Impact of Grassland Reseeding, Herbicide Spraying and Ploughing on Diversity and Abundance of Soil Arthropods

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Liu, W., Zhang, J. L., Norris, S. L. and Murray, P. J. 2016. Impact of Grassland Reseeding, Herbicide Spraying and Ploughing on Diversity and Abundance of Soil Arthropods. Frontiers in Plant Science. 7, p. 1200. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2016.01200

AuthorsLiu, W., Zhang, J. L., Norris, S. L. and Murray, P. J.
Abstract

In order to determine the interactive effect of reseeding, herbicide spraying and ploughing on soil fauna communities, we conducted a grassland reseeding experiment combined with pre-reseed management to examine how with the whole reseeding process affects soil faunal composition. Sampling occasions and exact treatments were as follows: (1) before chemical herbicide spray; (2) after spray but before ploughing; (3) after ploughing but before reseeding; and (4) after 1 year of recovery. Our results demonstrate that, Acari and Collembola were the two soil fauna taxa with the highest abundance and accounted for around 96% of the relative total abundance among the various managements. Herbicide application tended to increase soil invertebrate abundance. Conversely, subsequent ploughing significantly reduced soil invertebrate abundance and had an obvious negative effect on soil primary and secondary decomposers, which were mainly due to the variations of Acari (especially Oribatida) and Coleoptera group abundance. Moreover, reseeding also reduced the individual number of the groups mentioned above, and favored those predators with a larger body size and individual weight. After 1 year recovery, Collembola abundance recovered to the pre-treatment levels, while with Arthropod and Acari groups were still fluctuating.

Year of Publication2016
JournalFrontiers in Plant Science
Journal citation7, p. 1200
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2016.01200
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
FunderBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
European Union
Funder project or codeThe North Wyke Farm Platform [2012-2017]
Soils for Sustainable Agriculture and Environment
EcoFINDERS
Publisher's version
Copyright license
CC BY
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online09 Aug 2016
Publication process dates
Accepted27 Jul 2016
PublisherFrontiers Media SA
ISSN1664-462X

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