Links and fluxes in forest soil micro-food webs under different land use intensity

Background

The project MicroWeb investigates land use effects on the nematode fauna in all forest plots of the three exploratories. The great abundance, coupled with high species and trophic diversity, make nematode a key group in soil food webs. Their communities will be used as indicators for food web conditions and as link between the microbial and faunal web. The work is carried out in cooperation with the projects “Forest Mites” (M. Maraun) and “ForestSoilWeb” (S. Scheu) and complements the below ground faunal analysis. Density and structure of nematode populations are determined and related to their functional roles; key groups in microbial webs (e.g. actinobacteria, fungi, algae) are assessed by lipid biomarkers. Nematodes will serve as entry-level indicators for resource allocation, partitioning and transfer in the micro-food web as modulated by forest land use intensity.

Picture: The photo shows the microscope image of a nematode specimen of the species Acrobeloides buetschlii.

A. buetschlii

Pratylenchus

Goals

1. Determination of land use effects on structure and function of the micro-food web
Nematodes communities are used as indicators for food web conditions to assign how land use/forest management and the related changes in basal food web resources affect decomposition pathways and energy flux in soil.

2. Linking microbial and faunal food web
Land use effects on the diversity and structure of microbial and microfaunal food webs are linked by determination of whole population lipid profiles for microorganisms and nematodes across forest sites.

Lipids

Extraction

Picture: The photo shows a close-up of a device for electronic ionization photographed from above. You can see a metal housing with a metal holder attached with two large screws, in which a white, a red and two black cables are plugged in. At the bottom of the device there are more cables in different colors.

EI Source

Publications

Effects of management intensity, soil properties and region on the nematode communities in temperate forests in Germany

Richter A., Ewald M., Hemmerling C., Schöning I., Bauhus J., Schall P., Ruess L. (2023): Effects of management intensity, soil properties and region on the nematode communities in temperate forests in Germany. Forest Ecology and Management 529, 120675. doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120675

Influence of management intensity and environmental conditions on microbiota in biological soil crust and crust-free soil habitats of temperate forests

Effekte von Landnutzung und Umweltbedingungen auf die Mikrobiota in biologischen Bodenkrusten und im Boden temperater Wälder

Ngosong C., Buse T., Ewald M., Richter A., Glaser K., Schöning I., Ruess L. (2020): Influence of management intensity and environmental conditions on microbiota in biological soil crust and crust-free soil habitats of temperate forests. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 144: 107761. doi: 10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.107761

Community level lipid profiling of consumers as a tool for soil food web diagnostics

Kühn J., Richter A., Kahl T., Bauhus J., Schöning I., Ruess L. (2018): Community level lipid profiling of consumers as a tool for soil food web diagnostics. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 9 (5), 1265-1275. doi: 10.1111/2041-210X.12966

Regional environmental conditions shape microbial community structure stronger than local forest management intensity

Richter A., Schöning I., Kahl T., Bauhus J., Ruess L. (2018): Regional environmental conditions shape microbial community structure stronger than local forest management intensity. Forest Ecology and Management 409, 250-259. doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2017.11.027

Mikroorganismen: Ökosystemfunktionen und Naturschutz

Hoiss B. (2018): Mikroorganismen: Ökosystemfunktionen und Naturschutz. Anliegen Natur 40(1)

Community level lipid profiling as a new tool to assign changes in food web structure in European forest soils

Community level lipid profiling: Ein neues Werkzeug zur Zuordnung von Veränderungen in der Nahrungsnetzstruktur in Europäischen Waldböden

Kühn J. (2016): Community level lipid profiling as a new tool to assign changes in food web structure in European forest soils. Master thesis, HU Berlin

Scientific assistants

Alumni

Prof. Dr. Liliane Rueß

Alumni

Dr. Thomas Buse

Alumni

Andreas Richter