Carbon and nitrogen budgets of nematodes in arable soil

Summary

The amounts of C and N that pass through the nematode biomass in four cropping systems, barley without and with N fertilization, grass ley and lucerne, has been estimated. The nematodes were sampled at the field site of a Swedish integrated research project “Ecology of Arable Land: The Role of Organisms in Nitrogen Cycling”. The nematode biomass was lower (200 mg dry weight m⁻²) in the annual (barley) than in the perennial (grass and lucerne, 350 mg dry weight m⁻²) crops. For respiration, the nematodes used 4–71 O₂m⁻² year⁻¹ corresponding to C liberation of 1.3%–2.0% of the carbon input to the soil. A higher relative contribution by bacterial-feeding nematodes to the C and N fluxes and a higher turnover rate of the nematode biomass is an indication of more rapid nutrient circulation in the annual than in the perennial cropping systems.