University of Göttingen, J.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, Göttingen, Germany.
University of Göttingen, Centre of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use, Göttingen, Germany.
PLoS One. 2019 Jul 10;14(7):e0219166. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219166. eCollection 2019.
Habitat heterogeneity is an important driver of aboveground species diversity but few studies have investigated effects on soil communities. Trees shape their surrounding by both leaf litter and roots generating small scale heterogeneity and potentially governing community patterns of soil organisms. To assess the role of vegetation for the soil fauna, we studied whether tree species (Fagus sylvatica L., Acer pseudoplatanus L., Fraxinus excelsior L., Tilia cordata Mill.), markedly differing in leaf litter quality and root associated mycorrhizal symbionts, affect oribatid mite communities by shaping below- and aboveground resources and habitat complexity and availability. Oribatid mite abundance, species richness, community structure and the proportion of litter living and parthenogenetic individuals were analyzed and related to microbial biomass and the amount of remaining litter mass. Although leaf litter species with higher nutritional values decomposed considerably faster, microbial biomass only slightly differed between leaf litter species. Neither root species nor leaf litter species affected abundance, species richness or community structure of oribatid mites. However, root species had an effect on the proportion of parthenogenetic individuals with increased proportions in the presence of beech roots. Overall, the results suggest that identity and diversity of vegetation via leaf litter or roots are of minor importance for structuring oribatid mite communities of a temperate forest ecosystem.
生境异质性是地上物种多样性的一个重要驱动因素，但很少有研究调查其对土壤群落的影响。树木通过落叶和根系塑造其周围环境，产生小规模的异质性，并可能控制土壤生物群落的模式。为了评估植被对土壤动物区系的作用，我们研究了树木物种（欧洲山毛榉、欧洲白蜡树、欧洲七叶树、欧洲椴）是否通过塑造地上和地下资源以及栖息地复杂性和可及性来影响食真菌螨群落，这些树木在落叶质量和与根相关的共生真菌方面差异显著。分析了食真菌螨的丰度、物种丰富度、群落结构以及落叶生物和孤雌生殖个体的比例，并将其与微生物生物量和剩余落叶质量的数量相关联。尽管具有较高营养价值的落叶物种分解速度相当快，但落叶物种之间的微生物生物量差异很小。根物种和叶物种都没有影响食真菌螨的丰度、物种丰富度或群落结构。然而，根物种对孤雌生殖个体的比例有影响，在山毛榉根存在的情况下，孤雌生殖个体的比例增加。总的来说，研究结果表明，通过落叶或根系的植被的身份和多样性对温带森林生态系统中食真菌螨群落的结构的重要性较小。
