DOI: 10.5061/dryad.x69p8czrg
title: Organic farming and seminatural habitats for multifunctional agriculture: a case study in hedgerow landscapes of Brittany

description: Finding more sustainable ways to produce food is a major challenge for
 humanity in the face of biodiversity extinction and climate change.
 Consequently, research on the ability of agroecosystems to provide
 multiple functions is growing. In this regard, the relative importance of
 organic farming and landscape-scale measures for improving
 multifunctionality has recently been debated. We investigated the
 effects of the farming system (conventional vs organic) at the field
 scale, the total length of hedgerows in the landscape, and their
 interaction with the multifunctionality of 40 winter cereal fields in
 Brittany (France). Our multifunctionality assessment integrated 21
 indicators of biodiversity conservation, nutrient cycling, soil structure,
 pest and disease regulation, food production, and socio-economic
 performance. Many indicators of biodiversity conservation, pest
 and disease regulation, and socio-economic performance were higher in
 organic than in conventional systems. However, indicators of nutrient
 cycling and soil structure did not improve and food production was much
 lower in organic systems. Total hedgerow length in the landscape had less
 influence than organic farming on indicators, although we observed
 positive interactions. Granivorous carabid abundance and semi-net margin
 were highest in organic fields located in well-preserved hedgerow
 landscapes. Our study suggests that field-scale organic farming
 is necessary to promote biodiversity conservation and associated
 ecological functioning in crop fields, whereas landscape-scale
 preservation of semi-natural habitats alone is likely insufficient.
 Preservation of hedgerows in the landscape brings additional ecological
 and socio-economic benefits for organic systems without compromising
 agricultural production. More broadly, our results call for more ambitious
 research into the myriad possible combinations of farming practices and
 agri-environmental measures at both field and landscape scales, to improve
 both belowground and aboveground functioning.
description: We conducted the study in the southern part of the Zone Atelier
 Armorique, a Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) site in Brittany,
 France (47°59′35 N, 1°45′12 W). This region is characterized by dense
 hedgerow networks and crop-livestock farming systems. We selected 40
 cereal fields, half under long-term organic farming (generally &gt;20
 years) and half under conventional farming. Crop fields were located along
 a gradient of total hedgerow length in the landscape. Field sampling was
 performed between April and July 2019 in winter cereal fields. Samples
 were collected in crop fields at least 5 m away and up to 50 m from field
 margins. In the manuscript, we describe the protocols for the measurement
 of soil enzyme activities and physicochemical properties, sampling of soil
 microorganisms, earthworms, weeds, crop disease severity, aphids and
 mummies, and natural enemies.
description: # Organic farming and seminatural habitats for multifunctional
 agriculture: a case study in hedgerow landscapes of Brittany ## INDICATOR
 DATASET This dataset provides the indicators collected in crop fields (see
 Fig. 1). Sampling was performed between April and July 2019 in winter
 cereal fields. Samples were collected in crop fields at least 5 m away and
 up to 50 m from field margins. Plant and invertebrate samples were summed
 per field before computing diversities and abundances. Microorganism
 samples were averaged per field (relative abundances) before computing
 diversities and proportion of fungi. field = field ID bacterial_diversity
 = sequence cluster richness of bacteria fungal_diversity = sequence
 cluster richness of fungi earthworm_diversity = species richness of
 earthworms weed_diversity = species richness of weeds carabid_diversity =
 species richness of carabids soil_enzyme_activities = aggregated soil
 enzyme activities (PHOS, PAK, GLU, GAL, ARN, NAG, ARS) based on the qMef
 index (Byrnes et al, 2023) symbio_sapro_fungi = proportion of symbio- and
 saprotrophic fungi (%) earthworm_abundance = total abundance of earthworms
 SOC_clay_ratio = soil organic carbon:clay ratio C_N_ratio = soil organic
 carbon:nitrogen ratio graniv_carabid_abundance = activity-density of
 granivorous carabids carniv_carabid_abundance = activity-density of
 carnivorous carabids staphylinid_abundance = activity-density of
 staphylinids spiders_abundance = activity-density of spiders
 aphid_parasitism_rate = aphid parasitism rate (number of aphid mummies /
 total number of aphids) (%) weed_abundance = total coverage of weeds
 (%.m²-1) aphid_abundance = total number of aphids septoria_abundance =
 percentage of the leaf attacked by *Septoria tritici* (%) grain_yield =
 field-scale grain yield (q.ha-1) duration_interventions = cumulative
 duration of interventions (h.ha-1) between the harvest of the previous and
 current crops semi_net_margin = semi-net margin (€.ha-1) ## MULTIFUNC
 DATASET This dataset provides the z-standardized indicators and AES goods,
 along with (unstandardized) multifunctionality indices giving equal weight
 to indicators or AES goods (see Fig. 1). For indicators whose lower values
 indicate higher levels of functionality or benefits, we inverted variables
 using the formula −xi + max(xi) where xi are the measures of variable i.
 All indicators and AES goods are z-standardized before computing
 multifunctionality indices. We used a recent approach developed by Byrnes
 et al. 2023 based on Hill numbers (doi: 10.1111/oik.09402) to estimate AES
 goods from collected indicators and compute multifunctionality. This
 approach is equivalent to the effective number of species (e.g.,
 Hill-Shannon index) that accounts for both the number of species and their
 relative abundances to quantify species diversity. Similarly,
 multifunctionality indices consider not only the mean of indicators or AES
 goods but also the relative contribution of each indicator or AES good to
 the total level of functioning. field = field ID biodiv_conservation =
 aggregation of diversities of bacteria, fungi, earthworms, weeds, and
 carabids nutrient_cycling = aggregation of soil enzyme activities, %
 symbio- and saprotrophic fungi, earthworm abundance, SOC:clay ratio, C:N
 ratio pest_disease_regulation = aggregation of natural enemy
 activity-densities, aphid parasitism rate, and (inverted) abundances of
 weeds, aphids, septoria food_production = field-scale grain yield
 socioeco_perf = aggregation of cumulative duration of interventions
 (inverted) and semi-net margin MF_indicators = multifunctionality giving
 equal weight to the 21 indicators MF_goods = multifunctionality giving
 equal weight to the five AES goods ## ENV DATASET This dataset provides
 the farming practices and landscape variables measured for each sampled
 field. field = field ID landscape = landscape ID farming = conventional
 farming (CF) or organic farming (OF) sowing_density = sowing density
 (kg/ha) nb_tillage = number of tillage events between the previous and
 current crops nb_ploughing = number of ploughing events between the
 previous and current crops fertilization = nitrogen amount per hectare
 (including both mineral and organic fertilization) herbicide = herbicide
 Treatment Frequency Index between the previous and current crops TFI_tot =
 total Treatment Frequency Index (including herbicides, fungicides,
 insecticides) between the previous and current crops field_size = focal
 field size (ha) hedge_length.250 to 1000 = total hedgerow length in the
 landscape (m) within buffer radii of 250m to 1000m SNH_cover.250 to 1000 =
 cover of seminatural habitats in the landscape (%, excluding hedgerows)
 within buffer radii of 250m to 1000m grassland_cover.250 to 1000 = cover
 of permanent grasslands in the landscape (%) within buffer radii of 250m
 to 1000m crop_div.250 to 1000 = Shannon crop diversity in the landscape
 within buffer radii of 250m to 1000m OF_cover.250 to 1000 = cover of
 organic farming in the landscape (%) within buffer radii of 250m to 1000m
 ## COORD DATASET This dataset provides the spatial coordinates (decimal
 degrees) of each sampled field field = field ID x = longitude y = latitude