Influence of cropping on the species composition of epigeic Collembola in arable fieldsProceedings of the Xth international Colloquium on Apterygota, České Budějovice 2000: Apterygota at the Beginning of the Third Millennium

Abstract

Effects of cropping on summer abundance and species composition of epigeic Collembola were investigated during a six-year study in which nine different arable crops were sampled. Crops were sited on three farms, each with a different rotation and soil type. Species composition was usually similar between fields on the same farm but differed markedly between farms. Arthropleona were generally favoured by a grass and wheat rotation on calcareous clay whereas Symphypleona were favoured by a mixed cereals and break crops rotation on calcareous loam. A mixed cereals and root crops rotation on stony sand consistently had the lowest collembolan abundance and taxonomic richness in all years. Analysis of combined data from all three farms indicated that, except for barley, winter-sown crops had higher abundance and taxonomic richness than spring-sown crops. This pattern was also evident when all crops within individual farms were compared, but the differences were statistically significant only at one farm. However, when comparisons were restricted to cereals, differences in collembolan abundance between spring and winter-sown cereals were inconsistent between farms. Several collembolan species had restricted spatial distributions among fields, independent of cropping and soil type. These findings, which are compared with previous work on effects of cropping on Collembola, have implications for the interpretation of field ecotoxicological studies.