Linking forest soil food-web patterns with soil organic matter characteristics across five European biogeographical regions

• Research unit: COST
• Project number: C16.0052

Key words (English)

European forests; soil organic matter; decomposition; cotton cloth assay; soil fauna; soil food-web; morphological classification; DNA metabarcoding

Research programs (English)

COST-Action ES1406 - SOIL FAUNA: KEY TO SOIL ORGANIC MATTER DYNAMICS AND MODELLING

Short description (English)

Decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM) is the most important biological process in soll. SOM is biologically transformed by microorganlsms and soil fauna and stabilized in organo-mineral complexes with different turnover rates. Biogeochemical SOM models aim at predicting the dynamics of SOM and, thereby, the changes in global C cycling. However, SOM modelling has so far largely ignored the contribution of the soil fauna. The proposed project aims to characterize the main functional trophic groups of the soil food web across European forests and link them with biogeographical regions, climatic factors,and soil properties. We will determine functional groups, sampled in-situ from 30 forest research plots across 5 European biogeographical regions using morphology­ based classification and DNA metabarcoding.Variation of decomposer communities and their specific functional relationships (here detrital decomposition) will be determined by cotton cloth strips enclosed in nylon mesh bags with varying mesh sizes to exclude prominent components from the decomposer communities.Variation of functional trophic groups together with cotton cloth assays will be complemented with measurement of SOM characteristics. The detailed analysis of the soll food web coupled with SOM characteristics will significantly improve our understanding of the soil biota in the context of ecosystem services such as global C cycling and will allow the development of better predictive C models.

Further information (English)

Full name of research-institution/enterprise: Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL Group Leader, Senior Scientist, Lecturer Soil Biology

Partners and International Organizations (English)

AT; BE; BG; HR; CZ; DK; EE; FR; DE; EL; IE; IT; LT; NL; NO; PL; PT; RO: RS; SI; ES; UK; RU; USA

Abstract (English)

See short description

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: COST-DB of the State Secretariat for Education and Research Hallwylstrasse 4 CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland Tel. [phone] Swiss Project-Number: C16.0052