Research Article
Rizvi SHH, Gauquelin T, Gers C
Abstract
Our objective was to test how liming influence fungal biomass, abundance and diversity of organisms belonging to mesofauna and soil respiration associated to soil during a microcosms experiment. Soil was collected in the Vosges Mountains (North-eastern France) on acidified forested catchments lying on sandstone and granite of Vosges Mountain. After liming, we followed CO2 by using LiCor 6400, fungal biomass by quantifying soil ergosterol content during 8 weeks. At the end of the experiment, we extracted mesofauna by using Berlese method. Soil pH, rain, temperature and rate of liming were similar to natural conditions. Liming decreased the abundance of mesofauna including collembola on sansdstone substrate, while on granite, collembola abundance decreased but total mesofauna did not show any significant differences between acid control and limed samples. The ergosterol soil content showed immediate increasing tendencies on both geological substrates and followed by decreasing tendencies on both geological substrates. The CO2 efflux was significantly increased by liming on sandstone and granite substrates, indicating an increase of soil respiration in limed samples. However, this result is depending on the geological substrate.