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Introduction
Martin Potthoff currently works at the Centre of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Martin does research in Soil Ecology, Agricultural Science, and Environmental Science. His recent projects are 'VineDivers - biodiversity-based ecosystem services in vineyards' and "SoiMan - Ecosystem services of soil biota in agriculture".
Publications
Publications (61)
Background
The role of soil mesofauna in decomposition processes still is debated and this applies in particular to arable systems.
Aim
This study investigates the role of Collembola in decomposition processes of crop residues in two different tillage systems.
Methods
We conducted a litterbag experiment in a long‐term field site in Germany manage...
Mechanical soil disturbance is one among the key factors influencing soil biodiversity in agriculture. Although many soil organisms are sensitive to soil disturbance, fungi could be highly impacted due to their sessile lifestyle, relatively slow growth and filamentous body structure. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are of particular interest in a...
Bestimmungsschlüssel für die häufigsten Regenwurmarten in Deutschland (Acker und Grünland)
Conservation tillage is often discussed as an effective tool to improve the soil quality in agriculture. Four sites across Europe (in Germany, Romania, Spain, and Sweden) were investigated as case studies for country-specific reductions in tillage intensity. Conventional tillage (CT) by mouldboard ploughing was compared with shallow and deep non-in...
In the context of sustainable agriculture, a deeper knowledge of the effects of soil management on soil annelids is needed, as they play an important role in many soil processes. In a laboratory mesocosm experiment, we compared the simulated effect of ploughing by inverting the top soil (crop residues at 15 cm depth) to a non-inversion treatment (c...
The concept of values has been extensively used as a proxy to investigate relationships between human-beings and their environment. Using a pragmatic epistemology, we investigated valuation processes at stake when farmers choose their management practices, focusing on soil biota valuations. We sought to determine to what extant values are situation...
The introduction of temporary grassland into an annual crop rotation is recognized to improve soil ecosystem services, and resulting legacies can be beneficial for the following crops. In this context, the aim of the present study was to evaluate legacy effects of introducing temporary grassland into an annual crop rotation on five ecosystem servic...
Traditionally, soil quality has been assessed through physical, chemical and biological properties without paying attention to soil biota and the different associated ecosystem services provided (Tyler, 2019). To fill that gap, the european BiodivERsA "SoilMan" project (Ecosystem services driven by the diversity of soil biota - understanding and ma...
Agriculture benefits from soil functions, whereof many depend on soil biota, but some management practices can threaten soil organisms. We inventoried values that European farmers associate to soils and soil biota into their soil management decisions. We used Dewey’s pragmatic epistemology, stating that values can be observed through active behavio...
Background:
The Biological Field Station of Paimpont (Station Biologique de Paimpont, SBP), owned by the University of Rennes and located in the Brocéliande Forest of Brittany (France), has been hosting student scientific research and field trips during the last 60 years. The study area of the SBP is a landscape mosaic of 17 ha composed of gorse m...
Effects of soil type and microclimate on winter decomposition of maize (Zea mays L) leaf litter and microbial
carbon use efciency (CUE) were investigated, using a reciprocal soil transplantation experiment. The clay site
DEP is located at an elevated plateau on limestone, the silt site NEB at a broad valley on loess. At DEP, the mean
soil temperatur...
Soil biodiversity is deteriorating in Europe due to an on-going intensification of agriculture, climate change and food production supporting measures of the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Nevertheless, the CAP tries to take biodiversity into account via proposing a range of agri-environmental measures. These ES contribute to food secur...
Soil biodiversity is deteriorating due to an ongoing intensification of agriculture, climate change and food production supporting measures of the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Ecosystem services (ES) from soil are mostly driven by soil biota and contribute to food security, climate change mitigation, water retention and plant biomass....
A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.
Tillage is known for its adverse effects on soil biota, at least in arable agroecosystems. However, in vineyards effects might differ as tillage is often performed during dry periods or only in every other inter-row allowing species to re-colonise disturbed areas. We examined the response of earthworms (lumbricids), springtails (collembola) and lit...
Climate change will affect the survival of plant pathogens and the decomposition of crop residues on temperate arable soils. Information on the survival of fungal plant pathogens is important for assessing the subsequent infection risk of susceptible agricultural crops. Therefore, a soil warming experiment was performed to examine the effects of ri...
Agroforest systems are highly discussed as new and innovative land use systems for arable land in temperate regions. They are recommended due to their beneficial impact on several ecosystem functions and for the general diversification of the cultured landscapes. Tree rows, known as alley cropping systems, are one of the most frequent applications....
Pastures with low grazing pressure are often characterized by a sward mosaic of short, frequently grazed and tall, rarely grazed patches. These two patch types differ in the quantity of litter returned to the system, but may also produce different litter quality and provide different conditions for decomposition. We collected litter from short and...
Essential ecosystem services provided by viticultural landscapes result from diverse communities of above-and belowground organisms and their interactions. For centuries traditional viticulture was part of a multifunctional agricultural system including low-input grasslands and fruit trees resulting in a high functional biodiversity. However , in t...
Der Streuabbau ist ein Produkt vielfältiger biologischer Prozesse. Sein Umfang bzw. die Geschwindigkeit
des Streuabbaus sind entscheidend für die Nährstoffnachlieferung und damit für die Nettoprimärproduktion
im Ökosystem. Biomasse, Zusammensetzung und Aktivität der Bodenorganismen sind dabei zusammen
die wesentlichen Steuergrößen. In genutzten Öko...
A 56-day incubation experiment was carried out to investigate decomposition and microbial use of 15N-labelled maize (Zea mays L.) residues incubated under four winter temperature scenarios. The residues were mixed to mesocosms equivalent to 1.2 mg C and 42.5 μg N g−1 dry soil, after which the samples were incubated at a constant temperature of +4 °...
It is well documented that global warming is unequivocal. Dairy production systems are considered as important sources of greenhouse gas emissions; however, little is known about the sensitivity and vulnerability of these production systems themselves to climate warming. This review brings different aspects of dairy cow production in Central Europe...
The common earthworm Lumbricus terrestris L is an invasive species that was introduced to North America by European settlers. Subsequently, earthworms have been distributed by human activity, invaded a wide geographic range and changed previously earthworm-free ecosystems. In the present study we analyzed seven European and four North American popu...
The ecological value of grassland habitats and earthworms is widely recognized.This study aimed to compare five different grassland management practices and their impact on earthworm communities. In permanent grassland in the French Massif Central field sampling was carried out in April 2011.Abundance, biomass and species richness of earthworms wer...
Earthworms are used in an increasing number of microcosm experiments that investigate their behaviour and biology or that consider earthworms an environmental factor that influences soil properties and biological interactions. However, there exists no standardized protocol for performing comparable studies. After giving a short overview of the diff...
A microcosm experiment was carried out for 56 days at 12C to evaluate the feeding effects of the
endogeic geophagous earthworm species Aporrectodea caliginosa on the microbial use of 15N-labelled
maize leaves (Zea mays) added as 5 mm particles equivalent to 1 mg C and 57 mg N g-1 soil. The dry
weight of A. caliginosa biomass decreased in the no-mai...
Goals of ecosystem restoration in California grasslands include the reestablishment of plant communities with a high proportion of native species, and simultaneously improve soil nutrient cycling. Addition of annual lupines and a litter mulch layer were hypothesized to be factors that would promote the growth of the native perennial bunchgrass, Nas...
The dynamic of litter decomposition is essential for soil fertility and the establishment of certain plant communities. In California grassland the mediterranean climate limits the decomposition to a short period of time only. Moreover the quality of grass litter produced is poor. Three different types of grasslands were tested using litterbags and...
We investigated the effect of plant residue decomposability and fungal biomass on the dynamics of macroaggregate (250–2000 μm) formation in a three months' incubation experiment and determined the distribution of residue-derived C and N in the microbial biomass and in aggregate size fractions (250–2000 μm, 53–250 μm and <53 μm) using 13C and 15N da...
A 28-day incubation experiment at 12°C was carried out on the decomposition of maize leaf litter to answer the questions:
(1) Is the decomposition process altered by chemical manipulations due to differences in the colonization of maize leaf litter?
(2) Do organisms using this maize material contribute significantly to the soil microbial biomass? T...
To monitor the effects of liming on forest ecosystems, experimental plots were installed in forests in mid-western Germany. In addition to soil chemical indices, earthworm communities were investigated on these plots about 15 years after first lime applications took place. As a “natural reference”, communities were compared to earthworm records tha...
Chisel plough or no-till practises are clearly attributed to sustainable farming for the support of soil organisms and soil biological functioning. However, in organic farming these techniques are only applied to a very small extent since there is a need for cultivation to control weeds. In organic farming it is important to develop and establish l...
Soil C sequestration increases after the abandonment of marginal agricultural lands in California, due to the rapid invasion of non-native annual grasses. In a few rare cases, land managers have restored old fields with native perennial bunchgrasses. This was hypothesized to further increase C storage, especially deeply deposited soil C, since thes...
This chapter describes soil conditions that support grasslands in California and discusses how land use history in California has influenced soil biology and soil organic C cycling. It begins by describing California soils that support grasslands and considers some of the soil factors that influence the potential vs. actual distribution of grasslan...
Agricultural practices have strong impacts on soil microbes including both the indices related to biomass and activity as well as those related to community composition. In a grassland restoration project in California, where native perennial bunchgrasses were introduced into non-native annual grassland after a period of intensive tillage, weeding,...
Soil microbial activity, biomass, and community structure were examined during the transition from oxic to anoxic conditions after the addition of glucose and with or without nitrate addition. In two sets of treatments, samples were incubated for up to 35 d in closed ampoules either aerobically until oxygen was depleted or anoxically throughout the...
An incubation experiment was carried out with maize (Zea mays L.) leaf straw to analyze the effects of mixing the residues with soil and N amendment on the decomposition process. In order to distinguish between soil effects and nitrogen effects for both the phyllospheric microorganisms already present on the surface of maize straw and soil microorg...
Long-term continuous mixing at 40% water holding capacity (WHC) or as slurry at 400% WHC should result in increased soil organic matter decomposition rates in comparison to a control treatment at 40% WHC, but may have strong impacts on soil microbial indices for activity, biomass, and community structure. The amount of extractable inorganic N (NO3–...
Restoration of California native perennial grassland is often initiated with cultivation to reduce the density and cover of non-native annual grasses before seeding with native perennials. Tillage is known to adversely impact agriculturally cultivated land; thus changes in soil biological functions, as indicated by carbon (C) turnover and C retenti...
Long-term continuous mixing at 40% water holding capacity (WHC) or as slurry at 400% WHC should result in increased soil organic
matter decomposition rates in comparison to a control treatment at 40% WHC, but may have strong impacts on soil microbial indices for
activity, biomass, and community structure. The amount of extractable inorganic N (NO3–...
High acid loads lead to the acidification of forest soils. The risks of soil acidification are decrease of buffer capacity of mineral soil, disturbances of element cycling, a change of species composition, a loss of demanding species (e.g. earthworm species), toxic effects of low Ca/Al ratios in soil solution on fine root growth, load of ground wat...
The sequestration of carbon in soil is not completely understood, and quantitative information about the rates of soil organic carbon (SOC) turnover could improve understanding. We analyzed the effects of the uneven distribution of crop residues after harvest of silage maize on C and N losses (CO2-C, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON...
The determination of the isotopic composition of the microbial biomass C in soil is an important tool to study soil microbial ecology and the decomposition and microbial immobilization of soil organic C. We discuss advantages and disadvantages of different methods to determine 13C/12C in soil microbial biomass and propose a new procedure that is ba...
The effects of surface-applied, fresh grass mulch on CO2 and N2O emissions were determined for 7 weeks in a greenhouse microcosm study under aerated conditions with daily irrigation (1.8 mm day(-1)). Dynamics Of CO2 and N2O emissions were determined by automated, continuous flux measurements. Grass mulch was added (C input: 100 g C m(-2), N input:...
Short-term effects of actively burrowing Octolasion lacteum (ORL.) (Lumbricidae) on the microbial C and N turnover in an arable soil with a high clay content were studied in a microcosm experiment throughout a 16 day incubation. Treatments with or without amendment of winter wheat straw were compared under conditions of a moistening period after su...
Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Göttingen, 1999.
The litter bag method is often used to study different aspects of decomposition of organic matter in soil or on the soil surface. Deposition of surrounding soil into the litter bags makes determination of decomposition rates of organic matter and its nutrients particularly difficult. This contamination has to be removed or determined for subsequent...