Multifunctional landscapes for enhanced ecosystem benefits and productive agriculture in the southeastern US

Abstract

Context

Agricultural landscapes across the southeastern US are typically managed with little consideration for landscape scale ecosystem function despite potential hazards and benefits from ecosystem processes. Enhanced landscape function from less-intensive use of less-productive, erosive soils within large cropland landscapes combined with buffer areas along natural drainage patterns are potential approaches to ameliorate recognized limitations of large-scale intensive crop production. Similar consideration of intensive plantation forestry approaches also provides opportunities for strategic land-use where less intensive use of lower producing sites across forest landscapes and harvest patterns may provide increased landscape function with only limited loss of production across the landscape.

Objective

The objective was to characterize environmental shortcomings of production environments in the southeastern US and identify potential approaches to overcome these shortcomings along with identification of public policy and land-user approaches to enhance landscape function.

Methods

Literature searches were used to identify publications contributing to characterization of the regional environment and effects of agricultural production on the environment. These results were assessed in relation to concepts and approaches of landscape ecology to identify potential opportunities to overcome shortcomings of current production approaches.

Results

Mixtures of land use across the region occur as forests, croplands, and pastures providing opportunity for diverse landscapes contributing multiple benefits. Initial unsustainable, low-input crop production across much of the region, however, led to soil depletion across large areas of marginally productive soils. Extensive conversion of these areas to plantation forestry followed the initial unsustainable farming. Large-scale crop production was subsequently developed on the more productive soils with management focused on the production enterprises to provide the inputs required for high levels of production. Reductions in provisioning of some ecosystem services essential for sustainability have been identified as consequences of these systems. Repeated recommendations of multifunctional landscape approaches for sustainable production in various environments have occurred in the sustainability and landscape ecology literature, and these appear to be particularly relevant to production landscapes of the southeastern US.

Conclusions

Management of many production environments in the southeastern US to address effects of crop production fields and forest plantations on overall function of production landscapes could increase production efficiency and substantially enhance environmental contributions such as improved water quality and enhanced wildlife habitat along with providing other potential benefits including additional production enterprises. Recognition of the concept of landscape function and the role of individual land managers in providing the components for multifunctional landscapes could lead to greater appreciation of individual land-use effects on the landscape. The matrix of production land uses across the region and the varied land capabilities to fit these land uses provide a framework for highly functional landscapes. USDA programs are in place to facilitate such landscape diversification with appropriate program direction. Development of such functional landscapes in the region could provide an example of effective land-sharing complementing land-sparing efforts rather than presenting a distinct dichotomy of competing approaches.