Tree identity rather than tree diversity drives earthworm communities in European forests

Hans De Wandeler; Helge Bruelheide; Seid Muhie Dawud; Gabriel Danila; Timo Domisch; Leena Finér; Martin Hermy; Bogdan Jaroszewicz; Francois-Xavier Joly; Sandra Müller; Sophia Ratcliffe; Karsten Raulund-Rasmussen; Emilia Rota; Koenraad Van Meerbeck; Lars Vesterdal; Bart Muys

doi:10.1016/j.pedobi.2018.01.003

Tree identity rather than tree diversity drives earthworm communities in European forests

Hans De Wandeler, Helge Bruelheide, Seid Muhie Dawud, Gabriel Danila, Timo Domisch, Leena Finér, Martin Hermy, Bogdan Jaroszewicz, Francois-Xavier Joly, Sandra Müller, Sophia Ratcliffe, Karsten Raulund-Rasmussen, Emilia Rota, Koenraad Van Meerbeck, Lars Vesterdal, Bart Muys

Forest, Nature and Biomass

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Given the key role of belowground biota on forest ecosystem functioning, it is important to identify the factors that influence their abundance and composition. However, the understanding of the ecological linkage between tree diversity and belowground biota is still insufficient. Here we investigated the influence of tree diversity (richness, True Shannon diversity index, functional diversity) and identity (proportion of evergreen leaf litter and leaf litter quality) on earthworm species richness and biomass at a continental and regional scale, using data from a Europe-wide forest research platform (FunDivEUROPE) spanning six major forest types. We found a marked tree identity effect at the continental scale, with proportion of evergreen leaf litter negatively affecting total earthworm biomass and species richness, as well as their biomass per functional group. Furthermore, there were clear litter quality effects with a latitudinal variation in trait-specific responses. In north and central Europe, earthworm biomass and species richness clearly increased with increasing litter nutrient concentrations (decreasing C:N ratio and increasing calcium concentration), whereas this influence of litter nutrients was absent or even reversed in southern Europe. In addition, although earthworms were unaffected by the number of tree species, tree diversity positively affected earthworm biomass at the continental scale through functional diversity of the leaf litter. By focusing on tree leaf litter traits, this study advanced our understanding of the mechanisms driving tree identity effects and supported previous findings that litter quality, as a proxy of tree identity, was a stronger driver of earthworm species richness and biomass than tree diversity.

Original language	English
Journal	Pedobiologia
Volume	67
Pages (from-to)	16-25
Number of pages	10
ISSN	0031-4056
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedobi.2018.01.003
Publication status	Published - Mar 2018

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Wandeler, H. D., Bruelheide, H., Dawud, S. M., Danila, G., Domisch, T., Finér, L., Hermy, M., Jaroszewicz, B., Joly, F.-X., Müller, S., Ratcliffe, S., Raulund-Rasmussen, K., Rota, E., Van Meerbeck, K., Vesterdal, L., & Muys, B. (2018). Tree identity rather than tree diversity drives earthworm communities in European forests. Pedobiologia, 67, 16-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedobi.2018.01.003

Wandeler, HD, Bruelheide, H, Dawud, SM, Danila, G, Domisch, T, Finér, L, Hermy, M, Jaroszewicz, B, Joly, F-X, Müller, S, Ratcliffe, S, Raulund-Rasmussen, K, Rota, E, Van Meerbeck, K, Vesterdal, L & Muys, B 2018, 'Tree identity rather than tree diversity drives earthworm communities in European forests', Pedobiologia, vol. 67, pp. 16-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedobi.2018.01.003

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title = "Tree identity rather than tree diversity drives earthworm communities in European forests",

abstract = "Given the key role of belowground biota on forest ecosystem functioning, it is important to identify the factors that influence their abundance and composition. However, the understanding of the ecological linkage between tree diversity and belowground biota is still insufficient. Here we investigated the influence of tree diversity (richness, True Shannon diversity index, functional diversity) and identity (proportion of evergreen leaf litter and leaf litter quality) on earthworm species richness and biomass at a continental and regional scale, using data from a Europe-wide forest research platform (FunDivEUROPE) spanning six major forest types. We found a marked tree identity effect at the continental scale, with proportion of evergreen leaf litter negatively affecting total earthworm biomass and species richness, as well as their biomass per functional group. Furthermore, there were clear litter quality effects with a latitudinal variation in trait-specific responses. In north and central Europe, earthworm biomass and species richness clearly increased with increasing litter nutrient concentrations (decreasing C:N ratio and increasing calcium concentration), whereas this influence of litter nutrients was absent or even reversed in southern Europe. In addition, although earthworms were unaffected by the number of tree species, tree diversity positively affected earthworm biomass at the continental scale through functional diversity of the leaf litter. By focusing on tree leaf litter traits, this study advanced our understanding of the mechanisms driving tree identity effects and supported previous findings that litter quality, as a proxy of tree identity, was a stronger driver of earthworm species richness and biomass than tree diversity.",

author = "Wandeler, {Hans De} and Helge Bruelheide and Dawud, {Seid Muhie} and Gabriel Danila and Timo Domisch and Leena Fin{\'e}r and Martin Hermy and Bogdan Jaroszewicz and Francois-Xavier Joly and Sandra M{\"u}ller and Sophia Ratcliffe and Karsten Raulund-Rasmussen and Emilia Rota and {Van Meerbeck}, Koenraad and Lars Vesterdal and Bart Muys",

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T1 - Tree identity rather than tree diversity drives earthworm communities in European forests

AU - Wandeler, Hans De

AU - Bruelheide, Helge

AU - Dawud, Seid Muhie

AU - Danila, Gabriel

AU - Domisch, Timo

AU - Finér, Leena

AU - Hermy, Martin

AU - Jaroszewicz, Bogdan

AU - Joly, Francois-Xavier

AU - Müller, Sandra

AU - Ratcliffe, Sophia

AU - Raulund-Rasmussen, Karsten

AU - Rota, Emilia

AU - Van Meerbeck, Koenraad

AU - Vesterdal, Lars

AU - Muys, Bart

PY - 2018/3

Y1 - 2018/3

N2 - Given the key role of belowground biota on forest ecosystem functioning, it is important to identify the factors that influence their abundance and composition. However, the understanding of the ecological linkage between tree diversity and belowground biota is still insufficient. Here we investigated the influence of tree diversity (richness, True Shannon diversity index, functional diversity) and identity (proportion of evergreen leaf litter and leaf litter quality) on earthworm species richness and biomass at a continental and regional scale, using data from a Europe-wide forest research platform (FunDivEUROPE) spanning six major forest types. We found a marked tree identity effect at the continental scale, with proportion of evergreen leaf litter negatively affecting total earthworm biomass and species richness, as well as their biomass per functional group. Furthermore, there were clear litter quality effects with a latitudinal variation in trait-specific responses. In north and central Europe, earthworm biomass and species richness clearly increased with increasing litter nutrient concentrations (decreasing C:N ratio and increasing calcium concentration), whereas this influence of litter nutrients was absent or even reversed in southern Europe. In addition, although earthworms were unaffected by the number of tree species, tree diversity positively affected earthworm biomass at the continental scale through functional diversity of the leaf litter. By focusing on tree leaf litter traits, this study advanced our understanding of the mechanisms driving tree identity effects and supported previous findings that litter quality, as a proxy of tree identity, was a stronger driver of earthworm species richness and biomass than tree diversity.

AB - Given the key role of belowground biota on forest ecosystem functioning, it is important to identify the factors that influence their abundance and composition. However, the understanding of the ecological linkage between tree diversity and belowground biota is still insufficient. Here we investigated the influence of tree diversity (richness, True Shannon diversity index, functional diversity) and identity (proportion of evergreen leaf litter and leaf litter quality) on earthworm species richness and biomass at a continental and regional scale, using data from a Europe-wide forest research platform (FunDivEUROPE) spanning six major forest types. We found a marked tree identity effect at the continental scale, with proportion of evergreen leaf litter negatively affecting total earthworm biomass and species richness, as well as their biomass per functional group. Furthermore, there were clear litter quality effects with a latitudinal variation in trait-specific responses. In north and central Europe, earthworm biomass and species richness clearly increased with increasing litter nutrient concentrations (decreasing C:N ratio and increasing calcium concentration), whereas this influence of litter nutrients was absent or even reversed in southern Europe. In addition, although earthworms were unaffected by the number of tree species, tree diversity positively affected earthworm biomass at the continental scale through functional diversity of the leaf litter. By focusing on tree leaf litter traits, this study advanced our understanding of the mechanisms driving tree identity effects and supported previous findings that litter quality, as a proxy of tree identity, was a stronger driver of earthworm species richness and biomass than tree diversity.

U2 - 10.1016/j.pedobi.2018.01.003

DO - 10.1016/j.pedobi.2018.01.003

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0031-4056

VL - 67

SP - 16

EP - 25

JO - Pedobiologia

JF - Pedobiologia

ER -

Tree identity rather than tree diversity drives earthworm communities in European forests

Abstract

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