干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): Arthropods as the Engine of Nutrient Cycling in Arid Ecosystems

Arid

DOI	10.3390/insects12080726
	Arthropods as the Engine of Nutrient Cycling in Arid Ecosystems
	Sagi, Nevo; Hawlena, Dror
通讯作者	Sagi, N (corresponding author), Hebrew Univ Jerusalem, Alexander Silberman Inst Life Sci, Dept Ecol Evolut & Behav, Risk Management Ecol Lab, IL-9190401 Jerusalem, Israel.
来源期刊	INSECTS
EISSN	2075-4450
出版年	2021
卷号	12 期号:8
英文摘要	Simple Summary Nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems requires moisture. Deserts are characterized by low precipitation and extreme surface temperature that limit biological activity. Attempts to resolve how nutrients recycle despite these constraints were focused primarily on abiotic factors. We suggest that macro-arthropods may play a disproportionally large role in resolving this conundrum. Macro-arthropods are prevalent in deserts and many of them are burrowing detritivores that can remain active during long dry periods. Desert arthropods process and transport plant litter nutrients belowground, where the conditions are favorable for decomposer activity. Consequently, arthropods may accelerate the recycling rate of plant litter nutrients to inorganic nutrients that become available for plant use. This generates a vertical nutrient recycling loop (VRL) that may also assist in explaining how desert plants receive nutrients when the shallow soil is dry. Macro-arthropods may also regulate the spatiotemporal distribution of nutrients by transporting them between patches and across ecosystems. Burrowing activity that alters the desert microtopography and reduces soil salinity may contribute further to creating hotspots of productivity and biological diversity in the otherwise poor desert environment. We conclude that macro-arthropods may play a key role in explaining how desert ecosystems function, and that better understanding of this unique role may assist combating desertification and restoring degraded arid lands. Nutrient dynamics in most terrestrial ecosystems are regulated by moisture-dependent processes. In drylands, nutrient dynamics are often weakly associated with annual precipitation, suggesting that other factors are involved. In recent years, the majority of research on this topic focused on abiotic factors. We provide an arthropod-centric framework that aims to refocus research attention back on the fundamental role that macro-arthropods may play in regulating dryland nutrient dynamics. Macro-arthropods are prevalent in drylands and include many detritivores and burrowing taxa that remain active during long dry periods. Macro-arthropods consume and process large quantities of plant detritus and transport these nutrients to the decomposer haven within their climatically buffered and nutritionally enriched burrows. Consequently, arthropods may accelerate mineralization rates and generate a vertical nutrient recycling loop (VRL) that may assist in explaining the dryland decomposition conundrum, and how desert plants receive their nutrients when the shallow soil is dry. The burrowing activity of arthropods and the transportation of subterranean soil to the surface may alter the desert microtopography and promote desalinization, reducing resource leakage and enhancing productivity and species diversity. We conclude that these fundamental roles and the arthropods' contribution to nutrient transportation and nitrogen fixation makes them key regulators of nutrient dynamics in drylands.
英文关键词	arthropods burrow desert detritivores litter decomposition nutrient acquisition zoogeochemistry
类型	Review
语种	英语
开放获取类型	Green Published, gold
收录类别	SCI-E
WOS记录号	WOS:000689193200001
WOS关键词	CHIHUAHUAN DESERT ; LITTER DECOMPOSITION ; SUBTERRANEAN TERMITES ; NITROGEN-FIXATION ; ANT NESTS ; MICROBIAL BIOMASS ; SOIL ; WATER ; MICROARTHROPODS ; VEGETATION
WOS类目	Entomology
WOS研究方向	Entomology
来源机构	Hebrew University of Jerusalem
资源类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/363594
作者单位	[Sagi, Nevo; Hawlena, Dror] Hebrew Univ Jerusalem, Alexander Silberman Inst Life Sci, Dept Ecol Evolut & Behav, Risk Management Ecol Lab, IL-9190401 Jerusalem, Israel
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Sagi, Nevo,Hawlena, Dror. Arthropods as the Engine of Nutrient Cycling in Arid Ecosystems[J]. Hebrew University of Jerusalem,2021,12(8).
APA	Sagi, Nevo,&Hawlena, Dror.(2021).Arthropods as the Engine of Nutrient Cycling in Arid Ecosystems.INSECTS,12(8).
MLA	Sagi, Nevo,et al."Arthropods as the Engine of Nutrient Cycling in Arid Ecosystems".INSECTS 12.8(2021).