Collembola as bio-indicators in orchards
The benefits of soil ecosystem research to agricultural productivity, conservation planning, the management of global change, and the maintenance of ecosystem services have been demonstrated internationally. Together with mites, Collembola (springtails) make up 90% of the micro-arthropod population in soils and play a fundamental role in terrestrial ecosystem functioning. Collembola have proven to be useful model organisms. Thus, the purpose of this project is to use selected Collembola to investigate their functional roles in response to different management strategies in orchard sites.