Vink, S.N., Bienkowski, D., Roberts, D.M. et al. (2 more authors) (2020) Impact of land use and management practices on soil nematode communities of Machair, a low-input calcareous ecosystem of conservation importance. Science of The Total Environment, 738. 140164. ISSN 0048-9697
Abstract
Machair is a vulnerable low-lying coastal ecosystem with internationally recognised conservation importance. It is characterised by wind-blown calcareous shell-sand soils that support a patchwork of low-input land-use types including species rich grasslands and small-scale arable production. In contrast to numerous above-ground studies, few below-ground studies have been made on the Machair. Thus, a knowledge gap exists, and no baseline data is available to determine the impact, if any, of fundamental changes in Machair land management practices such as a move from traditional rotational to permanent grazing, and increased use of inorganic fertiliser. To address this knowledge deficit, we assessed the impact of different agronomic management practices (cropped, fallow and grasslands) on the structure of soil nematode communities over a two-year period along a geographically limited north-south gradient of coastal Machair of the Outer Hebrides archipelago. Land use followed by season were the main drivers of nematode communities from Machair soils. Functionally, nematode communities from grassland were typically distinct from cropped or fallow communities driven primarily by differential contributions to the overall nematode community by the dominant bacterial-feeding nematodes. Temporally, nematode communities sampled in spring and autumn were distinct.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 Elsevier. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Science of the Total Environment. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Climate change; Environment; Fragile ecosystem; Function; Sustainability |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) > Department of Animal and Plant Sciences (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 19 Jun 2020 07:05 |
Last Modified: | 04 Nov 2021 14:17 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140164 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:162082 |