Detritus Food Webs in Conventional and No-Tillage Agroecosystems

• DOI: 10.2307/1310259
• Publication Date: 2006-04-25T21:37:24Z
• Authors: Paul F. Hendrix; Robert W. Parmelee; D. A. Crossley,; David C. Coleman; Eugene P. Odum; Peter M. Groffman
• Keywords: 2. Zero hunger; 0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries; 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences; 15. Life on land

onservation tillage-crop planting systems that leave 30% or more of crop residues on the soil surface instead of plowing them under-is becoming widely adopted in US agriculture. The total area under conservation tillage is estimated to be between 24 and 36 million hectares, or about one-third of the nation's cropland, which represents an increase of about 1,25% during the past decade (Christensen and Magleby 1983). The primary reasons for this increase are that conservation