Interactive effects of soil moisture, air temperature and litter nutrient diversity on soil microbial communities and Folsomia candida population

Soil organisms play a key role in carbon and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. While soil organisms are strongly influenced by litter chemistry and are highly sensitive to abiotic conditions, little is known about how the interactive effects of these two factors. To address this gap in knowledge, we conducted a 10-week microcosm experiment in which we simulated the effects of climate change on soil ecology. More specifically, we studied relationships among litter nutrient concentration, microbial biomass, Collembola demographic parameters, and litter decomposition, exploring the potential impacts of increasing air temperature and decreasing soil moisture. To develop a gradient of nutrient concentrations, we created six tree litter mixtures with materials gathered from Quercus pubescens and its companion species. In contrast to microbes, we observed that Collembola abundance and litter decomposition were interactively affected by soil moisture and air temperature: the negative effec..., , , # Interactive effects of soil moisture, air temperature and litter nutrient diversity on soil microbial communities and *Folsomia candida* population

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.v41ns1s4b](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.v41ns1s4b)

## Experimental setup

To explore how litter quality influenced soil organisms, we generated a gradient of nutrient concentrations by creating litter mixtures in which *Q. pubescens* was paired with one of six woody companion species; the control litter paired *Q. pubescens* with itself. To simulate expected conditions under climate change in temperate and Mediterranean ecosystems, we conducted a laboratory experiment to test the effects of increased air temperature and decreased soil moisture. We used standard rearing conditions for *F. candida* as our reference abiotic conditions (air temperature: 20°C and soil moisture: 60% of natural water holding capacity [WHC]). We then established three other sets of treatment conditions: a 5°C increase in air tempe...