title: Soil erosion control, plant diversity, and arthropod communities under heterogeneous cover crops in an olive orchard.
abstract: A 3-year experiment compared in an olive orchard the effect of different cover crops' composition on runoff, water erosion, diversity of annual plants, and arthropod communities which could provide an alternative to conventional management based on tillage (CT). The cover crops evaluated were a seeded homogeneous grass (GC), a seeded mix of ten different species (MCseeded), and a non-seeded cover by vegetation naturally present at the farm after 20 years of mowing (MCnatural). The results suggest that heterogeneous cover crops can provide a viable alternative to homogeneous ones in olives, providing similar benefits in reducing runoff and soil losses compared to management based on bare soil. The reduction in soil loss was particularly large: 46.7 in CT to 6.5 and 7.9 t ha-1year-1in GC and MCseeded, respectively. The heterogeneous cover crops resulted in greater diversity of plant species and a modification of the arthropod communities with an increased number of predators for pests. The reduction of the cost of implanting heterogeneous cover crops, improvement of the seeding techniques, and selection of species included in the mixes require additional research to promote the use of this practice which can deliver enhanced environmental benefits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy, Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, IAS-CSIC, Cordoba, Spain. joseagomez@ias.csic.es.
authors.forename: José Alfonso
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Protection, Experimental Station of Zaidin, EEZ-CSIC, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Mercedes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy, Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, IAS-CSIC, Cordoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Gema
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guzmán
authors.affiliation: Andalusian Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training, IFAPA, Alameda del Obispo, Cordoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Castillo-Llanque
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vanwalleghem
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Engineering, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Ángel
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Lora
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Giráldez
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods; D044822:Biodiversity; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000254:growth & development*; D004777:Environment; D031658:Olea / Q000254:growth & development*; D010944:Plants; D012621:Seasons; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D012987:Soil
keywords: Arthropods community; Biodiversity; Cover crops; Erosion; Heterogeneous; Olive crop; Predators; Sustainability