Forest fragments modulate the provision of multiple ecosystem services

1. Agricultural landscapes provide the essential ecosystem service of food to growing human populations; at the same time, agricultural expansion to increase crop production results in forest fragmentation, degrading many other forest-dependent ecosystem services. However, surprisingly little is known about the role that forest fragments play in the provision of ecosystem services and how fragmentation affects landscape multi-functionality at scales relevant to land management decisions. 2. We measured the provision of six ecosystem services (crop production, pest regulation, decomposition, carbon storage, soil fertility, and water quality regulation) in soybean fields at different distances from adjacent forest fragments that differed in isolation and size across an agricultural landscape in Quebec, Canada. 3. We observed significant effects of distance-from-forest, fragment isolation, and fragment size on crop production, insect pest regulation, and decomposition. 4. Distance-from-for...