Abstract
AbstractThe factors regulating the structure of food webs are a central focus of community andecosystem ecology, as trophic interactions among species have important impacts onnutrient storage and cycling in many ecosystems. For soil invertebrates in grasslandecosystems in the Netherlands, the site-specific slopes of the faunal biomass to organism body mass relationships reflected basic biochemical and biogeochemical processes associated with soil acidity and soil C:N:P stoichiometry. That is, the higher the phosphorus availability in the soil, the higher, on average, the slope of the faunal biomass size spectrum (i.e., the higher the biomass of large-bodied invertebrates relative to the biomass of small invertebrates). While other factors may also be involved, these results are consistent with the growth rate hypothesis from biological stoichiometry that relates phosphorus demands to ribosomal RNA and protein production. Thus our data represent the first time that ecosystem phosphorus availability has been associated with allometry in soil food webs (supporting information available online). Our results have broad implications, as soil invertebrates of different size have different effects on soil processes.
Highlights
BISQ is based on A broad definition of biodiversity: all biota, ecosystems and functions
Nutritional quality acts as a general stoichiometric constraint on variation in the structure of soil food webs in a comparable way to that of aquatic food webs
The biomass spectrum slopes remain positively correlated with the concentrations of N (p < 0.01) and P (p < 0.0001), but not with C
Summary
BISQ is based on A broad definition of biodiversity: all biota, ecosystems and functions (ratification by Dutch Government and granted to RIVM). BISQ aims to Develop quality standards for soil organisms outside nature area’s to protect ecological function and services of the soil
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