Soil biota play a crucial role in soil ecosystem stability, promoting organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling. Compared to conventional farming,organic farming is known to improve soil properties such as agg...Soil biota play a crucial role in soil ecosystem stability, promoting organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling. Compared to conventional farming,organic farming is known to improve soil properties such as aggregation. Despite the importance of soil microbial communities in soil biogeochemical processes, our knowledge of their dynamics is rudimentary, especially under different agricultural management practices. Here we studied the effects of vineyard management practices(conventional and organic) and soil aggregate fractions(micro-, meso-, and macroaggregates) on free-living soil nematodes.The abundance, diversity, and ecological indices, such as the Wasilewska index and trophic diversity, of free-living soil nematodes were determined. We found that the abundance of free-living soil nematodes was increased by organic farming. In addition, plant parasites were found to increase in macroaggregates in the organic plot, which may be attributed to the weeds present due to no-tillage and no herbicides. Nematode family network connectivity increased in complexity with increasing aggregate size, highlighting the importance of the interplay between nematodes and soil inter-aggregate pore size and connectivity.展开更多
Land degradation affects extensive drylands around the world.Due to long-term misuse,the Israeli Sde Zin dryland site has faced severe degradation.The study objective was to assess the feasibility of passive restorati...Land degradation affects extensive drylands around the world.Due to long-term misuse,the Israeli Sde Zin dryland site has faced severe degradation.The study objective was to assess the feasibility of passive restoration in recovering the site.The study was conducted in four land-units along a preservation-degradation continuum:(1)an area that has not faced anthropogenic disturbances(Ecological land);(2)an area that was proclaimed as a national park in the 1970s(Rehabilitation);(3)an area that was prone,until recently,to moderate anthropogenic pressures(Triangle);and(4)a dirt road that was subjected to long-term off-road traffic(Dirtroad).Soil was sampled and analyzed for its properties.The soil physical quality followed the trend of Ecological land>Rehabilitation>Triangle>Dirtroad.Specifically,high soil salinity in the latter three land-units is attributed to long-term erosional processes that exposed the underlying salic horizons.Herbaceous and shrubby vegetation cover was also monitored.The herbaceous vegetation cover followed the trend of Ecological land(86.4%)>Rehabilitation(40.3%)>Triangle(26.2%)>Dirtroad(2.1%),while the shrubby cover was 2.8%in the Ecological land-unit,and practically zero in the other land-units.It seems that despite the effectiveness of passive restoration in recovering the soil’s physical properties,the recovery of vegetation is limited by the severe soil salinity.展开更多
文摘Soil biota play a crucial role in soil ecosystem stability, promoting organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling. Compared to conventional farming,organic farming is known to improve soil properties such as aggregation. Despite the importance of soil microbial communities in soil biogeochemical processes, our knowledge of their dynamics is rudimentary, especially under different agricultural management practices. Here we studied the effects of vineyard management practices(conventional and organic) and soil aggregate fractions(micro-, meso-, and macroaggregates) on free-living soil nematodes.The abundance, diversity, and ecological indices, such as the Wasilewska index and trophic diversity, of free-living soil nematodes were determined. We found that the abundance of free-living soil nematodes was increased by organic farming. In addition, plant parasites were found to increase in macroaggregates in the organic plot, which may be attributed to the weeds present due to no-tillage and no herbicides. Nematode family network connectivity increased in complexity with increasing aggregate size, highlighting the importance of the interplay between nematodes and soil inter-aggregate pore size and connectivity.
基金funded by the Nature and Parks Authority,and laboratory works was funded by the Israel Science Foundation(ISF)Grant No.602/21The Dead Sea and Arava Science Center is supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology。
文摘Land degradation affects extensive drylands around the world.Due to long-term misuse,the Israeli Sde Zin dryland site has faced severe degradation.The study objective was to assess the feasibility of passive restoration in recovering the site.The study was conducted in four land-units along a preservation-degradation continuum:(1)an area that has not faced anthropogenic disturbances(Ecological land);(2)an area that was proclaimed as a national park in the 1970s(Rehabilitation);(3)an area that was prone,until recently,to moderate anthropogenic pressures(Triangle);and(4)a dirt road that was subjected to long-term off-road traffic(Dirtroad).Soil was sampled and analyzed for its properties.The soil physical quality followed the trend of Ecological land>Rehabilitation>Triangle>Dirtroad.Specifically,high soil salinity in the latter three land-units is attributed to long-term erosional processes that exposed the underlying salic horizons.Herbaceous and shrubby vegetation cover was also monitored.The herbaceous vegetation cover followed the trend of Ecological land(86.4%)>Rehabilitation(40.3%)>Triangle(26.2%)>Dirtroad(2.1%),while the shrubby cover was 2.8%in the Ecological land-unit,and practically zero in the other land-units.It seems that despite the effectiveness of passive restoration in recovering the soil’s physical properties,the recovery of vegetation is limited by the severe soil salinity.
