INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTS OF SOIL ARTHROPODS ON CROP GROWTH AND PERFORMANCE

The major goal of this project is to evaluate and better understand the importance of soil arthropod communities for improving crop performance and herbivore resistance in sustainable agricultural systems. Interactions between crops and non-herbivore soil fauna in agroecosystems are often overlooked, yet an understanding of their nature is essential for successful and sustainable ecosystem management based on preserving and utilizing ecosystem services. This project has two primary objectives: (1) determine the influence of soil arthropod communities in agroecosystem soils on the growth and performance of winter wheat, and (2) examine how manipulating soil arthropod community structure influences crop growth and resistance to aboveground herbivores across multiple feeding guilds.This project will be among the first to assess how agroecosystem-derived soil arthropod communities impact the performance of crop plants. Research methods that focus on examining the effects of whole soil arthropod communities and individual key taxa on crop growth an herbivore resistance, coupled with mechanistic approaches that investigate soil arthropod effects on the soil microbiome, phytohormones, and nutrient cycling, will advance our understanding of the effects that soil arthropods have on plant performance and aboveground interactions in agroecosystems.