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Direct and Indirect Effects of Forest Anthropogenic Disturbance on Above and Below Ground Communities and Litter Decomposition

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Abstract

Direct and indirect effects of habitat modification and changes in biotic interactions should be taken into consideration to understand the ecological consequences of forest anthropogenic disturbance on forest ecosystems. Few empirical studies assess indirect effects and consider multiple trophic levels, but recent statistical and theoretical advances provide new paths to do so. Here, we investigate direct and indirect effects of anthropogenic disturbances on multi-trophic soil communities in a boreal forest. We assessed the short term (2 years) abiotic and biotic responses to two anthropogenic disturbance intensities: conventional harvesting and harvesting followed by organic matter removal. We quantified the changes on eight groups of species, including vegetation and soil fauna, and their potential effects on leaf litter decomposition. We used a trait-based approach and structural equation modeling to quantify direct and indirect effects of disturbance intensity on environmental conditions, functional responses of the above and below ground biotic communities and leaf litter decomposition. Forest disturbance intensity was found to have a bottom-up effect on species community composition, from lower trophic levels (for example, detritivorous springtails) up to soil fauna top predators (for example, running spiders). Our results suggested some impacts of disturbance on leaf litter decomposition through changes in faunal communities. Our study shows that a multi-trophic assessment of disturbance impacts provides an integrative understanding of ecosystem responses to environmental change.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank K. Good, K. Wainio-Keizer, J. Stewart, S. Dumas, F. Cardou, R. Irwin, and C. Zimmerman for field work. J. Bowden, E. Rivest, T. Work and J. Klimaszewski identified soil macrofauna. L.J. Raymond-Léonard, L. Codebecq and A. Ramos Dias helped LR to sort and identify soil mesofauna. Thanks to L. Boisvert-Marsh for editing the manuscript. This work was supported by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), EcoEnergy Innovation Initiative under the Office of Energy Research and Development, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The experimental sites were developed through collaboration between the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) of NRCan, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (OMNRF), and the regional forest industry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Sherbrooke, Boul. de L’Université, Sherbrooke, Québec, J1K 2R1, Canada

    Idaline Laigle, Dominique Gravel & Bill Shipley

  2. Centre de Recherche Sur Les Ecosystèmes D’Altitude (CREA Mont-Blanc), 67, lacets du Belvédère, 74400, Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France

    Idaline Laigle

  3. Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    Marco Moretti

  4. Département Des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec À Montréal, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec, C.P. H3C 3P8, Canada

    Laurent Rousseau, I. Tanya Handa & Christian Messier

  5. Natural Resources Canada, Great Lakes Forestry Center, Canadian Forest Service, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, P6A 2E5, Canada

    Lisa Venier, Paul Hazlett, Rob Fleming, Kara Webster & Isabelle Aubin

  6. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Thunder Bay, Ontario, P7E 2V6, Canada

    Dave Morris

  7. Département Des Sciences Naturelles, Institut Des Sciences de La Forêt Tempérée, Université du Québec en Outaouais, 58, Rue Principale, Ripon, Québec, JOV 1V0, Canada

    Christian Messier

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  1. Idaline Laigle
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Correspondence to Idaline Laigle.

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Author contributions

LV, DM, PH, RF, KW and IA designed the experimental site, IL, LR, IA, MM and DG designed the study, IL, IA, LR, LV, TH, DM, PH, RF and KW collected data, IL performed the analysis with help from BS and LR, IL, MM and IA led the writing. All authors provided critical comments to the manuscript.

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Laigle, I., Moretti, M., Rousseau, L. et al. Direct and Indirect Effects of Forest Anthropogenic Disturbance on Above and Below Ground Communities and Litter Decomposition. Ecosystems 24, 1716–1737 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-021-00613-z

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