Browsing by Author "Eggleton, Paul"

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    Earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. Do they really indicate soil quality?
    (PLOS (Public Library of Science), 2021-08-30) Hodson, Mark E.; Corstanje, Ron; Jones, David T.; Witton, Jo; Burton, Victoria J.; Sloan, Tom; Eggleton, Paul
    Abundance and distribution of earthworms in agricultural fields is frequently proposed as a measure of soil quality assuming that observed patterns of abundance are in response to improved or degraded environmental conditions. However, it is not clear that earthworm abundances can be directly related to their edaphic environment, as noted in Darwin’s final publication, perhaps limiting or restricting their value as indicators of ecological quality in any given field. We present results from a spatially explicit intensive survey of pastures within United Kingdom farms, looking for the main drivers of earthworm density at a range of scales. When describing spatial variability of both total and ecotype-specific earthworm abundance within any given field, the best predictor was earthworm abundance itself within 20–30 m of the sampling point; there were no consistent environmental correlates with earthworm numbers, suggesting that biological factors (e.g. colonisation rate, competition, predation, parasitism) drive or at least significantly modify earthworm distributions at this spatial level. However, at the national scale, earthworm abundance is well predicted by soil nitrate levels, density, temperature and moisture content, albeit not in a simple linear fashion. This suggests that although land can be managed at the farm scale to promote earthworm abundance and the resulting soil processes that deliver ecosystem services, within a field, earthworm distributions will remain patchy. The use of earthworms as soil quality indicators must therefore be carried out with care, ensuring that sufficient samples are taken within field to take account of variability in earthworm populations that is unrelated to soil chemical and physical properties.
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    Land use and soil characteristics affect soil organisms differently from above-ground assemblages
    (BioMed Central, 2022-11-17) Burton, Victoria J.; Contu, Sara; De Palma, Adriana; Hill, Samantha L. L.; Albrecht, Harald; Bone, James S.; Carpenter, Daniel; Corstanje, Ronald; De Smedt, Pallieter; Farrell, Mark; Ford, Helen V.; Hudson, Lawrence N.; Inward, Kelly; Jones, David T.; Kosewska, Agnieszka; Lo-Man-Hung, Nancy F.; Magura, Tibor; Mulder, Christian; Murvanidze, Maka; Newbold, Tim; Smith, Jo; Suarez, Andrew V.; Suryometaram, Sasha; Tóthmérész, Béla; Uehara-Prado, Marcio; Vanbergen, Adam J.; Verheyen, Kris; Wuyts, Karen; Scharlemann, Jörn P. W.; Eggleton, Paul; Purvis, Andy
    Background: Land-use is a major driver of changes in biodiversity worldwide, but studies have overwhelmingly focused on above-ground taxa: the effects on soil biodiversity are less well known, despite the importance of soil organisms in ecosystem functioning. We modelled data from a global biodiversity database to compare how the abundance of soil-dwelling and above-ground organisms responded to land use and soil properties. Results: We found that land use affects overall abundance differently in soil and above-ground assemblages. The abundance of soil organisms was markedly lower in cropland and plantation habitats than in primary vegetation and pasture. Soil properties influenced the abundance of soil biota in ways that differed among land uses, suggesting they shape both abundance and its response to land use. Conclusions: Our results caution against assuming models or indicators derived from above-ground data can apply to soil assemblages and highlight the potential value of incorporating soil properties into biodiversity models.