Consequences of subtropical land-use intensity for the abundance and diversity of earthworm ecological categories
Understanding how soil biodiversity, especially of macrofauna like earthworms, responds to land-use intensity is crucial for developing sustainable land-use strategies. This work is a two-year field investigation of earthworm community responses to increasing land-use intensity, from undisturbed fal...
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Elsevier
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Geoderma |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706125001089 |
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| author | Xishuai Liu Bingbing Wan Dingyi Wang Xiaoxu Qi Yan Du Jun Jiang Xiaoyun Chen Feng Hu Manqiang Liu Joann K. Whalen |
| author_facet | Xishuai Liu Bingbing Wan Dingyi Wang Xiaoxu Qi Yan Du Jun Jiang Xiaoyun Chen Feng Hu Manqiang Liu Joann K. Whalen |
| author_sort | Xishuai Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Understanding how soil biodiversity, especially of macrofauna like earthworms, responds to land-use intensity is crucial for developing sustainable land-use strategies. This work is a two-year field investigation of earthworm community responses to increasing land-use intensity, from undisturbed fallow land to actively cultivated agricultural lands (including fallow land, tea plantation, orange plantation, camphora plantation, synthetic fertilizer-amended cropland, compost-amended cropland, and vermicompost-amended cropland) in a subtropical region. Earthworm abundance and diversity increased with land-use intensity, likely due to the compensatory effects of organic amendments, which improve the habitat and resource availability, thereby alleviating the potential negative impacts of tillage and harvesting. Notably, earthworm abundance was higher in cropland (70 ind. m−2) than in other land-use types, such as fallow (4 ind. m−2) and plantation (22 ind. m−2). Greater earthworm abundance was associated with higher soil pH and more food resources, as indicated by high microbial biomass carbon (C), the humification index, and the particulate organic C fraction. Anecic and endogeic earthworms increased more than epigeic earthworms from fallow lands to plantations and croplands, reflecting their ecological adaptability to the soil conditions in managed lands with higher land-use intensity. This suggests that soil ecological restoration practices may enhance the role of earthworms related to soil structure dynamics and carbon sequestration. Our study provides empirical evidence that soil macrofauna have ecological adaptations to cope with agricultural intensification across landscapes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-178407dc88d4458db971d52f0456ec0e |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1872-6259 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geoderma |
| spelling | doaj-art-178407dc88d4458db971d52f0456ec0e2025-08-20T02:16:44ZengElsevierGeoderma1872-62592025-04-0145611727010.1016/j.geoderma.2025.117270Consequences of subtropical land-use intensity for the abundance and diversity of earthworm ecological categoriesXishuai Liu0Bingbing Wan1Dingyi Wang2Xiaoxu Qi3Yan Du4Jun Jiang5Xiaoyun Chen6Feng Hu7Manqiang Liu8Joann K. Whalen9Soil Ecology Lab, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaSoil Ecology Lab, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaSoil Ecology Lab, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaSoil Ecology Lab, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaSoil Ecology Lab, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaSoil Ecology Lab, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaSoil Ecology Lab, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, Nanjing 210095, ChinaSoil Ecology Lab, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, Nanjing 210095, ChinaSoil Ecology Lab, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China; Centre for Grassland Microbiome, State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China; Corresponding author.Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H9X 3V9, CanadaUnderstanding how soil biodiversity, especially of macrofauna like earthworms, responds to land-use intensity is crucial for developing sustainable land-use strategies. This work is a two-year field investigation of earthworm community responses to increasing land-use intensity, from undisturbed fallow land to actively cultivated agricultural lands (including fallow land, tea plantation, orange plantation, camphora plantation, synthetic fertilizer-amended cropland, compost-amended cropland, and vermicompost-amended cropland) in a subtropical region. Earthworm abundance and diversity increased with land-use intensity, likely due to the compensatory effects of organic amendments, which improve the habitat and resource availability, thereby alleviating the potential negative impacts of tillage and harvesting. Notably, earthworm abundance was higher in cropland (70 ind. m−2) than in other land-use types, such as fallow (4 ind. m−2) and plantation (22 ind. m−2). Greater earthworm abundance was associated with higher soil pH and more food resources, as indicated by high microbial biomass carbon (C), the humification index, and the particulate organic C fraction. Anecic and endogeic earthworms increased more than epigeic earthworms from fallow lands to plantations and croplands, reflecting their ecological adaptability to the soil conditions in managed lands with higher land-use intensity. This suggests that soil ecological restoration practices may enhance the role of earthworms related to soil structure dynamics and carbon sequestration. Our study provides empirical evidence that soil macrofauna have ecological adaptations to cope with agricultural intensification across landscapes.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706125001089Soil faunaLand-use changeSubtropical regionAgricultural intensificationEcological categories |
| spellingShingle | Xishuai Liu Bingbing Wan Dingyi Wang Xiaoxu Qi Yan Du Jun Jiang Xiaoyun Chen Feng Hu Manqiang Liu Joann K. Whalen Consequences of subtropical land-use intensity for the abundance and diversity of earthworm ecological categories Geoderma Soil fauna Land-use change Subtropical region Agricultural intensification Ecological categories |
| title | Consequences of subtropical land-use intensity for the abundance and diversity of earthworm ecological categories |
| title_full | Consequences of subtropical land-use intensity for the abundance and diversity of earthworm ecological categories |
| title_fullStr | Consequences of subtropical land-use intensity for the abundance and diversity of earthworm ecological categories |
| title_full_unstemmed | Consequences of subtropical land-use intensity for the abundance and diversity of earthworm ecological categories |
| title_short | Consequences of subtropical land-use intensity for the abundance and diversity of earthworm ecological categories |
| title_sort | consequences of subtropical land use intensity for the abundance and diversity of earthworm ecological categories |
| topic | Soil fauna Land-use change Subtropical region Agricultural intensification Ecological categories |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706125001089 |
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