7511 2 archive 4520 disk0/00/00/75/11 2006-05-09 2009-09-09 13:39:53 2009-08-20 14:30:51 conference_item show 0 en int_conf_joint2006_4 May 30-31, 2006 Joint Organic Congress Odense, Denmark never 0 TRUE paper Philipps Lois Ms Stockdale Elizabeth A. Dr Waston Christine A. Dr pub 2soilbiol 1soilqual Maintaining ecosystem functions is a key issue for sustainable farming, while recent reviews (Hole et al, 2005, Fuller et al 2005) have highlighted that a wide range of taxa, including birds and mammals, benefit from organic management of land, there is a need to bring together the evidence for the impact of agricultural management practices on belowground biodiversity. A focus simply on the biodiversity of below-ground species is however not enough and there is a need to consider the contribution of below-ground biological processes to the maintenance and enhancement of a range of ecosystem services. A recent literature review on the impacts of land management practices on soil ecology and function shows clearly that farm management practices do alter below-ground biodiversity and ecosystem function. The data indicate that reducing the intensity of use of mechanical and manufactured inputs and (re)-discovering cost-effective ways to integrate biological inputs, will benefit below–ground biodiversity, particularly in lowland grassland and cropping systems. Benefits are seen from both organic and integrated systems; the evidence base is not strong enough to conclusively distinguish the benefits of these approaches from one another in lowland arable systems 2006 published public 5726 1 7511 1 source en public

belowground_biodiversity.doc

belowground_biodiversity.doc 223232 http://orgprints.org/7511/1/belowground_biodiversity.doc 5727 1 7511 2 application/pdf en public

7511.pdf

7511.pdf 857404 http://orgprints.org/7511/2/7511.pdf