easynem: an R package for evaluating soil ecological functions based on soil nematode communities

The contribution of soil nematode communities to soil health and ecological functions has attracted increasing attention. To support this research, we developed an R package easynem, which enables convenient calculation of nematode ecological indices and visualization of the results, providing a theoretical basis for evaluating soil health and ecological functioning. This package utilizes soil nematode abundance and taxonomic information to efficiently filter and transform community data; compute more than a dozen ecological indices—such as the maturity index (MI) and plant parasitic index (PPI); perform faunal analysis, metabolic footprint analysis, and energy structure assessments; and generate visual representations of the results. To validate the reliability of easynem in evaluating soil ecosystem functions, we applied it to a nematode dataset from a kiwifruit orchard cover crop experiment. We calculated ecological indices under different cover crop treatments and analyzed the metabolic footprints and energy structure of the nematode communities. The analysis revealed that cover crops improved the soil food web, with the eight-species mixture creating the most uniform energy structure, demonstrating that the package can effectively translate nematode data into meaningful ecological insights. Ultimately, easynem provides a robust and accessible tool that streamlines the complex calculations required for nematode-based assessments, facilitating broader research into soil health.