Soil invertebrate fauna enhances grassland succession and diversity

Gerlinde B. De Deyn (), Ciska E. Raaijmakers, H. Rik Zoomer, Matty P. Berg, Peter C. de Ruiter, Herman A. Verhoef, T. Martijn Bezemer and Wim H. van der Putten
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Gerlinde B. De Deyn: Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)
Ciska E. Raaijmakers: Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)
H. Rik Zoomer: Institute of Ecological Science
Matty P. Berg: Institute of Ecological Science
Peter C. de Ruiter: Utrecht University
Herman A. Verhoef: Institute of Ecological Science
T. Martijn Bezemer: Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)
Wim H. van der Putten: Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)

Nature, 2003, vol. 422, issue 6933, 711-713

Abstract: Abstract One of the most important areas in ecology is to elucidate the factors that drive succession in ecosystems and thus influence the diversity of species in natural vegetation. Significant mechanisms in this process are known to be resource limitation1,2,3 and the effects of aboveground vertebrate herbivores4,5. More recently, symbiotic and pathogenic soil microbes have been shown to exert a profound effect on the composition of vegetation6,7,8,9 and changes therein10,11. However, the influence of invertebrate soil fauna on succession has so far received little attention12,13. Here we report that invertebrate soil fauna might enhance both secondary succession and local plant species diversity. Soil fauna from a series of secondary grassland succession stages selectively suppress early successional dominant14 plant species, thereby enhancing the relative abundance of subordinate14 species and also that of species from later succession stages. Soil fauna from the mid-succession stage had the strongest effect. Our results clearly show that soil fauna strongly affects the composition of natural vegetation and we suggest that this knowledge might improve the restoration and conservation of plant species diversity.

Date: 2003
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DOI: 10.1038/nature01548

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