Experimental evidence of multiple ecosystem services and disservices provided by ecological intensification in Mediterranean agro-ecosystems

1. Intensifying agricultural production in sustainable ways is pivotal to increasing food production while reducing environmental impacts. Ecological intensification is based on managing organisms that provide services underlying crop production to simultaneously intensify agricultural production and increase biodiversity. However, few studies address the interactions and trade-offs between biodiversity, multiple ecosystem services and crop production.

2. We experimentally quantified the effect of uncultivated field margins, a prominent practice of ecological intensification, on agricultural production, biodiversity, as well as on multiple ecosystem services and disservices, in an intensive Mediterranean agro-ecosystem. We used a split-plot design and sampled butterflies, rodent and arthropod pests, arthropod natural enemies (both parasitoids and predators), weeds, damage to crop and crop yield in different distances into the field in three tomato and eleven wheat crops along the gro...