Authors
Pilar Andrés, John C Moore, Rodney T Simpson, Greg Selby, Francesca Cotrufo, Karolien Denef, Michelle L Haddix, E Ashley Shaw, Cecilia Milano de Tomasel, Roberto Molowny-Horas, Diana H Wall
Publication date
2016/6/1
Journal
Soil Biology and Biochemistry
Volume
97
Pages
131-143
Publisher
Pergamon
Description
Grazing of grasslands by large herbivores is a form of land use intensification that affects not only plant communities but also soil biota and the ecosystem services that it provides. While grassland ecosystem responses to grazing have been extensively studied, few studies have focused on the effects of aboveground herbivores on belowground diversity and functions. In this work, we quantified effects of grazing on the structure, function and dynamic stability of soil food webs. We sampled a long-term grazing manipulation in a semi-arid shortgrass steppe (USA Great Plains) at sites showing contrasting soil textures. Treatments included native steppe plots that have been moderately grazed since 1939 paired with plots totally protected from grazing since 1996. We sampled our plots for soil C and N, and for soil biota, separated microbes and micro- and mesofauna in trophic functional groups and defined trophic …
Scholar articles
P Andrés, JC Moore, RT Simpson, G Selby, F Cotrufo… - Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 2016