Effects of Alpine land-use changes: Soil macrofauna community revisited.

ABSTRACT: Although soil invertebrates play a decisive role in maintaining ecosystem functioning, little is known about their structural composition in Alpine soils and how their abundances are affected by the currently ongoing land-use changes. In this study, we re-assessed the soil macrofauna community structure of managed and abandoned Alpine pastureland, which has already been evaluated 14 years earlier. Our results confirm clear shifts in the community composition after abandonment, in that (1) Chilopoda and Diplopoda were recorded almost exclusively on the abandoned sites, (2) Coleoptera larvae and Diptera larvae were more abundant on the abandoned than on the managed sites, whereas (3) Lumbricidae dominated on the managed sites. By revisiting managed and abandoned sites, we infer community pat

SUBMITTER: Steinwandter M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5528212 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature