Agrology (May 2020)
The hemeroby of soil macrofauna: spatial-ecological transformation of the communty at the ecosystem level
Abstract
The concept of hemeroby was used to explain the transformation patterns of the technosol soil macrofauna under the influence of recreation. The following hypotheses have been tested. 1). The hemeroby at the level of a particular ecosystem is manifested in the transformation of packaging of ecological niches of the soil macrofauna. 2) The anthropogenic effect causes the adaptive changes in the functional structure of the soil macrofauna. 3). The functional changes in the soil macrofauna are aimed at restoring the ecological functions of the soil that were disturbed by the hemeroby effects. The results from the study of spatial variation of the ecomorphic structure of the soil macrofauna using OMI and RLQ techniques were presented. It was shown that the biogeoceonotic situation at the location of the experimental polygon was the forest-meadow, xeromesophilic and mega-mesotrophic. Data was collected by the manual sorting of the soil sampling of 0.25×25 cm on a regular grid (7×15 samples) with a distance between points of 2 m. The temperature, soil electrical condictivity and soil penetration resistance, litter depth and grass height were measured at each sample points. Axis 1, extracted as a result of RLQ analysis, characterizes the significant role of soil penetration resistance in structuring the soil macrofauna community at all measured depths of the soil. This axis negatively correlates with soil penetration resistance and positively ‒ with soil electrical conductivity and litter depth. Axis 2 is characterized by a positive correlation with soil temperature and a negative correlation with the litter depth. The epigean megatrophocenomorphs, silvants that move through the existing soil porosity and body size of which are larger cavities in the litter or proportional to large cracks or fissures in the soil are markers of positive values of the RLQ-axis 1. Species of soil invertebrates with the specified ecological characteristics give preference to areas with lower soil penetrationresistance and higher electrical conductivity of the soil. The markers of negative values of RLQ-axis 1 are endogenous acarbonatophiles, subaerophiles that move with the help of the existing soil porosity and whose body size is proportional to the cracks or that move with the help of active passage with changes in body thickness. This set of adaptations allows animals to adapt to conditions of high soil penetration resistance. The markers of positive values of RLQ-axis 2 are xerophilic ultramegatorophs which actively make moves without changes in body thickness. The markers of negative values of RLQ-axis 2 are mesophiles. It is shown that hemeroby as an integrated indicator of anthropogenic impact causes a hierarchical response in ecosystems of different levels of organization. Recreation manifests itself through the transformation of the packaging of ecological niches of species in the soil macrofauna community in response to soil compaction and violation of the litter block. Anthropogenic impact causes adaptive changes in the functional structure of the soil macrofauna. The soil macrofauna community has the resources to explore the over-compacted soils and to restore their ecological functions, which have been disrupted due to the influence of hemeroby.
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