How do soil faunal diversity and decomposition change at grassland-forest margins?
Effects of vegetation cover, management, and seasonality. O’Neill, Katherine*,1, Godwin, Harry1, Halvorson, Jonathan1, 1 Appalachian Farming Systems Research Center, Beaver, WV ABSTRACT- Landscape fragmentation in West Virginia creates a mosaic of agricultural and forest transition zones in which microclimate, plant and animal species, and ecosystem processes undergo significant changes across relatively narrow spatial boundaries. Developing sustainable soil management practices for these transitional lands requires the integration of nutrient dynamics from grass and forest-dominated patches into a single agricultural system. However, relatively little is known about how differences in soil fauna may influence key ecosystem processes. Two related studies were used to assess differences in soil microfaunal communities and mass loss of forage litter along a gradient from open grassland to closed canopy mixed hardwood forest in southern West Virginia. The first study assessed monthly chan
