Northward range expansion of rooting ungulates decreases detritivore and predatory mite abundances in boreal forests.

ABSTRACT: In the last few decades wild boar populations have expanded northwards, colonizing boreal forests. The soil disturbances caused by wild boar rooting may have an impact on soil organisms that play a key role in organic matter turnover. However, the impact of wild boar colonization on boreal forest ecosystems and soil organisms remains largely unknown. We investigated the effect of natural and simulated rooting on decomposer and predatory soil mites (total, adult and juvenile abundances; and adult-juvenile proportion). Our simulated rooting experiment aimed to disentangle the effects of (i) bioturbation due to soil mixing and (ii) removing organic material (wild boar food resources) on soil mites. Our results showed a decline in the abundance of adult soil mites in response to both natural a

SUBMITTER: Maaroufi NI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9257588 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature