Nematodes in a polar desert reveal the relative role of biotic interactions in the coexistence of soil animals.
Commun Biol
; 2: 63, 2019.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30793042
ABSTRACT
Abiotic factors are major determinants of soil animal distributions and their dominant role is pronounced in extreme ecosystems, with biotic interactions seemingly playing a minor role. We modelled co-occurrence and distribution of the three nematode species that dominate the soil food web of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (Antarctica). Abiotic factors, other biotic groups, and autocorrelation all contributed to structuring nematode species distributions. However, after removing their effects, we found that the presence of the most abundant nematode species greatly, and negatively, affected the probability of detecting one of the other two species. We observed similar patterns in relative abundances for two out of three pairs of species. Harsh abiotic conditions alone are insufficient to explain contemporary nematode distributions whereas the role of negative biotic interactions has been largely underestimated in soil. The future challenge is to understand how the effects of global change on biotic interactions will alter species coexistence.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Arthropods
/
Rotifera
/
Soil
/
Tardigrada
/
Nematoda
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Commun Biol
Year:
2019
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Reino Unido