Plant functional diversity drives niche‐size‐structure of dominant microbial consumers along a poor to extremely rich fen gradient

作者：Vincent E. J. Jassey, Łukasz Lamentowicz, Bjorn J. M. Robroek, Maciej Gąbka, Anna Rusińska, Mariusz Lamentowicz · 发表于：Journal of Ecology · 年份：2014 · DOI：10.1111/1365-2745.12288 · 被引用次数：63 · 研究领域：Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology、Geology and Paleoclimatology Research、Lichen and fungal ecology

Summary Plant community composition is recognized more and more for playing an important role in ecosystem processes, such as C cycling. In particular, plant functional type (PFT) composition seems to have a key regulatory role, yet the underlying mechanisms in the interaction between PFTs and ecosystem processes are still to be identified. Here, we assess the link between PFTs and dominant microbial consumers along a calcareous poor to extremely rich fen gradient in western Poland. We particularly focussed on dominant microbial consumers (testate amoebae), which can exert large effects on the functioning of peatlands. Using moving‐window analyses and path‐relation networks subjected to structural equation modelling (SEM), we investigated linkages among abiotic factors, PFTs and testate amoebae. We show that along the poor to extremely rich fen gradient, the dependence of testate amoebae to PFTs is higher than their dependence to abiotic factors. We also found that the link between testate amoebae and PFTs differs between size assemblages of testate amoebae. While large testate amoeba species (i.e. high trophic level) were highly linked to Sphagnum mosses cover, small species (i.e. low trophic level) were linked to brown mosses. Distinction between shallow‐rooted and deep‐rooted vascular plants also showed that shallow‐rooted plants play a role on testate amoeba community structure at the ‘poor’ side of the gradient. Our results further show a dominant role for calcium conten...