Reduced functionality of soil food webs in burnt boreal forests: a case study in Central Russia

© 2017, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. Abstract: Functionality of soil food webs after forest fires remains generally unexplored. We address this question by studying both burnt and unburnt spruce forests in Central European Russia (Tver Region). In August 2014 we sampled two spatially distant blocks consisting of forest areas burnt in 2010 and the respective unburnt controls. We analyzed biomass and structure of soil food webs as well as carbon mobilization with respect to carbon stocks in the dead wood, litter and soil after burning. The biomass of soil fauna was moderately reduced in the burnt plots. For some groups like testate amoebae and enchytraeids, however, this decrease was highly significant and corresponded with the decreased C-stock in litter. For the other taxa changes in biomass were insignificant. At the same time C-flow through the soil food web after fire was strongly reduced mainly due to the reduction of biomass of active fungi and secondary decomposers. The overall consumption rate of detritus by the soil food web strongly decreased in the burnt forests and was maintained predominantly by the decomposition activity of bacteria instead of fungi. This resulted in the reduction of the total soil food web functionality related with C-mobilization in the forests four years after a fire event. Brief Summary: We compared rates of carbon mobilization by soil food webs in burnt and unburnt boreal forests in Central Russia. Despite of only slight decrease in soil animal biomass, consumption rate of carbon in the soil food webs after fire was considerably lower and mainly associated with soil bacteria instead of fungi

Ecological and environmental transition across the forested-to-open bog ecotone in a west Siberian peatland

Climate change may cause increasing tree cover in boreal peatlands, and the impacts of this encroachment will be noted first at forested-to-open bog ecotones. We investigate key metrics of ecosystem function in five such ecotones at a peatland complex in Western Siberia. Stratigraphic analysis of three cores from one of these transects shows that the ecotone has been dynamic over time with evidence for recent expansion of forested peatland. We observed that the two alternative states for northern boreal peatlands (forested/open) clearly support distinct plant and microbial communities. These in turn drive and respond to a number of feedback mechanisms. This has led to steep ecological gradients across the ecotones. Tree cover was associated with lower water tables and pH, along with higher bulk density, aquatic carbon concentrations, and electrical conductivity. We propose that the conditions found in the forested peatland of Western Siberia make the carbon sink more vulnerable to warmer and drier conditions

Figure 2 in The first report on oribatid mites in tundra belts of the Lovozersky Mountains on the Kola Peninsula, Russia

Figure 2 Discriminant (canonical) function analysis of faunas of oribatid mites discovered in the explored habitats. Dots are single samples, "LT" means lichen tundra, "WT" means wetted tundra, "DST" means dwarf shrub tundra. The analysis was based on the Jaccard similarity matrix for single samples. Both canonical Roots were significant. Ellipses are normal type of Statistica 6 software ellipses.Published as part of Leonov, Vladislav D. & Rakhleeva, Anna A., 2020, The first report on oribatid mites in tundra belts of the Lovozersky Mountains on the Kola Peninsula, Russia, pp. 301-316 in Acarologia 60 (2) on page 309, DOI: 10.24349/acarologia/20204369, http://zenodo.org/record/448777

Figure 3 in The first report on oribatid mites in tundra belts of the Lovozersky Mountains on the Kola Peninsula, Russia

Figure 3 Discriminant (canonical) function analysis of relative abundance of oribatid mites in ex-Published as part of Leonov, Vladislav D. & Rakhleeva, Anna A., 2020, The first report on oribatid mites in tundra belts of the Lovozersky Mountains on the Kola Peninsula, Russia, pp. 301-316 in Acarologia 60 (2) on page 311, DOI: 10.24349/acarologia/20204369, http://zenodo.org/record/448777

The structure of mesofauna complexes in soils of the forest-park zone of Moscow and the Prioksko-Terrasnyi Biospheric Reserve

A comparative analysis of quantitative parameters of the complexes of large soil invertebrates (mesofauna) in slightly disturbed biotopes of the Kuz’minki–Lyublino natural forest park of Moscow and in natural biotopes of the Prioksko-Terrasnyi Biospheric Reserve as a representative territory of the zone of mixed forests. It is shown that soil mesofauna in forest cenoses of the urban park preserves its natural features, though significant changes take place in the dominant complex. An increase in the biomass (up to 43 g/m2) of invertebrates has been observed in the forest-park soils at the expense of a greater population density of earthworms; the portion of saprophages in them increases, whereas the portion of predators is smaller than that in the native soils of the reserve. © 2016, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd

The structure of mesofauna complexes in soils of the forest-park zone of Moscow and the Prioksko-Terrasnyi Biospheric Reserve

A comparative analysis of quantitative parameters of the complexes of large soil invertebrates (mesofauna) in slightly disturbed biotopes of the Kuz’minki–Lyublino natural forest park of Moscow and in natural biotopes of the Prioksko-Terrasnyi Biospheric Reserve as a representative territory of the zone of mixed forests. It is shown that soil mesofauna in forest cenoses of the urban park preserves its natural features, though significant changes take place in the dominant complex. An increase in the biomass (up to 43 g/m2) of invertebrates has been observed in the forest-park soils at the expense of a greater population density of earthworms; the portion of saprophages in them increases, whereas the portion of predators is smaller than that in the native soils of the reserve. © 2016, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd

Reduced functionality of soil food webs in burnt boreal forests: a case study in Central Russia

© 2017, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. Abstract: Functionality of soil food webs after forest fires remains generally unexplored. We address this question by studying both burnt and unburnt spruce forests in Central European Russia (Tver Region). In August 2014 we sampled two spatially distant blocks consisting of forest areas burnt in 2010 and the respective unburnt controls. We analyzed biomass and structure of soil food webs as well as carbon mobilization with respect to carbon stocks in the dead wood, litter and soil after burning. The biomass of soil fauna was moderately reduced in the burnt plots. For some groups like testate amoebae and enchytraeids, however, this decrease was highly significant and corresponded with the decreased C-stock in litter. For the other taxa changes in biomass were insignificant. At the same time C-flow through the soil food web after fire was strongly reduced mainly due to the reduction of biomass of active fungi and secondary decomposers. The overall consumption rate of detritus by the soil food web strongly decreased in the burnt forests and was maintained predominantly by the decomposition activity of bacteria instead of fungi. This resulted in the reduction of the total soil food web functionality related with C-mobilization in the forests four years after a fire event. Brief Summary: We compared rates of carbon mobilization by soil food webs in burnt and unburnt boreal forests in Central Russia. Despite of only slight decrease in soil animal biomass, consumption rate of carbon in the soil food webs after fire was considerably lower and mainly associated with soil bacteria instead of fungi

Diversity of the soil biota in burned areas of southern taiga forests (Tver oblast)

© 2016, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.Relations between soil biota diversity and its contribution to the performance of some ecosystem functions were assessed based on the results obtained in undisturbed and burned spruce forests near the Central Forest Nature Biosphere Reserve (Tver oblast). In August 2014, in two 4-year-old burned areas, abiotic parameters of the soils, indicators of the state of the microbial communities, the number, taxonomic diversity, and the abundance of the main groups of soil invertebrates (testate amoebae, nematodes, enchytraeids, mites, collembolans, and the mesofauna as a whole) were determined. In the soils of the burned areas, higher CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions were observed. The number of bacterial cells remained similar, and the total length of active mycelium was not significantly different. All this implies a certain intensification of biogenic processes promoting the mobilization of carbon and nitrogen after fire. The number of most of the groups of soil animals was lower (not always significantly) in the burned area than that in the soils of the undisturbed forests. The changes in the taxonomic diversity were specific for each taxon studied. Overall, the diversity of invertebrates was related to the litter thickness. However, the high taxonomic diversity of soil fauna did not always correspond to the active functioning of the ecosystem. Thus, for some taxa, a quite close correlation was found, for instance, between the total number of species (of testate amoebae in particular) and the berry crop, as well as between the soil mesofauna population and the dead wood stock. The total diversity of the investigated taxa included in the detrital trophic web was the most reliable indicator of the carbon stock in the burned areas

Forest fire induces short-term shifts in soil food webs with consequences for carbon cycling

© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS We tested for fire-induced (5–6 years post-fire) changes in the structure and functioning of the soil food web along a 3000-km north–south transect across European Russia, spanning all major forest types in the northern hemisphere outside the tropics. The total biomass of the detrital food web, including microbes and invertebrates, was not affected by fire. However, fire reduced the biomass of microfauna and mites, but had no impact on mesofauna or macrofauna. Fire also reduced rates of carbon (C) mobilisation by soil biota. Our results demonstrate that fire-induced shifts in soil food webs have significant short-term effects on forest soil C cycling, but that these effects vary across forest types and geographic locations

Diversity of the soil biota in burned areas of southern taiga forests (Tver oblast)

© 2016, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.Relations between soil biota diversity and its contribution to the performance of some ecosystem functions were assessed based on the results obtained in undisturbed and burned spruce forests near the Central Forest Nature Biosphere Reserve (Tver oblast). In August 2014, in two 4-year-old burned areas, abiotic parameters of the soils, indicators of the state of the microbial communities, the number, taxonomic diversity, and the abundance of the main groups of soil invertebrates (testate amoebae, nematodes, enchytraeids, mites, collembolans, and the mesofauna as a whole) were determined. In the soils of the burned areas, higher CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions were observed. The number of bacterial cells remained similar, and the total length of active mycelium was not significantly different. All this implies a certain intensification of biogenic processes promoting the mobilization of carbon and nitrogen after fire. The number of most of the groups of soil animals was lower (not always significantly) in the burned area than that in the soils of the undisturbed forests. The changes in the taxonomic diversity were specific for each taxon studied. Overall, the diversity of invertebrates was related to the litter thickness. However, the high taxonomic diversity of soil fauna did not always correspond to the active functioning of the ecosystem. Thus, for some taxa, a quite close correlation was found, for instance, between the total number of species (of testate amoebae in particular) and the berry crop, as well as between the soil mesofauna population and the dead wood stock. The total diversity of the investigated taxa included in the detrital trophic web was the most reliable indicator of the carbon stock in the burned areas