In:
eLife, eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd, Vol. 7 ( 2018-05-24)
Abstract:
Urban agriculture is making an increasing contribution to food security in large cities around the world. The potential contribution of biodiversity to ecological intensification in urban agricultural systems has not been investigated. We present monitoring data collected from rice fields in 34 community farms in mega-urban Shanghai, China, from 2001 to 2015, and show that the presence of a border crop of soybeans and neighboring crops (maize, eggplant and Chinese cabbage), both without weed control, increased invertebrate predator abundance, decreased the abundance of pests and dependence on insecticides, and increased grain yield and economic profits. Two 2 year randomized experiments with the low and high diversity practices in the same locations confirmed these results. Our study shows that diversifying farming practices can make an important contribution to ecological intensification and the sustainable use of associated ecosystem services in an urban ecosystem.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2050-084X
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.001
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.002
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.003
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.004
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.005
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.006
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.007
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.008
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.009
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.010
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.011
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.012
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.013
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.014
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.015
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.016
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.017
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.018
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.020
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.021
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.022
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.023
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.024
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.025
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.019
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.026
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.027
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.028
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.029
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.030
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.031
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.032
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.033
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.037
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.038
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.035
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.35103.036
Language:
English
Publisher:
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Publication Date:
2018
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2687154-3
