How 75 years of rubber monocropping affects soil fauna and nematodes as the bioindicators for soil biodiversity quality index
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2022-02-23
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Taylor & Francis Group - Informa UK Limited
Abstract
Natural rubber consumption has led to the expansion of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations which affects the deforestation and ecosystem. However, no study of the long-term effect of rubber plantations on soil biodiversity has been carried out yet. This study aimed to assess the long-term impact of continuous rubber monocropping on soil biodiversity, focusing on soil macrofauna and nematode diversity. Three successive rubber rotations at young and old ages
were compared with the adjacent forest in Suratthani province, Thailand. Soil biodiversity quality index was calculated from a set of indicators which were combined into a single score to present a functional assessment of the gradient of disturbance. The results showed three negative effects on soil biodiversity (i) the biodiversity quality index immediately declined after deforestation (ii) the old age rubber plantations had a lower soil biodiversity as the nematodes were a main driver of diversity in the young plantation, and (iii) similarly, for the soil chemical properties, the long-term effect of rubber chronosequence evidenced deterioration in the third rotation. Therefore, two rotations of rubber plantation (around 50 years) seemed to be the maximum length of rubber monocropping in terms of soil biodiversity recovery.
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Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank all our participants, Prince of Songkla University (PSU), the French Institute of Research for Development (IRD) and CIRAD for their support. Additionally, the authors are grateful to Khon Kaen University (KKU) and the Land Development Department (LDD) for all technical and logistical support, as well as the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), and all farmers for their helpfulness in the fields. The Version of Scholarly Record of this Article is published in Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B — Soil & Plant Science, 2022, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09064710.2022.2034930 . © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Phantip Panklang, Philippe Thaler, Alexis Thoumazeau, Rawee Chiarawipa, Sayan Sdoodee & Alain Brauman (2022) How 75 years of rubber monocropping affects soil fauna and nematodes as the bioindicators for soil biodiversity quality index, Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B — Soil & Plant Science, 72:1, 612-622, DOI: 10.1080/09064710.2022.2034930