Effects of tree fall on soil Collembola: Disentangling the role of gap formation and deadwood addition

作者：Yan Zhang, Zheng Zhou, André Junggebauer, Melanie M. Pollierer, Stefan Scheu · 发表于：Geoderma · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.geoderma.2025.117217 · 被引用次数：8 · 研究领域：Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies、Fire effects on ecosystems、Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology

Increased frequency of climate extremes causes large scale forest decline associated with gap formation and input of deadwood to the forest floor, which largely changes soil systems. However, for disentangling the effects of gap formation and deadwood addition, experimental manipulations allowing to separate the effects of each are needed. Based on a large-scale full-factorial forest gap and deadwood addition experiment, we analyzed the response of soil invertebrates (Collembola) to gap formation and deadwood addition across three geographical regions in Germany i.e., the Alb, Hainich and Schorfheide. Both gap formation and deadwood addition altered the taxonomic richness, density and traits of Collembola communities. The effects of gap formation and deadwood addition were independent of each other but varied among regions, reflecting the importance of both geographic and historical context, as well as environmental changes such as variations in climate. Gap formation strongly decreased total density of Collembola in the Hainich but increased it in the Schorfheide, indicating that the effect is negative in regions with high precipitation and deep soils but positive in regions with low precipitation and shallow soils. Deadwood addition little affected Collembola density but restructured the community composition and increased overall functional and species taxonomic richness, presumably by expanding niche space by increased habitat heterogeneity. Gap formation filtered for sma...