Abstract
Deforestation, plantation expansion and other human activities in tropical ecosystems are often associated with biological invasions. These processes have been studied for above-ground organisms, but associated changes below the ground have received little attention. We surveyed rainforest and plantation systems in Jambi province, Sumatra, Indonesia, to investigate effects of land-use change on the diversity and abundance of earthworms—a major group of soil-ecosystem engineers that often is associated with human activities. Density and biomass of earthworms increased 4—30-fold in oil palm and rubber monoculture plantations compared to rainforest. Despite much higher abundance, earthworm communities in plantations were less diverse and dominated by the peregrine morphospecies Pontoscolex corethrurus, often recorded as invasive. Considering the high deforestation rate in Indonesia, invasive earthworms are expected to dominate soil communities across the region in the near future, in lieu of native soil biodiversity. Ecologically-friendly management approaches, increasing structural habitat complexity and plant diversity, may foster beneficial effects of invasive earthworms on plant growth while mitigating negative effects on below-ground biodiversity and the functioning of the native soil animal community.
Highlights
Land-use change in the tropics is largely driven by the establishment of high-production agricultural systems in order to provide humanity with food and other agricultural products (Laurance et al 2014; Edwards et al 2019)
Rainforests are cleared across tropical regions with recent deforestation being especially pronounced in Indonesia (Hansen et al 2013)
Seasonal changes were asynchronous in different land-use systems with the number of earthworms being high in plantations and low in rainforest in March, and the opposite being true in September
Summary
Land-use change in the tropics is largely driven by the establishment of high-production agricultural systems in order to provide humanity with food and other agricultural products (Laurance et al 2014; Edwards et al 2019). Over the last 30 years, most of the lowland rainforests in Sumatra (Indonesia) have been converted into plantations, with oil palm and rubber being the dominating crops (Margono et al 2012). These land-use changes disturb habitats, degrade biodiversity and provide dispersal vectors for organisms, thereby opening opportunities for invasions by exotic species into the transformed ecosystems (Bellard et al 2016; Clough et al 2016; Rembold et al 2017). To date, little is known about the potential belowground invasions associated with the recent land-use change in Southeast Asia
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