Track 2-09: Soil Quality, Biology and Plant-Soil Interactions
Description
The Prairie Ecozone of the northern Great Plains of North America is a major contributor to world food production, encompassing the majority of the Canada's productive agricultural cropland, rangeland, and pasture. This has come with some ecological costs. Only small remnants of native short-grass prairie remain and field boundary habitats at best provide only narrow corridors between these remnant natural areas. The desire to maintain the capacity of the soil to sustain biological productivity has positively influenced the study of soil biota that contribute to the quality and health of our prairie soils. Soil meso-fauna (mites, millipedes, collembolans) also are thought to be involved in processing organic matter and augmenting processes involved in soil structure (Behan-Pelletier 1999). Because soil meso-fauna are still relatively sedentary they do reflect the conditions of the soil habitat more than mobile macro-fauna. Meso-fauna are abundant in agricultural soils but much more needs to be learned about their contribution to soil processes (Gulvik 2007). It has been reported that they are sensitive to agricultural chemical inputs and, as a result, they may also have potential as biological indicators of chemical impact on the ecosystem.
Included in
Diversity of Soil Biota in Canadian Grasslands in Relation to Agricultural Cropping Systems
The Prairie Ecozone of the northern Great Plains of North America is a major contributor to world food production, encompassing the majority of the Canada's productive agricultural cropland, rangeland, and pasture. This has come with some ecological costs. Only small remnants of native short-grass prairie remain and field boundary habitats at best provide only narrow corridors between these remnant natural areas. The desire to maintain the capacity of the soil to sustain biological productivity has positively influenced the study of soil biota that contribute to the quality and health of our prairie soils. Soil meso-fauna (mites, millipedes, collembolans) also are thought to be involved in processing organic matter and augmenting processes involved in soil structure (Behan-Pelletier 1999). Because soil meso-fauna are still relatively sedentary they do reflect the conditions of the soil habitat more than mobile macro-fauna. Meso-fauna are abundant in agricultural soils but much more needs to be learned about their contribution to soil processes (Gulvik 2007). It has been reported that they are sensitive to agricultural chemical inputs and, as a result, they may also have potential as biological indicators of chemical impact on the ecosystem.
