Università Degli Studi Della Tuscia Di Viterbo
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UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DELLA TUSCIA DI VITERBO DIPARTIMENTO PER L‘INNOVAZIONE NEI SISTEMI BIOLOGICI, AGROALIMENTARI E FORESTALI Corso di Dottorato di Ricerca in Ecologia forestale - XXVIII Ciclo. SOIL INDICATORS SET UP TO ASSESS SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT IN VARIOUS AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST ECOSYSTEMS (Pedology - s.s.d. AGR/14) PhD student: Dott. Ruxandra Papp Coordinator Tutor Prof. Paolo De Angelis Prof. Sara Marinari …………………….. ……………………… 16 Giugno 2016 This thesis is dedicated to my father ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Prof. Sara Marinari for the continuous support in my PhD study and related research, for her patience and her motivation. Secondly, I would like to thank: Dr. Maria Cristina Moscatelli and Dr. Luca Secondi for their academic help and advices during the discussion of the thesis. I would like to acknowledge the staff of Univesity of Tuscia: Prof. Roberto Mancinelli, Prof. Enio Campiglia, Dr. Emanuele Radicetti, Dr. Silvia Rita Stazi for their support in elaborating and discussing the scientific data. I could not have managed with the lab work without the help and guidance of Dr. Rosita Marabottini. I would like to thank the staff at the James Hutton Institute: Dr. Tim Daniell, Susan Mitchell and Adrian Langarica Fuentes for making my three months abroad experience rewarding. A special thanks for all my fellow PhD and Master students: Eleonora, Silvia, Guido, Enrica, Roberta and Roberto for their encouragements and helpful advices. I would like to thank all my Italian friends that were next to me in this 3 year experience, they made me feel like home and given me their friendship and compassion: Paola and Erica. I am trully grateful for all the help and encouragements of my Romanian friends: Adel, Andreea, Tereza and Ciprian that were physically distant but always close to my heart. Last but not the least; I would like to thank my mom Smaranda, my father Aurel and my boyfriend Luca for supporting me spiritually throughout writing this thesis and my life in general. I would like to thank the EU FP7 OSCAR Project for financing part of my PhD scholarship. Contents I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 1. Sustainable management and soil quality ................................................................... 1 2. Soil quality to provide ecosystem services .................................................................. 2 3. Soil in agriculture and forest ecosystem .................................................................... 4 3.1 The role and functions of soil in agroecosystems and in forest ecosystems ............... 4 3.2 Soil management in agroecosystems......................................................................... 8 3.3 Forest management and soil quality ........................................................................ 11 4. Assessment of soil quality .......................................................................................... 14 4.1 Soil physical and chemical indicators ..................................................................... 17 4.2 Soil biological indicators ........................................................................................ 19 4.3 Ecophysiological indexes ....................................................................................... 22 II. AIM OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................. 24 III. MATERIALS AND METHODS ................................................................................ 26 3.1 Experimental designs ............................................................................................... 26 3.2 Soil analysis .............................................................................................................. 33 3.2.1 Soil chemical analysis ......................................................................................... 33 3.2.2 Soil biochemical analysis .................................................................................... 34 3.2.3 Data analysis ....................................................................................................... 41 3.2.4 Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi identification......................................................... 41 3.2.5 Identification of the sensitive soil quality indicators............................................. 42 IV. RESULTS and DISCUSSION .................................................................................... 45 4.1 Soil ecological impact of tillage in various subsidiary cropping systems across four European climatic zones (case study 1) ......................................................................... 45 4.1.1 Results ................................................................................................................ 45 4.1.2 Discussion ........................................................................................................... 54 4.1.3 Conclusions ......................................................................................................... 56 4.2 Soil quality indicators in a long-term experiment: organic vs. conventional agricultural management (case study 2) ....................................................................... 57 4.2.1 Results ................................................................................................................ 57 4.2.2 Discussion ........................................................................................................... 65 4.2.3 Conclusions ......................................................................................................... 67 4.3 The impact of exotic tree species (Douglas-fir) reforestation on soil carbon and nutrient dynamics in Northern Apennines – Italy (case study 3) ................................ 68 4.3.1 Results ................................................................................................................ 68 4.3.2 Discussion ........................................................................................................... 77 4.3.3 Conclusions ......................................................................................................... 79 4.4 Soil microbial diversity as indicator of forest management of Vico Lake Natural Reserve (case study 4) .................................................................................................... 80 4.4.1 Results ................................................................................................................ 80 4.4.2 Discussion ........................................................................................................... 85 4.4.3 Conclusions ......................................................................................................... 88 4.5. Soil indicators set up to assess sustainable management in various agricultural and forest ecosystems .................................................................................................... 89 4.5.1 An overview of soil sensitive indicators in various ecosystems management: four case studies .................................................................................................................. 89 4.5.2 The assessment of microbial functional diversity in different soil categories (case study 5) ........................................................................................................................ 96 V. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS..................................................................................... 100 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 103 APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................... 122 List of abbreviations Acid pho.= acid phosphatase Pho./Corg.=acid phosphatase specific activity AMF= arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi Aryl= arylsulphatase Aryl./Corg= arylsuphatase specific activity BR = soil basal respiration CA=conservation agriculture CBD= The Convention on Biological Diversity CC =cover crop CEC= cation exchange capacity Chit=chitinase Chit./Corg= chitinase specific activity CLPP= community level physiological profile Cmic= microbial carbon CONV= conventional management Corg= total organic carbon CT= conventional tillage DFA = discriminant function analysis EA= enzyme activities Extr-C= extractable carbon Extr-N= extractable nitrogen FA= fatty acids FAO = The Food and Agriculture Organization H‘= Shannon Index (microbial functional diversity) LM = living mulch LTE= long term experiment MDS= minimum dataset MEE = Multi-Environment-Experiment MR= Microresp® MUF= methylumbelliferone Nmic= microbial biomass nitrogen N-NH4= nitrogen as ammonium form N-NO3 = nitrogen as nitric form ORG= organic management Pho= acid phosphatase Pho./Corg=acid phosphatase specific activity PLFA= phospholipid-derived fatty acids qCO2 = metabolic quotient QRM=quantile regression model RT= reduced tillage SC=subsidiary crop SEI= synthetic Enzyme Index SEIc= synthetic Enzyme Index involved in C-cycle SOCO= Sustainable agriculture and soil conservation project SOM=soil organic matter SQ= soil quality TN= total nitrogen T-RFLP= terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism UNEP=United Nations Environment Programme WHC= water holding capacity I. INTRODUCTION 1. Sustainable management and soil quality