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Mountain soil food webs shaped by the interplay between habitat and pedoclimatic conditions
  • +9
  • Irene Calderón-Sanou,
  • Marc Ohlmann,
  • Tamara Munkemuller,
  • Lucie Zinger,
  • Mickael Hedde,
  • Clement Lionnet,
  • Camille Martinez-Almoyna,
  • Amélie Saillard,
  • Julien Renaud,
  • Nicolas Le Guillarme,
  • Ludovic Gielly,
  • Wilfried Thuiller
Irene Calderón-Sanou
Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Marc Ohlmann
Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine
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Tamara Munkemuller
Univ. Grenoble Alpes
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Lucie Zinger
CNRS
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Mickael Hedde
INRA Montpellier Research Centre
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Clement Lionnet
LECA
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Camille Martinez-Almoyna
Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine
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Amélie Saillard
Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine
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Julien Renaud
Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine
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Nicolas Le Guillarme
Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine
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Ludovic Gielly
Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS
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Wilfried Thuiller
Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine
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Abstract

Our knowledge of the factors influencing the distribution of soil organisms is limited to specific taxonomic groups. Consequently, our understanding of the drivers shaping the entire soil food web is constrained. To address this gap, we conducted an extensive soil biodiversity monitoring program in the French Alps, using environmental DNA to obtain multi-taxon data from 418 soil samples. The spatial structure of resulting soil food webs varied significantly between and within habitats. From forests to grasslands, we observed a shift in the abundance of trophic groups from fungal to bacterial feeding channels, reflecting different ecosystem functioning. Furthermore, forest food webs were more strongly spatially structured which could only partly be explained by abiotic conditions. Grassland food webs were more strongly driven by plant community composition and soil characteristics. Our findings provide valuable insights into how climate and land use changes may differentially affect soil food webs in mountains.