02790nas a2200241   4500008004100000245015400041210006900195260008000264300001200344490000700356520183800363653002202201653002502223653002902248653002202277653003102299100001402330700001602344700001902360700001702379700001502396856013702411       2003                        eng d00aObservational and simulated evidence of ecological shifts within the soil nematode community of agroecosystems under conventional and organic farming0 aObservational and simulated evidence of ecological shifts within  a9600 GARSINGTON RD, OXFORD OX4 2DG, OXON, ENGLANDbBLACKWELL PUBLISHING LTD  a516-5250 v173 a1. Soil sustainability implies a sufficient diversity and abundance of organisms to perform soil functions and to resist environmental stress. Previous studies have shown the importance of functional biodiversity for soil organisms. 2. Soil samples have been collected within the framework of a long-term monitoring programme in the Netherlands. Nematological and microbiological techniques were combined to facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of possible below-ground effects of land management. 3. A possible bias due to stochastic circumstances was investigated. The Mantel test showed that the diversity at species level is largely related to air temperature, but at genus level the effect of temperature disappears. No direct influence of rainfall on the soil biodiversity was found in our model. 4. To extrapolate our data to a national level, habitat-response relationships for soil organisms have been derived. Generalized linear models (GLMs) and Monte Carlo simulation allowed the estimation of the probability of occurrence at a given abundance for 95 nematode genera. 5. Our study describes the influence of abiotic conditions and land use intensity on the composition of nematode communities in grasslands on sand. The results obtained reveal a major influence of pH and livestock density on the diversity of the nematode community at both taxonomic levels as well as at different trophic levels (feeding habits). The presence and abundance of soil nematodes decrease with cattle pressure. 6. Functional diversity decreases with increasing management intensity. It is shown that the Shannon diversities of bacterial feeding nematodes and fungal feeding nematodes are strictly related to cattle pressure, whereas the bacterial biomass occurring under organic farming scores higher than in other farming systems.10abacterial biomass10afunctional diversity10aintensive farming system10alivestock density10apredator-prey interactions1 aMulder, C1 aDe Zwart, D1 aVan Wijnen, HJ1 aSchouten, AJ1 aBreure, AM  uhttps://nematoda.myspecies.info/content/observational-and-simulated-evidence-ecological-shifts-within-soil-nematode-community-agroec