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 |
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Pages (from-to) | 1-3 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | European Journal of Soil Biology |
Volume | 85 |
Early online date | 9 Jan 2018 |
DOIs | |
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 |
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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