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Soil food web properties explain ecosystem services across European land use systems

de Vries, Franciska T. ; Thebault, Elisa ; Liiri, Mira ; Birkhofer, Klaus LU ; Tsiafouli, Maria A. ; Bjornlund, Lisa ; Bracht Jörgensen, Helene LU ; Brady, Mark Vincent LU orcid ; Christensen, Soren and de Ruiter, Peter C. , et al. (2013) In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110(35). p.14296-14301
Abstract
Intensive land use reduces the diversity and abundance of many soil biota, with consequences for the processes that they govern and the ecosystem services that these processes underpin. Relationships between soil biota and ecosystem processes have mostly been found in laboratory experiments and rarely are found in the field. Here, we quantified, across four countries of contrasting climatic and soil conditions in Europe, how differences in soil food web composition resulting from land use systems (intensive wheat rotation, extensive rotation, and permanent grassland) influence the functioning of soils and the ecosystem services that they deliver. Intensive wheat rotation consistently reduced the biomass of all components of the soil food... (More)
Intensive land use reduces the diversity and abundance of many soil biota, with consequences for the processes that they govern and the ecosystem services that these processes underpin. Relationships between soil biota and ecosystem processes have mostly been found in laboratory experiments and rarely are found in the field. Here, we quantified, across four countries of contrasting climatic and soil conditions in Europe, how differences in soil food web composition resulting from land use systems (intensive wheat rotation, extensive rotation, and permanent grassland) influence the functioning of soils and the ecosystem services that they deliver. Intensive wheat rotation consistently reduced the biomass of all components of the soil food web across all countries. Soil food web properties strongly and consistently predicted processes of C and N cycling across land use systems and geographic locations, and they were a better predictor of these processes than land use. Processes of carbon loss increased with soil food web properties that correlated with soil C content, such as earthworm biomass and fungal/bacterial energy channel ratio, and were greatest in permanent grassland. In contrast, processes of N cycling were explained by soil food web properties independent of land use, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and bacterial channel biomass. Our quantification of the contribution of soil organisms to processes of C and N cycling across land use systems and geographic locations shows that soil biota need to be included in C and N cycling models and highlights the need to map and conserve soil biodiversity across the world. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
soil fauna, modeling, soil microbes, nitrogen
in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
volume
110
issue
35
pages
14296 - 14301
publisher
National Academy of Sciences
external identifiers
  • wos:000323564600049
  • scopus:84883408849
  • pmid:23940339
ISSN
1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.1305198110
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
cfa1396c-7e79-4692-b146-69950561adb9 (old id 4062942)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:27:48
date last changed
2024-02-14 13:38:51
@article{cfa1396c-7e79-4692-b146-69950561adb9,
  abstract     = {{Intensive land use reduces the diversity and abundance of many soil biota, with consequences for the processes that they govern and the ecosystem services that these processes underpin. Relationships between soil biota and ecosystem processes have mostly been found in laboratory experiments and rarely are found in the field. Here, we quantified, across four countries of contrasting climatic and soil conditions in Europe, how differences in soil food web composition resulting from land use systems (intensive wheat rotation, extensive rotation, and permanent grassland) influence the functioning of soils and the ecosystem services that they deliver. Intensive wheat rotation consistently reduced the biomass of all components of the soil food web across all countries. Soil food web properties strongly and consistently predicted processes of C and N cycling across land use systems and geographic locations, and they were a better predictor of these processes than land use. Processes of carbon loss increased with soil food web properties that correlated with soil C content, such as earthworm biomass and fungal/bacterial energy channel ratio, and were greatest in permanent grassland. In contrast, processes of N cycling were explained by soil food web properties independent of land use, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and bacterial channel biomass. Our quantification of the contribution of soil organisms to processes of C and N cycling across land use systems and geographic locations shows that soil biota need to be included in C and N cycling models and highlights the need to map and conserve soil biodiversity across the world.}},
  author       = {{de Vries, Franciska T. and Thebault, Elisa and Liiri, Mira and Birkhofer, Klaus and Tsiafouli, Maria A. and Bjornlund, Lisa and Bracht Jörgensen, Helene and Brady, Mark Vincent and Christensen, Soren and de Ruiter, Peter C. and D'Hertefeldt, Tina and Frouz, Jan and Hedlund, Katarina and Hemerik, Lia and Hol, W. H. Gera and Hotes, Stefan and Mortimer, Simon R. and Setala, Heikki and Sgardelis, Stefanos P. and Uteseny, Karoline and van der Putten, Wim H. and Wolters, Volkmar and Bardgett, Richard D.}},
  issn         = {{1091-6490}},
  keywords     = {{soil fauna; modeling; soil microbes; nitrogen}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{35}},
  pages        = {{14296--14301}},
  publisher    = {{National Academy of Sciences}},
  series       = {{Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}},
  title        = {{Soil food web properties explain ecosystem services across European land use systems}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1305198110}},
  doi          = {{10.1073/pnas.1305198110}},
  volume       = {{110}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}