Soil Fauna Activities in Agricultural
Greek Landscapes
Evangelia Vavoulidou, Gero Benckiser, and Victor A. Kavvadias
1 Soil Fauna Roles in Soil Ecosystems
Land-use intensification is associated with massive biomass (67%), and biodiversity
declines (78%) [1, 2]. In annually grassland samples it was found that the arthropod
species decreased in abundance and number of species consistent across trophic levels
and independent of the local land-use intensity by 34%. The species specific roles in
nutrient cycling and of the soil animal biodiversity, both important dimensions for
conservation, are not yet accurate estimated and reasonably understood [3, 4]. The
Intergovernmental Science–Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
(IPBES) consequently aims finding a bridge between above and belowground biodiversity by deciding not focussing exclusively on natural science but also including
local, indigenous knowledge systems, social and humanities science, and the policy
to implement new insights [5–13].
The soil fauna feeding traits—detritivorous or eating dead plant and animal
matter and geophagous or eating soil—ensure a sustained C, N cycling and soil
fertility. Soil habitats, in which protozoans, nematodes, enchytraeids or potworms,
soil mites, springtails, insect larvae, Diplopods, Centipedes, woodlice, moles, and
earthworms reside, are three-dimensional in structure. The soils inhabiting soil fauna
E. Vavoulidou (B) · V. A. Kavvadias
Institute of Soil and Water Resources, Department of Soil Science of Athens, Hellenic
Agricultural Organization-DEMETER, 1 S. Venizelou Str, 141 23 Lykovrisi, Attiki, Greece
e-mail: evavoul@otenet.gr
V. A. Kavvadias
e-mail: vkavvadias.kal@nagref.gr
G. Benckiser
Institute of Applied Microbiology, Justus-Liebig University, Heinrich Buff-Ring 26-32, Giessen,
Germany
e-mail: gero.benckiser@umwelt.uni-giessen.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
G. Benckiser (ed.), Soil and Recycling Management in the Anthropocene Era,
Environmental Science and Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51886-8_4
87
Greek Landscapes
Evangelia Vavoulidou, Gero Benckiser, and Victor A. Kavvadias
1 Soil Fauna Roles in Soil Ecosystems
Land-use intensification is associated with massive biomass (67%), and biodiversity
declines (78%) [1, 2]. In annually grassland samples it was found that the arthropod
species decreased in abundance and number of species consistent across trophic levels
and independent of the local land-use intensity by 34%. The species specific roles in
nutrient cycling and of the soil animal biodiversity, both important dimensions for
conservation, are not yet accurate estimated and reasonably understood [3, 4]. The
Intergovernmental Science–Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
(IPBES) consequently aims finding a bridge between above and belowground biodiversity by deciding not focussing exclusively on natural science but also including
local, indigenous knowledge systems, social and humanities science, and the policy
to implement new insights [5–13].
The soil fauna feeding traits—detritivorous or eating dead plant and animal
matter and geophagous or eating soil—ensure a sustained C, N cycling and soil
fertility. Soil habitats, in which protozoans, nematodes, enchytraeids or potworms,
soil mites, springtails, insect larvae, Diplopods, Centipedes, woodlice, moles, and
earthworms reside, are three-dimensional in structure. The soils inhabiting soil fauna
E. Vavoulidou (B) · V. A. Kavvadias
Institute of Soil and Water Resources, Department of Soil Science of Athens, Hellenic
Agricultural Organization-DEMETER, 1 S. Venizelou Str, 141 23 Lykovrisi, Attiki, Greece
e-mail: evavoul@otenet.gr
V. A. Kavvadias
e-mail: vkavvadias.kal@nagref.gr
G. Benckiser
Institute of Applied Microbiology, Justus-Liebig University, Heinrich Buff-Ring 26-32, Giessen,
Germany
e-mail: gero.benckiser@umwelt.uni-giessen.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
G. Benckiser (ed.), Soil and Recycling Management in the Anthropocene Era,
Environmental Science and Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51886-8_4
87