Abstract
Cereal crop residues could become increasingly used to produce bioenergy as part of the European green transition, which may increase the amount of such residues removed from fields. At the same time, on-field residue retention is an important regenerative agriculture practice with positive effects on soils. Thus, excessive residue removal can be environmentally unsustainable at the field level. Yet, the effects of residue removal on local biodiversity – especially aboveground – are not well known. Given the large land footprint of cereal production in Europe, the impacts of changing cereal residue management on biodiversity could be substantial. Here, landscape-scale cereal residue management data, field measurements of local biodiversity, cereal yield and other environmental data were combined in statistical models to estimate local biodiversity in cereal cropland in Europe and investigate the effects of on-field residue retention. Local biodiversity in cereal cropland was poor relative to other land uses, but was positively associated with landscape-scale on-field residue retention, with significantly greater local biodiversity in cereal cropland in landscapes with a high proportion of residues (≥ 70%) left on fields. On the other hand, local biodiversity in cereal cropland was negatively associated with landscape-scale cereal yield. Cereal residue retention was a stronger predictor of local biodiversity in cereal cropland than cereal yield. The results presented improve current understanding of the relationships between local biodiversity and landscape-scale cereal residue management and crop yield, with relevance for biodiversity conservation, agricultural management and energy production in Europe.
•Cereal cropland biodiversity was poor relative to other land uses•Landscape-scale residue retention was positively linked to cropland biodiversity•Landscape-scale cereal yield was negatively linked to cropland biodiversity•Demand for cereal residues for bioenergy could affect cropland biodiversity