Functioning of soil food webs in response to woodland expansion

土壤食物网的功能响应林地扩张

• 批准号: NE/X011135/1
• 负责人: David Johnson
• 金额: $ 10.27万
• 依托单位: University of Manchester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FX011135%2F1
• 关键词: Functioning; soil; food; webs; response

The myriad organisms that lives in soil interact to form complex food webs. These webs of life comprise microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi, and a wealth of larger bodied organisms such as springtails and mites. Soil food webs regulate several key ecosystem processes including biogeochemical (carbon, nitrogen, phorpsphorus) cycles, carbon storage and greenhouse gas emissions, but our ability to predict how the composition and diversity of soil food webs drive these processes is poor. Moreover, the relationship between food web composition and ecosystem processes - which ultimately contribute to ecosystem services - is likely to be significantly affected by major recent changes in land use policy, namely woodland expansion. The UK has committed to planting many more trees - 30000 hectares per year in England alone, but this means we have to plant the right tree in the right place. Soil properties, including the biological diversity in soil are major factors related to the "right place" argument. To ensure woodland expansion has net positive impacts on ecosystem processes and services, a more complete understanding of the mechanisms that drive soil food web composition and function is urgently needed. Here, we build on past NERC funded research and undertake a series of novel field and laboratory experiments to determine the mechanisms that regulate food web activity and diversity in grassland - woodland transitions. We test the hypotheses that food diversity regulates ecosystem processes but that the maintenance of such functions is dependent on adaptation of food webs to carbon inputsfrom plants originating from their 'home' environment. We will also generate valuable information on the temporal dynamics of such adaptations using a chronosequence of woodland. Our findings will pave the way for developing predictive understanding of the critical role of soil food webs in driving ecosystem processes in response to woodland expansion.

生活在土壤中的无数生物相互作用形成复杂的食物网。这些生命网包括细菌和真菌等微生物，以及跳虫和螨虫等大量较大的生物体。土壤食物网调节着几个关键的生态系统过程，包括生物地球化学（碳、氮、磷）循环、碳储存和温室气体排放，但我们预测土壤食物网的组成和多样性如何驱动这些过程的能力很差。此外，食物网组成与生态系统过程之间的关系（最终有助于生态系统服务）可能会受到近期土地利用政策重大变化（即林地扩张）的显着影响。英国已承诺种植更多树木——仅英格兰每年就种植 30000 公顷树木，但这意味着我们必须在正确的地方种植正确的树。土壤特性，包括土壤中的生物多样性，是与“正确的地方”论点相关的主要因素。为了确保林地扩张对生态系统过程和服务产生净积极影响，迫切需要更全面地了解驱动土壤食物网组成和功能的机制。在这里，我们以过去 NERC 资助的研究为基础，进行了一系列新颖的现场和实验室实验，以确定调节草原-林地转变中食物网活动和多样性的机制。我们检验了这样的假设：食物多样性调节生态系统过程，但这种功能的维持取决于食物网对源自其“家园”环境的植物碳输入的适应。我们还将利用林地的时间序列来生成有关此类适应的时间动态的有价值的信息。我们的研究结果将为预测性理解土壤食物网在驱动生态系统过程以应对林地扩张方面的关键作用铺平道路。