Soil Ecology
Spatial dependence of soil organic carbon,
abundance, biomass and diversity of
earthworms in 15 temperate agroforestry
systems
Kevin Hoeffner
∗ 1, R´
emi Cardinael
2, Claire Chenu
3, Tiphaine Chevallier
4, Camille B´
eral
, Morgane Ollivier
5, Daniel Cluzeau
61 Ecosyst`emes, biodiversit´e, ´evolution (UMR ECOBIO 6553) – Universite de Rennes 1, UMR
6553 CNRS – Bˆatiment 14 - Universit´e de Rennes 1 - Campus de Beaulieu - CS 74205 - 35042 Rennes Cedex - France, France
2 CIRAD-UPR-102 – Centre de coop´eration internationale en recherche agronomique pour le
d´eveloppement [CIRAD] : UPR102 – Avenue Agropolis, 34398 Montpellier Cedex, France
3 UMR Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Ecotoxicologie des Agro´ecosyst`emes) (UMR Ecosys) –
AgroParisTech, Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) – AgroParisTech Bˆatiment EGER, Campus AgroParisTech Grignon 78850 Thiverval Grignon, France, France
4 Ecologie fonctionnelle et biog´eochimie des sols et des agro-´ecosyst`emes (EcoSols) – Centre de
Coop´eration Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le D´eveloppement, Institut de Recherche pour le D´eveloppement, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique : UMR1222,
Centre international d´tudes sup´erieures en sciences agronomiques, Institut national d’´etudes sup´erieures agronomiques de Montpellier, Centre international d´tudes sup´erieures en sciences
agronomiques, Centre international d´tudes sup´erieures en sciences agronomiques, Centre international d´tudes sup´erieures en sciences agronomiques, Centre international d´tudes sup´erieures en sciences agronomiques, Centre international d’´etudes sup´erieures en sciences
agronomiques – place Viala, 34060 Montpellier, France, France
5 Ecosyst`emes, biodiversit´e, ´evolution (UMR ECOBIO 6553) – Universite de Rennes 1, UMR
6553 CNRS – Bˆatiment 14 - Universit´e de Rennes 1 - Campus de Beaulieu - CS 74205 - 35042 Rennes Cedex - France, France
6 Ecosyst`emes, biodiversit´e, ´evolution (UMR ECOBIO 6553) – Universite de Rennes 1, UMR
6553 CNRS – Universit´e de Rennes 1 - Station Biologique de Paimpont, Paimpont, France, France
In temperate regions, silvoarable systems associating parallel tree rows and annual intercrops are the most widespread types of agroforestry systems. Earthworms are involved in numerous ecosystem services such as pedogenesis, soil structure, and nutrient cycling. In agricultural landscape, land occupation and management highly influence earthworm communities. The objectives of this study were to i) compare earthworm communities (abundance, biomass and diversity) between agroforestry tree rows, alley and agricultural control systems (treeless) and relate it to the spatial distribution of Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) stocks. We used a network of 15 agroforestry French sites arranged on a North/South gradient compris- ing an adjacent agricultural control plot. Agroforestry alleys and control plot have been strictly managed (soil tillage, crop rotation, fertilization) in the same way since the tree planting. Mean earthworm abundance and biomass were significantly higher in the trees rows than in the agroforestry alleys and the agricultural control system across the sites. Earthworm species richness in the tree rows was not significantly different from the agricultural control system but was higher than in the agroforestry alleys across the sites. Interestingly, adult earthworm.
