PARENT SESSION
Contributed Oral Session 107: Soil Biota and Communities
Wednesday, August 10, 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM, Meeting Room 524 B, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Predicting soil biota potential population abundance at regional scale.
Fox, Catherine*,1, Jarvis, Ian2, Joschko, Monika3, 1 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Harrow, Ontario, Canada2 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada3 Leibniz-Zentrum - ZALF, Muncheberg, Germany
ABSTRACT- As an outcome of recognizing the importance of soil biota to the functioning of soil, there is increasing need for information on the spatial distribution of soil biota groups at regional and landscape scales. Yet, for Canada's agroecosystems, comprehensive spatial data on population abundance of soil biota groups are not available. A modelling approach based on GIS techniques provided the means to represent a relative evaluation (from very low to very high)of the potential population abundance linked to the Soil Landscapes of Canada(SLC)soil polygon data and response data about specific soil biota groups obtained from scientific information and expert opinion. A proof of concept of the approach was applied to predicting potential population abundance of earthworms by including responses to environmental, land use and management practices. Benefits and challenges of this modelling approach will be discussed in relation to developing indicators of soil biodiversity at regional scale.
Key words: soil biodiversity indicator, potential population abundance, regional and landscape scale, GIS prediction model