Showing papers in "Applied Soil Ecology in 1998"

TL;DR: The most recent colonizer–persister allocation and the application of this scaling in the Maturity Index, cp-triangles, MI(2–5) and PPI/MI-ratio is presented and the life strategy approach and trophic group classification are proposed to integrate to obtain a better understanding of nematode biodiversity and soil functioning.

TL;DR: It is argued that for the management and development of sustainable ecosystems, it is probably more important to understand the linkages between key species or functional groups and ecosystem function, rather than focusing on species diversity.

TL;DR: A simple conceptual model of ecological interactions in soil is presented and the plant has a central place in this model in that it both governs, and is a biological assessment of, the roles soil fauna play in ecosystem processes.

TL;DR: Nine different approaches towards the development of community bioindicators are recognized in the soil zoology literature and a conclusion may be that a combination of physiotype classification and multivariate statistical analysis holds the greatest promise at the moment.

TL;DR: In this paper, a review summarises information on selected groups of soil animals in grasslands, the factors influencing their abundance, diversity and community structure and their relationships to the functioning and stability of grassland ecosystems.

TL;DR: Results indicate a link between heterogeneity and diversity of mites active in a particular horizon of litter and some influence of litter-type upon species composition, though not conclusive evidence of the ultimate role of heterogeneity in maintaining the diversity of oribatid mites.

TL;DR: In this article, the influence of earthworm invasion on soil chemical and biological characteristics, such as soil NO−3 and NH+4 concentrations, microbial biomass carbon (C) and nitrogen (N), readily-mineralizable C, organic matter content, pH and denitrification enzyme activity (DEA), was investigated.

TL;DR: Negative effects of tillage and fungicide residues (Cu, Zn) are clear enough factors to promote more extensive use of earthworms as reliable bioindicators in the rural landscape.

TL;DR: Investigation of the influence of plant development, cultivar and soil characteristics on the total rhizosphere microbial population and community structure of maize plants was investigated using the concept of r/K strategy, finding that plant development and soil type have a marked influence on the Rhizosphere microflora of maize, whereas cultivar type does not have a role.

TL;DR: A litterbag decomposition experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that differences in crop residue management practices influence the size and activity of the microbial community that regulates residue decomposition and found no significant effects of prior residue management on microbial activity and decomposition of barley or lupin residues.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the soil fauna at 11 selected forest sites within a long-term biomonitoring programme with the specific objective of establishing a system of soil quality classification based on biological criteria.

TL;DR: The influence of climate, substrate quality and microarthropods on decomposition was studied by comparing the mass loss of litter at three forested sites: two tropical and one temperate, where diversity was greatest at the tropical sites.

TL;DR: It appears that the different species of inoculated earthworms had created contrasting burrowing patterns, with A. caliginosa creating more continuous and better connected to the soil surface than O. cyaneum, which created the most continuous burrows through the subsoil.

TL;DR: Review of recent experiments dealing with the role of soil fauna in decomposition, mineralisation and primary production in coniferous forest soils suggests that taxonomic diversity and predation have no consistent effects on the process rates in soil, while adding to the `functional' or `trophic group diversity' results in a more predictable enhancement in mineralisation.

TL;DR: It is argued that future research should be directed to answer the question which energetic properties of the organisms form the basis of the patterning of the interaction strengths, as this would improve the understanding of the interrelationships between energetics, community stability, and hence the maintenance of biological diversity.

TL;DR: The authors infer that an explicit consideration of spatiotemporal variation is essential in experimentation, as well as in modelling, in order to analyse species richness–function relationships.

TL;DR: The presence of Captan enhanced denitrifying and total culturable bacteria, showing that some microbial groups can tolerate high doses of this fungicide.

TL;DR: Spatial variation in abundance of earthworms, soil properties and herbage yield were surveyed on a 1.4 ha grass–clover field and non-parametric correlation suggested a positive relationships between earthworm activity and both infiltration of water and clover production.

TL;DR: In this article, three main reasons for protecting soil biodiversity are discussed: (i) Ecological reasons: Decomposition and soil formation are key processes in nature and represent ''ecological services'' for the rest of the ecosystem.

TL;DR: In this article, a 40-year-old field experiment was conducted in which soil samples were taken from a 40 year old field experiment and were chosen so as to obtain soils that mainly differed in the amount rather than quality of past C input.

TL;DR: The distribution of endoparasitic nematodes may be an important factor leading to the specific nature of soil pathogen complexes in coastal foredunes, and the possible effects of specific vs. generalistic plant parasitic nematode in soil communities on vegetation processes are discussed.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the long-term effects of removing forest harvesting residues (above-ground whole-tree harvesting; WTH) in the soil food web, using data from two different experiments on slash removal and addition in Sweden.

TL;DR: Changes in the incidence of nematodes of different feeding types in relation to vegetational succession support changes in the structure of the nematode fauna in the Slowinski National Park.

TL;DR: The intensive burrowing activity of the anecic and endogeic species led to an even distribution of the litter C in the soil column whereas with the epianecic species the distribution was more localized.

TL;DR: The feeding activity of all investigated organisms was higher in defaunated arable soil than in artificial soil, and the enchytraeids and F. candida had the highest feeding activity.

TL;DR: It is concluded that fungal feeding microarthropods are of significant importance for the resilience of forest soil systems because they enable microorganisms to grow and immobilize nutrients in microbial biomass.

TL;DR: This work investigates the concepts of `functional diversity' and `ecosystem performance' in relation to feeding habits (such as fungivory, detritivory etc.) of soil fauna and plant growth and draws the following conclusions.

TL;DR: Protozoan diversity during the recovery of soil communities from serious environmental disturbance is discussed and some proposals for the direction of future research are made.

TL;DR: The diversity and density of oribatid mites did not differ significantly between beech, spruce and mixed stands, however, more `endemic' species occurred in the mixed stands presumably due to a more heterogeneous and patchy habitat structure.

TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of fragmentation of a Eucalyptus forest on the abundance and diversity of soil invertebrates are investigated. But the authors focus on population rather than community levels, illustrating that studies need to be focused at population instead of community levels.