Terrestrial isopods as bioindicators for environmental monitoring in olive groves and natural ecosystems

Solomou, Alexandra D.; Sfougaris, Athanassios; Sfenthourakis, Spyros

doi:10.1080/00222933.2019.1658821

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, a consistent difference in species composition between woodlands and cultivated areas is still noticeable [151]. Isopod species richness was found to increase with the increase in air humidity, which is pivotal for their survival given that they need it to breathe and reduce body water loss [152]. Another key factor is food availability; their feeding habits are mostly based on decaying organic materials, with preference linked to leaf senescence, nutrient content of food and microbial colonization, so that their richness tends to increase with woody plant richness and soil organic matter [151,153].…”

Section: Isopodamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to their ecological behavior, terrestrial isopods play an important role in decomposing leaf litter and mineralizing organic matter in many agroecosystems. Moreover, they have been used as bioindicators of soil quality and biodiversity to improve both agricultural production and environmental protection [152,154,155]. Isopod diversity, species richness and sex ratio (e.g., in populations of Trachelipus rathkei Brandt, 1833) are known to be affected by agricultural practices (e.g., ploughing, fertilization and pesticides) because of their direct and indirect effects on food availability, humidity and pH [151,[155][156][157].…”

Section: Isopodamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Soil Health and Arthropods: From Complex System to Worthwhile Investigation

Menta

Remelli

2020

Insects

133

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The dramatic increase in soil degradation in the last few decades has led to the need to identify methods to define not only soil quality but also, in a holistic approach, soil health. In the past twenty years, indices based on living communities have been proposed alongside the already proven physical-chemical methods. Among them, some soil invertebrates have been included in monitoring programs as bioindicators of soil quality. Being an important portion of soil fauna, soil arthropods are involved in many soil processes such as organic matter decomposition and translocation, nutrient cycling, microflora activity regulation and bioturbation. Many studies have reported the use of soil arthropods to define soil quality; among taxa, some have been explored more in depth, typically Acari and Collembola, while generally less abundant groups, such as Palpigradi or Embioptera, have not been investigated much. This paper aims to evaluate and compare the use of different soil microarthropod taxa in soil degradation/quality studies to highlight which groups are the most reported for soil monitoring and which are the most sensitive to soil degradation. We have decided not to include the two most present and abundant taxa, Acari and Collembola, in this paper in consideration of the vast amount of existing literature and focus the discussion on the other microarthropod groups. We reported some studies for each taxon highlighting the use of the group as soil quality indicator. A brief section reporting some indices based on soil microarthropods is proposed at the end of this specific discussion. This paper can be considered as a reference point in the use of soil arthropods to estimate soil quality and health.

show abstract

Section: Isopodamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Isopodamentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Health and Arthropods: From Complex System to Worthwhile Investigation

Menta

Remelli

2020

Insects

133

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We used GLM because is most commonly used to model these data, so we focused on models for this type of data. GLM were used to analyze the agro-environmental factors, explaining most variance of yield and herbaceous plant species richness in olive grove management systems [40][41][42].…”

Section: Statistical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contribution of Agro-Environmental Factors to Yield and Plant Diversity of Olive Grove Ecosystems (Olea europaea L.) in the Mediterranean Landscape

Solomou¹,

Sfougaris

2021

Agronomy

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Olive cultivation (Olea europaea L.) is one of the most significant sources of income for agricultural areas in the Mediterranean basin, and the olive oil industry as well as the environmental protection are an important part of the Greek agricultural sector. Generalized Linear Models were applied in order to investigate the predictive strength of several biodiversity components and agro-environmental factors for yield and herbaceous plant diversity (species richness) in organic and conventional olive groves of Greece. Our study highlights an increase in yields of organic olive groves by increasing manure application and the earthworms’ density. In the conventional olive groves, yields increase by increasing soil organic matter and the application of inorganic fertilizer N. Also, the herbaceous plant species richness increases with increasing the Shannon diversity index of herbaceous plants, the field area, the application of organic fertilizer K and the manure in organic olive groves. As for the conventional ones, herbaceous plant species richness increases with the increase of the application of inorganic fertilizer N. Moreover, some plant species could be regarded as indicators of the differently managed olive groves. Conclusively, this study contributes to the integration of biodiversity conservation with ecologically sustainable agriculture and conservation of agroecosystem. Finally, it could be utilized as a decision and management tool to the scientific and agricultural community reinforcing the knowledge about the agro-environmental impact in olive grove management systems.

show abstract

“…Terrestrial isopods are very good ecological and biogeographical indicators because most of them are closely linked to the soil; they have a low dispersal ability and are often abundant and easily recorded [9]. They are potentially valuable indicators of the environmental quality and impact of agricultural practices [70,71]. They are also indicated as useful for the risk assessment of pesticides [72] and other toxicological elements, such as heavy metals [73][74][75], in the terrestrial environment.…”

Section: Isopoda (Terrestrial Isopods)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Arthropods in the Douro Demarcated Region Vineyards: General Characteristics and Ecosystem Services Provided

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Viticulture is one of the oldest and most profitable forms of agriculture; it is also one of the most intensive farming systems. As intensive cultivation threatens the environment, there is increasing interest in the concept of sustainability within the wine industry, as well as new business opportunities, as customers begin to pay more attention to environmental and sustainability issues. Recognizing the key role of soil quality in environmentally and economically sustainable viticulture makes it essential to understand better soil arthropod communities, given their crucial functions in maintaining soil quality and health. The ‘Douro Demarcated Region’ (DDR) in northern Portugal offers good potential, in regards to biodiversity, due to its significant areas of non-crop habitats. This work aims to compile information on soil arthropod communities (both soil surface and soil-living) collected in the DDR vineyard agroecosystems. A description of the ecosystem services provided by them, as a basis for the development and implementation of sustainable viticulture systems, is also an objective of this work. An important set of soil arthropods necessary for the delivery of vital ecosystem services for viticulture, with particular reference to supporting and regulating services, occurred in this ecosystem. Eight classes were chiefly represented in a sample of about 167,000 arthropod specimens: Arachnida, Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Entognatha, Insecta, Malacostraca, Pauropoda, and Symphyla. The most representative were Entognatha and Insecta in soil-surface arthropods, and Arachnida and Entognatha in soil-living arthropods. The presence of recognized groups as bioindicators in agroecosystems, such as soil quality indicators, is also revealed. This knowledge is expected to contribute to a more efficient and sustainable management of the viticultural ecosystem.

show abstract

Terrestrial isopods as bioindicators for environmental monitoring in olive groves and natural ecosystems

Cited by 10 publications

References 27 publications

Soil Health and Arthropods: From Complex System to Worthwhile Investigation

Soil Health and Arthropods: From Complex System to Worthwhile Investigation

Contribution of Agro-Environmental Factors to Yield and Plant Diversity of Olive Grove Ecosystems (Olea europaea L.) in the Mediterranean Landscape

Soil Arthropods in the Douro Demarcated Region Vineyards: General Characteristics and Ecosystem Services Provided

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About