Organic amendments increase the flow uniformity of energy across nematode food webs

Wan, Bingbing; Hu, Zhengkun; Liu, Ting; Yang, Qian; Li, Daming; Zhang, Chongzhe; Chen, Xiaoyun; Hu, Feng; Kardol, Paul; Griffiths, Bryan; Liu, Manqiang

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2022.108695

Cited by 26 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…The energy flux peaks occurred when diversity reached its highest values for all trophic compartments. These results underline the important role of diversity in driving the functioning of fish food webs, as also observed for insects (Barnes et al, 2014) and nematodes (Wan et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Long‐term changes in multi‐trophic diversity alter the functioning of river food webs

Moi,

D'Anatro,

González‐Bergonzoni

et al. 2024

Functional Ecology

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Increasing human pressures threaten fish diversity, with potentially severe but unknown consequences for the functioning of riverine food webs. Using a 17‐year dataset from multi‐trophic fish communities, we investigated the long‐term effects of human pressure on the diversity and food web functioning. Combining metabolic scaling and ecological network principles, we calculate the annual energy fluxes through trophic compartments (top‐carnivore, mesocarnivore, detritivore and omnivore). Energy fluxes link trophic compartments, and thus represents food web functions such as carnivory, omnivory, herbivory and detritivory. Species richness across all trophic compartments was positively associated with energy flux. However, species richness decreased over time, as did the energy flux at the whole‐network level, which was reduced by 75%. Human pressure negatively affected both species richness and energy flux. Moreover, the negative impacts of human pressure on energy flux have intensified over time. Our results illustrate how human pressure can reduce diversity and erode the energy flux through food webs, with negative implications for the ecosystem functioning. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Long‐term changes in multi‐trophic diversity alter the functioning of river food webs

Moi,

D'Anatro,

González‐Bergonzoni

et al. 2024

Functional Ecology

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“…Moreover, compared to acquisitive cover crops, conservative ones yielded higher biomass and therefore, greater amounts of plant materials were incorporated into soils (Figure S2). From a functional perspective, increasing the amount of basal resources could strengthen biotic interactions particularly supporting higher trophic regulations, which also favour the fungal‐based energy channel, and therefore promote agricultural soil biodiversity, the uniform structure of soil food web and potentially multiple soil functions (Djigal et al, 2012; Wan, Hu, et al, 2022; Wardle, 2006). We also found that conservative cover crops supported a higher structure index and maturity index, indicative of a structured and complex soil food web (Ferris et al, 2001), providing multiple ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, biological control and ecosystem stability (Craven et al, 2018; Sylvain & Wall, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging functional traits of cover crops to coordinate crop productivity and soil health

Zhang

Xue

et al. 2022

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Plants act as ecosystem engineers playing fundamental roles in steering their surroundings, including soil abiotic and biotic conditions, soil organisms, and the complex soil food web they comprise. Trait‐based approaches have been considered a ‘Holy Grail’ in linking plants to ecosystem functions, but the mechanistic relationship between plant traits and the soil food web as an indicator of soil health remains poorly understood. We examined this relationship for 16 cover crop species differing in leaf and root traits in a field experiment where corn, Zea mays was the main crop. Based on functional traits, the cover crop species were categorized into two ecological strategies at either end of the resource acquisitive‐conservative spectrum. We investigated the effects of cover crop ecological strategies on corn productivity and soil health. We used soil nematodes as an indicator of soil health and analysed soil physico‐chemical properties and microbial community activities. We found that acquisitive cover crops supported higher soil resource availability, bacterial energy channels in the soil food web, and greater corn productivity than conservative cover crops. In contrast, conservative cover crops supported higher abundances of fungivores and omni‐carnivores than acquisitive cover crop, which reflected a more structured and complex soil food web, implying a healthier soil ecosystem. Conservative cover crops also increased corn productivity compared to the no cover crop control treatment. Synthesis and applications. Collectively, this work shows that cover crops with distinct ecological strategies had their own strengths to enhance ecosystem functions: acquisitive and conservative cover crops improved crop productivity and soil health, respectively. These results indicates that farmers and policy makers can make trait‐based choices in selecting cover crop best serving the local needs. This points to a win‐win solution for food production and ecosystem sustainability.

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“…Moreover, the use of compost, acting as an organic matter resource and energy supply, directly improved the abundance of Scarabaeidae (litter transformers) and Cugygidae (predators) and indirectly enhanced their prey–predator relationship (Cugygidae feeding on pupae and larvae of Scarabaeidae) (Lü et al., 2023; Souza, da Silva, et al., 2023). The energy supply provided by compost in the soil food web created habitat for large‐sized organisms like Scarabaeidae and Cugygidae, classified as resource‐dependent (Forstall‐Sosa et al., 2021; Wan et al., 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stand age and soil organic matter management as driven factors of soil biota community composition and soil chemical properties in a subtropical Acrisol

da Silva,

de Souza,

Nascimento

2024

Soil Use and Management

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Pyrus pyrifolia is a common temperate fruit crop cultivated in Southern Brazil for fruit production. Although this plant species is found in several Brazilian states (Paraná, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul), it is predominantly concentrated in the smallholder farming system in Santa Catarina, Brazil. Our aim was to compare the soil biota community composition, soil chemical properties, and soil quality in two adjacent stands with different ages. Within each stand, we analysed the influence of four organic residue management practices. Our results indicated that both studied stands, influenced by different organic residue management practices, exhibited differences in soil biota community composition, soil chemical properties, and soil quality. Acaridae, Araneidae, Blattidae, Halictophagidae, and Opiliones were the main contributors, explaining 78.08% of the variance in the data. The 16‐year‐old stand, with compost utilization, displayed a high biodiversity of soil organisms, average soil chemical properties, and the highest values of soil quality, creating a habitat for predators and providing energy for litter transformers and ecosystem engineers in subtropical Acrisol. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the influence of old stands on soil biota community composition, soil chemical properties, ecosystem homeostasis, herbivory pressure, and prey‐predation relationships. This, in turn, may enhance interest in establishing new management plans for Pyrus pyrifolia stands in commercial orchards.

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Organic amendments increase the flow uniformity of energy across nematode food webs

Cited by 26 publications

References 76 publications

Long‐term changes in multi‐trophic diversity alter the functioning of river food webs

Long‐term changes in multi‐trophic diversity alter the functioning of river food webs

Leveraging functional traits of cover crops to coordinate crop productivity and soil health

Stand age and soil organic matter management as driven factors of soil biota community composition and soil chemical properties in a subtropical Acrisol

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