Earthworm communities under an agricultural intensification gradient in Colombia

This study was carried out in the Eastern Plains of Colombia and assessed the impact of agricultural intensification on the structure of earthworm communities. Earthworms were hand-sorted in a variety of agroecosystems of increasing intensity, from natural savanna to pastures and annual crops. An ag...

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Autores principales: Decaëns, Thibaud, Jiménez Jaén, J.J.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Springer 2002
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/42762
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author Decaëns, Thibaud
Jiménez Jaén, J.J.
author_browse Decaëns, Thibaud
Jiménez Jaén, J.J.
author_facet Decaëns, Thibaud
Jiménez Jaén, J.J.
author_sort Decaëns, Thibaud
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description This study was carried out in the Eastern Plains of Colombia and assessed the impact of agricultural intensification on the structure of earthworm communities. Earthworms were hand-sorted in a variety of agroecosystems of increasing intensity, from natural savanna to pastures and annual crops. An agricultural intensification index was used to rank systems along an intensification gradient, i.e. from native savanna to pastures and annual crops. Earthworm biomass, specific richness and Shannon index sharply decreased along the gradient. The disappearance of some species in cultivated systems was mostly attributed to the lack of recovery of populations after major perturbations like e.g. tillage. The more resistant species were those presenting high surface mobility (i.e. high colonisation capacity) or high population growth potential (i.e. high ability of population recovering after perturbation). Sensitive species disappeared after pasture establishment but richness was recovered in a period of about 3 years. In 17 year-old pastures, the community has regained its initial diversity and present very high biomass due to the presence of abundant populations of an anecic species. On the opposite side, annual crops had deep detrimental impacts that were more accentuated in the rotations (i.e. systems that were tilled twice a year) and were still present in a 2 year-old fallow.
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spelling CGSpace427622024-08-29T11:41:34Z Earthworm communities under an agricultural intensification gradient in Colombia Decaëns, Thibaud Jiménez Jaén, J.J. soil fauna oligochaeta intensive farming savannas natural pastures sown pastures fauna del suelo explotación agrícola intensiva sabanas pastizal natural pastizal sembrado This study was carried out in the Eastern Plains of Colombia and assessed the impact of agricultural intensification on the structure of earthworm communities. Earthworms were hand-sorted in a variety of agroecosystems of increasing intensity, from natural savanna to pastures and annual crops. An agricultural intensification index was used to rank systems along an intensification gradient, i.e. from native savanna to pastures and annual crops. Earthworm biomass, specific richness and Shannon index sharply decreased along the gradient. The disappearance of some species in cultivated systems was mostly attributed to the lack of recovery of populations after major perturbations like e.g. tillage. The more resistant species were those presenting high surface mobility (i.e. high colonisation capacity) or high population growth potential (i.e. high ability of population recovering after perturbation). Sensitive species disappeared after pasture establishment but richness was recovered in a period of about 3 years. In 17 year-old pastures, the community has regained its initial diversity and present very high biomass due to the presence of abundant populations of an anecic species. On the opposite side, annual crops had deep detrimental impacts that were more accentuated in the rotations (i.e. systems that were tilled twice a year) and were still present in a 2 year-old fallow. 2002 2014-09-24T07:58:32Z 2014-09-24T07:58:32Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/42762 en Limited Access Springer
spellingShingle soil fauna
oligochaeta
intensive farming
savannas
natural pastures
sown pastures
fauna del suelo
explotación agrícola intensiva
sabanas
pastizal natural
pastizal sembrado
Decaëns, Thibaud
Jiménez Jaén, J.J.
Earthworm communities under an agricultural intensification gradient in Colombia
title Earthworm communities under an agricultural intensification gradient in Colombia
title_full Earthworm communities under an agricultural intensification gradient in Colombia
title_fullStr Earthworm communities under an agricultural intensification gradient in Colombia
title_full_unstemmed Earthworm communities under an agricultural intensification gradient in Colombia
title_short Earthworm communities under an agricultural intensification gradient in Colombia
title_sort earthworm communities under an agricultural intensification gradient in colombia
topic soil fauna
oligochaeta
intensive farming
savannas
natural pastures
sown pastures
fauna del suelo
explotación agrícola intensiva
sabanas
pastizal natural
pastizal sembrado
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/42762
work_keys_str_mv AT decaensthibaud earthwormcommunitiesunderanagriculturalintensificationgradientincolombia
AT jimenezjaenjj earthwormcommunitiesunderanagriculturalintensificationgradientincolombia