Warming alters energetic structure and function but not resilience of soil food webs

Benjamin Schwarz, Andrew D. Barnes (), Madhav P. Thakur, Ulrich Brose, Marcel Ciobanu, Peter B. Reich, Roy L. Rich, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Artur Stefanski and Nico Eisenhauer
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Benjamin Schwarz: Institute of Ecology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena
Andrew D. Barnes: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Madhav P. Thakur: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Ulrich Brose: Institute of Ecology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena
Marcel Ciobanu: Institute of Biological Research, Branch of the National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences
Peter B. Reich: University of Minnesota
Roy L. Rich: University of Minnesota
Benjamin Rosenbaum: Institute of Ecology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena
Artur Stefanski: University of Minnesota
Nico Eisenhauer: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig

Nature Climate Change, 2017, vol. 7, issue 12, 895-900

Abstract: Abstract Climate warming is predicted to alter the structure, stability, and functioning of food webs 1–5 . Yet, despite the importance of soil food webs for energy and nutrient turnover in terrestrial ecosystems, the effects of warming on these food webs—particularly in combination with other global change drivers—are largely unknown. Here, we present results from two complementary field experiments that test the interactive effects of warming with forest canopy disturbance and drought on energy flux in boreal–temperate ecotonal forest soil food webs. The first experiment applied a simultaneous above- and belowground warming treatment (ambient, +1.7 °C, +3.4 °C) to closed-canopy and recently clear-cut forest, simulating common forest disturbance 6 . The second experiment crossed warming with a summer drought treatment (−40% rainfall) in the clear-cut habitats. We show that warming reduces energy flux to microbes, while forest canopy disturbance and drought facilitates warming-induced increases in energy flux to higher trophic levels and exacerbates the reduction in energy flux to microbes, respectively. Contrary to expectations, we find no change in whole-network resilience to perturbations, but significant losses in ecosystem functioning. Warming thus interacts with forest disturbance and drought, shaping the energetic structure of soil food webs and threatening the provisioning of multiple ecosystem functions in boreal–temperate ecotonal forests.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/s41558-017-0002-z

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