@misc{VeldkampSchmidtMarkwitzetal., author = {Veldkamp, Edzo and Schmidt, Marcus and Markwitz, Christian and Beule, Lukas and Beuschel, Ren{\´e} and Biert{\"u}mpfel, Andrea and Bischel, Xenia and Duan, Xiaohong and Gerjets, Rowena and G{\"o}bel, Leonie and Graß, R{\"u}diger and Guerra, Victor and Heinlein, Florian and Komainda, Martin and Langhof, Maren and Luo, Jie and Potthoff, Martin and Ramshorst, Justus G. V. van and Rudolf, Carolin and Seserman, Diana-Maria and Shao, Guodong and Siebicke, Lukas and Svoboda, Nikolai and Swieter, Anita and Carminati, Andrea and Freese, Dirk and Graf, Torsten and Greef, J{\"o}rg M. and Isselstein, Johannes and Jansen, Martin and Karlovsky, Petr and Knohl, Alexander and Lamersdorf, Norbert and Priesack, Eckart and Wachendorf, Christine and Wachendorf, Michael and Corre, Marife D.}, title = {Multifunctionality of temperate alley-cropping agroforestry outperforms open cropland and grassland}, series = {Communications Earth \& Environment}, volume = {4}, journal = {Communications Earth \& Environment}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, issn = {2662-4435}, doi = {10.1038/s43247-023-00680-1}, pages = {10}, abstract = {AbstractIntensively managed open croplands are highly productive but often have deleterious environmental impacts. Temperate agroforestry potentially improves ecosystem functions, although comprehensive analysis is lacking. Here, we measured primary data on 47 indicators of seven ecosystem functions in croplands and 16 indicators of four ecosystem functions in grasslands to assess how alley-cropping agroforestry performs compared to open cropland and grassland. Carbon sequestration, habitat for soil biological activity, and wind erosion resistance improved for cropland agroforestry (P ≤ 0.03) whereas only carbon sequestration improved for grassland agroforestry (P \< 0.01). In cropland agroforestry, soil nutrient cycling, soil greenhouse gas abatement, and water regulation did not improve, due to customary high fertilization rates. Alley-cropping agroforestry increased multifunctionality, compared to open croplands. To ameliorate the environmental benefits of agroforestry, more efficient use of nutrients is required. Financial incentives should focus on conversion of open croplands to alley-cropping agroforestry and incorporate fertilizer management.}, language = {en} } @misc{SesermanFreeseSwieteretal., author = {Seserman, Diana-Maria and Freese, Dirk and Swieter, Anita and Langhof, Maren and Veste, Maik}, title = {Trade-Off between Energy Wood and Grain Production in Temperate Alley-Cropping Systems: An Empirical and Simulation-Based Derivation of Land Equivalent Ratio}, series = {Agriculture}, volume = {9}, journal = {Agriculture}, number = {7}, issn = {2077-0472}, doi = {10.3390/agriculture9070147}, pages = {26}, abstract = {The alley-cropping systems (ACSs), which integrate parallel tree strips at varying distances on an agricultural field can result, complementarity of resource use, in an increased land-use efficiency. Practitioners' concerns have been directed towards the productivity of such systems given a reduced area covered by agricultural crops. The land equivalent ratio (LER) serves as a valuable productivity indicator of yield performance and land-use efficiency in ACSs, as it compares the yields achieved in monocultures to those from ACSs. Consequently, the objective of this combined experimental and simulation study was to assess the tree- and crop-yields and to derive the LER and gross energy yield for two temperate ACSs in Germany under different design scenarios, i.e., tree arrangements (lee- or wind-ward) and ratios of tree area to crop area. Both LER and gross energy yields resulted in a convex curve where the maximum values were achieved when either the tree or crop component was dominant (>75\% of the land area) and minimum when these components shared similar proportions of land area. The implications of several design scenarios have been discussed in order to improve the decision-making, optimization, and adaptation of the design of ACSs with respect to site-specific characteristics}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SesermanVesteFreeseetal., author = {Seserman, Diana-Maria and Veste, Maik and Freese, Dirk and Swieter, Anita and Langhof, Maren}, title = {Benefits of agroforestry systems for land equivalent ratio - case studies in Brandenburg and Lower Saxony, Germany}, series = {Proceedings of the 4th European Agroforestry Conference Agroforestry as Sustainable Land Use 28-30 May 2018, Nijmegen, The Netherlands}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 4th European Agroforestry Conference Agroforestry as Sustainable Land Use 28-30 May 2018, Nijmegen, The Netherlands}, publisher = {University of Santiago de Compostela}, address = {Santiago de Compostela}, isbn = {978-84-09-02384-4}, pages = {26 -- 29}, abstract = {Transitioning towards agroforestry demands systematic productivity assessments of such systems under different climatic and edaphic conditions. In this regard, the Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) serves as a valuable productivity indicator of agroforestry since it evaluates yields from growing trees and crops together in comparison to yields from monocultures over the same period. Consequently, our objective was to evaluate the overall productivity of two agroforestry systems in Forst (Brandenburg) and Wendhausen (Lower Saxony) by means of LER. Our approach followed two assumptions: (i) the yields of trees and crops had equal economic importance and (ii) the economic importance was given solely by the annual crop, the yield of trees representing a supplementary profit. The resulted values for LER were consistently above their specific threshold, corroborating the greater efficiency of agroforestry systems rather than monoculture. Additionally, this study highlighted the importance of choosing the appropriate assumptions when calculating the LER.}, language = {en} }