title: Soil Functional Zone Management: A Vehicle for Enhancing Production and Soil Ecosystem Services in Row-Crop Agroecosystems.
abstract: There is increasing global demand for food, bioenergy feedstocks and a wide variety of bio-based products. In response, agriculture has advanced production, but is increasingly depleting soil regulating and supporting ecosystem services. New production systems have emerged, such as no-tillage, that can enhance soil services but may limit yields. Moving forward, agricultural systems must reduce trade-offs between production and soil services. Soil functional zone management (SFZM) is a novel strategy for developing sustainable production systems that attempts to integrate the benefits of conventional, intensive agriculture, and no-tillage. SFZM creates distinct functional zones within crop row and inter-row spaces. By incorporating decimeter-scale spatial and temporal heterogeneity, SFZM attempts to foster greater soil biodiversity and integrate complementary soil processes at the sub-field level. Such integration maximizes soil services by creating zones of 'active turnover', optimized for crop growth and yield (provisioning services); and adjacent zones of 'soil building', that promote soil structure development, carbon storage, and moisture regulation (regulating and supporting services). These zones allow SFZM to secure existing agricultural productivity while avoiding or minimizing trade-offs with soil ecosystem services. Moreover, the specific properties of SFZM may enable sustainable increases in provisioning services via temporal intensification (expanding the portion of the year during which harvestable crops are grown). We present a conceptual model of 'virtuous cycles', illustrating how increases in crop yields within SFZM systems could create self-reinforcing feedback processes with desirable effects, including mitigation of trade-offs between yield maximization and soil ecosystem services. Through the creation of functionally distinct but interacting zones, SFZM may provide a vehicle for optimizing the delivery of multiple goods and services in agricultural systems, allowing sustainable temporal intensification while protecting and enhancing soil functioning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota, St Paul MN, USA.
authors.forename: Alwyn
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing MI, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Kane
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota, St Paul MN, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Ewing
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham NH, USA.
authors.forename: Lesley W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Atwood
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham NH, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jilling
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL, USA.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL, USA.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.affiliation: Global Change and Photosynthesis Research Unit, United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service, Urbana IL, USA.
authors.forename: Adam S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham NH, USA.
authors.forename: A Stuart
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Grandy
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota, St Paul MN, USA.
authors.forename: Sheri C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Huerd
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park PA, USA.
authors.forename: Mitchell C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo UT, USA.
authors.forename: Roger T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Koide
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park PA, USA.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Mortensen
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham NH, USA.
authors.forename: Richard G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing MI, USA.
authors.forename: Sieglinde S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Snapp
authors.affiliation: Soil and Water Management Unit, United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service, St Paul MN, USA.
authors.forename: Kurt A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Spokas
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Yannarell
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota, St Paul MN, USA.
authors.forename: Nicholas R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Jordan
keywords: crop yield; ecosystem services; precision tillage; soil biodiversity; soil management; temporal intensification; trade-offs; zonal tillage