• Scienmag
  • Contcat Us
Sunday, December 15, 2019
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

A century later, plant biodiversity struggles in wake of agricultural abandonment

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
November 18, 2019
in Biology
0

IMAGE

Credit: Credit: Forest Isbell.


Decades after farmland was abandoned, plant biodiversity and productivity struggle to recover, according to new University of Minnesota research.

Published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers examined 37 years of data tied to plant biodiversity (i.e., number of different species) and plant productivity (i.e., biomass or amount of plants) related to 21 grasslands and savannas in Minnesota. Most of these fields had been ploughed and abandoned for agricultural use between one and 91 years prior.

Researchers then compared the plots to nearby land that has not been significantly impacted by human activity.

The study found that:

  • local grassland plant diversity increased significantly over time, but incompletely recovered, and plant productivity did not significantly recover;
  • one year after abandonment, the fields had, on average, 38% of the plant diversity and 34% of the plant productivity for the land that was never ploughed;
  • 91 years after abandonment, the fields had 73% of the plant diversity and 53% of the plant productivity.

“When taken at a global scale, fossil records indicate plant species are going extinct at rates hundreds of times faster than the natural extinction rate,” said Forest Isbell, assistant professor in the College of Biological Sciences (CBS) and co-author on this study. “At this localized level, we’re seeing how human activity can impact the loss of species.”

Researchers suggest that the slow and incomplete recovery of species on abandoned farmland in Minnesota is likely happening in ecosystems around the world where land has been cleared for agriculture, logging or other human activities.

“The amount of land being used for agricultural purposes has slowly been decreasing, leaving some 11 million square miles of old fields and recovering forests across our planet,” said Adam Clark, study co-author and CBS graduate who is currently a postdoctoral researcher with the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research. “In these spaces, active restoration efforts may often be needed to restore biodiversity and prevent the extinction of species.”

Restoration tactics can include using prescribed burns, dispersing seeds, using haying to remove nutrients added through fertilization and reintroducing others in the food chain (e.g., herbivores, predators) pushed out of the area.

“This is an unprecedented opportunity for us — humans as species — to restore ecosystems and help mitigate the threat extinctions could have on our planet and our own well-being,” said Isbell, an expert in biodiversity, as well as ecosystem functioning, stability and services.

###

CBS Professor David Tilman and College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences Professor Peter Reich also co-authored this paper.

Funding was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program (DEB-1831944), the LTER Network Communications Office (DEB-1545288) and an NSF Career award (DEB-1845334).

Media Contact
University of Minnesota Public Relations
[email protected]
612-624-5551

Original Source

https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/research-brief-century-later-plant-biodiversity-struggles-wake-agricultural-abandonment

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-1012-1

Tags: Agricultural Production/EconomicsAgricultureBiodiversityBiologyEcology/Environment

Related Posts

IMAGE
Biology

Grant project aims to improve food security for remote indigenous populations in Australia

by Bioengineer
December 13, 2019
IMAGE
Biology

Genetic counseling: Clinical practice and ethical considerations from cshlpress

by Bioengineer
December 13, 2019
IMAGE
Biology

Leaving home is beneficial for male squirrels but not for females, study shows

by Bioengineer
December 13, 2019

POPULAR NEWS

  • IMAGE

    What felled the great Assyrian Empire? A Yale professor weighs in

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Scientists discover how the molecule-sorting station in our cells is formed and maintained

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Nearly extreme black holes which attempt to regrow hair become bald again

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Early DNA lineages shed light on the diverse origins of the contemporary population

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Are we alone?’ Study refines which exoplanets are potentially habitable

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
ADVERTISEMENT

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent Posts

  • Dartmouth study finds conscious visual perception occurs outside the visual system
  • Mitochondria are the ‘canary in the coal mine’ for cellular stress
  • Grant project aims to improve food security for remote indigenous populations in Australia
  • Following the lizard lung labyrinth

Tags

Aging Agriculture Atmospheric Science Behavior Biochemistry Biodiversity Biology Biomedical/Environmental/Chemical Engineering Biotechnology cancer Cardiology Cell Biology Chemistry/Physics/Materials Sciences Climate Change Clinical Trials Computer Science Earth Science Ecology/Environment Electrical Engineering/Electronics Evolution Genes Genetics Health Care Health Care Systems/Services Health Professionals Immunology/Allergies/Asthma Infectious/Emerging Diseases Marine/Freshwater Biology Materials Medicine/Health Mental Health Microbiology Molecular Biology Nanotechnology/Micromachines neurobiology Nutrition/Nutrients Pediatrics Pharmaceutical Science Physiology Plant Sciences Public Health Research/Development Social/Behavioral Science Technology/Engineering/Computer Science Zoology/Veterinary Science
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In