{"type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [{"id": "10.1002/ecs2.2645", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:14:08Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2019-03-19", "title": "Uneven global distribution of food web studies under climate change", "description": "Abstract

Trophic interactions within food webs affect species distributions, coexistence, and provision of ecosystem services but can be strongly impacted by climatic changes. Understanding these impacts is therefore essential for managing ecosystems and sustaining human well\uffe2\uff80\uff90being. Here, we conducted a global synthesis of terrestrial, marine, and freshwater studies to identify key gaps in our knowledge of climate change impacts on food webs and determine whether the areas currently studied are those most likely to be impacted by climate change. We found research suffers from a strong geographic bias, with only 3.5% of studies occurring in the tropics. Importantly, the distribution of sites sampled under projected climate changes was biased\uffe2\uff80\uff94areas with decreases or large increases in precipitation and areas with low magnitudes of temperature change were under\uffe2\uff80\uff90represented. Our results suggest that understanding of climate change impacts on food webs could be broadened by considering more than two trophic levels, responses in addition to species abundance and biomass, impacts of a wider suite of climatic variables, and tropical ecosystems. Most importantly, to enable better forecasts of biodiversity responses to climate change, we identify critically under\uffe2\uff80\uff90represented geographic regions and climatic conditions which should be prioritized in future research.<p>One of the main sources of plastic pollution in agricultural fields is the plastic mulch used by farmers to improve crop production. The plastic mulch is often not removed completely from the fields after harvest. Over time, the plastic mulch that is left of the fields is broken down into smaller particles which are dispersed by the wind or runoff. In the Region of Murcia in Spain, plastic mulch is heavily used for intensive vegetable farming. After harvest, sheep are released into the fields to graze on the vegetable residues. The objective of the study was to assess the plastic contamination in agricultural soil in Spain and the ingestion of plastic by sheep. Therefore, three research questions were established: i) What is the plastic content in agricultural soils where plastic mulch is commonly used? ii) Do livestock ingest the microplastics found in the soil? iii) How much plastic could be transported by the livestock? To answer these questions, we sampled top soils (0–10 cm) from 6 vegetable fields and collected sheep faeces from 5 different herds. The microplastic content was measured using density separation and visual identification. We found ~2 × 10<sup>3</sup> particles∙kg<sup>−1</sup> in the soil and ~10<sup>3</sup> particles∙kg<sup>−1</sup> in the faeces. The data show that plastic particles were present in the soil and that livestock ingested them. After ingesting plastic from one field, the sheep can become a source of microplastic contamination as they graze on other farms or grasslands. The potential transport of microplastics due to a herd of 1000 sheep was estimated to be ~10<sup>6</sup> particles∙ha<sup>−1</sup>∙y<sup>−1</sup>. Further studies should focus on: assessing how much of the plastic found in faeces comes directly from plastic mulching, estimating the plastic degradation in the guts of sheep and understanding the potential effects of these plastic residues on the health of livestock.</p>

", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "Livestock", "Farms", "Sheep", "Plastic residues", "Microplastics", "0211 other engineering and technologies", "Agriculture", "02 engineering and technology", "15. Life on land", "Terrestrial food chain transfer", "01 natural sciences", "Feces", "Soil", "Spain", "Vegetables", "Animals", "Plastics", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142653"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Science%20of%20The%20Total%20Environment", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142653", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142653", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142653"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2021-02-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154405", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:17:09Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-03-08", "title": "Pedogenesis shapes predator-prey relationships within soil microbiomes", "description": "Pedogenesis determines soil physicochemical properties and many biodiversity facets, including belowground microbial bacteria and fungi. At the local scale, top-down predation by microbial protists regulates the soil microbiome, while the microbiome also affects protistan communities. However, it remains unknown how pedogenesis affects protistan communities and the potential protist-microbiome predator-prey relationships. With 435 soil samples representing different stages of pedogenesis ranging in soil age from centuries to millennia, we examined the influence of pedogenesis on the main protistan groups, and the interrelationships between protistan predators and microbial prey biomass. We revealed an enrichment in the diversity of total protists across pedogenesis and increasing richness of phototrophic protists in the medium compared with the early stages of pedogenesis. The richness of predatory protists accumulated throughout pedogenesis, which was more strongly determined by microbial biomass than environmental factors. Predator-prey associations were stronger in the young and the medium soils than in the older soils, likely because prey biomass accumulated in the latter and might be no longer limit predators. Together, our work provides evidence that pedogenesis shapes predatory protists differently than their prey, leading to shifts in predator-prey relationships. This knowledge is critical to better understand how soil food webs develop across soil development which might lead to changes in ecosystem functions.", "keywords": ["Predator-prey relationships", "2. Zero hunger", "Food Chain", "Microbiota", "Microbial biomass", "Eukaryota", "Biodiversity", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Soil", "Soil formation", "13. Climate action", "Predatory Behavior", "XXXXXX - Unknown", "Chronosequences", "Protistan predators", "Animals", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Microbiome"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154405"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Science%20of%20The%20Total%20Environment", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154405", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154405", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154405"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-07-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176848", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:17:10Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2024-10-10", "title": "Quantitative tracking of nanoplastics along the food chain from lettuce (Lactuca sativa) to snails (Cantareus aspersus)", "description": "Terrestrial systems are a significant sink for plastic contamination, including nano- and microplastics (NMPs). To date, limited information is available about the transfer of NMPs up the food web via trophic transfer, however, concerns about this exposure pathway for invertebrates and higher-level organisms have been raised. We aim to examine and quantify the trophic transfer of europium doped polystyrene nanoplastics (Eu-PS; NPs) within a terrestrial food chain. The uptake of 100\u00a0nm spherical Eu-PS particles from water through the roots of the plants to the leaves and finally to garden snails (Cantareus aspersus) was assessed. Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) was cultivated in Hoagland solution spiked with different concentrations of Eu-PS (15, 150 and 1500\u00a0\u03bcg/L) for three weeks. Then, lettuce shoots were used as food for snails for 19\u00a0days at a rate of 1\u00a0g of shoots per day. The Eu-PS primarily accumulated in the lettuce roots for all treatments, with a limited transfer to the shoots (only quantifiable in the highest treatment; translocation factor: TF\u00a0<\u00a01). No detectable levels of Eu-PS were found in the snails' digestive gland; however, the Eu-PS particles were detected in their feces (trophic transfer factor: TFF\u00a0>\u00a01). Moreover, only limited effects were observed on lettuce biomass by NPs treatments. No effects of the Eu-PS particles on snails were observed, with the exception of a consistent decrease in the shell diameter. Overall, our research illustrates that NPs can be absorbed by plants through their roots, subsequently transported to the shoots. However, our findings show limited transfer of NPs into snail tissues, but direct excretion into their feces. We provide an important insight into the potential transfer within the human food chain.", "keywords": ["Food Chain", "Human food basket", "Microplastics", "Snails", "Uptake", "Animals", "Invertebrate", "Plant", "Plastics transfer", "Water Pollutants", " Chemical", "Lactuca", "Environmental Monitoring"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176848"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Science%20of%20The%20Total%20Environment", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176848", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176848", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176848"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2024-12-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.tree.2017.12.007", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:17:41Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2018-01-08", "title": "Energy Flux: The Link between Multitrophic Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning", "description": "Relating biodiversity to ecosystem functioning in natural communities has become a paramount challenge as links between trophic complexity and multiple ecosystem functions become increasingly apparent. Yet, there is still no generalised approach to address such complexity in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) studies. Energy flux dynamics in ecological networks provide the theoretical underpinning of multitrophic BEF relationships. Accordingly, we propose the quantification of energy fluxes in food webs as a powerful, universal tool for understanding ecosystem functioning in multitrophic systems spanning different ecological scales. Although the concept of energy flux in food webs is not novel, its application to BEF research remains virtually untapped, providing a framework to foster new discoveries into the determinants of ecosystem functioning in complex systems.", "keywords": ["0106 biological sciences", "0301 basic medicine", "ecological stoichiometry", "Food Chain", "food web", "interaction network", "Biodiversity", "15. Life on land", "metabolic theory", "Models", " Biological", "01 natural sciences", "630", "004", "trophic cascade", "03 medical and health sciences", "13. Climate action", "ecosystem multifunctionality", "Ecosystem"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2017.12.007"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Trends%20in%20Ecology%20%26amp%3B%20Evolution", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.tree.2017.12.007", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.tree.2017.12.007", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.tree.2017.12.007"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2018-03-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1021/acs.est.2c08010", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:17:49Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-04-21", "title": "High Levels of Microplastics in the Arctic Sea Ice Alga Melosira arctica, a Vector to Ice-Associated and Benthic Food Webs", "description": "Plastic pollution has become ubiquitous with very high quantities detected even in ecosystems as remote as Arctic sea ice and deep-sea sediments. Ice algae growing underneath sea ice are released upon melting and can form fast-sinking aggregates. In this pilot study, we sampled and analyzed the ice algaeMelosira arcticaand ambient sea water from three locations in the Fram Strait to assess their microplastic content and potential as a temporary sink and pathway to the deep seafloor. Analysis by \u03bc-Raman and fluorescence microscopy detected microplastics (\u22652.2 \u03bcm) in all samples at concentrations ranging from 1.3 to 5.7 \u00d7 104 microplastics (MP) m-3 in ice algae and from 1.4 to 4.5 \u00d7 103 MP m-3 in sea water, indicating magnitude higher concentrations in algae. On average, 94% of the total microplastic particles were identified as 10 \u03bcm or smaller in size and comprised 16 polymer types without a clear dominance. The high concentrations of microplastics found in our pilot study suggest thatM. arctica could trap microplastics from melting ice and ambient sea water. The algae appear to be a temporary sink and could act as a key vector to food webs near the sea surface and on the deep seafloor, to which its fast-sinking aggregates could facilitate an important mechanism of transport.", "keywords": ["Food Chain", "13. Climate action", "Arctic Regions", "Microplastics", "Ice Cover", "Pilot Projects", "14. Life underwater", "01 natural sciences", "Plastics", "Ecosystem", "Water Pollutants", " Chemical", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "Environmental Monitoring"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.2c08010"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c08010"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Science%20%26amp%3B%20Technology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1021/acs.est.2c08010", "name": "item", "description": "10.1021/acs.est.2c08010", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1021/acs.est.2c08010"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2023-04-21T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1038/nature12129", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:18:09Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2013-05-14", "title": "Long-Term Warming Restructures Arctic Tundra Without Changing Net Soil Carbon Storage", "description": "High latitudes contain nearly half of global soil carbon, prompting interest in understanding how the Arctic terrestrial carbon balance will respond to rising temperatures. Low temperatures suppress the activity of soil biota, retarding decomposition and nitrogen release, which limits plant and microbial growth. Warming initially accelerates decomposition, increasing nitrogen availability, productivity and woody-plant dominance. However, these responses may be transitory, because coupled abiotic-biotic feedback loops that alter soil-temperature dynamics and change the structure and activity of soil communities, can develop. Here we report the results of a two-decade summer warming experiment in an Alaskan tundra ecosystem. Warming increased plant biomass and woody dominance, indirectly increased winter soil temperature, homogenized the soil trophic structure across horizons and suppressed surface-soil-decomposer activity, but did not change total soil carbon or nitrogen stocks, thereby increasing net ecosystem carbon storage. Notably, the strongest effects were in the mineral horizon, where warming increased decomposer activity and carbon stock: a 'biotic awakening' at depth.", "keywords": ["Food Chain", "Time Factors", "Nitrogen", "Rain", "Global Warming", "History", " 21st Century", "01 natural sciences", "Carbon Cycle", "Soil", "Animals", "Biomass", "Photosynthesis", "Ecosystem", "Soil Microbiology", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "Arctic Regions", "Temperature", "Discriminant Analysis", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "History", " 20th Century", "Plants", "15. Life on land", "Cold Climate", "Carbon", "13. Climate action", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Gaius R. Shaver, John C. Moore, Joshua P. Schimel, Seeta A. Sistla, Rodney T. Simpson, Laura Gough,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12129"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Nature", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1038/nature12129", "name": "item", "description": "10.1038/nature12129", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1038/nature12129"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-05-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1038/s41558-017-0002-z", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:18:13Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2017-11-03", "title": "Warming alters energetic structure and function but not resilience of soil food webs", "description": "Climate warming is predicted to alter the structure, stability, and functioning of food webs1-5. Yet, despite the importance of soil food webs for energy and nutrient turnover in terrestrial ecosystems, warming effects on these food webs-particularly in combination with other global change drivers-are largely unknown. Here, we present results from two complementary field experiments testing the interactive effects of warming with forest canopy disturbance and drought on energy fluxes in boreal-temperate ecotonal forest soil food webs. The first experiment applied a simultaneous above- and belowground warming treatment (ambient, +1.7\u00b0C, +3.4\u00b0C) to closed canopy and recently clear-cut forest, simulating common forest disturbance6. The second experiment crossed warming with a summer drought treatment (-40% rainfall) in the clear-cut habitats. We show that warming reduces energy fluxes to microbes, while forest canopy disturbance and drought facilitates warming-induced increases in energy flux to higher trophic levels and exacerbates reductions in energy flux to microbes, respectively. Contrary to expectations, we find no change in whole-network resilience to perturbations, but significant losses of ecosystem functioning. Warming thus interacts with forest disturbance and drought, shaping the energetic structure of soil food webs and threatening the provisioning of multiple ecosystem functions in boreal-temperate ecotonal forests.", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "0303 health sciences", "550", "droughts", "610", "forest canopy ecology", "15. Life on land", "global warming", "Article", "6. Clean water", "03 medical and health sciences", "13. Climate action", "XXXXXX - Unknown", "food chains (ecology)"]}, "links": [{"href": "http://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-017-0002-z.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0002-z"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Nature%20Climate%20Change", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1038/s41558-017-0002-z", "name": "item", "description": "10.1038/s41558-017-0002-z", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1038/s41558-017-0002-z"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2017-11-06T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1073/pnas.1217382110", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:18:38Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2013-04-02", "title": "Plant Diversity Effects On Soil Food Webs Are Stronger Than Those Of Elevated Co2 And N Deposition In A Long-Term Grassland Experiment", "description": "

Recent metaanalyses suggest biodiversity loss affects the functioning of ecosystems to a similar extent as other global environmental change agents. However, the abundance and functioning of soil organisms have been hypothesized to be much less responsive to such changes, particularly in plant diversity, than aboveground variables, although tests of this hypothesis are extremely rare. We examined the responses of soil food webs (soil microorganisms, nematodes, microarthropods) to 13-y manipulation of multiple environmental factors that are changing at global scales\uffe2\uff80\uff94specifically plant species richness, atmospheric CO 2 , and N deposition\uffe2\uff80\uff94in a grassland experiment in Minnesota. Plant diversity was a strong driver of the structure and functioning of soil food webs through several bottom-up (resource control) effects, whereas CO 2 and N only had modest effects. We found few interactions between plant diversity and CO 2 and N, likely because of weak interactive effects of those factors on resource availability (e.g., root biomass). Plant diversity effects likely were large because high plant diversity promoted the accumulation of soil organic matter in the site\uffe2\uff80\uff99s sandy, organic matter\uffe2\uff80\uff93poor soils. Plant diversity effects were not explained by the presence of certain plant functional groups. Our results underline the prime importance of plant diversity loss cascading to soil food webs (density and diversity of soil organisms) and functions. Because the present results suggest prevailing plant diversity effects and few interactions with other global change drivers, protecting plant diversity may be of high priority to maintain the biodiversity and functioning of soils in a changing world.

", "keywords": ["580", "2. Zero hunger", "0301 basic medicine", "Food Chain", "Nitrogen", "Climate Change", "Minnesota", "Biodiversity", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Carbon Dioxide", "15. Life on land", "Poaceae", "Soil", "03 medical and health sciences", "13. Climate action", "XXXXXX - Unknown", "Linear Models", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Biomass"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1217382110"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Proceedings%20of%20the%20National%20Academy%20of%20Sciences", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1073/pnas.1217382110", "name": "item", "description": "10.1073/pnas.1217382110", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1073/pnas.1217382110"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-04-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1093/ee/nvw139", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:18:56Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2016-10-16", "title": "The Effect Of Conservation Tillage And Cover Crop Residue On Beneficial Arthropods And Weed Seed Predation In Acorn Squash", "description": "Conservation tillage combined with cover crops or mulching may enhance natural enemy activity in agroecosystems by reducing soil disturbance and increasing habitat structural complexity. In particular, weed seed predation can increase with vegetation cover and reduced tillage, indicating that mulches may improve the quality of the habitat for weed seed foraging. The purpose of this study was to quantify the effects of tillage and mulching for conservation biological control in cucurbit fields. The effects of mulch and reduced tillage on arthropods and rates of weed seed loss from arenas were examined in field trials on sandy soils in 2014 and 2015. Experimental factors included tillage and cover crop, each with two levels: strip-tillage or full-tillage, and cover crop mulch (rye residue) or no cover crop mulch (unmulched). Arthropod abundance on the crop foliage was not affected by tillage or cover crops. Contrary to expectations, epigeal natural enemies of insects and rates of weed seed removal either did not respond to treatments or were greater in full-tilled plots and plots without mulch. Our study demonstrates the potential importance of weed seed predators in reducing weed seedbanks in vegetable agroecosystems, and suggests that early-season tillage may not be detrimental to epigeal predator assemblages.", "keywords": ["Crops", " Agricultural", "0106 biological sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "Conservation of Natural Resources", "Michigan", "Food Chain", "Plant Weeds", "Agriculture", "Biodiversity", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences", "Cucurbita", "Seeds", "Animals", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Herbivory", "Arthropods", "Ecosystem"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Daniel C. Brainard, Zsofia Szendrei, Nicole F. Quinn, Nicole F. Quinn,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvw139"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Entomology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1093/ee/nvw139", "name": "item", "description": "10.1093/ee/nvw139", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1093/ee/nvw139"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2016-10-15T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1098/rspb.2016.2570", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:19:04Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2017-03-29", "title": "Warming magnifies predation and reduces prey coexistence in a model litter arthropod system", "description": "

Climate warming can destabilize interactions between competitors as smaller organisms gain advantages in warmer environments. Whether and how warming-induced effects on competitive interactions are modified by predation remains unknown. We hypothesized that predation will offset the competitive advantage of smaller prey species in warmer environments because of their greater vulnerability to predation. To test this, we assembled a litter arthropod community with two Collembola species (Folsomia candidaandProisotoma minuta) of different body sizes across a temperature gradient (three thermal environments) and in the presence and absence of predatory mites. Predatory mites reduced Collembola coexistence with increasing temperatures. Contradicting our hypothesis, the larger prey species always outperformed the smaller prey species in warmer environments with predators. Larger prey probably benefited as they expressed a greater trait (body length) plasticity to warming. Warming can thus magnify predation effects and reduce the probability of prey coexistence.

", "keywords": ["0106 biological sciences", "Mites", "Food Chain", "13. Climate action", "Climate Change", "Predatory Behavior", "11. Sustainability", "Animals", "Body Size", "15. Life on land", "Arthropods", "Models", " Biological", "01 natural sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2016.2570"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.2570"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Proceedings%20of%20the%20Royal%20Society%20B%3A%20Biological%20Sciences", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1098/rspb.2016.2570", "name": "item", "description": "10.1098/rspb.2016.2570", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1098/rspb.2016.2570"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2017-03-29T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1098/rspb.2023.1345", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:19:04Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-11-15", "title": "Cessation of grazing causes biodiversity loss and homogenization of soil food webs", "description": "

There is widespread concern that cessation of grazing in historically grazed ecosystems is causing biotic homogenization and biodiversity loss. We used 12 montane grassland sites along an 800 km north\uffe2\uff80\uff93south gradient across the UK, to test whether cessation of grazing affects local \uffce\uffb1 - and \uffce\uffb2 -diversity of below-ground food webs. We show cessation of grazing leads to strongly decreased \uffce\uffb1 -diversity of most groups of soil microbes and fauna, particularly of relatively rare taxa. By contrast, the \uffce\uffb2 -diversity varied between groups of soil organisms. While most soil microbial communities exhibited increased homogenization after cessation of grazing, we observed decreased homogenization for soil fauna after cessation of grazing. Overall, our results indicate that exclusion of domesticated herbivores from historically grazed montane grasslands has far-ranging negative consequences for diversity of below-ground food webs. This underscores the importance of grazers for maintaining the diversity of below-ground communities, which play a central role in ecosystem functioning. Peatlands contain approximately one third of all soil organic carbon (SOC). Warming can alter above\uffe2\uff80\uff90 and belowground linkages that regulate soil organic carbon dynamics and C\uffe2\uff80\uff90balance in peatlands. Here we examine the multiyear impact of in situ experimental warming on the microbial food web, vegetation, and their feedbacks with soil chemistry. We provide evidence of both positive and negative impacts of warming on specific microbial functional groups, leading to destabilization of the microbial food web. We observed a strong reduction (70%) in the biomass of top\uffe2\uff80\uff90predators (testate amoebae) in warmed plots. Such a loss caused a shortening of microbial food chains, which in turn stimulated microbial activity, leading to slight increases in levels of nutrients and labile C in water. We further show that warming altered the regulatory role of Sphagnum\uffe2\uff80\uff90polyphenols on microbial community structure with a potential inhibition of top predators. In addition, warming caused a decrease in Sphagnum cover and an increase in vascular plant cover. Using structural equation modelling, we show that changes in the microbial food web affected the relationships between plants, soil water chemistry, and microbial communities. These results suggest that warming will destabilize C and nutrient recycling of peatlands via changes in above\uffe2\uff80\uff90 and belowground linkages, and therefore, the microbial food web associated with mosses will feedback positively to global warming by destabilizing the carbon cycle. This study confirms that microbial food webs thus constitute a key element in the functioning of peatland ecosystems. Their study can help understand how mosses, as ecosystem engineers, tightly regulate biogeochemical cycling and climate feedback in peatlands

", "keywords": ["0106 biological sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "570", "[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes", "water chemistry", "food chains", "15. Life on land", "Global Warming", "01 natural sciences", "[SDU.ENVI] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces", " environment", "microbial food web", "testate amoebae", "[SDE.MCG] Environmental Sciences/Global Changes", "plant and microbial communities", "13. Climate action", "Host-Pathogen Interactions", "Sphagnopsida", "[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces", "environment", "polyphenols"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12075"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Global%20Change%20Biology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/gcb.12075", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/gcb.12075", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/gcb.12075"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2012-12-15T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/gcb.12144", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:19:20Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2013-01-20", "title": "Effects of grazing on grassland soil carbon: a global review", "description": "Abstract

Soils of grasslands represent a large potential reservoir for storingCO2, but this potential likely depends on how grasslands are managed for large mammal grazing. Previous studies found both strong positive and negative grazing effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) but explanations for this variation are poorly developed. Expanding on previous reviews, we performed a multifactorial meta\uffe2\uff80\uff90analysis of grazer effects onSOCdensity on 47 independent experimental contrasts from 17 studies. We explicitly tested hypotheses that grazer effects would shift from negative to positive with decreasing precipitation, increasing fineness of soil texture, transition from dominant grass species with C3to C4photosynthesis, and decreasing grazing intensity, after controlling for study duration and sampling depth. The six variables of soil texture, precipitation, grass type, grazing intensity, study duration, and sampling depth explained 85% of a large variation (\uffc2\uffb1150\uffc2\uffa0g\uffc2\uffa0m\uffe2\uff88\uff922\uffc2\uffa0yr\uffe2\uff88\uff921) in grazing effects, and the best model included significant interactions between precipitation and soil texture (P\uffc2\uffa0=\uffc2\uffa00.002), grass type, and grazing intensity (P\uffc2\uffa0=\uffc2\uffa00.012), and study duration and soil sampling depth (P\uffc2\uffa0=\uffc2\uffa00.020). Specifically, an increase in mean annual precipitation of 600\uffc2\uffa0mm resulted in a 24%decreasein grazer effect size on finer textured soils, while on sandy soils the same increase in precipitation produced a 22%increasein grazer effect onSOC. Increasing grazing intensity increasedSOCby 6\uffe2\uff80\uff937% on C4\uffe2\uff80\uff90dominated and C4\uffe2\uff80\uff93C3mixed grasslands, but decreasedSOCby an average 18% in C3\uffe2\uff80\uff90dominated grasslands. We discovered these patterns despite a lack of studies in natural, wildlife\uffe2\uff80\uff90dominated ecosystems, and tropical grasslands. Our results, which suggest a future focus on why C3vs. C4\uffe2\uff80\uff90dominated grasslands differ so strongly in their response ofSOCto grazing, show that grazer effects onSOCare highly context\uffe2\uff80\uff90specific and imply that grazers in different regions might be managed differently to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "Soil", "Food Chain", "Livestock", "Animals", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Feeding Behavior", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Poaceae", "Carbon", "Ecosystem"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Megan E. McSherry, Mark E. Ritchie,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12144"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Global%20Change%20Biology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/gcb.12144", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/gcb.12144", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/gcb.12144"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-02-26T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/mec.15270", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:19:47Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2019-10-16", "title": "Reduced tillage, but not organic matter input, increased nematode diversity and food web stability in European long\u2010term field experiments", "description": "Abstract

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\uffe2\uff80\uff90history groups are used for calculating food web indices, i.e., maturity index (MI), enrichment index (EI), structure index (SI) and channel index (CI). Molecular methods to study nematode communities potentially offer advantages compared to traditional methods in terms of resolution, throughput, cost and time. In spite of such advantages, molecular data have not often been adopted so far to assess the effects of soil management on nematode communities and to calculate these food web indices. Here, we used high\uffe2\uff80\uff90throughput amplicon sequencing to investigate the effects of tillage (conventional vs. reduced) and organic matter addition (low vs. high) on nematode communities and food web indices in 10 European long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term field experiments and we assessed the relationship between nematode communities and soil parameters. We found that nematode communities were more strongly affected by tillage than by organic matter addition. Compared to conventional tillage, reduced tillage increased nematode diversity (23% higher Shannon diversity index), nematode community stability (12% higher MI), structure (24% higher SI), and the fungal decomposition channel (59% higher CI), and also the number of herbivorous nematodes (70% higher). Total and labile organic carbon, available K and microbial parameters explained nematode community structure. Our findings show that nematode communities are sensitive indicators of soil quality and that molecular profiling of nematode communities has the potential to reveal the effects of soil management on soil quality. Microorganisms exist along the food chain and impact the quality and safety of foods in both positive and negative ways. Identifying and understanding the behavior of these microbial communities enable the implementation of preventative or corrective measures in public health and food industry settings. Current culture-dependent microbial analyses are time-consuming and target only specific subsets of microbes. However, the greater use of culture-independent meta-omic approaches has the potential to facilitate a thorough characterization of the microbial communities along the food chain. Indeed, these methods have shown potential in contributing to outbreak investigation, ensuring food authenticity, assessing the spread ofantimicrobial resistance, tracking microbial dynamics during fermentation and processing, and uncovering the factors along the food chain that impact food quality and safety. This review examines the community-based approaches, and particularly the application of sequencing-based meta-omics strategies, for characterizing microbial communities along the food chain.

", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "2. Zero hunger", "0303 health sciences", "High-throughput sequencing", "Food Chain", "Food microbiome", "Microbiota", "high-throughput sequencing", "Meta-omic approaches", "food processing environment", "3. Good health", "meta-omic approaches", "03 medical and health sciences", "food-processing environment", "food microbiome; food-processing environment; high-throughput sequencing; meta-omic approaches; Fermentation; Food Industry; Food Chain; Microbiota", "food microbiome", "Fermentation", "Food Industry", "Food-processing environment"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-food-052720-010751"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-food-052720-010751"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Annual%20Review%20of%20Food%20Science%20and%20Technology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1146/annurev-food-052720-010751", "name": "item", "description": "10.1146/annurev-food-052720-010751", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1146/annurev-food-052720-010751"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-03-25T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0060441", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:20:13Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2013-03-27", "title": "Nitrogen Addition And Warming Independently Influence The Belowground Micro-Food Web In A Temperate Steppe", "description": "Climate warming and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition are known to influence ecosystem structure and functioning. However, our understanding of the interactive effect of these global changes on ecosystem functioning is relatively limited, especially when it concerns the responses of soils and soil organisms. We conducted a field experiment to study the interactive effects of warming and N addition on soil food web. The experiment was established in 2006 in a temperate steppe in northern China. After three to four years (2009-2010), we found that N addition positively affected microbial biomass and negatively influenced trophic group and ecological indices of soil nematodes. However, the warming effects were less obvious, only fungal PLFA showed a decreasing trend under warming. Interestingly, the influence of N addition did not depend on warming. Structural equation modeling analysis suggested that the direct pathway between N addition and soil food web components were more important than the indirect connections through alterations in soil abiotic characters or plant growth. Nitrogen enrichment also affected the soil nematode community indirectly through changes in soil pH and PLFA. We conclude that experimental warming influenced soil food web components of the temperate steppe less than N addition, and there was little influence of warming on N addition effects under these experimental conditions.", "keywords": ["China", "Food Chain", "Nematoda", "Nitrogen", "Science", "deposition", "Models", " Biological", "northern china", "Soil", "soil nematodes", "Animals", "Biomass", "organic-matter", "global change", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "2. Zero hunger", "elevated co2", "Analysis of Variance", "species composition", "Q", "R", "Temperature", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Plants", "15. Life on land", "13. Climate action", "international", "climate-change manipulations", "plant-communities", "Medicine", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "community structure", "Research Article"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0060441"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/PLoS%20ONE", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0060441", "name": "item", "description": "10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0060441", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0060441"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-03-27T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0060441", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:20:15Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2013-03-27", "title": "Nitrogen Addition And Warming Independently Influence The Belowground Micro-Food Web In A Temperate Steppe", "description": "Climate warming and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition are known to influence ecosystem structure and functioning. However, our understanding of the interactive effect of these global changes on ecosystem functioning is relatively limited, especially when it concerns the responses of soils and soil organisms. We conducted a field experiment to study the interactive effects of warming and N addition on soil food web. The experiment was established in 2006 in a temperate steppe in northern China. After three to four years (2009-2010), we found that N addition positively affected microbial biomass and negatively influenced trophic group and ecological indices of soil nematodes. However, the warming effects were less obvious, only fungal PLFA showed a decreasing trend under warming. Interestingly, the influence of N addition did not depend on warming. Structural equation modeling analysis suggested that the direct pathway between N addition and soil food web components were more important than the indirect connections through alterations in soil abiotic characters or plant growth. Nitrogen enrichment also affected the soil nematode community indirectly through changes in soil pH and PLFA. We conclude that experimental warming influenced soil food web components of the temperate steppe less than N addition, and there was little influence of warming on N addition effects under these experimental conditions.", "keywords": ["China", "Food Chain", "Nematoda", "Nitrogen", "Science", "deposition", "Models", " Biological", "northern china", "Soil", "soil nematodes", "Animals", "Biomass", "organic-matter", "global change", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "2. Zero hunger", "elevated co2", "Analysis of Variance", "species composition", "Q", "R", "Temperature", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Plants", "15. Life on land", "13. Climate action", "international", "climate-change manipulations", "plant-communities", "Medicine", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "community structure", "Research Article"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0060441"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/PLoS%20ONE", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1371/journal.pone.0060441", "name": "item", "description": "10.1371/journal.pone.0060441", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1371/journal.pone.0060441"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-03-27T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.3929/ethz-b-000377318", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:22:16Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2019-10-16", "title": "Reduced tillage, but not organic matter input, increased nematode diversity and food web stability in European long-term field experiments.", "description": "Abstract

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\uffe2\uff80\uff90history groups are used for calculating food web indices, i.e., maturity index (MI), enrichment index (EI), structure index (SI) and channel index (CI). Molecular methods to study nematode communities potentially offer advantages compared to traditional methods in terms of resolution, throughput, cost and time. In spite of such advantages, molecular data have not often been adopted so far to assess the effects of soil management on nematode communities and to calculate these food web indices. Here, we used high\uffe2\uff80\uff90throughput amplicon sequencing to investigate the effects of tillage (conventional vs. reduced) and organic matter addition (low vs. high) on nematode communities and food web indices in 10 European long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term field experiments and we assessed the relationship between nematode communities and soil parameters. We found that nematode communities were more strongly affected by tillage than by organic matter addition. Compared to conventional tillage, reduced tillage increased nematode diversity (23% higher Shannon diversity index), nematode community stability (12% higher MI), structure (24% higher SI), and the fungal decomposition channel (59% higher CI), and also the number of herbivorous nematodes (70% higher). Total and labile organic carbon, available K and microbial parameters explained nematode community structure. Our findings show that nematode communities are sensitive indicators of soil quality and that molecular profiling of nematode communities has the potential to reveal the effects of soil management on soil quality.

", "keywords": ["Food Chain", "Nematoda", "Environmental aspects", "long-term field experiments", "Nematode communities", "Soil quality", "Long-term field experiments", "Tillage", "Soil", "Animals", "Ecosystem", "Soil Microbiology", "Amplicon sequencing", "organic matter addition", "2. Zero hunger", "nematode communities", "Food web indices", "amplicon sequencing", "Fungi", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Soil tillage", "Europe", "tillage", "Organic matter addition", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "food web indices", "ORIGINAL ARTICLES", "Amplicon sequencing; Food web indices; Long-term field experiments; Nematode communities; Organic matter addition; Tillage"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000377318"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Molecular%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.3929/ethz-b-000377318", "name": "item", "description": "10.3929/ethz-b-000377318", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.3929/ethz-b-000377318"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2019-10-31T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1890/06-0399", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:20:45Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2007-06-04", "title": "Rainfall And Soils Modify Plant Community Response To Grazing In Serengeti National Park", "description": "Terrestrial plant community responses to herbivory depend on resource availability, but the separate influences of different resources are difficult to study because they often correlate across natural environmental gradients. We studied the effects of excluding ungulate herbivores on plant species richness and composition, as well as available soil nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), across eight grassland sites in Serengeti National Park (SNP), Tanzania. These sites varied independently in rainfall and available soil N and P. Excluding herbivores decreased plant species richness at all sites and by an average of 5.4 species across all plots. Although plant species richness was a unimodal function of rainfall in both grazed and ungrazed plots, fences caused a greater decrease in plant species richness at sites of intermediate rainfall compared to sites of high or low rainfall. In terms of the relative or proportional decreases in plant species richness, excluding herbivores caused the strongest relative decreases at lower rainfall and where exclusion of herbivores increased available soil P. Herbivore exclusion increased among-plot heterogeneity in species composition but decreased coexistence of congeneric grasses. Compositional similarity between grazed and ungrazed treatments decreased with increasing rainfall due to greater forb richness in exclosures and greater sedge richness outside exclosures and was not related to effects of excluding herbivores on soil nutrients. Our results show that plant resources, especially water and P, appear to modulate the effects of herbivores on tropical grassland plant diversity and composition. We show that herbivore effects on soil P may be an important and previously unappreciated mechanism by which herbivores influence plant diversity, at least in tropical grasslands.", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "0106 biological sciences", "Food Chain", "Nitrogen", "Rain", "Population Dynamics", "Phosphorus", "Biodiversity", "15. Life on land", "Poaceae", "Tanzania", "01 natural sciences", "Soil", "Species Specificity", "Animals", "14. Life underwater", "Plants", " Edible", "Ecosystem"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Mark E. Ritchie, T. Michael Anderson, Samuel J. McNaughton,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1890/06-0399"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1890/06-0399", "name": "item", "description": "10.1890/06-0399", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1890/06-0399"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2007-05-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "20.500.11850/377318", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:26:47Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2019-10-16", "title": "Reduced tillage, but not organic matter input, increased nematode diversity and food web stability in European long\u2010term field experiments", "description": "Abstract

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\uffe2\uff80\uff90history groups are used for calculating food web indices, i.e., maturity index (MI), enrichment index (EI), structure index (SI) and channel index (CI). Molecular methods to study nematode communities potentially offer advantages compared to traditional methods in terms of resolution, throughput, cost and time. In spite of such advantages, molecular data have not often been adopted so far to assess the effects of soil management on nematode communities and to calculate these food web indices. Here, we used high\uffe2\uff80\uff90throughput amplicon sequencing to investigate the effects of tillage (conventional vs. reduced) and organic matter addition (low vs. high) on nematode communities and food web indices in 10 European long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term field experiments and we assessed the relationship between nematode communities and soil parameters. We found that nematode communities were more strongly affected by tillage than by organic matter addition. Compared to conventional tillage, reduced tillage increased nematode diversity (23% higher Shannon diversity index), nematode community stability (12% higher MI), structure (24% higher SI), and the fungal decomposition channel (59% higher CI), and also the number of herbivorous nematodes (70% higher). Total and labile organic carbon, available K and microbial parameters explained nematode community structure. Our findings show that nematode communities are sensitive indicators of soil quality and that molecular profiling of nematode communities has the potential to reveal the effects of soil management on soil quality.Trophic interactions within food webs affect species distributions, coexistence, and provision of ecosystem services but can be strongly impacted by climatic changes. Understanding these impacts is therefore essential for managing ecosystems and sustaining human well\uffe2\uff80\uff90being. Here, we conducted a global synthesis of terrestrial, marine, and freshwater studies to identify key gaps in our knowledge of climate change impacts on food webs and determine whether the areas currently studied are those most likely to be impacted by climate change. We found research suffers from a strong geographic bias, with only 3.5% of studies occurring in the tropics. Importantly, the distribution of sites sampled under projected climate changes was biased\uffe2\uff80\uff94areas with decreases or large increases in precipitation and areas with low magnitudes of temperature change were under\uffe2\uff80\uff90represented. Our results suggest that understanding of climate change impacts on food webs could be broadened by considering more than two trophic levels, responses in addition to species abundance and biomass, impacts of a wider suite of climatic variables, and tropical ecosystems. Most importantly, to enable better forecasts of biodiversity responses to climate change, we identify critically under\uffe2\uff80\uff90represented geographic regions and climatic conditions which should be prioritized in future research. There is widespread concern that cessation of grazing in historically grazed ecosystems is causing biotic homogenization and biodiversity loss. We used 12 montane grassland sites along an 800 km north\uffe2\uff80\uff93south gradient across the UK, to test whether cessation of grazing affects local \uffce\uffb1 - and \uffce\uffb2 -diversity of below-ground food webs. We show cessation of grazing leads to strongly decreased \uffce\uffb1 -diversity of most groups of soil microbes and fauna, particularly of relatively rare taxa. By contrast, the \uffce\uffb2 -diversity varied between groups of soil organisms. While most soil microbial communities exhibited increased homogenization after cessation of grazing, we observed decreased homogenization for soil fauna after cessation of grazing. Overall, our results indicate that exclusion of domesticated herbivores from historically grazed montane grasslands has far-ranging negative consequences for diversity of below-ground food webs. This underscores the importance of grazers for maintaining the diversity of below-ground communities, which play a central role in ecosystem functioning. \u00a01). Moreover, only limited effects were observed on lettuce biomass by NPs treatments. No effects of the Eu-PS particles on snails were observed, with the exception of a consistent decrease in the shell diameter. Overall, our research illustrates that NPs can be absorbed by plants through their roots, subsequently transported to the shoots. However, our findings show limited transfer of NPs into snail tissues, but direct excretion into their feces. We provide an important insight into the potential transfer within the human food chain.", "keywords": ["Food Chain", "Human food basket", "Microplastics", "Snails", "Uptake", "Animals", "Invertebrate", "Plant", "Plastics transfer", "Water Pollutants", " Chemical", "Lactuca", "Environmental Monitoring"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/1887/4097823"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Science%20of%20The%20Total%20Environment", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "1887/4097823", "name": "item", "description": "1887/4097823", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/1887/4097823"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2024-12-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "1959.7/uws:76594", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:26:40Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-03-08", "title": "Pedogenesis shapes predator-prey relationships within soil microbiomes", "description": "Pedogenesis determines soil physicochemical properties and many biodiversity facets, including belowground microbial bacteria and fungi. At the local scale, top-down predation by microbial protists regulates the soil microbiome, while the microbiome also affects protistan communities. However, it remains unknown how pedogenesis affects protistan communities and the potential protist-microbiome predator-prey relationships. With 435 soil samples representing different stages of pedogenesis ranging in soil age from centuries to millennia, we examined the influence of pedogenesis on the main protistan groups, and the interrelationships between protistan predators and microbial prey biomass. We revealed an enrichment in the diversity of total protists across pedogenesis and increasing richness of phototrophic protists in the medium compared with the early stages of pedogenesis. The richness of predatory protists accumulated throughout pedogenesis, which was more strongly determined by microbial biomass than environmental factors. Predator-prey associations were stronger in the young and the medium soils than in the older soils, likely because prey biomass accumulated in the latter and might be no longer limit predators. Together, our work provides evidence that pedogenesis shapes predatory protists differently than their prey, leading to shifts in predator-prey relationships. This knowledge is critical to better understand how soil food webs develop across soil development which might lead to changes in ecosystem functions.", "keywords": ["Predator-prey relationships", "2. Zero hunger", "Food Chain", "Microbiota", "Microbial biomass", "Eukaryota", "Biodiversity", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Soil", "Soil formation", "13. Climate action", "Predatory Behavior", "XXXXXX - Unknown", "Chronosequences", "Protistan predators", "Animals", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Microbiome"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/1959.7/uws:76594"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Science%20of%20The%20Total%20Environment", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "1959.7/uws:76594", "name": "item", "description": "1959.7/uws:76594", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/1959.7/uws:76594"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-07-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "PMC10157888", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:29:59Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-04-21", "title": "High Levels of Microplastics in the Arctic Sea Ice Alga Melosira arctica, a Vector to Ice-Associated and Benthic Food Webs", "description": "Plastic pollution has become ubiquitous with very high quantities detected even in ecosystems as remote as Arctic sea ice and deep-sea sediments. Ice algae growing underneath sea ice are released upon melting and can form fast-sinking aggregates. In this pilot study, we sampled and analyzed the ice algaeMelosira arcticaand ambient sea water from three locations in the Fram Strait to assess their microplastic content and potential as a temporary sink and pathway to the deep seafloor. Analysis by \u03bc-Raman and fluorescence microscopy detected microplastics (\u22652.2 \u03bcm) in all samples at concentrations ranging from 1.3 to 5.7 \u00d7 104 microplastics (MP) m-3 in ice algae and from 1.4 to 4.5 \u00d7 103 MP m-3 in sea water, indicating magnitude higher concentrations in algae. On average, 94% of the total microplastic particles were identified as 10 \u03bcm or smaller in size and comprised 16 polymer types without a clear dominance. The high concentrations of microplastics found in our pilot study suggest thatM. arctica could trap microplastics from melting ice and ambient sea water. The algae appear to be a temporary sink and could act as a key vector to food webs near the sea surface and on the deep seafloor, to which its fast-sinking aggregates could facilitate an important mechanism of transport.", "keywords": ["Food Chain", "13. Climate action", "Arctic Regions", "Microplastics", "Ice Cover", "Pilot Projects", "14. Life underwater", "01 natural sciences", "Plastics", "Ecosystem", "Water Pollutants", " Chemical", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "Environmental Monitoring"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.2c08010"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/PMC10157888"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Science%20%26amp%3B%20Technology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "PMC10157888", "name": "item", "description": "PMC10157888", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/PMC10157888"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2023-04-21T00:00:00Z"}}], "links": [{"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "This document as GeoJSON", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Food+Chain&f=json", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "alternate", "type": "text/html", "title": "This document as HTML", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Food+Chain&f=html", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection URL", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"type": "application/geo+json", "rel": "first", "title": "items (first)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Food+Chain&", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "last", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "items (last)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Food+Chain&offset=32", "hreflang": "en-US"}], "numberMatched": 32, "numberReturned": 32, "distributedFeatures": [], "timeStamp": "2026-04-16T06:39:32.911327Z"}