Land-use intensification decouples biodiversity and ecosystem function in urban greenspaces across the Iberian Peninsula

Urban greenspaces play a critical role in conserving biodiversity and provide multiple ecosystem services from carbon sequestration to pathogen regulation. Yet, little is known about how contrasting urban greenspaces, varying in land-use intensification levels, influence the biodiversity and ecosystem functions across large environmental gradients. Here, conducted a standardized field survey in 51 cities from the Iberian Peninsula to evaluate the impacts of land-use intensification on 36 ecosystem indicators and 11 above- and belowground biodiversity and ecosystem services. At each city, we sampled five plots along a land-use intensification gradient, from less managed natural or semi-natural ecosystems, city parks and roundabouts to more heavily managed golf courses and urban farms. We showed that land-use intensification decouples biodiversity and ecosystem functions across urban greenspaces. Natural or semi-natural ecosystems and city parks supported the highest levels of multiple ecosystem services, particularly carbon sequestration, but exhibited relatively low soil and plant species richness. In contrast, the opposite pattern was found in urban farms, at the highest end of our land intensification gradient. These findings reveal that the management of urban greenspaces is heavily influenced by important trade-offs between biodiversity and ecosystem services, highlighting that the one-size-fits-all solution is not adequate when pursuing multiple management goals.