Are grasslands important habitats for soil microarthropod conservation?

Abstract

Biodiversity has been a focal aim of environmental protection since the Rio conference, but only with the beginning of the new millennium did soil biodiversity become an important aspect of international policy. Edaphic fauna play a key role in many soil functions, such as organic matter decomposition, humus formation and nutrient element cycling; moreover, affect the porosity, aeration, infiltration and distribution of organic matter in soil horizons, modifying soil structure and improving its fertility. The ecosystem services provided by soil animals are becoming progressively lost due to agricultural practice intensification, which causes a reduction in both abundance and taxonomic diversity of soil communities. In the present study, a permanent grassland habitat was studied in order to evaluate its potential as a soil biodiversity reservoir in agroecosystems. Grassland samples were compared with samples from a semi-natural woodland area and an arable land site. Microarthropod abundances, Acari/Collembola ratio (A/C), Shannon diversity index (H 0 ) and evenness index (E) were calculated. QBS-ar index was used in order to evaluate soil biological quality. Microarthropod communities of the three land use typologies differed in both the observed groups and their abundance. Steady soil taxa characterized both woodland and grassland soils, whereas their abundances were significantly higher in woodland soil. Taxon diversity and soil biological quality in the grasslands did not differ from the woodland samples. The microarthropod community in the arable land showed a reduction both in taxa numbers and soil biological quality compared with the other sites. Soil biological quality and edaphic community composition highlighted the importance of grassland habitats in the protection of soil biodiversity.

Soil microarthropod communities from Mediterranean forest ecosystems in Central Italy under different disturbances

“…13 Average EMI value of the taxonomic group with major contribution to dissimilarity between Tolfa, Vetralla, Canale Monterano and Tarquinia Turkey oak plots (SIMPER procedure; cut off, ≈70 %). The analyses were performed after removing the heavily impacted plots (tractor/car transit, trampling and sea effect) 70 to 200; Gardi et al 2002;Menta et al 2008Menta et al , 2011, in managed chestnut woodland (157-107; Paparatti and Peroni, personal communication), in vaccinietum (Empetro-Vaccinietum gaultherioidis) and alpine fields (Anthoxantho-Brachypodietum genuensis), (QBS-ar average values are equal to 135 and 190, respectively;Leoni 2008) and in degraded areas, such as covered dumps (QBS-ar value was lower than 80; Menta et al 2008). A previous study (Callaham et al 2006) indicated a clear gradient of decreasing diversity of macroinvertebrate soil communities from hardwood stands to pine stands followed by pastures and cultivated fields.…”

Biomass and Diversity of Soil Mite Functional Groups Respond to Extensification of Land Management, Potentially Affecting Soil Ecosystem Services

“…In a general study on microarthropods, Menta et al (2011) showed taxonomic assemblages to be clearly different between grasslands and agricultural lands, a pattern that was largely driven by differences in the mites and springtails. A similar distinction was observed for soil mites by Dirilgen et al (2015) across a north-south European transect.…”

“…A similar distinction was observed for soil mites by Dirilgen et al (2015) across a north-south European transect. Moreover, microarthropods are less abundant in intensively managed arable soils than in soils of extensively managed systems, such as grasslands (Giller et al, 1997;PostmaBlaauw et al, 2010;Menta et al, 2011). Thus, the transition from an agricultural system to an extensively managed grassland can be expected to result in clear changes in the mite community of the soil.…”

“…It has been shown that microarthropods are generally more abundant in soils of extensively managed systems, such as grasslands, than in intensively managed arable soils (Giller et al, 1997;Minor and Cianciolo, 2007;Postma-Blaauw et al, 2010). Likewise, taxon diversity has been shown to be higher in grasslands than in intensive arable lands (Menta et al, 2011), resulting in an overall higher soil biological quality. Here, we therefore hypothesized that the transition from an agricultural system to an extensively managed grassland will result in clear successional changes in the abundance and taxonomic composition of soil mite communities, and therewith in their contribution to ecosystem services.…”

Does the natural “microcosm” created by Tuber aestivum affect soil microarthropods? A new hypothesis based on Collembola in truffle culture

“…The EMI is a valué assigned at each taxonomic group and ranges from 1 to 20, from the lowest to the greatest adaptation to the soil. For more details see Gardi et al (2008); Tabaglio et al (2009);Menta et al (2011);Blasi et al (2013) and Menta et al (2014).…”