Soil biota community structure and litter traits of grape vine plantation and natural ecosystem from Southern Brazil

Abstract

Vitis vinifera is a common plant species cultivated in Southern Brazil for vine production. Although this plant species is commonly found near the Mixed Ombrophilous Forest, the V. vinifera plantation is cultivated in areas for a long-term thus changing the soil ecosystem and functional diversity. We aimed to compare the soil chemical properties, soil biota assemblage, litter traits, decay rate and priming effect in the two adjacent environments (e.g., grape vine plantation vs. natural ecosystem). Soil chemical properties, soil biota community composition, and litter traits of V. vinifera plantation were compared with an adjacent natural ecosystem (e.g., Mixed Ombrophilous Forest) from September 2019 to June 2021. Litter decay rate and priming effect was estimated by using native tree residues on litter bags in both studied environments. We also assessed the influence of soil biota on decay rate through a litterbag assay. Our results showed that both studied environments differed in soil chemical properties and soil biota community composition. However, in the V. vinifera plantation litter decay rate, and priming effect were higher, due to the presence and activities of soil organisms from Collembola - Paronellidae. Thermal amplitude, litter quality, and soil organisms’ activity were the main factors contributing to the data variance. Both native tree residues, A. angustifolia and D. sellowiana, showed the highest decay rate and priming effect in the V. vinifera plantation. Our work increases the understanding of the soil food web and ecological processes (litter deposition and nutrient cycling) into subtropical ecosystems. The V. vinifera plantation following a monocropping system does not provide resources to create a well-developed soil food web, which overtime creates negative plant-soil feedback when compared to the natural ecosystem. However, our study opens a new perspective for a future agroforestry system using two endangered species from the Brazilian Mixed Ombrophilous Forest seeking for vine production, soil sustainability, and biodiversity conservation.