Environmental filtering vs. resource-based niche partitioning in diverse soil animal assemblages |
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| Institution: | 1. Institut für Biologie, Plant Ecology, Freie Universität Berlin, Altensteinstraße 6, 14195 Berlin, Germany;2. Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), 14195 Berlin, Germany;3. J.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, Georg August University Göttingen, Berliner Str. 28, 37073 Göttingen, Germany;4. School of Biological Sciences and Institute for Global Food Security, Queen''s University of Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom;1. University of California, Riverside, Department of Biology, 900 University Ave, Riverside, CA 92521, United States;2. Center for Conservation Biology, University of California, Riverside, 900 University Ave, Riverside, CA 92521, United States;1. Institut für Biologie, Plant Ecology, Freie Universität Berlin, Altensteinstraße 6, 14195 Berlin, Germany;2. Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), 14195 Berlin, Germany;3. School of Biological Sciences and Institute for Global Food Security, Queen''s University of Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom;1. Université de Lorraine, CNRS, LIEC, F-54000 Nancy, France;2. Université de Lorraine, INRA, LSE, F-54000 Nancy, France;1. Ecological Networks, Technische Univeristät Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstraße 3, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany;2. J.F Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Göttingen, Germany;3. Department of Ecology & Evolution, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstraße 34, 5020 Salzburg, Austria;1. Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE 901-83 Umeå, Sweden;2. Department of Ecological Science, Section Animal Ecology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands;3. Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, Community and Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen University, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands;4. Asian School for the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore |
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| Abstract: | Terrestrial invertebrates constitute most of described animal biodiversity and soil is a major reservoir of this diversity. In the classical attempt to understand the processes supporting biodiversity, ecologists are currently seeking to unravel the differential roles of environmental filtering and competition for resources in niche partitioning processes: these processes are in principle distinct although they may act simultaneously, interact at multiple spatial and temporal scales, and are often confounded in studies of soil communities. We used a novel combination of methods based on stable isotopes and trait analysis to resolve these processes in diverse oribatid mite assemblages at spatial scales at which competition for resources could in principle be a major driver. We also used a null model approach based on a general neutral model of beta diversity. A large and significant fraction of community variation was explainable in terms of linear and periodic spatial structures in the distribution of organic C, N and soil structure: species were clearly arranged along an environmental, spatially structured gradient. However, competition related trait differences did not map onto the distances separating species along the environmental gradient and neutral models provided a satisfying approximation of beta diversity patterns. The results represent the first robust evidence that in very diverse soil arthropod assemblages resource-based niche partitioning plays a minor role while environmental filtering remains a fundamental driver of species distribution. |
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| Keywords: | Stable isotopes Trophic niche Community structure Neutral theory Soil microarthropods Oribatid mites Coexistence mechanisms |
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