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

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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.