Abstract
Abstract Olive crops cover a substantial area of agricultural land, particularly in dry areas with a high desertification risk, where their understory represent an important room for plant communities. Their management is therefore essential for the maintenance of the complex functions and services the vegetation provides in these agroecosystems. In southern Italy (Apulia), we selected conventionally managed and organic olive plots. The organic plots had never been ploughed for more than ten years. We compared soil properties, the species and functional trait composition of the plant community in the understory, and intraspecific trait variability (ITV) of five dominant species as an indicator of the stress source for plants. Under the organic management, the plant community had a higher cover, with strong dominance of Avena fatua , and was overall dominated by species with a higher specific leaf area, and the soil had a higher C content, which reduced the level of desertification. ITV generally showed lower environmental stress for plants in organic plots. They had higher stature, higher SLA, lower leaf area, and lower leaf mass, but – unexpectedly – they also had a higher leaf dry matter content (LDMC). Absence of ploughing of the olive plots supported the formation of an understory with high cover, where traits suitable for between-plant competition rather were more common than those for drought stress. This also promoted soil formation through carbon accumulation. Organic farming therefore seems to be a suitable option for lowering the desertification risk of olive cultures/plantations.
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Claims 13
Claim · model-written summary
Under organic management the understory plant community had a higher cover than under conventional management.
Verbatim
e1“Under the organic management, the plant community had a higher cover”
t0“herbaceous plants in organic and conventional olive plantations”
Claim · model-written summary
Under organic management the understory had strong dominance of Avena fatua.
- Taxon
- Avena fatua
Avena fatuae1 - Treatment
- organic managemente1
- Outcome
- strong dominancee1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Under the organic management, the plant community had a higher cover, with strong dominance of Avena fatua”
Claim · model-written summary
Under organic management the understory was dominated by species with a higher specific leaf area.
Verbatim
e1“was overall dominated by species with a higher specific leaf area”
t0“herbaceous plants in organic and conventional olive plantations”
Claim · model-written summary
Under organic management the soil had a higher C content.
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e1“the soil had a higher C content”
t0“organic and conventional olive plantations”
Claim · model-written summary
The higher soil C content under organic management reduced the level of desertification.
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e1“which reduced the level of desertification”
t0“organic and conventional olive plantations”
Claim · model-written summary
Intraspecific trait variability generally indicated lower environmental stress for plants in organic plots.
Verbatim
e1“ITV generally showed lower environmental stress for plants in organic plots”
t0“herbaceous plants in organic and conventional olive plantations”
Claim · model-written summary
Plants in organic plots had higher stature.
Verbatim
e1“They had higher stature, higher SLA, lower leaf area, and lower leaf mass, but – unexpectedly – they also had a higher leaf dry matter content (LDMC)”
t0“herbaceous plants in organic and conventional olive plantations”
Claim · model-written summary
Plants in organic plots had higher specific leaf area (SLA).
Verbatim
e1“They had higher stature, higher SLA, lower leaf area, and lower leaf mass, but – unexpectedly – they also had a higher leaf dry matter content (LDMC)”
t0“herbaceous plants in organic and conventional olive plantations”
Claim · model-written summary
Plants in organic plots had lower leaf area.
Verbatim
e1“They had higher stature, higher SLA, lower leaf area, and lower leaf mass, but – unexpectedly – they also had a higher leaf dry matter content (LDMC)”
t0“herbaceous plants in organic and conventional olive plantations”
Claim · model-written summary
Plants in organic plots had lower leaf mass.
Verbatim
e1“They had higher stature, higher SLA, lower leaf area, and lower leaf mass, but – unexpectedly – they also had a higher leaf dry matter content (LDMC)”
t0“herbaceous plants in organic and conventional olive plantations”
Claim · model-written summary
Unexpectedly, plants in organic plots had a higher leaf dry matter content (LDMC).
Verbatim
e1“They had higher stature, higher SLA, lower leaf area, and lower leaf mass, but – unexpectedly – they also had a higher leaf dry matter content (LDMC)”
t0“herbaceous plants in organic and conventional olive plantations”
Claim · model-written summary
Absence of ploughing supported an understory with high cover in which traits suited to between-plant competition were more common than traits for drought stress.
- Taxon
- herbaceous plantst0
- Treatment
- Absence of ploughinge1
- Outcome
- traits suitable for between-plant competitione1
- Direction
- more commone1
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e1“Absence of ploughing of the olive plots supported the formation of an understory with high cover, where traits suitable for between-plant competition rather were more common than those for drought stress”
t0“herbaceous plants in organic and conventional olive plantations”
Claim · model-written summary
Organic farming seems a suitable option for lowering the desertification risk of olive plantations.
- Taxon
- olive
Olea europaeae1 - Outcome
- lowering the desertification riske1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Organic farming therefore seems to be a suitable option for lowering the desertification risk of olive cultures/plantations”