Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet DTP, and the Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College, London, UK.
Natural History Museum, London, UK.
BMC Ecol Evol. 2022 Nov 17;22(1):135. doi: 10.1186/s12862-022-02089-4.
Land-use is a major driver of changes in biodiversity worldwide, but studies have overwhelmingly focused on above-ground taxa: the effects on soil biodiversity are less well known, despite the importance of soil organisms in ecosystem functioning. We modelled data from a global biodiversity database to compare how the abundance of soil-dwelling and above-ground organisms responded to land use and soil properties.
We found that land use affects overall abundance differently in soil and above-ground assemblages. The abundance of soil organisms was markedly lower in cropland and plantation habitats than in primary vegetation and pasture. Soil properties influenced the abundance of soil biota in ways that differed among land uses, suggesting they shape both abundance and its response to land use.
Our results caution against assuming models or indicators derived from above-ground data can apply to soil assemblages and highlight the potential value of incorporating soil properties into biodiversity models.
土地利用是全球生物多样性变化的主要驱动因素，但研究绝大多数集中在地上类群上：尽管土壤生物在生态系统功能中很重要，但对土壤生物多样性的影响知之甚少。我们对全球生物多样性数据库中的数据进行建模，以比较土壤生物和地上生物对土地利用和土壤特性的响应方式。
我们发现土地利用对土壤和地上生物群落在整体丰度上的影响不同。与原始植被和牧场相比，农田和人工林生境中的土壤生物丰度明显较低。土壤特性以不同的方式影响土壤生物群的丰度，这表明它们既塑造了丰度，也塑造了其对土地利用的响应。
我们的研究结果提醒人们不要假设从地上数据得出的模型或指标可适用于土壤生物群集，并强调将土壤特性纳入生物多样性模型的潜在价值。
