4.7 Article

Depth-differentiated, multivariate control of biopore number under different land-use practices

Journal

GEODERMA
Volume 418, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2022.115852

Keywords

Earthworm communities; Biogenic macropores; Piecewise structural equation modelling; Root biomass; Soil parameter correlation; Vertical burrow system

Categories

Funding

  1. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft within the framework of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) [1076 AquaDiva]
  2. International Max Planck Research School for Global Biogeochemical Cycles
  3. Marsden Fast-Start grant
  4. German Research Foundation
  5. [DFG- FZT 118]
  6. [202548816]

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This study investigates the linkage between earthworms, roots, and soil properties with the number of biopores. It reveals complex relationships among roots, earthworms, biopores, and soil properties, with land-use intensity playing a significant role. The occurrence, frequency, and persistence of biopores are found to be influenced by these interdependencies.
Earthworms and (tap-)roots impact the soil structure by creating large biopores, affecting infiltration capacity, seepage, nutrient cycling, and soil aeration. Despite the importance of biopores for the functions of soils and the fact that several hundreds of biopores >2 mm in diameter may occur on one square meter of soil, knowledge on the interdependence of soil properties, land-use intensity, and biopore number is still rudimentary. In this study, we investigate the linkage of the number of biopores (>2 mm i.d.) with the earthworm community, root biomass, and soil properties, including pH, water content, soil organic carbon (SOC), as well as the land-use intensity (pasture vs. cropland) as a function of the soil depth (15, 30 and 50 cm). Hypothesized causal relationships among these factors were analyzed by piecewise structural equation modelling (SEM). We found various and novel linkages between roots, earthworms, biopores, and soil properties depending on soil depth. In topsoil (at 15 cm depth), roots directly affected the number of small-sized biopores, and anecic earthworms were related to medium-sized biopores. These effects diminished with depth. We identified land-use intensity as the factor preponderating the relations between biopores, root biomass, and earthworm number in the topsoil horizons, thereby masking other interactions among variables. This appeared as high multicollinearity among variables in the SEM of the topsoil. Land-use intensity effects were found to impact the whole soil profile but decreased with soil depth. To further elucidate the single effects of soil properties on biopore-forming biota and number of biopores in the topsoil, we excluded land-use intensity as a variable in subsequent analyses. Biopores increased with soil pH and soil water content but decreased with increasing SOC. Based on our SEM analysis, we conclude that the occurrence, frequency, and persistence of biopores are the consequence of intricate interdependencies between earthworm communities, roots, and site-specific soil properties, governed by land-use intensity.

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