Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Zuoqiang Yuan, Arshad Ali, Michel Loreau, Fang Ding, Shufang Liu, Anvar Sanaei, Wangming Zhou, Ji Ye, Fei Lin, Shuai Fang, Zhanqing Hao, Xugao Wang, Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet
Summary: The study revealed that highly disturbed mature forests have the highest impact on ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF), with plant and soil microbial diversity playing a positive role. Biodiversity has a significant effect on EMF, surpassing the influences of both climate and disturbance.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Javad Mirzaei, Mehdi Heydari, Reza Omidipour, Nahid Jafarian, Christopher Carcaillet
Summary: The effects of short fire intervals on soil properties, herbaceous plant and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) community diversity were assessed in the semi-arid forest ecosystems dominated by Quercus brantii in western Iran. The fires had negative impacts on soil organic matter, nitrogen concentrations, microbial respiration, biomass carbon, substrate-induced respiration, urease enzyme activity, and AMF's Shannon diversity. One fire increased herb community diversity, but two fires decreased it. The short-interval fires depleted soil functional properties and reduced herb diversity, posing the risk of collapse in this semi-arid oak forest ecosystem.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Jonas Alvarez-Lopeztello, Celerino Robles, Rafael F. del Castillo
Summary: The study found that microplastics, mainly fibers and fragments, were present in the soils of various ecosystems in tropical lowland areas, with films and pellets not detected. Fibers and fragments ranged mainly from 150 to 500 micrometers, with sizes from 40 to 60 micrometers being the rarest. The concentration of fibers and fragments varied significantly among different ecosystems, and appeared to increase with higher levels of clay and sand.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ilyass Filali Alaoui, Mohamed Ait Hamza, Hinde Benjlil, Amine Idhmida, Amina Braimi, Elmahdi Mzough, Ayoub Hallouti, Khadija Basaid, James Nicholas Furze, Inga A. Zasada, Timothy Paulitz, Zahra Ferji, Abdelhamid El Mousadik, El Hassan Mayad
Summary: The agroecological productivity of the Arganeraie Biosphere Reserve in Morocco is limited by plant parasitic nematodes, requiring ecological studies of nematode communities to develop effective biological management. Soil and climatic variables were seen to have significant impacts on the abundance and distribution of nematodes, with a combination of biological treatments and proper agroecological practices needed for sustainable management.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Soil Science
Jonas Inkotte, Barbara Bomfim, Sarah Camelo da Silva, Marco Bruno Xavier Valadao, Marcio Goncalves da Rosa, Roberta Batista Viana, Polliana D'Angelo Rios, Alcides Gatto, Reginaldo S. Pereira
Summary: This research emphasizes the impact of rainfall seasonality on soil biodiversity and physicochemistry, closely linked with litter production and decomposition. Wood litter decomposition is associated with Hemiptera abundance in the dry season, while leaf litter decomposition is related to total epigeic fauna abundance and soil pH.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Marek Renco, Andrea Cerevkova, Zuzana Homolova
Summary: The invasive plant Reynoutria japonica has a negative impact on native plant species and soil nematode communities in ruderal forest habitats in Tatra National Park, Slovakia. The invasion reduces diversity of native plants, alters nematode communities, and simplifies the soil environment's structural complexity.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Monique Weemstra, Jenny Zambrano, David Allen, Maria Natalia Umana
Summary: This study indicates that resource economics cannot explain the relationships between leaf and root traits and tree growth rates. For trees with low or intermediate specific leaf area (SLA), thick roots may be considered acquisitive, associated with faster growth. Trees did not coordinate their leaf and root traits according to plant resource economics but enhanced their growth rates by combining thick roots with conservative leaves or vice versa.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Thomas C. Parker, Mathilde Chomel, Karina E. Clemmensen, Nina L. Friggens, Iain P. Hartley, David Johnson, Ilona Kater, Eveline J. Krab, Bjorn D. Lindahl, Lorna E. Street, Jens-Arne Subke, Philip A. Wookey
Summary: In a treeline/tundra ecosystem, distinct soil communities exist in contrasting vegetation patches within the landscape, but the structure of these communities is resistant to canopy disturbance and concomitant reduction of autotrophic C inputs.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Forestry
C. Espinosa del Alba, J. Hjalten, J. Sjogren
Summary: The study evaluated the impacts of restoration methods on forest stands in northern Sweden. Prescribed burning initially caused a decline in diversity but led to an increase in the long term for vascular plants, while ground layer bryophytes remained lower post-restoration. Gap cutting had no significant effects on diversity or community composition.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Philippe Tschanz, Stefan Vogel, Achim Walter, Thomas Keller, Matthias Albrecht
Summary: Ground-nesting wild bees play a crucial role in pollinating wild plants and crops, impacting human wellbeing. This study in Switzerland found that arable fields are utilized for nesting by various bee species, with nest density being positively related to the proportion of bare ground and decreasing with distance from field edges. The findings suggest that maintaining small field sizes, increasing edge density, and reducing crop cover through increased row spacing can support ground-nesting bees in agricultural landscapes, potentially aided by floral-rich agri-environment scheme areas. Further research is needed to determine if tilled arable fields serve as suitable nesting habitats or ecological traps for ground-nesting bees.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Miaomiao Zhang, Shun Liu, Miao Chen, Jian Chen, Xiangwen Cao, Gexi Xu, Hongshuang Xing, Feifan Li, Zuomin Shi
Summary: This study compared soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling patterns in three different mycorrhizal forest types on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The results showed that forest types dominated by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (EcM) trees had faster soil C cycling, while the ericoid mycorrhizal (ErM) forest had lower soil N cycling.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Shokoofeh Kamali, Ali Javadmanesh, Lukasz L. Stelinski, Tina Kyndt, Alireza Seifi, Monireh Cheniany, Mohammad Zaki-Aghl, Mojtaba Hosseini, Mahyar Heydarpour, Javad Asili, Javad Karimi
Summary: The study found that entomopathogenic nematodes play a critical role in reducing plant parasite infestation and decreasing herbivore damage, by inducing plant defense responses and immune reactions in tomato plants. This supports the hypothesis that plants mistake subterranean EPNs for parasites, activating a range of plant defenses against pathogenic nematodes and herbivores.
Article
Forestry
Tao Liu, Zixuan Wang, Huiling Guan, Buqing Zhong, Xinxing He, Yihan Wang, Yifei Qi, Wende Yan, Xiankai Lu
Summary: Soil macrofauna, such as earthworms and millipedes, have a significant impact on the diversity and structure of soil nematode communities. They act as hosts for soil nematodes and play a crucial role in dispersing and distributing these important microfauna throughout the soil landscape.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Giovanni Tamburini, Guillermo Aguilera, Erik Ockinger
Summary: Managing agricultural landscapes is crucial for balancing production goals and environmental challenges. Grasslands outperform crop fields in providing ecosystem services multifunctionality. Increased grassland cover in the landscape positively influences the provision of multiple ecosystem services.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Soil Science
Pamela Niederauer Pompeo, Luis Carlos Iunes Oliveira Filho, Douglas Alexandre, Ana Carolina Lovatel, Pedro Martins da Silva, Jose Paulo Sousa, Osmar Klauberg-Filho, Dilmar Baretta
Summary: Ground-dwelling beetles play a crucial role in ecosystem functioning, but their composition and traits are influenced by habitat fragmentation and land use changes. This study examined the community composition and relationships with environmental variables of ground-dwelling beetles in subtropical fragments of southern Brazil. The results showed that the composition of beetle communities varied among different land use systems, and environmental variables had some influence on the morphospecies composition.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2023)