Unravelling the beta diversity of plant-parasitic nematodes associated with cultivated olive in southern Spain

Abstract

Olive trees host many plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs). Understanding the factors that maintain biodiversity in communities depends on identification of diversity. We investigated the effects of environmental conditions, soil properties, agronomic management practices and spatial structure, on the variation of species community composition (β-diversity) and species richness of PPNs infesting rhizosphere soil from 376 commercial olive orchards widely distributed in Andalusia, southern Spain.