A global database of soil nematode abundance and functional group composition.

As the most abundant animals on earth, nematodes are a dominant component of the soil community. They play critical roles in regulating biogeochemical cycles and vegetation dynamics within and across landscapes and are an indicator of soil biological activity. Here, we present a comprehensive global dataset of soil nematode abundance and functional group composition.

Reduced tillage, but not organic matter input, increased nematode diversity and food web stability in European long-term field experiments.

Soil nematode communities and food web indices can inform about the complexity, nutrient flows and decomposition pathways of soil food webs, reflecting soil quality. Relative abundance of nematode feeding and life-history groups are used for calculating food web indices, i.e.

Choice of resolution by functional trait or taxonomy affects allometric scaling in soil food webs.

Belowground organisms often display a shift in their mass-abundance scaling relationships due to environmental factors such as soil chemistry and atmospheric deposition. Here we present new empirical data that show strong differences in allometric scaling according to whether the resolution at the local scale is based on a taxonomic or a functional classification, while only slight differences arise according to soil environmental conditions. For the first time, isometry (an inverse 1:1 proportion) is recognized in mass-abundance relationships, providing a functional signal for constant biomass distribution in soil biota regardless of discrete trophic levels.

Soil biota community structure and abundance under agricultural intensification and extensification.

Understanding the impacts of agricultural intensification and extensification on soil biota communities is useful in order to preserve and restore biological diversity in agricultural soils and enhance the role of soil biota in agroecosystem functioning. Over four consecutive years, we investigated the effects of agricultural intensification and extensification (including conversion of grassland to arable land and vice versa, increased and decreased levels of mineral fertilization, and monoculture compared to crop rotation) on major soil biota group abundances and functional diversity. We integrated and compared effects across taxonomic levels to identify sensitive species groups.

Nematode-based risk assessment of mixture toxicity in a moderately polluted river floodplain in The Netherlands.

Heavy metal polluted soils usually contain mixtures of different metals, whereas legislation is derived from concentrations of individual metals. The mixture toxicity of the Dutch floodplain Afferdensche and Deestsche Waarden was estimated to be high (msPAF ranged from 67-94%). Analyses of nematode community based bioindicators (Maturity Index, taxonomic diversity, trophic groups, multivariate analysis, DoFT-sentinels) were used to determine the ecological effects of the mixture toxicity in the floodplain soil.