Land-use change alters patterns of soil biodiversity in arid lands of northwestern China

• Published in: Plant and soil Vol. 428; no. 1/2; pp. 371 - 388
• Main Authors: Li, Feng-Rui, Liu, Ji-Liang, Ren, Wei, Liu, Lu-Lu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer 01.07.2018; Springer International Publishing; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Afforestation; Agricultural land; Anthropogenic factors; Aquatic insects; Arable land; Arid lands; Arid regions; Arid zones; Biodiversity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biota; China; Collembola; Communities; Community composition; Composition; Conversion; Decomposition; Ecological function; Ecology; Ecosystem management; Ecosystems; Environmental aspects; Expansion; Food composition; Food webs; Functional groups; Fungi; Grasslands; Herbivores; Human influences; Human populations; Human settlements; Insects; Introduced species; Land use; Land use management; Life Sciences; Macrofauna; Microorganisms; Oases; Oribatida; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Plantations; Predators; Regular Article; Soil microorganisms; Soil Science & Conservation; Soils; Strategic management; Trophic levels; China; Arid ecosystems; Soil mesofauna; Soil macrofauna; Trophic levels; Soil biodiversity; Ecosystem functioning; Soil microbes; Land-use change
• ISSN: 0032-079X; 1573-5036
• DOI: 10.1007/s11104-018-3673-y

Background and aims Irrigation-maintained artificial oases (AO) in arid regions of northwestern China provide vital human settlement sites. Recent human population increases has caused rapid AO expansion, mainly through transforming natural grassland to arable and afforested land. Here, we assessed how soil biodiversity is affected by various AO expansion strategies, each representing historical land-use regimes. Methods We sampled six dominant functional groups of soil biota, covering multiple trophic levels: macrofauna consumers (predators and insect herbivores), mesofauna decomposers (Oribatida and Collembola), and microbial decomposers (bacteria and fungi). Sampling was carried out in three AO sites of northwestern China, each containing distinct land uses: natural grasslands (NG; non-irrigated), shrub (Haloxylon ammodendron) plantations (SP; non-irrigated), tree (Populus gansuensis) plantations (TP; irrigated), and arable lands (AL; irrigated). Results The conversion of NG to SP, TP, and AL eliminated or reduced the abundance of some NG-adapted taxa. Their replacements were exotic species better suited for anthropogenic habitats. As a result, community composition shifted in all six functional groups, with greater differences between NG and TP and AL than between NG and SP. Based on taxonomic gains and losses within each group, we determined that NG to SP conversion positively affected diversity among predators, Collembola, and fungi, but negatively affected diversity of insect herbivores and Oribatida. Bacterial diversity remained unaffected. However, converting NG to TP and AL significantly promoted diversity in all six functional groups, although effect sizes differed. Conclusions Our results suggest that different AO expansion strategies differentially affected the diversity and structure of belowground communities, which in turn, cascaded down to ecosystem functioning differently. These findings not only contribute to a better understanding of how the diversity and community composition within soil food-webs respond to land-use change but also provide key insights into the development of management strategies for AO ecosystems in drylands to mitigate the negative impact of land-use change on soil biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.