Land use modulates the effects of climate change on density but not community composition of Collembola

Publication date: Available online 14 September 2019Source: Soil Biology and BiochemistryAuthor(s): Rui Yin, Iwona Gruss, Nico Eisenhauer, Paul Kardol, Madhav P. Thakur, Anja Schmidt, Zhengfeng Xu, Julia Siebert, Chensheng Zhang, Gao-Lin Wu, Martin SchädlerAbstractCollembola are highly abundant and diverse soil animals and play key roles in litter decomposition and nutrient cycling. Given their functional significance, it is important to understand their responses to human-induced global changes, such as climate change and land-use intensification. Here, we utilized an experimental field study, to test the interactive effects of climate (ambient vs. future) and land use (five land-use regimes, from extensively-used meadow to conventional farming) on three eco-morphological life forms of Collembola: epedaphic, hemiedaphic, and euedaphic species. We found that the effects of climate change on Collembola density were modulated by land use, and that the responses of different life forms to climate × land use interaction differed in magnitude and/or direction. The densities of total and hemiedaphic Collembola significantly decreased under organic farming and marginally increased in grasslands under future climatic conditions, whereas epedaphic Collembola tended to decrease their density with climate change in grasslands. In contrast, the density of euedaphic Collembola significantly increased with climate change in intensively-used grasslands. Further, we found that grasslan...
Source: Soil Biology and Biochemistry - Category: Biology Source Type: research