Cover crop mixtures enhance multiple ecosystem functions: A global meta-analysis

Cover crop mixtures have been increasingly adopted across agroecosystems worldwide thanks to their potential to improve soil health and ecosystem functioning. However, it is not clear whether and how cover crop mixtures vs. single cover crops might influence different ecosystem functions.
Here, we selected 1,895 paired data from 61 studies worldwide to evaluate the role of cover crop mixtures in affecting biomass production, soil properties, and subsequent main crop yields in comparison with single cover crops. We also assessed whether the number of plant species in cover crop mixtures, crop field types, and cover crop combinations could affect ecosystem functioning.
Multi-species mixtures increased cover crop aboveground biomass by 21.7%, carbon and nutrient accumulation (C: +27.7%, N: +27.7%, P: +22.8%, K: +24.1%), and subsequent crop yields by 4.9% compared to single cover crops. These benefits were most pronounced in paddy fields (e.g., a 35.3% increase in biomass), as well as ..., , # Cover crop mixtures enhance multiple ecosystem functions: A global meta-analysis

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.m37pvmdf3](10.5061/dryad.m37pvmdf3)

## Description of the data and file structure

This global meta-analysis dataset comprises 1,895 paired observations extracted from 61 peer-reviewed articles across 55 experimental sites worldwide. Data were systematically organized into specialized CSV files corresponding to specific ecosystem response variables (e.g., microbial biomass, nutrient cycling, soil physical properties). For each pairwise comparison between cover crop mixtures and monocultures, we extracted:

Mean values (Xmixtures, Xmonocultures)

Standard deviations (SDmixtures, SDmonocultures)

Replicate counts (Nmixtures, Nmonocultures)

Data classification was implemented through four key dimensions:

Cover crop complexity: Binary classification by species count (mix2 = 2-species mixtures, mix3 = 3+-species mixtures)

Crop field types: Agricultural systems categorized as pa...,