Evaluating ecosystem multifunctionality in tree-based intercropping: a case study from southern Québec, Canada
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Agroforestry is increasingly recognized as an effective tool for enhancing multifunctionality in agroecosystems globally, improving land-use efficiency and delivering multiple ecosystem services (ES). This study investigates the multifunctionality of tree-based intercropping (TBI) systems, which integrate widely spaced rows of trees with agricultural crops and can be adapted to different climates. We assessed spatial gradients of 11 ES indicators based on field measurements taken at increasing distances from the tree rows within a temperate TBI system of 50 trees ha-1, aged 7 to 10 years. These indicators were compared between the TBI system and agricultural control plots, which were managed similarly to the cultivated alleys in the TBI system but without trees. We measured light availability, soil moisture and crop yields (forage and wheat) across cultivated alleys associated with three tree species compositions: 1) red oak in monoculture, 2) hybrid poplar in monoculture, and 3) a mix of red oak and hybrid poplar alternating along the row. The greatest variation in ES indicators within the cultivated alleys, compared to the agricultural controls, was frequently observed nearest to the tree rows. Specifically, yields of annual crops (wheat and corn), soil moisture, P supply, NO3- leaching rates and bulk density decreased, while potential evaporation increased in areas closest to the tree rows, in contrast to measurements taken near the alley centre and in the control plots. Other ES indicators, including forage yield, N and K supplies, and soil C stocks, remained unaffected by the TBI system. Our results suggest that trade-offs between ES may occur at fine scales and be location-specific within TBI systems. Plots containing poplar (alone or mixed with red oak) exhibited lower soil moisture and light availability compared to those with red oak only, resulting in a greater decrease in wheat yield at the tree-crop interface. Conversely, C stocks in fast-growing poplar biomass were substantially higher than those in red oak. We conclude that composition of tree species is crucial in determining trade-offs in ES delivery within TBI systems. At the system level, we found comparable levels of multifunctionality between TBI and control plots, likely due to the limited sample size of aggregated data.
Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.
How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.004 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.004 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".