I am a soil ecologist from Chinese Academy of Sciences and associated with the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative. In a 10-year experimental field, we found that long-term conservation tillage (no-tillage and ridge-tillage) can maintain more C in soil by having positive effects on soil microbial and nematode communities within different aggregate size fractions. Special functional groups of soil biota, such as AMF, and gram-positive bacteria cultivated in conservation tillage system can conserve more C in biomass and ultimately increase C stock. Our study indicated that different functional groups of soil organisms and their connections provide different pathways to C sequestration at the spatial dimension of soil physical structure under different tillage systems. The abundance and richness of most microflora and microfauna are positively influenced by the conservation tillage. The stability and trophic links of bacterial and predator–prey pathways were strengthened in no-tillage and ridge-tillage compared to conventional tillage. Our study suggests that a more functionally stable food web can be built through the bottom–up effects after 10 years of conservation tillage.
Prof. Qi Li