Higher Trophic Levels Overwhelm Climate Change Impacts on Terrestrial Ecosystem Functioning

Shannon L Pelini; Audrey M Maran; Angus R Chen; Justine Kaseman; Thomas W Crowther

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0136344

Higher Trophic Levels Overwhelm Climate Change Impacts on Terrestrial Ecosystem Functioning

PLoS One. 2015 Aug 20;10(8):e0136344. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0136344. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Shannon L Pelini¹, Audrey M Maran¹, Angus R Chen², Justine Kaseman³, Thomas W Crowther⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, 43403, United States of America.
² Harvard Forest, Harvard University, Petersham, MA, 01366, United States of America.
³ Department of Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, 43403, United States of America; Harvard Forest, Harvard University, Petersham, MA, 01366, United States of America.
⁴ School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, United States of America.

Abstract

Forest floor food webs play pivotal roles in carbon cycling, but they are rarely considered in models of carbon fluxes, including soil carbon dioxide emissions (respiration), under climatic warming. The indirect effects of invertebrates on heterotrophic (microbial and invertebrate) respiration through interactions with microbial communities are significant and will be altered by warming. However, the interactive effects of invertebrates and warming on heterotrophic respiration in the field are poorly understood. In this study we combined field and common garden laboratory approaches to examine relationships between warming, forest floor food web structure, and heterotrophic respiration. We found that soil animals can overwhelm the effects of warming (to 5 degrees Celsius above ambient) on heterotrophic respiration. In particular, the presence of higher trophic levels and burrowing detritivores strongly determined heterotrophic respiration rates in temperate forest soils. These effects were, however, context-dependent, with greater effects in a lower-latitude site. Without isolating and including the significant impact of invertebrates, climate models will be incomplete, hindering well-informed policy decisions.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Respiration
Climate Change*
Ecosystem*
Invertebrates / metabolism
Soil Microbiology
Soil*

Substances

Soil

Grants and funding

Funding was provided by United States National Science Foundation Long Term Ecological Research (DBI 10-03938) and Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DBI 1459519) awards to Harvard Forest. SLP received funds from the Building Strength Program at Bowling Green State University. TWC received funds from Yale University's Climate and Energy Institute and the British Ecological Society. The authors thank Rob Dunn, Aaron Ellison, Nick Gotelli, and Nate Sanders for allowing use of the warming chambers, funded by United States Department of Energy Program for Ecosystem Research (DE-FG02-08ER64510). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.