Jean-François Ponge, Ivan A. Janssens, Martin Holmstrup, György Kröel-Dulay, Marc Estiarte, Inger Kappel Schmidt, Daniel Sol, Mireia Bartrons, Miquel A. Arnedo, Claus Beier, Guille Peguero, Henning Petersen, Bridget A. Emmett, Sandrine Salmon, Edit Kovács-Láng, Joan Maspons, Josep Peñuelas, Albert Tietema, Paolo De Angelis, Department of Biology (University of Antwerp), University of Antwerp (UA), CREAF, Department of Animal Biology (Institute for Research on Biodiversity (IRBio)), University of Barcelona, Natural History Museum, Mols Laboratory, Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution (MECADEV), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals, Univ. Autònoma de Barcelona (CREAF), université de Barcelone, Environment Centre Wales, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management [Copenhagen] (IGN), Faculty of Science [Copenhagen], University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU), Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics - IBED (NETHERLANDS), Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), Università degli studi della Tuscia [Viterbo], Centre for Ecological Research [Budapest], Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)-Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CEAB-CSIC, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Department of Biological Sciences, Aarhus University, Research Group of Plant and Vegetation Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals (CREAF), and Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics (IBED, FNWI)
Altres ajuts: Ramon Areces Foundation. Grant Number BEVP27P01A3355 Soil fauna play a fundamental role on key ecosystem functions like organic matter decomposition, although how local assemblages are responding to climate change and whether these changes may have consequences to ecosystem functioning is less clear. Previous studies have revealed that a continued environmental stress may result in poorer communities by filtering out the most sensitive species. However, these experiments have rarely been applied to climate change factors combining multiyear and multisite standardized field treatments across climatically contrasting regions, which has limited drawing general conclusions. Moreover, other facets of biodiversity, such as functional and phylogenetic diversity, potentially more closely linked to ecosystem functioning, have been largely neglected. Here, we report that the abundance, species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and functional richness of springtails (Subclass Collembola), a major group of fungivores and detritivores, decreased within 4 years of experimental drought across six European shrublands. The loss of phylogenetic and functional richness was higher than expected by the loss of species richness, leading to communities of phylogenetically similar species sharing evolutionary conserved traits. Additionally, despite the great climatic differences among study sites, we found that taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional richness of springtail communities alone were able to explain up to 30% of the variation in annual decomposition rates. Altogether, our results suggest that the forecasted reductions in precipitation associated with climate change may erode springtail communities and likely other drought-sensitive soil invertebrates, thereby retarding litter decomposition and nutrient cycling in ecosystems