Mountain soil food webs shaped by the interplay between habitat and pedoclimatic conditions

Abstract

Our knowledge of the factors influencing the distribution of soil organisms is limited to specific taxonomic groups. Consequently, our understanding of the drivers shaping the entire soil food web is constrained. To address this gap, we conducted an extensive soil biodiversity monitoring program in the French Alps, using environmental DNA to obtain multi-taxon data from 418 soil samples. The spatial structure of resulting soil food webs varied significantly between and within habitats. From forests to grasslands, we observed a shift in the abundance of trophic groups from fungal to bacterial feeding channels, reflecting different ecosystem functioning. Furthermore, forest food webs were more strongly spatially structured which could only partly be explained by abiotic conditions. Grassland food webs were more strongly driven by plant community composition and soil characteristics. Our findings provide valuable insights into how climate and land use changes may differentially affect soil food webs in mountains.

Stand age and soil organic matter management as driven factors of soil biota community composition and soil chemical properties in a subtropical Acrisol

“…For instance, the abundance of Acaridae, Filistatidae, Araneidae, Termitidae, Nitidulidae, Scarabaeidae, Staphylinidae, Gyrinidae, Isotomidae, Cugygidae, Pulmonata, Gymnomorpha, Cicadidae, Lumbricidae, Chrysopidae, and overall biota richness correlated with organic residue management practices. Organic residues not only serve as habitat but also as an energy source for the soil food web (Calderón‐Sanou et al., 2023; Potapov et al., 2022). Soil organisms such as Acaridae, Filistatidae, Gyrinidae, Lumbricidae, and Pulmonata, which are classified as habitat‐dependent (Bloor et al., 2021), exhibited higher abundance in plots where mulching was applied as organic residue.…”

“…Functional groups of soil biota are among the most important biotic factors in the soil ecosystem (Calderón‐Sanou et al., 2023), and their roles as ecosystem engineers, litter transformers, and predators are well‐described in several studies (Gondim et al., 2023; Melo et al., 2019). Ecosystem engineers, litter transformers, and predators perform a wide range of key services, such as bioturbation, which promotes soil structure and mixing, litter and organic decomposition that drives the dynamics of soil organic matter and nutrient cycling, and biological control through the prey–predator relationship.…”