Ambarlı Didem, Simons Nadja K, Wehner Katja, Kämper Wiebke, Gossner Martin M, Nauss Thomas, Neff Felix, Seibold Sebastian, Weisser Wolfgang, Blüthgen Nico
Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Department for Ecology and Ecosystem Management, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany.
Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Düzce University, 81620 Düzce, Turkey.
Ecosystems. 2021;24(2):467-483. doi: 10.1007/s10021-020-00530-7. Epub 2020 Aug 6.
Decomposition, vegetation regeneration, and biological control are essential ecosystem functions, and animals are involved in the underlying processes, such as dung removal, seed removal, herbivory, and predation. Despite evidence for declines of animal diversity and abundance due to climate change and land-use intensification, we poorly understand how animal-mediated processes respond to these global change drivers. We experimentally measured rates of four ecosystem processes in 134 grassland and 149 forest plots in Germany and tested their response to climatic conditions and land-use intensity, that is, grazing, mowing, and fertilization in grasslands and the proportion of harvested wood, non-natural trees, and deadwood origin in forests. For both climate and land use, we distinguished between short-term effects during the survey period and medium-term effects during the preceding years. Forests had significantly higher process rates than grasslands. In grasslands, the climatic effects on the process rates were similar or stronger than land-use effects, except for predation; land-use intensity negatively affected several process rates. In forests, the land-use effects were more pronounced than the climatic effects on all processes except for predation. The proportion of non-natural trees had the greatest impact on the process rates in forests. The proportion of harvested wood had negative effects, whereas the proportion of anthropogenic deadwood had positive effects on some processes. The effects of climatic conditions and land-use intensity on process rates mirror climatic and habitat effects on animal abundance, activity, and resource quality. Our study demonstrates that land-use changes and interventions affecting climatic conditions will have substantial impacts on animal-mediated ecosystem processes.
分解、植被再生和生物控制是生态系统的基本功能，动物参与其中的基础过程，如粪便清除、种子清除、食草和捕食。尽管有证据表明气候变化和土地利用集约化导致动物多样性和数量下降，但我们对动物介导的过程如何响应这些全球变化驱动因素知之甚少。我们通过实验测量了德国134个草地和149个森林样地中四个生态系统过程的速率，并测试了它们对气候条件和土地利用强度的响应，即草地中的放牧、割草和施肥，以及森林中采伐木材、非天然树木和枯木来源的比例。对于气候和土地利用，我们区分了调查期间的短期影响和前几年的中期影响。森林的过程速率明显高于草地。在草地中，除捕食外，气候对过程速率的影响与土地利用的影响相似或更强；土地利用强度对几个过程速率有负面影响。在森林中，除捕食外，土地利用的影响比气候对所有过程的影响更显著。非天然树木的比例对森林中的过程速率影响最大。采伐木材的比例有负面影响，而人为枯木的比例对一些过程有正面影响。气候条件和土地利用强度对过程速率的影响反映了气候和栖息地对动物数量、活动和资源质量的影响。我们的研究表明，影响气候条件的土地利用变化和干预将对动物介导的生态系统过程产生重大影响。
