A sensitive soil biological indicator to changes in land-use in regions with Mediterranean climate
Abstract The demand for reliable indicators to quantify soil health has increased recently. We propose and test the use of soil microbial functional diversity as an indicator of multifunctional performance in agriculturally important areas. Agricultural fields in the Mediterranean and semiarid regio...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-26240-9 |
| _version_ | 1797977409441497088 |
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| author | Yosef Steinberger Alfred Stein Michael Dorman Tal Svoray Tirza Doniger Oshri Rinot Eshel Gil |
| author_facet | Yosef Steinberger Alfred Stein Michael Dorman Tal Svoray Tirza Doniger Oshri Rinot Eshel Gil |
| author_sort | Yosef Steinberger |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The demand for reliable indicators to quantify soil health has increased recently. We propose and test the use of soil microbial functional diversity as an indicator of multifunctional performance in agriculturally important areas. Agricultural fields in the Mediterranean and semiarid regions of Israel were selected as test sites and measured in Spring and Autumn seasons. Measurements included microbial parameters, basic soil abiotic properties and biological responses to agricultural management relative to measures of a natural ecosystem. Using a canonical correlation analysis we found that soil moisture was the most important basic soil property with different responses in Spring and Autumn. In Spring, it had a strongly negative relation with microbial biomass (MB), community level physiological profiling (CLPP) and the Shannon-Weaver index H', while in Autumn it had a strong relation with CLPP. We further show a significant interaction between CLPP and climate for land-use type "orchards". CLPP measured in the autumn season was thus identified as a useful and rapid biological soil health indicator, recommended for application in semiarid and Mediterranean agricultural regions. Apart from obtaining a better understanding of CLPP as the soil indicator, the study concludes that CLPP is well suited to differentiate between soils in different climates, seasons and land use types. The study shows a promising direction for further research on characterizing soil health under a larger variety of conditions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:06:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-715d81a475504901b14b95608d697a3c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:06:27Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-715d81a475504901b14b95608d697a3c2022-12-25T12:17:33ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222022-12-0112111010.1038/s41598-022-26240-9A sensitive soil biological indicator to changes in land-use in regions with Mediterranean climateYosef Steinberger0Alfred Stein1Michael Dorman2Tal Svoray3Tirza Doniger4Oshri Rinot5Eshel Gil6The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan UniversityFaculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, University of TwenteDepartment of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University of the NegevDepartment of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University of the NegevThe Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan UniversityInstitute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani CenterSoil Erosion Research Station, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentAbstract The demand for reliable indicators to quantify soil health has increased recently. We propose and test the use of soil microbial functional diversity as an indicator of multifunctional performance in agriculturally important areas. Agricultural fields in the Mediterranean and semiarid regions of Israel were selected as test sites and measured in Spring and Autumn seasons. Measurements included microbial parameters, basic soil abiotic properties and biological responses to agricultural management relative to measures of a natural ecosystem. Using a canonical correlation analysis we found that soil moisture was the most important basic soil property with different responses in Spring and Autumn. In Spring, it had a strongly negative relation with microbial biomass (MB), community level physiological profiling (CLPP) and the Shannon-Weaver index H', while in Autumn it had a strong relation with CLPP. We further show a significant interaction between CLPP and climate for land-use type "orchards". CLPP measured in the autumn season was thus identified as a useful and rapid biological soil health indicator, recommended for application in semiarid and Mediterranean agricultural regions. Apart from obtaining a better understanding of CLPP as the soil indicator, the study concludes that CLPP is well suited to differentiate between soils in different climates, seasons and land use types. The study shows a promising direction for further research on characterizing soil health under a larger variety of conditions.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-26240-9 |
| spellingShingle | Yosef Steinberger Alfred Stein Michael Dorman Tal Svoray Tirza Doniger Oshri Rinot Eshel Gil A sensitive soil biological indicator to changes in land-use in regions with Mediterranean climate Scientific Reports |
| title | A sensitive soil biological indicator to changes in land-use in regions with Mediterranean climate |
| title_full | A sensitive soil biological indicator to changes in land-use in regions with Mediterranean climate |
| title_fullStr | A sensitive soil biological indicator to changes in land-use in regions with Mediterranean climate |
| title_full_unstemmed | A sensitive soil biological indicator to changes in land-use in regions with Mediterranean climate |
| title_short | A sensitive soil biological indicator to changes in land-use in regions with Mediterranean climate |
| title_sort | sensitive soil biological indicator to changes in land use in regions with mediterranean climate |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-26240-9 |
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