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- Birkhofer, Klaus, et al.
(författare)
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Conventional agriculture and not drought alters relationships between soil biota and functions
- 2021
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Soil biodiversity constitutes the biological pillars of ecosystem services provided by soils worldwide. Soil life is threatened by intense agricultural management and shifts in climatic conditions as two important global change drivers which are not often jointly studied under field conditions. We addressed the effects of experimental short-term drought over the wheat growing season on soil organisms and ecosystem functions under organic and conventional farming in a Swiss long term trial. Our results suggest that activity and community metrics are suitable indicators for drought stress while microbial communities primarily responded to agricultural practices. Importantly, we found a significant loss of multiple pairwise positive and negative relationships between soil biota and process-related variables in response to conventional farming, but not in response to experimental drought. These results suggest a considerable weakening of the contribution of soil biota to ecosystem functions under long-term conventional agriculture. Independent of the farming system, experimental and seasonal (ambient) drought conditions directly affected soil biota and activity. A higher soil water content during early and intermediate stages of the growing season and a high number of significant relationships between soil biota to ecosystem functions suggest that organic farming provides a buffer against drought effects.
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| 3. |
- Feng, Lanya, et al.
(författare)
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Fallows and permanent grasslands conserve the species composition and functional diversity of carabid beetles and linyphiid spiders in agricultural landscapes
- 2021
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Ingår i: Insect Conservation and Diversity. - : Wiley. - 1752-458X .- 1752-4598. ; 14:6, s. 825-836
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The European Union reformed the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP 2013) to include greening measures with the aim to decrease negative impacts of farming on the environment and biodiversity. The degree to which greening measures such as permanent grassland or fallows of different ages enhance biodiversity is still debated. We investigate the effect of fallows in two different age classes and permanent grassland in the surrounding landscape on the taxonomic and functional diversity of two numerically dominant groups of natural enemies in cereal fields: soil-emerging carabid beetles (Family Carabidae, Order Coleoptera) and ground-active linyphiid spiders (Family Linyphiidae, Order Araneae). The species richness, abundance and Hill–Shannon diversity of carabids and linyphiids did not differ significantly between fallows and cereal fields and was not significantly related to the proportion of permanent grassland in the surrounding landscape. The species composition of both communities differed significantly between cereal fields and fallows. The functional distinctness, as an index reflecting the similarity among species in terms of functional traits, of linyphiids was significantly higher in fallows than in cereal fields. The trait composition of carabids was significantly related to the proportion of permanent grassland depending on field type (cereal or fallow). Our results document considerable species turnover in natural enemy communities of adjacent cereal fields and fallows, and support the assumption that older fallows (>8 years) produce functionally more diverse natural enemy communities. Maintaining fallows for a long period is an important measure to promote the functional diversity in predaceous arthropod communities.
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- Kozjek, Katja, et al.
(författare)
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Long-term agricultural management impacts arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi more than short-term experimental drought
- 2021
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Ingår i: Applied Soil Ecology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0929-1393. ; 168
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Agricultural management practices and extreme weather events associated with climate change can influence the diversity and abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) with potential consequences for crop production. However, the importance of the interactive effects of long-term agricultural management and extreme weather events on AMF communities in agricultural soils is not yet fully explored. A short-term drought experiment with rainout-shelters was performed in winter wheat fields in a long-term agricultural trial with organic (biodynamic) and conventional management practices. During four months of the winter wheat growing period (March–June 2017), the rainout-shelters reduced the ambient precipitation by 65% on average. At two sampling dates, the AMF diversity and community composition were assessed using a single-molecule real-time (SMRT) DNA sequencing. A total of 955 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), belonging to twelve genera were identified. The long-term farming systems and the short-term experimental drought did not affect AMF ASV diversity levels. The AMF community composition at the genus level differed between the organic and the conventional farming systems, but no distinctive communities were found in response to the experimental drought. The three most abundant genera Acaulospora, Paraglomus and Funneliformis were correlated to the two farming practices. Our study demonstrates that AMF communities in agricultural soils are responsive to long-term farming systems, and are resistant to one short-term summer drought event.
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- Kundel, Dominika, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of simulated drought on biological soil quality, microbial diversity and yields under long-term conventional and organic agriculture
- 2020
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Ingår i: FEMS Microbiology Ecology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1574-6941 .- 0168-6496. ; 96:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Drought and agricultural management influence soil microorganisms with unknown consequences for the functioning of agroecosystems. We simulated drought periods in organic (biodynamic) and conventional wheat fields and monitored effects on soil water content, microorganisms and crops. Above the wilting point, water content and microbial respiration were higher under biodynamic than conventional farming. Highest bacterial and fungal abundances were found in biodynamically managed soils, and distinct microbial communities characterised the farming systems. Most biological soil quality parameters and crop yields were only marginally affected by the experimental drought, except for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which increased in abundance under the experimental drought in both farming systems. AMF were further strongly promoted by biodynamic farming resulting in almost three times higher AMF abundance under experimental drought in the biodynamic compared with the conventional farming system. Our data suggest an improved water storage capacity under biodynamic farming and confirms positive effects of biodynamic farming on biological soil quality. The interactive effects of the farming system and drought may further be investigated under more substantial droughts. Given the importance of AMF for the plant's water supply, more in-depth studies on AMF may help to clarify their role for yields under conditions predicted by future climate scenarios.
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| 6. |
- Tschumi, Matthias, et al.
(författare)
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Woody elements benefit bird diversity to a larger extent than semi-natural grasslands in cereal-dominated landscapes
- 2020
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Ingår i: Basic and Applied Ecology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1439-1791. ; 46, s. 15-23
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Increasing landscape complexity can mitigate negative effects of agricultural intensification on biodiversity by offering resources complementary to those provided in arable fields. In particular, grazed semi-natural grasslands and woody elements support farmland birds, but little is known about their relative effects on bird diversity and community composition. In addition, the relative importance of local habitat versus landscape composition remains unclear. We investigated how the presence of semi-natural grasslands, the number of woody elements and the composition of the wider agricultural landscape affect bird species richness, true diversity (exponential Shannon diversity) and species composition. Bird communities were surveyed four times on 16 paired transects of 250 m each with 8 transects placed between a crop field and a semi-natural grassland and 8 transects between two crop fields with no semi-natural grasslands in the vicinity. The number of woody elements around transects was selected as an important predictor in all models, having a positive effect on species richness and true diversity, while the local presence of semi-natural grasslands was not selected in the best models. However, species richness and true diversity increased with increasing cover of ley and semi-natural grasslands, whereas species composition was modified by the coverage of winter wheat at the landscape scale. Furthermore, bird species richness, true diversity and species composition differed between sampling dates. As bird diversity benefited from woody elements, rather than from the local presence of semi-natural grasslands as such, it is important to maintain woody structures in farmland. However, the positive effect of grassland at the landscape scale highlights the importance of habitat variability at multiple scales. Because species richness and true diversity were affected by different landscape components compared to species composition, a mosaic of land-use types is needed to achieve multiple conservation goals across agricultural landscapes.
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