Macrofaunal biopores: Diversity and regeneration rates across diverse pedoclimatic conditions studied with repacked soil cores
Charlotte Védère,
Hanane Aroui Boukbida,
Yvan Capowiez,
Sougueh Cheik,
Guillaume Coulouma,
Rinh Pham Dinh,
Séraphine Grellier,
Claude Hammecker,
Thierry Henry Des Tureaux,
Ajay Harit,
Jean Louis Janeau,
Pascal Jouquet,
Jean Luc Maeght,
Pascal Podwojewski,
Cornelia Rumpel,
Stéphane Sammartino,
Norbert Silvera,
Siwaporn Siltecho,
Lotfi Smaili,
Bounsamay Soulileuth,
Nicolas Bottinelli
Affiliations
Charlotte Védère
Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences- Paris (iEES-Paris) UMR CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Sorbonne University, Paris 75005, France; Corresponding authors at: Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences- Paris (iEES-Paris) UMR CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Sorbonne University, Paris 75005, France (Nicolas Bottinelli).
Hanane Aroui Boukbida
IRD, Instrumentation, Moyens Analytiques, Observatoires en Géophysique et Océanographie, UAR IMAGO, BP: 1386 Route des Hydrocarbures, Dakar, Senegal
Yvan Capowiez
EMMAH, Avignon Université, INRAE, 84000 Avignon, France
Sougueh Cheik
Agronomy and Ecology Laboratory, Institute of Life Sciences, Centre d’Études et de Recherche de Djibouti, CERD, Djibouti
Guillaume Coulouma
LISAH, Univ Montpellier, INRA, IRD, Montpellier SupAgro, Montpellier, France
Rinh Pham Dinh
Soils and Fertilizers Institute (SFI), Dong Ngac, Tu Liem, Hanoi, Viet Nam
Séraphine Grellier
Interdisciplinary Research Center Cities, Territories, Environment and Society, (UMR CNRS 7324 CITERES), University of Tours, Tours, France; Department of Planning and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering of the University of Tours (Polytech Tours), Tours, France
Claude Hammecker
LISAH, Univ Montpellier, INRA, IRD, Montpellier SupAgro, Montpellier, France
Thierry Henry Des Tureaux
Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences- Paris (iEES-Paris) UMR CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Sorbonne University, Paris 75005, France
Ajay Harit
School of Environmental Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, PD Hills, Kottayam 656860, Kerala, India; Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Kalinga University, Naya Raipur 492101, Chhattisgarh, India
Jean Louis Janeau
Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences- Paris (iEES-Paris) UMR CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Sorbonne University, Paris 75005, France
Pascal Jouquet
Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences- Paris (iEES-Paris) UMR CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Sorbonne University, Paris 75005, France; WAE Research Unit, Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Jean Luc Maeght
AMAP, Univ Montpellier, IRD, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, Montpellier, France
Pascal Podwojewski
Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences- Paris (iEES-Paris) UMR CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Sorbonne University, Paris 75005, France
Cornelia Rumpel
Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences- Paris (iEES-Paris) UMR CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Sorbonne University, Paris 75005, France
Stéphane Sammartino
EMMAH, Avignon Université, INRAE, 84000 Avignon, France
Norbert Silvera
Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences- Paris (iEES-Paris) UMR CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Sorbonne University, Paris 75005, France
Siwaporn Siltecho
Regional of Office 5, Land Development Department, Khon-Kaen, Thailand
Lotfi Smaili
Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences- Paris (iEES-Paris) UMR CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Sorbonne University, Paris 75005, France
Bounsamay Soulileuth
IRD, Department of Agricultural Land Management (DALaM), Vientiane, Laos
Nicolas Bottinelli
Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences- Paris (iEES-Paris) UMR CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Sorbonne University, Paris 75005, France; Soils and Fertilizers Institute (SFI), Dong Ngac, Tu Liem, Hanoi, Viet Nam; Corresponding authors at: Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences- Paris (iEES-Paris) UMR CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Sorbonne University, Paris 75005, France (Nicolas Bottinelli).
It is well known that biopores are crucial for soil functioning. However, their dynamics is rarely studied and their origin with regards to the soil organisms involved is still hard to determine. In this study we investigated the diversity of biopores and their regeneration rates in situ in various pedoclimatic conditions. Our approach involved field incubation of repacked soil cores with lateral openings across nine study sites in five countries (France, Vietnam, India, Laos and Thailand). After 12 months, biopores were characterized by X-ray computed tomography and grouped according to their diameter, length and sphericity index using principal component analysis followed by K-means clustering. The regeneration dynamics of biopores was assessed by comparing those created after one year of incubation to the biopores determined in soil cores taken from the surrounding soils (assuming the latter are in a steady-state). Additionally, we examined the relationships between newly formed biopores and soil macrofauna taxa. Our results evidenced significant variability in biopore diameter (0.90 to 15.84 mm), length (1 to 1600 mm) and sphericity index (0.03 to 0.93). We propose 10 biopore groups allowing to distinguish most of the study sites. Complete regeneration of biopores after 12 months was achieved in seven out of nine sites. Three groups of biopores showed a positive relation with earthworm abundance (r values ranged from 0.69 to 0.90), whereas the other groups of biopores showed no association with any macrofauna taxa. We conclude that biopore formation can be assessed under field conditions with repacked soil cores, regardless the pedoclimatic conditions. However, the involvement of macrofauna other than earthworms in biopore formation still remains to be unraveled. To capture their contribution to biopore formation, improvements of the repacked soil core approach and complementary laboratory experiments were suggested.
