BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//pretalx//pretalx.earthmonitor.org//soil-health-now-2026//B9NG8Z
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:Europe/Athens
BEGIN:STANDARD
DTSTART:20001029T040000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=-1SU;BYMONTH=10
TZNAME:EET
TZOFFSETFROM:+0300
TZOFFSETTO:+0200
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
DTSTART:20000326T030000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=-1SU;BYMONTH=3
TZNAME:EEST
TZOFFSETFROM:+0200
TZOFFSETTO:+0300
END:DAYLIGHT
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2026-EL7GRA@pretalx.earthmonitor.org
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Athens:20261207T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Athens:20261207T180000
DESCRIPTION:Soil fauna are key components of soil biodiversity and contribu
 te to decomposition\, nutrient cycling\, soil structure formation and the 
 regulation of biological processes in agricultural soils. However\, soil f
 aunal responses to management are often assessed using different metrics\,
  such as activity density\, density\, biomass and taxonomic richness\, whi
 ch may reflect distinct biological processes. As a result\, it remains unc
 lear whether agricultural practices that benefit one dimension of soil fau
 na also support others.\n\nWe conducted a meta-analysis of peer-reviewed f
 ield studies from European agricultural landscapes to compare how cropping
  intensity\, crop type\, farming type and agri-environmental measures affe
 ct soil fauna communities relative to intensively managed arable reference
 s. The dataset included 1\,383 paired observations from 43 publications an
 d covered major soil fauna groups and management contexts. Effect sizes we
 re calculated as log response ratios and analysed using multilevel random-
 effects models that accounted for between-study heterogeneity and dependen
 cies among comparisons sharing controls. We further evaluated whether resp
 onses differed among soil fauna metrics and major decomposer taxa.\n\nSoil
  fauna responses varied strongly among metrics. Lower cropping intensity a
 nd agri-environmental measures produced the clearest positive effects on d
 ensity and biomass\, suggesting that reduced disturbance\, permanent or se
 mi-natural vegetation\, and more continuous resource inputs favour the bui
 ld-up of larger and more abundant soil fauna communities. Farming type was
  more closely associated with activity density and taxonomic richness\, wi
 th organic or ecological farming generally showing positive effects. Crop 
 type alone showed weaker and less consistent responses. Among individual a
 gri-environmental measures\, forests\, fallows\, grasslands\, habitat stri
 ps and field margins generally supported higher density or biomass\, where
 as richness responses were more variable. Taxon-specific analyses showed t
 hat positive responses were concentrated in several decomposer groups\, in
 cluding Acari\, Collembola\, Enchytraeidae\, Lumbricidae and Nematoda\, al
 though the strength of evidence differed among taxa.\n\nOur results show t
 hat soil fauna metrics are not interchangeable indicators of biological so
 il condition. Density and biomass responded most consistently to managemen
 t interventions\, whereas activity density and richness were more context-
 dependent. Integrating multiple soil fauna metrics and taxon-specific resp
 onses can therefore improve biological assessment of agricultural soils an
 d support the design of management practices that better conserve soil bio
 diversity
DTSTAMP:20260825T180106Z
LOCATION:Basement (Foyer)
SUMMARY:Soil fauna responses to agricultural management across Europe: a me
 ta-analysis of biological metrics and decomposer taxa - Nga Thi Thanh Mai
URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2026/talk/EL7GRA/
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR