Researchers Find Bioenergy Crops Provide Critical Ecosystem Services

by M. Cristina Negri (U.S. Department of Energy) Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) in Argonne, Illinois, are examining innovative new agricultural landscapes that incorporate perennial bioenergy crops to provide environmental benefits, such as improved nutrient management and pollinator nesting. This work prioritizes economic output while simultaneously providing important services to the environment.

Through a collaboration with the University of Michigan, ANL researchers found that incorporating bioenergy crops—such as switchgrass, willow, and prairie grasses—into the landscape can not only improve water quality by managing nutrients, but also potentially improve wild bee habitats. Maintaining habitats for natural pollinators, like bees, is a critical factor in ensuring U.S. crop productivity. While not essential for corn and soybeans, natural pollinators are critical for the reproduction of around 80% of agricultural crops.

In the past year, ANL and its collaborators have published two peer-reviewed articles¹ that examine potential benefits of incorporating perennial bioenergy crops in a midwestern agricultural landscape. Both papers provide a basis for evaluating additional benefits of bioenergy crops, both in nutrient management and in the improvement of wild bee nesting habitats. READ MORE

¹John B. Graham, Joan I. Nassauer, William S. Currie, Herbert Ssegane, and M. Cristina Negri, “Assessing Wild Bee Abundance in Perennial Bioenergy Landscapes: Effects of Bioenergy Crop Composition, Landscape Configuration, and Bioenergy Crop Area,” Landscape Ecology 32, no. 5 (2017): 1023–1037, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10980-017-0506-y; Herbert Ssegane and M. Cristina Negri, “An Integrated Landscape Designed for Commodity and Bioenergy Crops in a Tile-Drained Agricultural Watershed,” Journal of Environmental Quality 45, no. 5 (2016): 1588–1596, doi:10.2134/jeq2015.10.0518.