An ecosystem approach to assess soil quality in organically and conventionally managed farms in Iceland and Austria
Intensive agricultural production can be an important driver for the loss of long-term soil quality. For this reason, the European Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) network adopted four pairs of agricultural CZO sites that differ in their management: conventional or organic. The CZO sites include two...
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doaj-766a0f64240349078aca0c6abe895eba2020-11-24T21:02:07ZengCopernicus PublicationsSOIL2199-39712199-398X2015-01-01118310110.5194/soil-1-83-2015An ecosystem approach to assess soil quality in organically and conventionally managed farms in Iceland and AustriaJ. P. van Leeuwen0T. Lehtinen1G. J. Lair2J. Bloem3L. Hemerik4K. V. Ragnarsdóttir5G. Gísladóttir6J. S. Newton7P. C. de Ruiter8Biometris, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 100, 6700 AC Wageningen, the NetherlandsInstitute of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 7, IS-101 Reykjavík, IcelandInstitute of Soil Research, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Peter-Jordan-Straße 82, 1190 Vienna, AustriaAlterra, Wageningen University and Research Centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the NetherlandsBiometris, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 100, 6700 AC Wageningen, the NetherlandsInstitute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 7, IS-101 Reykjavík, IcelandInstitute of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 7, IS-101 Reykjavík, IcelandDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, CW 405, Edmonton T6G 2E9, Alberta, CanadaBiometris, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 100, 6700 AC Wageningen, the NetherlandsIntensive agricultural production can be an important driver for the loss of long-term soil quality. For this reason, the European Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) network adopted four pairs of agricultural CZO sites that differ in their management: conventional or organic. The CZO sites include two pairs of grassland farms in Iceland and two pairs of arable farms in Austria. Conventional fields differed from the organic fields in the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides. <br><br> Soils of these eight farms were analysed in terms of their physical, chemical, and biological properties, including soil aggregate size distribution, soil organic matter contents, abundance of soil microbes and soil fauna, and taxonomic diversity of soil microarthropods. <br><br> In Icelandic grasslands, organically farmed soils had larger mean weight diameters of soil aggregates than the conventional farms, while there were no differences on the Austrian farms. Organic farming did not systematically influence organic matter contents or composition, nor soil carbon and nitrogen contents. Also, soil food web structures, in terms of presence of trophic groups of soil organisms, were highly similar among all farms, indicating a low sensitivity of trophic structure to land use or climate. However, soil organism biomass, especially of bacteria and nematodes, was consistently higher on organic farms than on conventional farms. Within the microarthropods, taxonomic diversity was systematically higher in the organic farms compared to the conventional farms. This difference was found across countries and farm, crop, and soil types. The results do not show systematic differences in physical and chemical properties between organic and conventional farms, but confirm that organic farming can enhance soil biomass and that microarthropod diversity is a sensitive and consistent indicator for land management.http://www.soil-journal.net/1/83/2015/soil-1-83-2015.pdf |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
J. P. van Leeuwen T. Lehtinen G. J. Lair J. Bloem L. Hemerik K. V. Ragnarsdóttir G. Gísladóttir J. S. Newton P. C. de Ruiter |
spellingShingle |
J. P. van Leeuwen T. Lehtinen G. J. Lair J. Bloem L. Hemerik K. V. Ragnarsdóttir G. Gísladóttir J. S. Newton P. C. de Ruiter An ecosystem approach to assess soil quality in organically and conventionally managed farms in Iceland and Austria SOIL |
author_facet |
J. P. van Leeuwen T. Lehtinen G. J. Lair J. Bloem L. Hemerik K. V. Ragnarsdóttir G. Gísladóttir J. S. Newton P. C. de Ruiter |
author_sort |
J. P. van Leeuwen |
title |
An ecosystem approach to assess soil quality in organically and conventionally managed farms in Iceland and Austria |
title_short |
An ecosystem approach to assess soil quality in organically and conventionally managed farms in Iceland and Austria |
title_full |
An ecosystem approach to assess soil quality in organically and conventionally managed farms in Iceland and Austria |
title_fullStr |
An ecosystem approach to assess soil quality in organically and conventionally managed farms in Iceland and Austria |
title_full_unstemmed |
An ecosystem approach to assess soil quality in organically and conventionally managed farms in Iceland and Austria |
title_sort |
ecosystem approach to assess soil quality in organically and conventionally managed farms in iceland and austria |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
series |
SOIL |
issn |
2199-3971 2199-398X |
publishDate |
2015-01-01 |
description |
Intensive agricultural production can be an important driver for the loss of
long-term soil quality. For this reason, the European Critical Zone
Observatory (CZO) network adopted four pairs of agricultural CZO sites that
differ in their management: conventional or organic. The CZO sites include
two pairs of grassland farms in Iceland and two pairs of arable farms in
Austria. Conventional fields differed from the organic fields in the use of
artificial fertilisers and pesticides.
<br><br>
Soils of these eight farms were analysed in terms of their physical,
chemical, and biological properties, including soil aggregate size
distribution, soil organic matter contents, abundance of soil microbes and
soil fauna, and taxonomic diversity of soil microarthropods.
<br><br>
In Icelandic grasslands, organically farmed soils had larger mean weight
diameters of soil aggregates than the conventional farms, while there were
no differences on the Austrian farms. Organic farming did not
systematically influence organic matter contents or composition, nor soil
carbon and nitrogen contents. Also, soil food web structures, in terms of
presence of trophic groups of soil organisms, were highly similar among all
farms, indicating a low sensitivity of trophic structure to land use or
climate. However, soil organism biomass, especially of bacteria and
nematodes, was consistently higher on organic farms than on conventional
farms. Within the microarthropods, taxonomic diversity was systematically
higher in the organic farms compared to the conventional farms. This
difference was found across countries and farm, crop, and soil types. The
results do not show systematic differences in physical and chemical
properties between organic and conventional farms, but confirm that organic
farming can enhance soil biomass and that microarthropod diversity is a
sensitive and consistent indicator for land management. |
url |
http://www.soil-journal.net/1/83/2015/soil-1-83-2015.pdf |
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