Temporal dynamics of soil nematode communities in a grassland plant diversity experiment |
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Authors: | Maria Viketoft,Bjö rn Sohlenius,Cecilia Palmborg,Matty P. Berg |
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Affiliation: | a Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Box 7044, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden b Swedish Museum of Natural History, Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Box 50007, SE-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden c Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden d Department of Ecological Science, VU University, Amsterdam, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | We report here on an 8-year study examining links between plant and nematode communities in a grassland plant diversity experiment, located in the north of Sweden on previous agricultural soil. The examined plots contained 1, 4 and 12 common grassland plant species from three functional groups; grasses, legumes and forbs. The same plant species composition was maintained in the plots through weeding and resowing during the experimental period. The hypotheses were (i) that the nematode community would shift towards a more diverse and mature fauna over time and (ii) that the effects of both plant species identity and plant species richness would increase over time. As hypothesized, the Bongers’ Maturity Index (a measure of nematode responses to disturbance) increased over time, but not nematode diversity. Instead, the nematode community development in the present grassland experiment seemed to be more characterized by shifts in dominance patterns than by colonization of new taxa. Clear temporal trends were found for plant-feeders and Adenophorea bacterial-feeders which increased in abundance over time in almost all plant treatments. Rhabditidae bacterial-feeders decreased in abundance over time, in particular in plots with legumes. Fungal-feeders, omnivores/predators and the two nematode indices PPI (Bongers’ Plant Parasitic Index) and NCR (Nematode Channel Ratio) had significant interactions between plant composition and time giving some support to our second hypothesis. Our results highlight the need for long-term experiments to examine plant species effects on soil fauna, especially on taxa belonging to higher trophic levels. The results also stress the importance of plant composition for belowground soil faunal communities. |
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Keywords: | BIODEPTH Biodiversity Nematode feeding groups Plant-Soil interaction Plant species identity Plant species richness Succession |
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