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Development of collembolans after conversion towards organic farming

Schrader, Stefan; Kiehne, Jahn; Anderson, Traute; Paulsen, Hans-Marten and Rahmann, Gerold (2006) Development of collembolans after conversion towards organic farming. In: Atkinson, Chris and Younie, David (Eds.) What will organic farming deliver?, AAB Office, Warwick, UK, Aspects of Applied Biology, no. 79, pp. 181-184.

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Summary

In Northern Germany, a diverse and complex experimental farm of the Federal Agricultural Research Centre (FAL) was set-up in 2001 covering all main aspects of organic farming. Previously, the 600 ha farm had been managed conventionally. Adjacent conventional farms were used as reference. The aim of this project was to study collembolans, microbial biomass and soil organic carbon in six organically farmed fields managed as a crop rotation of six different crops compared with an adjacent conventionally managed field. We hypothesized that the specific management in organic farming promotes soil biota. Soil samples were taken during the growing season in 2004. Collembolan abundances and microbial biomass were lower under organic management, but, generally, collembolan diversity was higher in organically farmed fields combined with a shifting in the dominance structure of the species. This result reveals that, even after three years, the soil biota is still changing with management conversion.


EPrint Type:Conference paper, poster, etc.
Type of presentation:Paper
Keywords:organic farming, Collembola, microbial biomass, soil biodiversity, management conversion
Subjects: Soil > Soil quality > Soil biology
Environmental aspects > Biodiversity and ecosystem services
Research affiliation: Germany > Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries - VTI > Institute of Organic Farming - OEL
Deposited By: Rahmann, Prof. Dr. Gerold
ID Code:9310
Deposited On:27 Sep 2006
Last Modified:12 Apr 2010 07:34
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted

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