Recently, Professor Fang Linchuan’s team from the School of Resource and Environmental Engineering of WUT made significant progress in global change and sustainable agriculture. Their research, titled “Optimizing Cover Crop Practices as a Sustainable Solution for Global Agroecosystem Services”, have been published in Nature Communications. The Laboratory of Green Utilization of Key Non-Metallic Mineral Resources, Ministry of Education, at WUT served as the primary affiliation for both the first and corresponding authors. PhD student Qiu Tianyi is the first author of the paper, and Professor Fang Linchuan is the corresponding author.

Through an integrative analysis of 2,302 observational datasets and the application of data-driven methodologies, the team evaluated the optimal combinations of cover crop practices and their global applicability. Specifically, a biculture of legume and non-legume cover crops, terminated 25 days prior to the planting of the next crop and followed by residue mulching, is the optimal portfolio. Such optimized practices are projected to increase agroecosystem multiservices by 1.25%, equivalent to annual gains of 97.7 million metric tons in crop production, 21.7 billion metric tons in carbon dioxide sequestration, and 2.41 billion metric tons in soil erosion reduction. By 2100, the continued implementation of optimized practices is anticipated to mitigate climate-related yield losses and contribute to climate neutrality and soil stabilization, particularly in regions facing harsh environmental conditions or socio-economic disadvantages.

This research systematically reveals the sustainable potential of optimizing cover crop practices to simultaneously enhance food security and environmentally friendly services. In the context of escalating global climate change and increasing socio-economic inequality, optimized cover crop practices offer nature-based agricultural solutions to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with particular contributions to eradicating poverty, achieving zero hunger, addressing climate change, and promoting social equity.

Figure1: Hypothetical synergy of optimizing CC practices on multiple agroecosystem services, and its underlying benefits in different scenarios

Figure2: The impact of cover crop practices on multiple agroecosystem services and their pathways of action

Figure3: Global pattern of agroecosystem multiservices and its future trend under CC practices

Article link：https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-54536-z

Written by: Fang Linchuan

Rewritten by: Gong Mengting

Edited by: Liang Muwei, Li Tiantian

Source: School of Resources and Environmental Engineering