The Relationship Between Fungi, Endophytes, and Native Soil Biology 

Dr. Mary Lucero

Pesticide effects on soil fauna communities—A meta-analysis 

Beaumelle et al., 2013.

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1. Soil invertebrate communities represent a significant fraction of global biodiversity and play crucial roles in ecosystems. A number of human activities threaten soil communities, in particular intensive agricultural practices such as pesticide use. However, there is currently no quantitative synthesis of the impacts of pesticides on soil fauna communities.
2. Here, using a meta-analysis of 54 studies and 294 observations, we quantify pesticide effects on the abundance, biomass, richness and diversity of natural soil fauna communities across a wide range of environmental contexts. We also identify scenarios with the most detrimental effects on soil fauna communities by analysing the effects of different pesticides (herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, broad-spectrum substances and multiple substances), different application rates and temporal extents (short- or long-term), as well as the response of different functional groups of soil animals (body size categories, presence of exoskeleton).
3. Pesticides overall decreased the abundance and diversity of soil fauna communities across studies (Grand mean effect size (Hedge's g) = −0.30 +/− 0.16) and had stronger effects on soil fauna diversity than abundance. The most detrimental scenarios involved multiple substances, broad-spectrum substances and insecticides, which significantly decreased soil fauna diversity even at recommended rates. We found no evidence that pesticide effects dampen over time, as short-term and long-term studies exhibited similar mean effect sizes.
4. Policy implications: Our study highlights that pesticide use has significant detrimental non-target effects on soil biodiversity, eroding a substantial part of global biodiversity and threatening ecosystem health. This provides crucial evidence supporting recent policies, such as the European Green Deal, that aim to reduce pesticide use in agriculture to conserve biodiversity. The detrimental effects of multiple substances revealed here are particularly concerning because realistic pesticide use often combines several substances targeting different pests and diseases over the crop season. We suggest that future guidelines for pesticide registration, restrictions and banning should rely on data able to fully capture the long-term consequences of multiple substances for multiple non-target species in realistic conditions.

https://n9.cl/m4yxx

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La idea que plantea que la naturaleza se encuentra en un estado de balance tiene una historia antigua e importantes implicaciones en cómo nos relacionamos con nuestro entorno.

Este es el tema que se explora en estos videos: https://lc.cx/KIdCE2

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Shifting microbial communities can enhance tree tolerance to changing climates 

Allsuo et al., 2023.  

Climate change is pushing species outside of their evolved tolerances. Plant populations must acclimate, adapt, or migrate to avoid extinction. However, because plants associate with diverse microbial communities that shape their phenotypes, shifts in microbial associations may provide an alternative source of climate tolerance. Here, we show that tree seedlings inoculated with microbial communities sourced from drier, warmer, or colder sites displayed higher survival when faced with drought, heat, or cold stress, respectively. Microbially mediated drought tolerance was associated with increased diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, whereas cold tolerance was associated with lower fungal richness, likely reflecting a reduced burden of nonadapted fungal taxa. Understanding microbially mediated climate tolerance may enhance our ability to predict and manage the adaptability of forest ecosystems to changing climates.

https://acortar.link/DT4r8q