The impact of boreal forest conversion to horticulture on soil arthropod communities and biological quality over time

NERC : Beth Evans : NE/L123456/1

Agricultural expansion in northern boreal regions presents an opportunity to generate food security and self-sufficiency in the face of climate change. However, little is known about how conversion of boreal forest to agriculture affects soil invertebrate communities, despite their essential role in sustaining crop productivity among many other soil functions essential to human well-being.

This project will assess how soil invertebrate communities and the biological quality of soil on farmland change due to conversion and how long the soil has been cultivated since. Soil biological quality, measured using the QBS-ar index, is a good indicator not only of soil biodiversity, but the capacity of soils to maintain soil functioning for delivery of goods and services.

In addition to generating an original data set for use by the wider scientific community, we will produce a range of technical and plain-language resources to (i) facilitate widespread monitoring of soil biological quality and (ii) inform agricultural policy and land management decision-making tools to develop sustainable agricultural landscapes in Canada's northern boreal regions.