Delivery of multiple ecosystem services in pasture by shelter created from the hybrid sterile bioenergy grass Miscanthus x giganteus

The benefits of shelter in increasing crop yields and accelerating ripening has been well researched in fruit, arable and horticultural crops. Its benefits to pasture, despite its importance for livestock production, is less well researched. In this work, Miscanthus shelterbelts were established on an intensively irrigated dairy farm. Seven key ecosystem services associated with these belts were identified and quantified. Pasture yield and quality were recorded in Miscanthus-sheltered and control field boundaries with little shelter. Pasture yield increased by up to 14% in the sheltered areas downwind of Miscanthus. Pasture quality was equivalent in the sheltered and open areas. Miscanthus provided more favourable nesting sites for bumblebees and for New Zealand endemic lizards (skinks) compared to field boundaries. The sheltered areas also had higher mineralisation rates of organic matter and higher numbers of earthworms. Using a high-yielding sterile grass such as Miscanthus to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services also produced a bioenergy feedstock. In conclusion, full benefits of shelterbelts to the farming system cannot be fully assessed unless direct and indirect benefits are properly assessed, as in this work.