Drivers of nematode diversity in forest soils across climatic zones

Nematodes are the most abundant multi-cellular animals in soil, influencing key processes and functions in terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, little is known about the drivers of nematode abundance and diversity in forest soils across climatic zones. This is despite forests cover approximately 30% of the earth’s land surface, provide many crucial ecosystem services but strongly vary in hydrothermal conditions and associated ecosystem properties across climatic zones. Here, we collected nematode samples from 13 forests across a latitudinal gradient. We divided this gradient in temperate, warm-temperate, and tropical climatic zones and found that across the gradient, nematode abundance and diversity were mainly influenced by soil organic carbon. However, mean annual temperature and total soil phosphorus in temperate zones, soil pH in warm-temperate zones, and mean annual precipitation in tropical zones were more important in driving nematode alpha-diversity, biomass and abundance. Additionally,..., ,

线虫是土壤中丰度最高的多细胞动物，对陆地生态系统的关键过程与功能具有重要调控作用。森林覆盖了地球约30%的陆地表面，可提供诸多关键生态系统服务，但不同气候带的森林在水热条件及相关生态系统属性上差异显著；然而学界对全球不同气候带森林土壤中线虫丰度与多样性的驱动因子仍知之甚少。本研究沿纬度梯度选取13处森林样地采集线虫样本，将该梯度划分为温带、暖温带与热带气候带后分析发现：整体纬度梯度上，线虫丰度与多样性主要受土壤有机碳调控；但分气候带来看，温带地区线虫α多样性、生物量与丰度的关键驱动因子为年平均气温与土壤全磷，暖温带地区为土壤pH值，热带地区则为年平均降水量。此外，……