The impact of ants on mineral soil properties and processes at different spatial scales
The impact of ants on mineral soil properties and processes at different spatial scales
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1439-0418.2008.01281.x
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发表时间：
2008-05-01
影响因子：
1.9
通讯作者：
Risch, A. C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cammeraat, E. L. H.;Risch, A. C.
土壤蚂蚁是重要的土壤工程师，对土壤生态系统有很大影响。这反映在蚂蚁由于挖洞活动、土壤中有机质和其他养分的积累而改变土壤性质，进而改变土壤的物理、化学和（微观）生物过程。本文综述了有关蚂蚁活动引起的这些小规模土壤变化的最新文献。然而，蚂蚁不仅在精细尺度上影响土壤性质，而且在山坡和流域尺度上对地表水文过程和生态系统功能也有影响。在最精细的尺度上，大多数研究表明，在蚂蚁洞穴或矿丘突出的地方，土壤质地发生了变化，堆积密度降低，渗透增加。只有少数研究调查了蚂蚁对土壤性质的影响，例如土壤结构和团聚体稳定性，而蚂蚁活动可以改善这些性质。通常认为养分集中在巢中，并且据报道涉及微生物过程的养分循环增加。在更广泛的范围内，有关巢穴密度和模式的信息对于了解蚂蚁的影响至关重要，但这些信息几乎不可用。据报道，蚂蚁的活动增加了景观尺度上土壤渗透率和养分浓度的异质性，这反过来又通过地貌和生物过程对沉积物和养分的重新分配产生影响。提出了一个专注于旱地生态系统的分层描述模型，将小规模的蚂蚁活动纳入更大规模的山坡和流域过程。然而，这个模型必须经过测试，并且需要更多的研究，特别是在这些更广泛的尺度方面，以便能够充分了解蚂蚁在生态系统和景观尺度上的作用。
Soil dwelling ants are important soil engineers that have a large impact on the soil ecosystem. This is reflected in the alteration of soil properties by ants due to burrowing activities, the accumulation of organic matter and other nutrients in the soil, which, in turn, alters soil physical, chemical and (micro) biological processes. A review of recent literature on these fine scale soil changes resulting from ant activity is presented in this paper. However, ants do not only affect soil properties at the fine scale but also have effects at the hillslope and catchment scales with respect to surface hydrological processes and ecosystem functioning. At the finest scale, most studies showed changed soil textures, lowered bulk densities and increased infiltration where ant burrows or mineral mounds are prominent. Only a few studies investigated the effects of ants on soil properties such as soil structure and aggregate stability, which were improved by ant activity. Nutrients were generally considered to be concentrated in nests, and increased nutrient cycling involving microbial processes were reported. On a broader scale, the information on nest densities and patterns is crucial to understand the impacts of ants, but this information is scarcely available. It has been reported that the activity of ants increases the heterogeneity of soil infiltration rates and nutrient concentrations at the landscape scale, which in turn has consequences for the redistribution of sediments and nutrients by geomorphological and biotic processes. A hierarchical descriptive model focusing on dry land ecosystems is presented to incorporate small-scale ant activity into broader scale hillslope and catchment processes. However, this model has to be tested and more research is needed, especially on these broader scale aspects, to be able to fully understand the role of ants on the ecosystem and landscape scale.