J.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073, Göttingen, Germany.
Centre for Biodiversity Monitoring (Zbm), Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, 53113, Bonn, Germany.
Oecologia. 2021 May;196(1):195-209. doi: 10.1007/s00442-021-04910-1. Epub 2021 Apr 14.
Forest soil and litter is inhabited by a diverse community of animals, which directly and indirectly rely on dead organic matter as habitat and food resource. However, community composition may be driven by biotic or abiotic forces, and these vary with changes in habitat structure and resource supply associated with forest land use. To evaluate these changes, we compiled comprehensive data on the species composition of soil animal communities and environmental factors in forest types varying in land-use intensity in each of three regions in Germany, i.e., coniferous, young managed, old managed, and unmanaged beech forests. Coniferous forests featured high amounts of leaf litter and low microbial biomass concentrations contrasting in particular unmanaged beech forests. However, soil animal diversity and functional community composition differed little between forest types, indicating resilience against disturbance and forest land use. Structural equation modelling suggested that despite a significant influence of forest management on resource abundance and quality, the biomass of most soil fauna functional groups was not directly affected by forest management or resource abundance/quality, potentially because microorganisms hamper the propagation of nutrients to higher trophic levels. Instead, detritivore biomass depended heavily on soil pH. Macrofauna decomposers thrived at high pH, whereas mesofauna decomposers benefitted from low soil pH, but also from low biomass of macrofauna decomposers, potentially due to habitat modification by macrofauna decomposers. The strong influence of soil pH shows that decomposer communities are structured predominantly by regional abiotic factors exceeding the role of local biotic factors such as forest type.
森林土壤和凋落物中栖息着种类繁多的动物群落，它们直接或间接地依赖于死亡的有机物质作为栖息地和食物资源。然而，群落组成可能受到生物或非生物因素的驱动，这些因素随着与森林土地利用相关的栖息地结构和资源供应的变化而变化。为了评估这些变化，我们综合了德国三个地区不同土地利用强度的森林类型中土壤动物群落物种组成和环境因素的数据，这些森林类型包括针叶林、年轻管理的森林、老年管理的森林和未管理的山毛榉林。与未管理的山毛榉林形成鲜明对比的是，针叶林的凋落物数量较多，微生物生物量浓度较低。然而，土壤动物多样性和功能群落组成在不同森林类型之间差异不大，表明对干扰和森林土地利用具有恢复力。结构方程模型表明，尽管森林管理对资源丰度和质量有显著影响，但大多数土壤动物功能群的生物量并没有直接受到森林管理或资源丰度/质量的影响，这可能是因为微生物阻碍了养分向更高营养级的传播。相反，分解者生物量严重依赖于土壤 pH 值。大型动物分解者在高 pH 值下茁壮成长，而中型动物分解者则受益于低土壤 pH 值，但也受益于大型动物分解者的生物量低，这可能是由于大型动物分解者对栖息地的改变。土壤 pH 值的强烈影响表明，分解者群落主要由区域非生物因素构成，而不是由本地生物因素（如森林类型）构成。
