Abstract
As regulators of the surface land processes, soil fauna communities are the vital foundations for healthy terrestrial ecosystems. Soil fauna have been studied in China for more than 70 years. Great progresses have been achieved in exploring soil fauna species composition and geographical distribution patterns. Soil fauna eco-geography, as a bridge between soil fauna geographic patterns and ecosystem services, has a new development opportunity with the deep recognition of soil fauna ecological functions. Soil fauna eco-geography research could be partitioned into four dimensions including the spatio-temporal patterns of: 1) the apparent characteristics of soil fauna community, such as species composition, richness and abundance; 2) the intrinsic characteristics of soil fauna community, such as dietary and habits; 3) soil fauna-related biotic and abiotic interactions especially those indicating drivers of soil fauna community structure or shaping the roles of soil fauna in ecosystems; and 4) soil fauna-related or -regulated key ecological processes. Current studies focus solely on soil fauna themselves and their geographical distributions. To link soil fauna geography more closely with ecosystem services, we suggested that: 1) converting the pure biogeography studies to those of revealing the spatio-temporal patterns of the soil fauna-related or regulated key relationships and ecological processes;2) expanding the temporal and spatial scales in soil fauna geographical research;3) exploring the integrated analysis approach for soil fauna-related data with multi-scales, multi-factors, and multi-processes;and 4) establishing standard reference systems for soil fauna eco-geographical researches. Hence, the change patterns of ecological niche of soil fauna communities could be illustrated, and precision mani-pulations of soil fauna communities and their ecological functions would become implementable, which finally contributes to ecosystem health and human well-being.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Ying yong sheng tai xue bao = The journal of applied ecology
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
