Maaroufi Nadia I, Taylor Astrid R, Ehnes Roswitha B, Andrén Henrik, Kjellander Petter, Björkman Christer, Kätterer Thomas, Klapwijk Maartje J
Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 756 51 Uppsala, Sweden.
Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 756 51 Uppsala, Sweden.
R Soc Open Sci. 2022 Jul 6;9(7):211283. doi: 10.1098/rsos.211283. eCollection 2022 Jul.
In the last few decades wild boar populations have expanded northwards, colonizing boreal forests. The soil disturbances caused by wild boar rooting may have an impact on soil organisms that play a key role in organic matter turnover. However, the impact of wild boar colonization on boreal forest ecosystems and soil organisms remains largely unknown. We investigated the effect of natural and simulated rooting on decomposer and predatory soil mites (total, adult and juvenile abundances; and adult-juvenile proportion). Our simulated rooting experiment aimed to disentangle the effects of (i) bioturbation due to soil mixing and (ii) removing organic material (wild boar food resources) on soil mites. Our results showed a decline in the abundance of adult soil mites in response to both natural and artificial rooting, while juvenile abundance and the relative proportion of adults and juveniles were not affected. The expansion of wild boar northwards and into new habitats has negative effects on soil decomposer abundances in boreal forests which may cascade through the soil food web ultimately affecting ecosystem processes. Our study also suggests that a combined use of natural and controlled experimental approaches is the way forward to reveal any subtle interaction between aboveground and belowground organisms and the ecosystem functions they drive.
在过去几十年里，野猪种群向北扩张，侵入了北方森林。野猪拱土造成的土壤扰动可能会对在有机质周转中起关键作用的土壤生物产生影响。然而，野猪侵入对北方森林生态系统和土壤生物的影响在很大程度上仍不为人知。我们研究了自然拱土和模拟拱土对分解性和捕食性土壤螨类的影响（总数、成虫和幼虫数量；以及成虫与幼虫比例）。我们的模拟拱土实验旨在厘清以下两种影响：（i）土壤混合导致的生物扰动，以及（ii）去除有机物质（野猪的食物资源）对土壤螨类的影响。我们的结果表明，无论是自然拱土还是人工拱土，成虫土壤螨类的数量都会下降，而幼虫数量以及成虫与幼虫的相对比例则不受影响。野猪向北扩张并进入新栖息地，对北方森林中的土壤分解者数量产生负面影响，这可能会在土壤食物网中引发连锁反应，最终影响生态系统进程。我们的研究还表明，综合运用自然和可控实验方法是揭示地上和地下生物之间以及它们所驱动的生态系统功能之间任何微妙相互作用的前进方向。
