Earthworm population and microbial activity temporal dynamics in a Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forest

Soil-litter ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) community response to reforested lands of Gishwati tropical montane forest, northern-western part of Rwanda

“…The ability of natural forests to maintain high soil biodiversity has been documented in other studies. It was found to be apparently based on elevated plant diversity and heterogeneity (Kassa et al 2017), that offer nutrients to soil fauna (Bayranvand et al 2017). It is also rooted on the forest canopy density that creates stable macroclimate environments (Kamau et al 2017).…”

Dynamics of humus forms and soil characteristics along a forest altitudinal gradient in Hyrcanian forest

“…Thus, the higher OH layer thickness at 1500 m a.s.l. found in this study can be attributed to the low temperature in this elevation level, which slow down mineralization rates (Badía-Villas & Girona-García 2018), decrease litter quality under beech (Bayranvand et al 2017a) and higher soil moisture (Zanella et al 2011).…”

“…Labaz et al (2014) showed that Amphi humus forms can be found in cold conditions where organic matter decomposition is slower. Previous study by Waez-Mousavi & Habashi (2012) indicated that Mull humus forms are abundant under forest types with higher floor quality and decomposition rate, while Amphi and Moder humus forms are observed under beech forest type with low floor quality (high C and low N - Bayranvand et al 2017a). Mull humus forms are biologically active (Endogeic and Anecic with high activity) with fine-granular structure, which have low SOC content compared to humus forms with OF and OH layers (Jabiol et al 2013, Labaz et al 2014.…”

“…Shedayi et al (2016) showed that altitude has a low impact on soil organic carbon and nitrogen, while vegetation cover explains most of the measured variations. Bayranvand et al (2017a) reported that, although tree species affect soil chemical properties (i.e., pH, C, and N content), earthworm and microbial activity were mostly controlled by climate. Our results support the idea that soil properties including temperature, pH, CaCO 3 , soil N content, soil C/N and microbial biomass N are significantly correlated with altitude, while most forest floor properties are not directly influenced by temperature, but affected by tree species composition.…”

“…The natural broadleaf forests in northern Iran are similar to those in central Europe, northern Turkey and the Caucasus. In these forest ecosystems, composition of tree species changes with elevation (Bayranvand et al 2017a). Due to their unique topographical conditions compared to the oldest forest in Asia, Alborz mountains offers the potential to assess changes in forest types and humus forms with altitude (Naqinezhad et al 2013).…”