TABLE CONTENTS

Does Long-term Organic Fertilization Simultaneously Enhance the
Structural and Functional Stability of Soil Ecosystems?
Chen, X. (1), M. Liu (1), B. Griffiths (2), F. Hu (1), H. Li (1) & B.Zhang (3)
(1) Soil Ecology Lab, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University,
Nanjing 210095, People’s Republic of China; (2) Teagasc, Environment Research Centre, Johnstown Castle,
Wexford, Ireland; (3) Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, People’s
Republic of China
The stability of soil ecosystem function depends on soil community, of which nematodes can
be used as model organisms to represent the soil food web. To test whether organic
fertilization enhances the stability of soil ecosystem structure and function simultaneously,
we compared the resilience and resistance of nematode community and overall soil function
(decomposition of plant residues) of two soils (degraded soil and its counterpart with longterm
organic fertilization) after applying an experimental stress of copper, heat, chloroform or
drying as well as a control treatment, respectively. In soils before applying stress, organic
fertilization sharply promoted soil physi-chemical, microbiological properties, nematode
abundance, diversity and structural complexity and soil function. After different stress
applied, however, neither the stability of nematode community nor soil function was
consistently higher in organically fertilized soil, but depended on the type of experimental
stress. Soil function with organic fertilization showed significantly lower resistance (P