Cover crops support the climate change mitigation potential of agroecosystems

Supporting information S1 File. Calculations. (XLSX) S2 File. Included literature. (XLSX) Author Contributions Conceptualization: Jonas Scho¨n, Peter Breunig. Data curation: Jonas Scho¨n. Formal analysis: Jonas Scho¨n. Funding acquisition: Norman Gentsch, Peter Breunig. Methodology: Jonas Scho¨n, Norman Gentsch, Peter Breunig. Supervision: Peter Breunig. Writing – original draft: Jonas Scho¨n, Norman Gentsch, Peter Breunig. Writing – review & editing: Jonas Scho¨n, Norman Gentsch, Peter Breunig. References 1. Clark MA, Domingo NGG, Colgan K, Thakrar SK, Tilman D, Lynch J, et al. Global food system emis- sions could preclude achieving the 1.5˚ and 2˚C climate change targets. Science. 2020; 370:705–8. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba7357 PMID: 33154139 2. Crippa M, Solazzo E, Guizzardi D, Monforti-Ferrario F, Tubiello FN, Leip A. Food systems are responsi- ble for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Nat Food. 2021; 2:198–209. https://doi.org/10. 1038/s43016-021-00225-9 PMID: 37117443 3. Shukla PR, Skea J, Reisinger A, editors. Climate change 2022: Mitigation of climate change. Geneva: IPCC; 2022. 4. Lal R. Managing soils for negative feedback to climate change and positive impact on food and nutri- tional security. Soil Science and Plant Nutrition. 2020; 66:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/00380768.2020. 1718548 5. Thorup-Kristensen K, Magid J, Jensen LS. Catch crops and green manures as biological tools in nitro- gen management in temperate zones. In: Advances in Agronomy Volume 79: Elsevier; 2003. p. 227– 302. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0065-2113(02)79005-6

6. Gentsch N, Heuermann D, Boy J, Schierding S, Wire´ n N von, Schweneker D, et al. Soil nitrogen and water management by winter-killed catch crops. SOIL. 2022; 8:269–81. https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-8- 269-2022 7. Kim N, Zabaloy MC, Guan K, Villamil MB. Do cover crops benefit soil microbiome? A meta-analysis of current research. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 2020; 142:107701. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio. 2019.107701 8. Hudek C, Putinica C, Otten W, Baets S de. Functional root trait-based classification of cover crops to improve soil physical properties. European J Soil Science 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.13147 9. Poeplau Christopher, Don Axel. Carbon sequestration in agricultural soils via cultivation of cover crops —A meta-analysis. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 2015; 200:33–41. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.agee.2014.10.024 10. Jian Jinshi, Du Xuan, Mark S Reiter, Ryan D Stewart. A meta-analysis of global cropland soil carbon changes due to cover cropping; 2020. 11. Searchinger Timothy D., Wirsenius Stefan, Beringer Tim, Dumas Patrice. Assessing the efficiency of changes in land use for mitigating climate change. Nature. 2018; 564:249–53. https://doi.org/10.1038/ s41586-018-0757-z PMID: 30542169 12. Kovak Emma, Dan Blaustein-Rejto Matin Qaim. Genetically modified crops support climate change mit- igation. Trends in Plant Science 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2022.01.004 PMID: 35148945 PLOS ONE Cover crops support the climate change mitigation potential of agroecosystems

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302139 May 8, 2024 17 / 20