BMC Ecology and Evolution (Nov 2022)
Land use and soil characteristics affect soil organisms differently from above-ground assemblages
- Victoria J. Burton,
- Sara Contu,
- Adriana De Palma,
- Samantha L. L. Hill,
- Harald Albrecht,
- James S. Bone,
- Daniel Carpenter,
- Ronald Corstanje,
- Pallieter De Smedt,
- Mark Farrell,
- Helen V. Ford,
- Lawrence N. Hudson,
- Kelly Inward,
- David T. Jones,
- Agnieszka Kosewska,
- Nancy F. Lo-Man-Hung,
- Tibor Magura,
- Christian Mulder,
- Maka Murvanidze,
- Tim Newbold,
- Jo Smith,
- Andrew V. Suarez,
- Sasha Suryometaram,
- Béla Tóthmérész,
- Marcio Uehara-Prado,
- Adam J. Vanbergen,
- Kris Verheyen,
- Karen Wuyts,
- Jörn P. W. Scharlemann,
- Paul Eggleton,
- Andy Purvis
Affiliations
- Victoria J. Burton
- Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet DTP, and the Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College
- Sara Contu
- Natural History Museum
- Adriana De Palma
- Natural History Museum
- Samantha L. L. Hill
- United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre
- Harald Albrecht
- Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Chair of Restoration Ecology
- James S. Bone
- Environmental Resources Management (ERM) Limited
- Daniel Carpenter
- Natural History Museum
- Ronald Corstanje
- Cranfield University
- Pallieter De Smedt
- Forest and Nature Lab, Department of Environment, Ghent University
- Mark Farrell
- CSIRO Agriculture and Food
- Helen V. Ford
- Bangor University
- Lawrence N. Hudson
- Natural History Museum
- Kelly Inward
- Natural History Museum
- David T. Jones
- Natural History Museum
- Agnieszka Kosewska
- Department of Entomology, Phytopathology and Molecular Diagnostics, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn
- Nancy F. Lo-Man-Hung
- Laboratory of Gene Expression and Evolution in Arthropods, Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, University of São Paulo
- Tibor Magura
- Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen
- Christian Mulder
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania
- Maka Murvanidze
- Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, FI. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
- Tim Newbold
- Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London
- Jo Smith
- MV Agroecological Research Centre PT
- Andrew V. Suarez
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior and Department of Entomology, University of Illinois
- Sasha Suryometaram
- Wildlife Conservation Society, Indonesia Program
- Béla Tóthmérész
- MTA-DE Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Research Group
- Marcio Uehara-Prado
- Independent Researcher
- Adam J. Vanbergen
- Agroécologie, INRAE, Institut Agro, Univ. Bourgogne, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté
- Kris Verheyen
- Forest and Nature Lab, Department of Environment, Ghent University
- Karen Wuyts
- Lab of Environmental and Urban Ecology, Research Group Environmental Ecology and Microbiology (ENdEMIC), Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp
- Jörn P. W. Scharlemann
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex
- Paul Eggleton
- Natural History Museum
- Andy Purvis
- Natural History Museum
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-022-02089-4
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 22,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 9
Abstract
Abstract Background 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. Results 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. Conclusions 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.
Keywords
