title: Plant Functional Traits: Soil and Ecosystem Services.
abstract: Decline of ecosystem services has triggered numerous studies aiming at developing more sustainable agricultural management practices. Some agricultural practices may improve soil properties by expanding plant biodiversity. However, sustainable management of agroecosystems should be performed from a functional plant trait perspective. Advances in functional ecology, especially plant functional trait effects on ecosystem processes and services, provide pivotal knowledge for ecological intensification of agriculture; this approach acknowledges that a crop field is an agroecosystem whose ecological processes influence soil properties. We highlight the links between plant functional traits and soil properties in relation to four major ecosystem processes involved in vital ecosystem services: food production, crop protection, climate change mitigation, and soil and water conservation, aiming towards ecological intensification of sustainable agricultural and soil management.
authors.affiliation: HydrISE (Hydrogeochemistry Interactions Soil Environment) Unit, UP.2012.10.102, UNILASALLE, 19 rue Pierre Waguet, 60026 Beauvais, France. Electronic address: michel-pierre.faucon@unilasalle.fr.
authors.forename: Michel-Pierre
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Faucon
authors.affiliation: HydrISE (Hydrogeochemistry Interactions Soil Environment) Unit, UP.2012.10.102, UNILASALLE, 19 rue Pierre Waguet, 60026 Beauvais, France.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Houben
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology and Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Stirling Highway, Crawley (Perth), WA 6009, Australia. Electronic address: hans.lambers@uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lambers
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004463:Ecology / Q000379:methods*; D017753:Ecosystem; D012987:Soil
chemical_list: D012987:Soil