Data from: Choice of resolution by functional trait or taxonomy affects allometric scaling in soil food webs

Belowground organisms often display a shift in their mass-abundance scaling relationships due to environmental factors such as soil chemistry and atmospheric deposition. Here we present new empirical data that show strong differences in allometric scaling according to whether the resolution at the local scale is based on a taxonomic or a functional classification, while only slight differences arise according to soil environmental conditions. For the first time, isometry (an inverse 1∶1 proportion) is recognized in mass-abundance relationships, providing a functional signal for constant biomass distribution in soil biota regardless of discrete trophic levels. Our findings are in contrast to those from aquatic ecosystems, in that higher trophic levels in soil biota are not a direct function of increasing body mass.

地下生物的质量-多度缩放关系（mass-abundance scaling relationships）常因土壤化学性质、大气沉降等环境因素发生改变。本研究提供全新实测数据，结果表明：局域尺度下的异速缩放关系（allometric scaling）存在显著差异，该差异取决于局域尺度的划分采用分类学分类还是功能类群分类；而土壤环境条件仅会引发微小差异。本研究首次在质量-多度关系中发现了等速缩放现象（isometry，即逆1:1比例关系），为不依赖离散营养级的土壤生物群落恒定生物量分布提供了功能层面的指示信号。本研究结果与水生生态系统的相关发现相悖：土壤生物群落的高营养级类群并不随个体体型增大而直接增加。