Exploring the influence of natural features on soil mesofaunal communities in agricultural landscapes through DNA metabarcoding
Soil mesofauna critically support organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling, as well as regulating pests and diseases. Agricultural activities can physically and chemically influence soil mesofauna communities, thereby impacting the ecosystem services they provide. Conserving natural feature...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2025.1443215/full |
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| author | Angeli Sahdra Angeli Sahdra Monica R. Young Lori A. Phillips Niloofar Alavi David R. Lapen Jeremy T. Kerr Marla D. Schwarzfeld |
| author_facet | Angeli Sahdra Angeli Sahdra Monica R. Young Lori A. Phillips Niloofar Alavi David R. Lapen Jeremy T. Kerr Marla D. Schwarzfeld |
| author_sort | Angeli Sahdra |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Soil mesofauna critically support organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling, as well as regulating pests and diseases. Agricultural activities can physically and chemically influence soil mesofauna communities, thereby impacting the ecosystem services they provide. Conserving natural features in agricultural environments is well known to support biodiversity and associated ecosystem services, yet soil mesofauna communities and their functions in such features require further study. We sampled the soil mesofaunal communities (focusing on Acari [mites] and Collembola [springtails]) in agriculturally-dominated landscapes in southeastern Ontario, Canada. Semi-natural features were represented by drainage ditch banks with varying amounts of woody vegetation to different kinds of forested blocks. Specimens were extracted using Berlese funnels, and COI metabarcoding was conducted on the bulk specimen samples. A total of 585 operational taxonomic units (OTUs; a proxy for species) were identifiable based on DNA sequences, 390 of which belonged to either Acari (273) or Collembola (117); however, it was rarely possible to identify specimens to species-level. Mesofaunal richness did not differ among habitat types but community composition varied between low woody-vegetation drainage bank sites and forested blocks. Maintaining heterogeneous natural and semi-natural features appears to increase the overall diversity of mesofauna on the landscape, and even small forest patches support forest-associated soil biodiversity in this agricultural region. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f0e96a88fdbd4068a97cd15b7b2940df |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2571-581X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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| series | Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems |
| spelling | doaj-art-f0e96a88fdbd4068a97cd15b7b2940df2025-08-20T02:51:43ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems2571-581X2025-03-01910.3389/fsufs.2025.14432151443215Exploring the influence of natural features on soil mesofaunal communities in agricultural landscapes through DNA metabarcodingAngeli Sahdra0Angeli Sahdra1Monica R. Young2Lori A. Phillips3Niloofar Alavi4David R. Lapen5Jeremy T. Kerr6Marla D. Schwarzfeld7Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, CanadaOttawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON, CanadaOttawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON, CanadaHarrow Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Harrow, ON, CanadaLandscape Science and Technology Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa, ON, CanadaOttawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON, CanadaDepartment of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, CanadaOttawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON, CanadaSoil mesofauna critically support organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling, as well as regulating pests and diseases. Agricultural activities can physically and chemically influence soil mesofauna communities, thereby impacting the ecosystem services they provide. Conserving natural features in agricultural environments is well known to support biodiversity and associated ecosystem services, yet soil mesofauna communities and their functions in such features require further study. We sampled the soil mesofaunal communities (focusing on Acari [mites] and Collembola [springtails]) in agriculturally-dominated landscapes in southeastern Ontario, Canada. Semi-natural features were represented by drainage ditch banks with varying amounts of woody vegetation to different kinds of forested blocks. Specimens were extracted using Berlese funnels, and COI metabarcoding was conducted on the bulk specimen samples. A total of 585 operational taxonomic units (OTUs; a proxy for species) were identifiable based on DNA sequences, 390 of which belonged to either Acari (273) or Collembola (117); however, it was rarely possible to identify specimens to species-level. Mesofaunal richness did not differ among habitat types but community composition varied between low woody-vegetation drainage bank sites and forested blocks. Maintaining heterogeneous natural and semi-natural features appears to increase the overall diversity of mesofauna on the landscape, and even small forest patches support forest-associated soil biodiversity in this agricultural region.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2025.1443215/fullAcariagricultural landscapeCollembolametabarcodingsoil biodiversity |
| spellingShingle | Angeli Sahdra Angeli Sahdra Monica R. Young Lori A. Phillips Niloofar Alavi David R. Lapen Jeremy T. Kerr Marla D. Schwarzfeld Exploring the influence of natural features on soil mesofaunal communities in agricultural landscapes through DNA metabarcoding Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems Acari agricultural landscape Collembola metabarcoding soil biodiversity |
| title | Exploring the influence of natural features on soil mesofaunal communities in agricultural landscapes through DNA metabarcoding |
| title_full | Exploring the influence of natural features on soil mesofaunal communities in agricultural landscapes through DNA metabarcoding |
| title_fullStr | Exploring the influence of natural features on soil mesofaunal communities in agricultural landscapes through DNA metabarcoding |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring the influence of natural features on soil mesofaunal communities in agricultural landscapes through DNA metabarcoding |
| title_short | Exploring the influence of natural features on soil mesofaunal communities in agricultural landscapes through DNA metabarcoding |
| title_sort | exploring the influence of natural features on soil mesofaunal communities in agricultural landscapes through dna metabarcoding |
| topic | Acari agricultural landscape Collembola metabarcoding soil biodiversity |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2025.1443215/full |
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