Desiccation resistance determines distribution of woodlice along forest edge-to-interior gradients

Pallieter De Smedt; Lander Baeten; Matty P. Berg; Emilie Gallet-Moron; Jörg Brunet; Sara A.O. Cousins; Guillaume Decocq; Martin Diekmann; Brice Giffard; Pieter De Frenne; Martin Hermy; Dries Bonte; Kris Verheyen

doi:10.1016/j.ejsobi.2017.12.002

Desiccation resistance determines distribution of woodlice along forest edge-to-interior gradients

Pallieter De Smedt^*, Lander Baeten, Matty P. Berg, Emilie Gallet-Moron, Jörg Brunet, Sara A.O. Cousins, Guillaume Decocq, Martin Diekmann, Brice Giffard, Pieter De Frenne, Martin Hermy, Dries Bonte, Kris Verheyen

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Forest edges show strong abiotic and biotic gradients potentially altering community composition and ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling. While abiotic gradients are well studied, short-scale biotic gradients, like detritivore species composition and their associated trait distribution remains a poorly explored research-field. We sampled woodlice in 160 forest patches across Europe at varying distances from the forest edge and discovered that species desiccation resistance determines distribution along forest edge-to-interior gradients. Forest edges are warmer and dryer compared to interiors and favour drought-tolerant species, while abundance and activity of drought-sensitive species is reduced at the edge. Key ecological factors for litter-dwelling detritivores (i.e. humidity) act as environmental filter, because of species-specific differences in desiccation resistance. Future research should focus on quantifying the consequences of a changing detritivore community and their associated functional traits for nutrient cycling.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-3
Number of pages	3
Journal	European Journal of Soil Biology
Volume	85
Early online date	9 Jan 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejsobi.2017.12.002
Publication status	Published - 12 Feb 2018

Funding

P.D.S. holds a doctoral fellowship of the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO). M.P.B was financed by the Uyttenboogaart-Eliasen Foundation . We thank Ludmilla Martin and Kent Hansson for help with the field work. The research was funded by the ERA-Net BiodivERsA project smallFOREST , with national funders ANR (France), MINECO (Spain), FORMAS (Sweden), ETAG (Estonia), DFG/DLR (Germany) and BELSPO (Belgium) part of the 2011 BiodivERsA call for research proposals. Appendix A

Funders	Funder number
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Agence Nationale de la Recherche
Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas
Eesti Teadusagentuur
Belgian Federal Science Policy Office
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
Uyttenboogaart-Eliasen Stichting

Keywords

Drought tolerance
Edge effects
Isopoda
Response trait
Small forest fragments

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.ejsobi.2017.12.002

Desiccation resistance determines distribution of woodlice along forest edge-to-interior gradientsFinal published version, 404 KBLicence: Article 25fa Dutch Copyright Act

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De Smedt, P., Baeten, L., Berg, M. P., Gallet-Moron, E., Brunet, J., Cousins, S. A. O., Decocq, G., Diekmann, M., Giffard, B., De Frenne, P., Hermy, M., Bonte, D., & Verheyen, K. (2018). Desiccation resistance determines distribution of woodlice along forest edge-to-interior gradients. European Journal of Soil Biology, 85, 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejsobi.2017.12.002

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abstract = "Forest edges show strong abiotic and biotic gradients potentially altering community composition and ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling. While abiotic gradients are well studied, short-scale biotic gradients, like detritivore species composition and their associated trait distribution remains a poorly explored research-field. We sampled woodlice in 160 forest patches across Europe at varying distances from the forest edge and discovered that species desiccation resistance determines distribution along forest edge-to-interior gradients. Forest edges are warmer and dryer compared to interiors and favour drought-tolerant species, while abundance and activity of drought-sensitive species is reduced at the edge. Key ecological factors for litter-dwelling detritivores (i.e. humidity) act as environmental filter, because of species-specific differences in desiccation resistance. Future research should focus on quantifying the consequences of a changing detritivore community and their associated functional traits for nutrient cycling.",

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AU - Brunet, Jörg

AU - Cousins, Sara A.O.

AU - Decocq, Guillaume

AU - Diekmann, Martin

AU - Giffard, Brice

AU - De Frenne, Pieter

AU - Hermy, Martin

AU - Bonte, Dries

AU - Verheyen, Kris

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AB - Forest edges show strong abiotic and biotic gradients potentially altering community composition and ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling. While abiotic gradients are well studied, short-scale biotic gradients, like detritivore species composition and their associated trait distribution remains a poorly explored research-field. We sampled woodlice in 160 forest patches across Europe at varying distances from the forest edge and discovered that species desiccation resistance determines distribution along forest edge-to-interior gradients. Forest edges are warmer and dryer compared to interiors and favour drought-tolerant species, while abundance and activity of drought-sensitive species is reduced at the edge. Key ecological factors for litter-dwelling detritivores (i.e. humidity) act as environmental filter, because of species-specific differences in desiccation resistance. Future research should focus on quantifying the consequences of a changing detritivore community and their associated functional traits for nutrient cycling.

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Desiccation resistance determines distribution of woodlice along forest edge-to-interior gradients

Abstract

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Keywords

UN SDGs

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