Does introduction of clover in an agricultural grassland affect the food base and functional diversity of Collembola?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Does introduction of clover in an agricultural grassland affect the food base and functional diversity of Collembola?

AU - D'Annibale, Alessandra

AU - Sechi, Valentina

AU - Larsen, Thomas

AU - Christensen, Søren

AU - Krogh, Paul Henning

AU - Eriksen, Jørgen

PY - 2017/9

Y1 - 2017/9

N2 - Introduction of legumes (i.e. white clover) in agricultural grasslands is a common practice to improve yields, but how this affects soil fauna populations, particularly mesofauna, is still poorly understood. We investigated taxonomical and functional differences of Collembola communities between plots with either perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), white clover (Trifolium repens L.) or a mixture of both in a Danish agricultural grassland 6 and 14 months after establishing the leys (September and May, respectively). Diet preferences were investigated via stable isotope analyses (SIA) of carbon (13C) and nitrogen (15N). Collembolan abundance data were used to analyse morphological and ecological traits of the collected taxa and calculate functional diversity indices. Our stable isotope results show that root-derived resources made larger contributions to epedaphic and hemiedaphic species in the white clover than ryegrass plots. Changes in taxa specific density and traits distribution as a response to the C:N ratio of plant material, suggest that plant material quality was the main factor affecting the collembolan community, especially when comparing the two sampling occasions. Functional richness decreased under conditions of low quality material. In contrast to our hypothesis, population densities did not increase under mixture treatment and functional richness decreased. Our results suggest that habitat changes, via different plant composition, can affect some functional groups, having in turn effects on the functional diversity of the community.

AB - Introduction of legumes (i.e. white clover) in agricultural grasslands is a common practice to improve yields, but how this affects soil fauna populations, particularly mesofauna, is still poorly understood. We investigated taxonomical and functional differences of Collembola communities between plots with either perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), white clover (Trifolium repens L.) or a mixture of both in a Danish agricultural grassland 6 and 14 months after establishing the leys (September and May, respectively). Diet preferences were investigated via stable isotope analyses (SIA) of carbon (13C) and nitrogen (15N). Collembolan abundance data were used to analyse morphological and ecological traits of the collected taxa and calculate functional diversity indices. Our stable isotope results show that root-derived resources made larger contributions to epedaphic and hemiedaphic species in the white clover than ryegrass plots. Changes in taxa specific density and traits distribution as a response to the C:N ratio of plant material, suggest that plant material quality was the main factor affecting the collembolan community, especially when comparing the two sampling occasions. Functional richness decreased under conditions of low quality material. In contrast to our hypothesis, population densities did not increase under mixture treatment and functional richness decreased. Our results suggest that habitat changes, via different plant composition, can affect some functional groups, having in turn effects on the functional diversity of the community.

KW - Functional diversity

KW - Functional traits

KW - Legumes

KW - Mesofauna

KW - Stable isotopes

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85019887801&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2017.05.010

DO - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2017.05.010

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85019887801

SN - 0038-0717

VL - 112

SP - 165

EP - 176

JO - Soil Biology & Biochemistry

JF - Soil Biology & Biochemistry

ER -