土壤动物群落空间格局和构建机制研究进展

群落空间格局和构建机制一直是生态学研究的核心内容。在生物多样性严重丧失的背景下, 揭示群落空间格局及其构建机制, 有助于深刻理解生物多样性丧失的原因, 更有助于应对生物多样性保护等重大生态环境问题。然而, 陆地生态系统的研究多集中于地上生物群落, 对地下生态系统, 尤其是土壤动物空间格局和构建机制的研究尚不充分。事实上, 土壤动物多样性是全球生物多样性的关键组成之一, 是地下生态系统结构和功能维持的重要部分。对土壤动物空间格局和构建机制的研究, 能明确不同空间尺度条件下土壤动物多样性的维持机制。土壤动物群落常在多种空间尺度形成复杂的空间分布格局, 因此, 本文首先介绍了不同空间尺度主要土壤动物群落的空间自相关性特征, 阐述了土壤动物群落斑块和孔隙镶嵌分布的复杂空间格局。继而阐明这种空间格局主要受生物间作用、环境过滤和随机扩散的调控, 并说明这三个过程对土壤动物群落的调控能力和作用方式。作者提出, 这三个过程仍是今后土壤动物群落空间格局和构建机制研究的重点内容, 需要进一步加强以土壤动物为研究对象的群落构建理论的验证和发展。我国土壤动物群落空间格局和构建机制起步较晚, 希望本文能够促进我国土壤动物生态学相关领域的研究。

Spatial patterns and assembly rules in soil fauna communities: A review

Identifying spatial patterns and assembly rules in communities is a central study topic in ecology. With the unprecedented rate at which biodiversity is decreasing, it is necessary to recognize the spatial patterns and assembly rules in communities in order to understand why biodiversity is being lost and to be able to protect it. However, previous studies have focused more on plant communities in above-ground terrestrial ecosystems, neglecting below-ground ecosystems, especially soil faunal communities. Indeed, soil faunal biodiversity is a crucial component of global biodiversity because soil faunal communities assist in the maintenance of important ecosystem structures and functions. Therefore, one important aim of identifying spatial patterns and assembly rules in soil faunal communities is to clarify mechanisms of maintaining soil faunal biodiversity at multiple scales, so as to promote these processes, which also maintain ecosystem structures and functions. Soil faunal communities usually form complicated spatial patterns at multiple spatial scales. Here, we propose spatial autocorrelation characteristics, and then show how the complicated spatial patterns are demonstrated by patches and gaps of soil faunal communities at multiple scales. These spatial patterns are mainly controlled by processes of biotic interactions, environmental filtering and random dispersal. Consequently, we discuss the impacts of these processes on soil faunal communities. Finally, we suggest that these three processes are essential to evaluate and construct a theoretical framework for soil faunal communities and should continue to be studied in the future. Because interest in spatial patterns and assembly rules of soil faunal communities is relatively new in China, we expect this review will promote the development of related research areas.