Cropping Systems Ecology

Within this theme we investigate benefits and challenges of grain legume cultivation, in terms of productivity, weed abundance and nitrogen dynamics at the crop and cropping system levels. The overall aim is to produce knowledge for the development of cropping systems where grain legumes provide stable and profitable yields, and where ecosystem services from diversified cropping systems including grain legumes replace external inputs and stimulate the transition towards climate smart food production.

Grain legumes such as beans, lentils and peas are resource-efficient and climate smart protein sources, and provide positive health effects when included in human diets. In the theme legumes for sustainable food systems, we perform research, teaching and communication with the surrounding society about yield and yield stability, weed abundance and N acquisition (including N₂ fixation) in faba beans, lentils, lupins and peas grown as sole crops and intercrops with cereals, with and without undersown cover crops and with different weed management strategies. The research, performed in the Swedish context as well as in international collaborations, is based on studies of competitive, complementary and facilitative plant-plant interactions related to resource use efficiency and resilience in diversified cropping systems. Following principles and practices of agroecology, we strive towards active participation of farmers and other stakeholders for the co-creation of knowledge about challenges and possibilities for grain legume cultivation and use in a food system perspective. The theme  is coordinated by senior lecturer Georg Carlsson.

Within this theme we study the influence of cropping systems on microbial communities and microbially mediated processes in the soil, and the effects of these processes on ecosystem services. Carbon and nitrogen cycling, including greenhouse gas emissions, is in focus.

The aim of the theme is to develop cropping system designs that deliver improved ecosystem services, such as increased nutrient supply through plant-microbial symbioses, decreased losses of reactive nitrogen (N), enhanced climate change mitigation, increased resilience to climate change and improved yields in relation to inputs. The research is conducted at the cropping systems scale, in arable and open-field horticultural systems. Examples of design and management factors studied are crop diversification, tillage, integration of perennial crops, fertilization and recycling of harvest residues and waste products. We determine effects of cropping systems design and management on functional microbial diversity, N use efficiency, N leaching, symbiotic N₂ fixation, greenhouse gas emissions, C sequestration, C distribution in the soil and interactions between C and N cycling.  The theme is coordinated by resercher Maria Ernfors.

The overall aim of this theme is to increase knowledge about the integration of preventive, cultural and direct weed control into integrated weed management strategies for different cropping systems to achieve a sustainable weed management in agricultural and open-field horticultural systems.

Integrated weed management is the combined application of several long-term strategies and cultivation methods. Research and development within integrated weed management are based on a holistic and knowledge-based concept, which considers the whole cropping system and its development. The overall aim of the research is to strengthen preventive cultivation methods to regulate the population size of problematic weeds, while simultaneously optimizing the crop competitive ability against weeds. In this way, the need for direct control methods is minimized. Where the preventive measures are not sufficient, direct methods may be necessary. The theme includes the knowledge of the weed ecology and biology in an agroecological perspective and the system-level development of integrated weed management in agricultural and open-field horticultural crops. An agroecological perspective includes the use of knowledge about cultivation systems and ecological principles such as functional diversity, diversification of crops in space (e.g. intercropping) and in time (e.g. crop rotation). The themeis coordinated by researcher David Hansson.