Colonisation of newly established habitats by soil decomposer organisms: the effect of habitat corridors in relation to colonisation distance and habitat size

Abstract

The aim of the present 2.5-year-long field experiment was to explore the ability of various members of the detrital food web to colonise newly established habitat patches in field conditions, either in the presence or absence of habitat corridors. Patch size and distance to the “mainland” (colonisation source) were manipulated to explore the scale dependency of the corridor effects. Sterilised humus patches, embedded in mineral soil regarded as uninhabitable (or non-preferred) matrix for the soil organisms, functioned as newly established habitats. Intact forest soil served as the source of colonisers. Three kinds of patches were established: large ones situated at relatively long distance from the colonisation source, and small ones situated either at long or short distance from the source. Corridors, when present, connected the patches to the intact forest soil. The presence of corridors consistently increased the species richness of soil fungi in the patches. Also bacterial species richness, number of microarthropod taxa and abundance of enchytraeid worms were sometimes increased by the presence of corridors. The response of bacterial species was assumed to be indirect, caused by the response of enchytraeid worms functioning as dispersal agents for the bacteria. Colonisation of the patches by soil organisms was virtually independent of patch size and colonisation distance, both in the presence and absence of corridors. This can be related to the resource-poor or otherwise sub-optimal conditions in the initially sterile humus soil, restricting the number of species able to establish themselves in the patches and/or utilise the corridors. Nevertheless, the results indicate that habitat corridors can facilitate the colonisation of unpopulated habitats by organisms with greatly different life history traits.