Martin, Philip A;
Fisher, Leonora;
Pérez-Izquierdo, Leticia;
Biryol, Charlotte;
Bertrand, Guenet;
Luyssaert, Sebastiaan;
Manzoni, Stefano;
... Yuste, Jorge Curiel; + view all
(2024)
Meta-analysis reveals that the effect of precipitation change on soil and litter fauna in forests depends on body size.
Global Change Biology
, 30
(5)
, Article e17305. 10.1111/gcb.17305.
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Abstract
Anthropogenic climate change is altering precipitation regimes at a global scale. While precipitation changes have been linked to changes in the abundance and diversity of soil and litter invertebrate fauna in forests, general trends have remained elusive due to mixed results from primary studies. We used a meta-analysis based on 430 comparisons from 38 primary studies to address associated knowledge gaps, (i) quantifying impacts of precipitation change on forest soil and litter fauna abundance and diversity, (ii) exploring reasons for variation in impacts and (iii) examining biases affecting the realism and accuracy of experimental studies. Precipitation reductions led to a decrease of 39% in soil and litter fauna abundance, with a 35% increase in abundance under precipitation increases, while diversity impacts were smaller. A statistical model containing an interaction between body size and the magnitude of precipitation change showed that mesofauna (e.g. mites, collembola) responded most to changes in precipitation. Changes in taxonomic richness were related solely to the magnitude of precipitation change. Our results suggest that body size is related to the ability of a taxon to survive under drought conditions, or to benefit from high precipitation. We also found that most experiments manipulated precipitation in a way that aligns better with predicted extreme climatic events than with predicted average annual changes in precipitation and that the experimental plots used in experiments were likely too small to accurately capture changes for mobile taxa. The relationship between body size and response to precipitation found here has far-reaching implications for our ability to predict future responses of soil biodiversity to climate change and will help to produce more realistic mechanistic soil models which aim to simulate the responses of soils to global change.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Meta-analysis reveals that the effect of precipitation change on soil and litter fauna in forests depends on body size |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/gcb.17305 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17305 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | climate change, drought, evidence synthesis, meta-analysis, precipitation change, soil fauna |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10190692 |
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