Earthworm communities and soil properties in shaded coffee plantations with and without application of glyphosate

In central Veracruz, Mexico, many coffee plantations are managed using agrochemicals for weed control, with glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) the most commonly used. To date, however, no studies in this region have characterized the soil biological and physicochemical properties in coffee plantations under such glyphosate application. In this study, earthworms were used as bioindicator organisms by measuring differences in the earthworm community in plots within shaded coffee plantations, with and without repeated applications of glyphosate. Differences in earthworm-induced soil processes, such as water infiltration rates, potential net carbon mineralization rates and soil physicochemical properties were also evaluated. Eight plots were selected in shaded coffee plantations; four had received regular applications of GBH over the preceding 22 years, while the other four had received no herbicides over the preceding 7 years. The earthworm species found in plots with no GBH treatment were Pontoscolex corethrurus (99%) and Amynthas corticis (1%), while A. corticis was absent in plots that had been treated with GBH. Significant differences (P < 0.01) in earthworm density (168 ± 16 and 353 ± 37 ind m⁻²) and biomass (22.7 ± 1.1 and 45.4 ± 6.9 g m⁻²) were observed in soils with and without GBH, respectively. No significant difference (P = 0.08) was observed in the water infiltration rate (2 × 10⁻⁴ ± 4 × 10⁻⁵ and 4 × 10⁻⁴ ± 1 × 10⁻⁴ cm s⁻¹ with and without GBH, respectively). Soil carbon flow was greater in plots with GBH (76 ± 7 μg dry soil⁻¹ d⁻¹) than in those without GBH (62 ± 1 μg dry soil⁻¹ d⁻¹, P < 0.005). Significant differences (P < 0.05) were found in pH and in the clay, silt and Ca content of the soil. Our findings indicated reduced species number, density and biomass of earthworms, and increased net carbon mineralization rate in plots with GBH. The plots managed with glyphosate presented a negative effect on the earthworm parameters measured, and we conclude that the earthworms therefore acted as indicators of perturbation. It is also possible that this effect could be due to factors unrelated to the glyphosate that were not considered in this study, such as chemical fertilization or legume litter spatial variability, among others.     

百草清除草剂对农田生态系统土壤动物群落结构的影响

用百草清除草剂对农田生态系统土壤动物进行染毒模拟实验,共获得土壤动物967个,隶属3门,6纲,10目。其中弹尾目、甲螨亚目为优势类群,其余为常见类群和稀有类群。实验结果表明,百草清除草剂处理组的动物种类和数量与对照组相比较明显减少,动物种类的减少主要取决于常见种类和稀有种类,动物数量的变化则主要是优势类群的数量消长。并且随着百草清溶液处理浓度的增加,土壤动物的种类和数量显著减少,但上、下层动物随染毒历时递减规律有所不同。     

蚯蚓及其在环境保护上的应用 II.蚯蚓生态毒理学

土壤生物可以作为化学物质对土壤环境危害的有价值的指示生物。蚯蚓被认为是用于进行化学物质生态毒理学试验合适的陆生生物。在最近20 多年里,随着化学物质在农业生态系统中的广泛使用,蚯蚓生态毒理学研究得到了较大的发展。提出和建立了许多针对于国家或国际化学品登记的蚯蚓生态毒理学测试方法。本文简要介绍关于化学物质对蚯蚓的毒性的评价的生态毒理学试验。     

持续农业中的土壤生物指标研究

 土壤是陆地农业生态系统的重要组成部分,因而土壤质量或土壤健康成为农业可持续发展的重要内涵。在以往的研究中,人们一直强调以土壤理化特性作为持续性指标,但近期国际上关于土壤生物学参数的研究日渐增多,一些参数作为生物指标已表现出很大的潜力,研究空间不断扩展。对农业生态系统来说,土壤生物指标有可能成为系统稳定性的早期预警和敏感指标。     

Using commercial tree nurseries to monitor visible ozone injury—An evaluation

Ozone damage on trees leaves no residue that can be detected analytically; therefore visible assessment is the only easily detectable method for collecting evidence. Here we present an evaluation of an assessment method using damaged detected on trees grown in commercial tree nurseries. The extent of visible ozone injury to susceptible species was investigated on a total of 95 species across 13 nurseries, over four European countries during the 2006 season. Commercial nurseries were chosen because nurseries stock a wide range of accessible, susceptible species which are irrigated when necessary and therefore represent the optimum conditions for assessment of potential risk. Ozone climate at each site was characterised using a combination of passive and active samplers to estimate the accumulated ozone exposure over a threshold of 40 ppb (AOT40). Meteorological and ozone monitoring data were used to calculate cumulative ozone flux using the DO₃SE model (Emberson et al., 2000). Ozone injury was observed in all countries demonstrating that the impacts of ozone are not restricted to countries with higher ozone concentrations; the longer day-length, higher moisture availability and cooler conditions in northern Europe resulted in a greater potential for ozone uptake. Further use of commercial nurseries as an important, unofficial, bioindicator network is warranted.     

Integration of cover crops and vermicompost tea for soil and plant health management in a short-term vegetable cropping system

Short-term vegetable crop production often involves frequent tillage and other farm activities that results in disturbed soil food web communities. A less disturbed soil community would have a more structured soil food web which contains soil fauna higher up in the food web hierarchy, thus higher integrity in soil nutrient cycling. The objective of this study is to examine if strip-till cover cropping and drenching soil with vermicompost tea could improve soil food web structure in a short-term agroecosystem. Two field trials were conducted in Waialua, HI, USA to evaluate the effect of strip-till planting of sunn hemp (SH, Crotalaria juncea) or crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum) cover crops in a zucchini (Cucurbita pepo) cropping system. At zucchini planting, each cover crop plot was split to receive four soil treatments: fertilizer (F, chicken pellet), compost tea (CT), fertilizer plus compost tea (F + CT), and none. Compost tea was prepared from chicken manure based vermicompost aerated overnight in water at 1:10 (v:v). Planting of SH increased bacterivorous nematodes and suppressed plant-parasitic nematodes throughout both zucchini cropping cycles, but did not enhance the numbers of omnivorous or predatory nematodes. Crimson clover did not enhance beneficial nematodes nor suppress plant-parasitic nematodes. Adding CT to F suppressed the key plant-parasitic nematodes only at the initial stage of the zucchini growth, increased percentage of predatory or omnivorous nematodes only toward the end of zucchini crops, and increased the structure index at harvest in the first trial. Zucchini yield was increased by planting of SH but not by drenching of CT. Despite the benefits of CT in improving the soil food web structure, a correlation analysis revealed that zucchini yields were correlated to the reduction in the percentage of fungivorous nematodes at planting, an increase in the percentage of bacterivorous nematodes at harvest, and to reduction in the percentage of plant-parasitic nematodes at harvest.     

Urbanization increases the range,but not the depth,of forest edge influences on Pinus sylvestris bark pH

The influence of forest edge on Pinus sylvestris bark pH was evaluated in urban and suburban pine forests in Yekaterinburg (South Taiga subzone, Central Urals, Russia). The measurements was conducted in 18 transects (rows of 6–10 sample plots arranged in pairs along a 100–260 m line perpendicular to the forest boundary); 12 transects (110 plots) were located in the urban forest and 6 transects (58 plots) in the suburban forest. All the characteristics studied (degree of urbanization, distance from forest boundary, and type and age of boundary), were found to have a significant effect on the pH of P. sylvestris bark. Bark alkalinization increased on average by 0.2 to 0.5 pH units above background along a gradient from the forest interior to the forest edge. In urban forests, the edge influence was about twice greater (0.6–0.8 pH units) than in suburban forests (0.2–0.3 pH units), while the depth ranged between 70 and 160 m. Little variation in the depth of the edge influence observed due to transect characteristics, and no differences were noted due to degree of urbanization. The range of the edge influence was cumulative over the time that had elapsed since forest fragmentation and highway construction. The results show that urban airborne dust pollution affects southern taiga pine forests to a depth of about 100 to 150 meters from forest boundary. This circumstance is important to take into account when planning the locations of the borders of forests, roads, residential and social areas.     

背角无齿蚌稚蚌的生长和发育研究

背角无齿蚌(Anodonta woodiana)为具有食用、育珠、净水及生物监测等重要经济和生态价值的淡水双壳贝类。为把握其早期生活史过程中形态变化、器官发育和生长速率的特征，本研究对从脱落后第1~30天稚蚌期的个体开展了连续性、系统性的研究。结果显示，在稚蚌1~30 d的生长过程中，铰合部的前缘和后缘向上突起，壳顶相对向内收缩，前端生长迅速、向外侧扩展，后端向腹缘方向生长，而腹缘相对向后端生长。第1天，稚蚌出现了斧足；第4天，内脏团较为明显；第10天，鳃清晰可见，前、后闭壳肌已经形成；第15天，肠道和心脏清晰可见；第20天，进水管和出水管形成；第25天以后，稚蚌的器官已经全部发育完成。壳长、壳高和年龄之间呈指数型相关关系，壳长与壳高之间呈正异速生长关系。上述结果可为背角无齿蚌的人工繁育、种质资源保护和种群恢复以及有效开发、利用其为水污染监测专用指示生物等工作提供理论指导。