Collaborative Research: Identifying Ecosystem Controls on Biodiversity: A U.S. and U.K. Project

在自然和受管理的陆地生态系统中，土壤是大多数生态系统过程的关键和动态中心。尽管土壤群落通常被认为调节其中的许多过程(如分解、养分循环)，但令人惊讶的是，关于影响土壤群落结构和功能的因素或土壤生物多样性与生态系统功能的关系的数据很少。该项目的核心问题是：(A)植物如何影响地下生物多样性？和(B)土壤生物多样性对生态系统进程的后果是什么？具体的假设和操纵性的田间实验将被用来测试对土壤群落结构和多样性的控制。在测试土壤群落结构和多样性的控制的实验中要检查的控制。实验中要考察的控制因素包括植物物种多样性、植物功能多样性(C3种与C4种)、资源质量、净初级生产力和土壤非生物特性。田间试验将测试土壤生物多样性对同质和非均质基质分解的影响。主要实验将在Konza Prairie长期生态研究(KNZ LTER)站点进行，该站点拥有大量关于生态系统属性、土壤过程和土壤无脊椎动物的背景信息。对已知在草原生态系统功能中重要的目标土壤无脊椎动物群落的分析将在整个实验过程中以精细的分类学分辨率进行检查。在雪松溪自然历史区LTER遗址进行的一次采样也将对土壤线虫多样性追踪植物生物多样性的假设进行额外的测试。这些研究将形成与英国草原站点的合作和协调努力的基础(由英国-NERC资助的平行提案)。生态系统科学家和无脊椎动物分类学家在美国和英国的比较野外实验中的合作将提供一种独特的解决办法，确定影响地下生物多样性和生态系统功能的因素的相对重要性。将使用美国KNZ LTER站点的模拟建模来综合、解释和探索土壤生物多样性控制和后果的性质，然后与英国站点的参数进行比较。

Soils are the critical and dynamic center for the majority of ecosystem processes in both natural and managed terrestrial ecosystems. Although soil communities generally are thought to regulate many of these processes (e.g. decomposition, nutrient cycling), there are suprisingly little data on the factors that affect soil community structure and function, or the relation of soil biodiversity to ecosystem function. Central questions of this project are: (A) How do plants influence belowground biodiversity? and (B) What are the consequences of soil biodiversity to ecosystem processes? Specific hypotheses and manipulative field experiments will be used to test controls on soil community structure and diversity. The controls to be examined in the experiments to test controls on soil community structure and diversity. The controls to be examined in the experiments include plant species diversity, plant functional diversity (C3 vs. C4 species), resource quality, net primary productivity, and soil abiotic characteristics. Field experiments will test the effects of soil biodiversity on the decomposition of homogeneous and heterogeneous substrates. Main experiments will be at the Konza Prairie Long-Term Ecological Research (KNZ LTER) site, a site with substantial background information on ecosystem properties, soil processes and soil invertebrates. Analysis of targeted soil invertebrate communities known to be important in ecosystem function in grasslands will be examined at a fine taxonomic resolution throughout the experiment. A one time sampling at the Cedar Creek Natural History Area LTER site will also provide an additional test of the hypothesis that soil nematode diversity tracks plant biodiversity. The studies will form the basis for a collaborative and coordinated effort with a grasslands site in the UK (parallel proposal funded by UK-NERC). The partnership between ecosystem scientist and invertebrate taxonomists in the comparative US-UK field experiments will provide a unique contrib ution determining the relative importance of factors affecting belowground biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Simulation modeling at the USA KNZ LTER site will be used to synthesize, interpret and explore the nature of controls and consequences of soil biodiversity, and then to compare with parameters of the UK site.