How agroforestry systems influence soil fauna and their functions-a review

摘要

Background Agroforestry systems have enhanced diversity of cultivated plants compared to monocultures, and are expected to affect associated biodiversity. Despite a growing body of literature on the importance of soil fauna, the known effects of different agroforestry types on soil fauna communities and functions have not yet been synthesized. Scope We scanned publications on soil fauna in agroforestry systems. Our aim was to give an overview of strengths and weaknesses of the existing data, in terms of spatial coverage and representation of diverse agroforestry types and soil fauna groups and functions. Conclusions Our database includes sixty-seven articles, mostly focusing on tropical regions and perennial crop agroforestry systems. Soil macrofauna are the most studied fauna group. The most common question addressed is the comparison of the effect of land use types on communities. Effects on fauna abundance and diversity are mainly positive when agroforestry is compared to cropland, and neutral or negative when compared to forests. Few publications actually measure soil fauna functions, or characterize their interactions and evolution in time and space depending on system design and management. Further work on soil fauna in agroforestry should harness ecological theory and address questions of spatial structure and scale, temporal dynamics and ecological interaction networks and how they determine ecosystem functioning.