop effects

1. Reliance on ecosystem services instead of synthetic, non-renewable inputs is increasingly seen as key to achieving food security in an environmentally sustainable way. This process, known as ecological intensification, will depend in large part on enhancing below-ground biological interactions that facilitate resource use efficiency. Arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM), associations formed between the roots of most terrestrial plant species and a specialized group of soil fungi, provide valuable ecosystem services, but the full magnitude of these services may not be fully realized under conventional intensively-managed annual agricultural systems.

2. Here we use meta-analysis to assess how reducing soil disturbance and periods without roots in agricultural systems affects the formation of AM and the diversity and community composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). We compiled data from 54 field studies across five continents that measured effects of tillage and/or cover cropping ...

1. 相较于合成型不可再生投入物，依赖生态系统服务正日益被视为以环境可持续路径实现粮食安全的核心抓手。这一被称为生态集约化（ecological intensification）的进程，在很大程度上有赖于强化地下生物互作以提升资源利用效率。丛枝菌根（arbuscular mycorrhizas, AM）是多数陆生植物根系与一类特化土壤真菌形成的共生联合体，可提供极具价值的生态系统服务，但在传统集约化管理的一年生农业系统中，这些服务的全部潜力往往未能充分释放。
2. 本研究采用荟萃分析（meta-analysis）方法，评估农业系统中减少土壤扰动以及无根系覆盖时段对丛枝菌根形成，以及丛枝菌根真菌（arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, AMF）的多样性与群落组成的影响。我们整合了全球五大洲的54项田间研究数据，这些研究均探究了耕作方式与/或覆盖作物种植的效应……