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Impacts of soil faunal community composition on model grassland ecosystems

Bradford, M. A., Jones, Thomas Hefin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7874-3627, Bardgett, R. D., Black, H. I. J., Boag, B., Bonkowski, M., Cook, R., Eggers, T., Gange, A. C., Graystone, S. J., Kandeler, E., McCaig, A. E., Newington, J. E., Prosser, J. I., Setala, H., Staddon, P. L., Tordoff, G. M., Tscherko, D. and Lawton, J. H. 2002. Impacts of soil faunal community composition on model grassland ecosystems. Science 298 (5593) , pp. 615-618. 10.1126/science.1075805

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Abstract

Human impacts, including global change, may alter the composition of soil faunal communities, but consequences for ecosystem functioning are poorly understood. We constructed model grassland systems in the Ecotron controlled environment facility and manipulated soil community composition through assemblages of different animal body sizes. Plant community composition, microbial and root biomass, decomposition rate, and mycorrhizal colonization were all markedly affected. However, two key ecosystem processes, aboveground net primary productivity and net ecosystem productivity, were surprisingly resistant to these changes. We hypothesize that positive and negative faunal-mediated effects in soil communities cancel each other out, causing no net ecosystem effects.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Biosciences
ISSN: 0036-8075
Last Modified: 17 Oct 2022 08:50
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/1195

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