Birkhofer, Klaus; Fliessbach, Andreas; Gavín-Centol, María Pilar; Hedlund, Katarina; Ingimarsdóttir, María; Bracht Jørgensen, Helene; Kozjek, Katja; Meyer, Svenja; Montserrat, Marta; Sánchez Moreno, Sara; Larano, Moya Jordi; Scheu, Stefan; Serrano-Carnero, Diego; Truu, Jaak and Kundel, Dominika (2021) Conventional agriculture and not drought alters relationships between soil biota and functions. Scientific Reports, 11 (23975), pp. 1-12.
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Document available online at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-03276-x
Summary
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.
EPrint Type: | Journal paper |
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Keywords: | agroecology, biodiversity, climate, drought, soil, soil biota, Abacus, FiBL10101, SoilClim |
Agrovoc keywords: | Language Value URI English agroecology UNSPECIFIED English biodiversity http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_33949 English climate http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_1665 English drought http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_2391 English soil http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_7156 |
Subjects: | Soil > Soil quality Environmental aspects > Air and water emissions |
Research affiliation: | Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Crops > Field trials > Long-term experiments Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Soil > Soil quality Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Sustainability > Climate Spain > Other organizations Sweden > Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) Germany > Other organizations |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-021-03276-x |
Related Links: | https://www.fibl.org/en/themes/projectdatabase/projectitem/project/1286 |
Deposited By: | Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau, FiBL |
ID Code: | 43163 |
Deposited On: | 05 Jan 2022 13:28 |
Last Modified: | 05 Jan 2022 13:45 |
Document Language: | English |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Peer-reviewed and accepted |
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