Linking Spatial Variation of Below-Ground Faunal Assemblages with the Structure of Herbaceous Vegetation

摘要 97-07461 Heneghan将地下动物群的空间变化与草本植被的结构联系起来 对植物根系搜寻土壤养分的能力的研究表明，优势植物广泛觅食，忽略了高养分可用性的小“热点”;稀有植物在当地觅食，可以定位这些热点。生活在陆源碎屑中的节肢动物分布不均匀。它们的进食（主要是分解碎屑的微生物）导致必需的营养物质释放到土壤中，生长的植物捕获它们。 因此，异质分布的节肢动物创造了一个高度可变的马赛克养分供应。结合我们对植物觅食策略的了解和对土壤中营养热点的动物起源的了解，研究人员假设土壤动物活动有助于维持高植物多样性。这一想法将在定制的“迷你景观”中进行测试，其中将引入土壤动物，随后将监测营养和植物多样性。

ABSTRACT 97-07461 Heneghan Linking spatial variation of below-ground faunal assemblages with the structure of herbaceous vegetation Research on the ability of plant roots to forage for soil nutrients has shown that dominant plants forage widely and ignore small 'hotspots' of high nutrient availability; rarer plants forage locally and can locate these hotspots. Arthropods living in terrestrial detritus are not uniformly distributed. Their feeding (primarily on the microbes involved in the decomposition of detritus) results in the liberation of essential nutrients into the soil where growing plants capture them. Thus the heterogenously distributed arthropods create a highly variable mosaic of nutrient availability. Combining our knowledge of plants' foraging strategies with insights into the faunal genesis of nutrient hotspots in the soil the investigators hypothesize that soil faunal activity contributes to the maintenance of high plant diversity. This idea will be tested in custom built "mini-landscapes" into which soil animals will be introduced and nutrients and plant diversity will be subsequently monitored.