Assessment of Soil Biodiversity from different land use: preliminary research through QBSar approach in Sardinia Island
Autore/i: A. Frongia, R. Puddu, D. Manca, M. Melis, M.L. Biggio, G. Marongiu, V.A. Marrone, S. FanniAnno di pubblicazione: 2023
Lingua: Inglese
Abstract:
The lack of quantitative standardized data at a large scale has resulted in poor understanding of how soil biodiversity could be incorporated into legislation for the protection of soil quality. Among several indices developed in the last years, QBS-ar (Soil Biological Quality-arthropod) index joins the biodiversity of soil microarthropods community with the degree of soil vulnerability. In this study, data (n=140 samples) from 10 continuous years of QBS-ar measurements over 10 ecosystems of Sardinian were summarized to analyze the response of the index to climatic and soil. Stepwise regression analysis indicated that, the QBS-ar decreased (P<0.001) with an increase in Temperature (R2=-0.67) and Bulk density (R2=-0.33); however, the index increased (P<0.001) with an increase in CSC, Organic carbon, Water content and Concentrations of nitrogen (R2=-0.43, -0.37, -0.25, -0.25, respectively). Analyzing the index as the number of taxa per sample shows different behaviors of the microfauna for land use (forest, cultivated and grazing area) and temporal phase (corresponding to phenological dynamics: T1 green, T2 dry and T3 regreen). Considering the importance of soil biodiversity to support the provision of ecosystem services, the ability to create knowledge on the diversity of microarthropod within soil biodiversity is a key to future environmental policy, optimization of land use and support for land management decisions, considering the loss and profits on soil biodiversity.