Services provided by multifunctional agroecosystems : Questions, obstacles and solutions

Alexia Stokes (1) , Géraldine Bocquého (2) , Pascal Carrère (3) , Raphaël Conde Salazar (1) , Marc Deconchat (4) , Léo Garcia (5) , Antoine Gardarin (6) , Christian Gary (5) , Cédric Gaucherel (1) , Mamadou Gueye (7, 8) , Mickael Hedde (9) , Françoise Lescourret (10) , Zhun Mao (1) , Nicolas Quérou (11) , Gabrielle Rudi (12) , Jean-Michel A Salles (11) , Raphaël Soubeyran (11) , Julie Subervie (11) , Aude Vialatte (4) , Fabrice Vinatier (13) , Marielle Thomas (14)

1 UMR AMAP - Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations
2 BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée
3 UREP - Unité Mixte de Recherche sur l'Ecosystème Prairial - UMR
4 DYNAFOR - Dynamiques et écologie des paysages agriforestiers
5 UMR ABSys - Agrosystèmes Biodiversifiés
6 Agronomie
7 LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine
8 LEDA-CGEMP - Centre de Géopolitique de l’Energie et des Matières Premières
9 UMR Eco&Sols - Ecologie fonctionnelle et biogéochimie des sols et des agro-écosystèmes
10 PSH - Plantes et systèmes de culture horticoles
11 CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier
12 UMR G-EAU - Gestion de l'Eau, Acteurs, Usages
13 UMR LISAH - Laboratoire d'étude des Interactions Sol - Agrosystème - Hydrosystème
14 URAFPA - Unité de Recherches Animal et Fonctionnalités des Produits Animaux

Highlights: • We investigated multifunctionality and ecosystem services in agroecosystems. • 18 research questions, obstacles and solutions were identified. • Future research must integrate knowledge from different sectors and communities. • Biodiversity is a key factor to explore and incorporate into modelling approaches. • Promoting dialogue, standardization and data-sharing would enhance progress. Abstract: Agroecosystems are facing new challenges in the context of a growing and increasingly interconnected human population, and a paradigm shift is needed to successfully address the many complex questions that these challenges will generate. The transition to providing multiple services within an agroecosystem is a starting point for heightened multifunctionality, however, there is still hesitation among stakeholders about moving towards multi-service systems, largely because of the lack of knowledge linking productivity and multifunctionality. We reason that much of this reticence could be overcome through a better understanding of stakeholder requirements and innovative transdisciplinary research extended in the dimensions of time and space. We assembled experts in France to identify priority research questions for co-constructing projects with stakeholders. We identified 18 key questions, as well as the obstacles that hinder their resolution and propose potential solutions for tackling these obstacles. We illustrate that research into agroecosystem multifunctionality and service production must be a hugely collaborative effort and needs to integrate knowledge from different sectors and communities. Promoting dialogue, standardization and data-sharing would enhance transdisciplinary progress. Biodiversity is highlighted as a key factor to explore and incorporate into modelling approaches, but major advances must be made in the understanding of dynamic changes in the biodiversity-function-service nexus across landscapes. Resolving these research questions will allow us to translate knowledge into decision objectives, identify adaptation and tipping points in agroecosystems and develop social-ecological economic pathways that are adaptive over time.

Mots clés: Ecosystem services; Farm; Social-ecological system; Model; Biodiversity; Economics

Domaines: Environnement et Société; Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Economies et finances

Alexia Stokes, Géraldine Bocquého, Pascal Carrère, Raphaël Conde Salazar, Marc Deconchat, et al.. Services provided by multifunctional agroecosystems : Questions, obstacles and solutions. Ecological Engineering, 2023, 191, pp.106949. ⟨10.1016/j.ecoleng.2023.106949⟩. ⟨hal-04056486⟩