2021, Articolo in rivista, ENG
Giacomo Mele, Gilda Buscemi, Laura Gargiulo*, Fabio Terribile
Although scientific literature focuses mainly on earthworms, all soil macroinvertebrates play an important role in modifying the architecture of the soil pore space and, in turn, in soil functions. Notwithstanding the fact that non-invasive technology, such as X-ray tomography, has long been used to differentiate non-biopores from biopores, it is still difficult to distinguish the specific contribution different macroinvertebrates make to the soil biopore system. Unlike the object-based image analysis approach, when applied to a soil pore system, mathematical morphology permits the user to obtain a very accurate pore size distribution consistent with the physical principle of water retention. The aim of this work was to evaluate the potential of the parameters of this kind of biopore size distribution to differentiate between the burrows of five different macroinvertebrate groups, namely Earthworms, Millipedes juliform, Centipedes, Campodeiform larvae and Elateriform larvae, inoculated into repacked soil mesocosms and incubated (14 days) in the field from where the soil animals were originally collected. A two-fold approach was proposed in this work so as to obtain parameters by both pore size population distributions and Weibull modelling of the cumulative distributions. Then a predictive discriminant analysis was performed on selected parameters by using macroinvertebrate groups as grouping variables and a very good prediction was obtained in both cases. The most useful parameters were the skewness and FFT indices in the first case and the shape parameter ? of the Weibull model along with its RMSE in the second one. In addition, topological characterization was performed on gallery-shaped biopores. Vertical deviation was the only parameter that was independent of the individual body size and showed the statistically significant lowest value for the earthworms. The experiment and analyses performed in this work to explore the connection between macroinvertebrate groups and the corresponding biopore size distributions may represent a suitable methodological approach to performing a general investigation into the relationships between soil management and its impact on the system of soil macropores.
2020, Articolo in rivista, ENG
Frizzi, Filippo; Masoni, Alberto; Migliorini, Massimo; Fanciulli, Pietro Paolo; Cianferoni, Fabio; Balzani, Paride; Giannotti, Stefano; Davini, Giovanna; Wendt, Clara Frasconi; Santini, Giacomo
In the second half of the twentieth century, many red wood ant populations were transferred from the Alps to the Apennines as biological control agents. Since the introduction involved the relocation of entire nest mounds, it is presumable that the associated fauna was also relocated. While the introduction of these ants has raised several concerns about their ecological impact, there has been no attempt to investigate the introduction of other nest associated species. In this study, we collected samples of soil and nest material from three populations of the red wood ant Formica paralugubris, one Alpine native and two imported into the Apennines. We aimed to confirm that nest mounds are hotspots for soil fauna, detect the occurrence of new myrmecophilous species, and compare the nest-associated fauna among sites, to test the hypothesis of mass species relocation. We focused our analyses mainly on two taxa, springtails and oribatid mites, two highly representative groups of the mesofauna inhabiting nest mounds. The results showed higher richness and diversity in nests than soil for oribatids but not for springtails. We found 17 myrmecophilous oribatid species, but only two springtail species. Finally, native and imported sites shared only a few oribatid and springtail species, suggesting that massive relocation did not occur with nest transplants or it was likely limited. Additionally, we found some species never before collected in Italy.
2016, Tesi, ENG
Dottoranda: Gilda Buscemi, Tutor: Fabio Terribile*, Co-Tutor: Giacomo Mele**
The aim of this work was to evaluate the interaction of soil fauna and its habitat, with a multiscale approach, critically underlining their complex interaction. Due to considerable difficulties related to the taxonomic determination, it was necessary to utilize a reliable and easy-to-use index to be able to identify environmental stress states. In fact, simplistic systematic approach shows limitation when used as biological monitoring systems, in which it sustains the taxonomic side instead the ecological aspect. In this work, the adaptation of soil fauna into soil life was evaluated. This was verified by the use of Qbs-index "Biological Soil Quality" (Parisi, 2001). The adaptation makes different convergence phenomena to the morphological level. Soil fauna who lives in soil, shows shared morphological characters (e.g reduced size, depigmentation or reduction of jumping organ, i.e. caudal furca). The soil organisms are particularly sensitive to soil degradation and to the disturbances linked to the soil. Moreover here we attempted to investigate the relationship of soil fauna and different land uses. Through the use of the Qbs-ar index, it was observed an high level of soil quality for all the studied sites. Although it was possible to notice many differences between all the considered samples within the same land use, the soil quality classes used for their classification showed a very high value in each sample. This result underlines that all study sites exhibited a good level of biodiversity. Therefore, the soil fauna depend by soil quality and they depend each other. Overall, the data obtained from qualitative and quantitative analysis showed a good level of correlation, confirming a good soil quality for all study sites both by showing differences within a single sampling site with a specific land use and by correlating all sites with different land uses. In the successive research phase, we wondered in which way and in which amount the soil fauna can influence the soil structure, sampling some sites already analyzed in the previous experimental phase, in which the Qbs-index was applied. the soil samples were analyzed, and the different taxa of soil fauna where discerned. Moreover we applied imaging analysis of the collected soil samples, with aim to correlate the soil fauna with soil structure. More specifically, undisturbed soil samples, were impregnated with epoxy resin and investigated through the use of x-ray medical CAT. The x-ray medical CAT allows to discriminate the soil phase from the pore phase. The image processing was performed in order to obtain 3D reconstructions of the internal structure of the soil blocks. Pore size distribution was determined using the own-developed software Conmorph, through the iterative application of the "opening" algorithm, which classifies the porous phase according to the spacing from the walls. According to the results from investigations on the soil fauna, the samples having a high taxa was richness presented a good and different level of soil pore distribution. In the samples in which taxa differentiation was poor, soil pore size distribution resulted to be rather homogeneous. Although good results were obtained, it was difficult to characterize the porosity related only to the fauna activity in an undisturbed soil samples, since there are many factors influencing their porosity, like the own soil size distribution, the activity of plant roots and of soil fauna (e.g. burrow and casts). In order to better investigate the cause-effect relationships among different species of soil fauna and the soil pore system, a new experimental approach was developed considering the current knowledge. It consisted on the inoculation of different species in repackage soil mesocosms and it aimed to identify the different biological signatures of the soil fauna. Repacked soil mesocosms, after the burrows species activity, were impregnated with epoxy resin and undergo to x-ray medical CAT. Through the obtained images, it has been possible to obtain the pore size distribution for each studied samples, in order to discriminate the contribution of each species to soil pore structure. Additionally, eleven morphological parameters, such as total volume, tortuosity or individual burrowing ratio, were calculated for each burrow system, in order to better characterize the morphology of the bio-pore networks. The last experimental phase was conducted means by a laboratory test consisting in the inoculation of different soil fauna species under controlled conditions. Particular attention was given to the study of the CO2 and N2O fluxes and how the soil fauna may affect these fluxes. This was studied means by an Infrared gas analyzer after the accumulation of CO2 and N2O gas into repacked soil microcosms inoculated with different soil fauna types, individually or mixed each other. At the end of fluxes measurement, each microcosm was used for fauna extractions and for soil analysis (e.g. DOC, pH). The experiment showed the huge difficulty to control all the variables involved in complex processes due to living organisms, like the soil respiration and the soil emission of N2O and simultaneously allowed to state that an increase in the soil respiration and in the fluxes of N2O was essentially provided by the presence of the earthworms.
2016, Contributo in atti di convegno, ENG
Gilda Buscemi (a), Laura Gargiulo (b), Giacomo Mele (b), Silvia Alfieri (c), Fabio Terribile (a)
The definition of "ecosystem engineers" has deeply influenced our assessment of the role of organisms in ecosystem functioning (Jones et al. 1994). Ecosystem engineers are organisms that directly or indirectly modulate the availability of resources to other species, by causing physical state changes in biotic or abiotic materials (Jones et al., 1994, 1997). They are primarily physical engineers, building resistant soil aggregates and pores. In that way, ecosystem engineers plays a key role in the formation of soil structure, providing an important contribution to the soil physical quality. In fact soil structure affects the soil ability to sustain animal and plant life necessary to maintaining agricultural productivity and environmental quality. Lavelle (2002) deduced that in soil the relative importance of regulation imposed by ecosystem engineering is likely to be greater than regulation by trophic relationships, because of the specific ecological constraints observed in this environment when compared to above-ground conditions. Some organisms are no longer considered to play a role only as elements of a food web, but they are studied from the viewpoint of being responsible for altering ecosystem dynamics through the modification, maintenance and/or creation of habitats for other organisms in the ecosystem. Earthworms are well known ecosystem engineers, however other species of macrofauna contribute to change the soil pore system by means of their burrowing activities. The X-ray tomography is a technique increasingly used to obtain non-destructive analysis of the pore netwoks produced by earthworms (Pagenkemper et al., 2015; Whalen et al., 2015; Capowiez et al., 2014, 2015; Auclerc et al., 2013). In this work it was developed an experimental approach based on the use of repacked soil mesocosms prepared in order to identify and quantify the contribution of different taxa of macrofauna to soil structure changes. At the end of the incubation period in the field or in the laboratory mesocosms were subjected to X-ray tomography. The resulting images were processed in order to obtain three-dimensional reconstructions and analysis of the identified biopores. Here are shown preliminary results about 5 mesocosms regarding 6 different species, both adult and larvae individuals.
2015, Articolo in rivista, ENG
Castracani C.; Maienza A.; Grasso D.A.; Genesio L.; Malcevschi A.; Miglietta F.; Vaccari F.P.; Mori A.
Biochar incorporation in agricultural soils has been proposed as a climate change mitigation strategy and has proved to substantially increase crop productivity via physical, chemical and biological mechanisms. The changes induced in soil properties are known to have a direct impact on soil ecosystem with consequences for soil biota community that, in turn, can influence biochar aging in soil. Despite several studies investigated in the interplay between biochar and soil microbiology, there is a clear lack of information on groups that live in the most superficial ground layers: soil meso and macro fauna. These groups are of great importance if we consider that biochar application should ideally be located in the soil's surface layer (0-30 cm). Our study is the first attempt to investigate the interactions between biochar soil amendments and aboveground soil macro-meso fauna in a field crop. This was made setting-up a randomized-block experiment on a processing tomato crop in northern Italy, using three different biochar types and periodically monitoring soil parameters and fauna abundances along the crop growing cycle in summer 2013. Results show that the impact of biochar application on soil fauna as a whole is small when compared to that of agricultural management, suggesting that this amendment does not have short-term ecological interferences. Nevertheless, ants exhibited variations in abundances and distribution connected to properties of amended soils such as temperature, pH and humidity, proving that they can be effectively used as a target group in the study of interactions between biochar and soil biota.
2012, Articolo in rivista
Francesco Baini; Monica Pitzalis; Stefano Taiti; Augusto Vigna Taglianti; Marzio Zapparoli; Marco A. Bologna
Arthropod assemblages (Isopoda Oniscidea, Chilopoda, Coleoptera Carabidae) were studied in three 20-year-old reforestations with native oak species (holm-oak Quercus ilex, Turkey-oak Quercus cerris, and downy-oak Quercus pubescens) and in a natural mixed oak forest (Q cerris and Quercus frainetto) in Latium (central Italy). The three reforested areas had been previously used for agricultural purposes. Samples were collected monthly by pitfall traps for a period of 1 year (March 2009-February 2010). Structural parameters and the arthropod assemblage compositions of the four studied areas were compared. The effects of the different forest types and the influence of environmental variables on the activity density of each species were analyzed, with particular emphasis to forest species. Contrary to centipedes and ground beetles, woodlice showed lower values of richness, diversity and equitability in reforestations than in the natural forest. According to Canonical Correspondence Analysis, forest species of woodlice and centipedes resulted mainly associated with forests characterized by a high structural heterogeneity (natural forest and reforestation with Q. pubescens). In these two forests the activity density of centipede forest species is mainly influenced by the coverage of both shrub and leaf litter layer, and woodlice forest species only by the coverage of the latter. The ground beetle forest species were mainly associated with forests characterized by low structural heterogeneity and an almost total closure of the canopy throughout the year (reforestation with Q. ilex). However, some ground beetle forest species are present also in the natural forest. Our results suggest that reforestations with different native broadleaf species belonging to the local "potential" vegetation can contribute to the conservation of the diversity of forest arthropod assemblages in the extremely fragmented agricultural landscape of the middle Tyrrhenian area. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.