Agrobiodiversity for Climate Resilience: A Systematic Review of Yield Stability, Pest Regulation, and Nutrition Outcomes

Abstract

Climate change is intensifying production risks in agriculture by amplifying heat, drought, floods, and pest outbreaks. Agrobiodiversity—the deliberate diversification of crops, varieties, rotations, and non-crop habitats—offers a practical adaptation pathway that can stabilise yields while delivering ecosystem services essential for resilient food systems. The review aims to examine how agricultural biodiversity enhances climate resilience by improving yield stability, supporting pest regulation, and boosting nutrition outcomes. This systematic review synthesises recent field evidence from meta-analyses and long-term experiments to evaluate how agrobiodiversity influences three outcomes central to climate adaptation: yield stability, pest and disease regulation, and nutrition. Field-based studies and meta-analyses published between January 2013 and March 2025. We screened studies that report field-based outcomes for diversified practices such as cultivar mixtures, multi-species rotations, intercropping, and landscape elements, including hedgerows and floral strips. Across diverse climates and production systems, diversification generally maintains or increases mean yields and reduces interannual variability, with variety mixtures buffering weather shocks and rotational diversity strengthening resource use efficiency over time. At the same time, field- and landscape-level diversification supports pollination and natural enemy communities, often lowering pest pressure and reducing reliance on broad-spectrum pesticides without compromising yield. Nutrition outcomes show a consistent, context-dependent pattern: greater on-farm production diversity and food-system-level agrobiodiversity are associated with more diverse diets and more stable nutrient availability, particularly where market access is limited or volatile. Mechanistically, three drivers recur: response diversity that spreads climate risk across genotypes and species; functional complementarity that improves nutrient, water, and light capture; and service scaffolding, whereby semi-natural habitat sustains pollinators and natural enemies under warming and land-use change. Effective design emphasises functionally distinct mixtures, legume-inclusive rotations, multi-scale habitat, alignment with integrated pest management, and policies that connect farm diversity to market and diet diversity. Notable trade-offs include management complexity, labour demands, and context dependence, where benefits weaken in highly simplified landscapes. We outline monitoring priorities that pair practice indicators with outcome metrics such as yield variance, pesticide intensity, and biodiversity measures, enabling performance-based incentives. Overall, agrobiodiversity emerges as a no-regrets adaptation strategy that strengthens resilience, sustains productivity, and supports nutrition, while creating co-benefits for ecosystems and livelihoods. This review set out to evaluate whether agrobiodiversity—diversity within crops, among crops, and across landscapes—offers a dependable pathway for climate adaptation in agriculture, with specific attention to yield stability, pest regulation, and nutrition.