Advancements in assessing soil health through functional traits and energy flow analysis of soil nematodes

Highlights

● We examined the development of soil nematodes ecological indices from the perspective of functional traits.

● We found that soil nematode energy flow analyses based on multiple functional traits quantify the dynamics of energy flow across multiple-trophic levels to provide a more comprehensive perspective.

● We conducted comparative analyses of the sensitivities of NMF and energy flow to verify that the energy flow analyses are more sensitive and have greater potential to reveal soil health and ecosystem function.

● Future in-depth studies of functional traits and energy flow analysis can help us achieve informed soil management practices, sustainable agriculture, and healthier soil ecosystems.

Abstract

This paper examines the development of ecological indices for soil nematodes from the perspective of functional traits. It emphasizes the increasing significance of integrating multiple functional traits to achieve a more accurate assessment of soil health. Ecological indices based on life history strategies, feeding habits, and body size provide useful tools for assessing soil health. However, these indices do not fully capture the dynamics of energy flow across multiple-trophic levels in the soil food web, which is critical for a deeper understanding of the intrinsic properties of soil health. By combining functional traits such as functional group, body size, feeding preference and metabolic rate, nematode energy flow analyses provide a more comprehensive perspective. This approach establishes a direct correlation between changes in the morphology, physiology, and metabolism of soil organisms and alterations in their habitat environment. We conducted comparative analyses of the sensitivity of nematode metabolic footprints and energy flow to latitudinal variation using a nematode dataset from the northeastern black soil region in China. The findings suggest that energy flow analyses are more sensitive to latitude and have greater potential to reveal soil health and ecosystem function. Therefore, future research should prioritize the development of automated and efficient methods for analyzing nematode traits. This will enhance the application of energy flow analyses in nematode food webs and support the development of sustainable soil management and agricultural practices.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

soil nematodes / soil health / nematode food web / functional traits / energy flux

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 42077046, 31800440), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2022YFD1500203), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA28020401), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. 2021228), and the Young Scientist Group Project of Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology (Grant No. 2022QNXZ04).

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