Upslope migration of oribatid mites and Collembola alters soil functions and microbial community assembly in the Changbai Mountains

Abstract

Climate-driven shifts in soil fauna may strongly affect soil functioning in mountain forests, yet their consequences remain poorly understood. In a microcosm experiment, we simulated upslope migration by introducing low-altitude communities of oribatid mites and Collembola from a coniferous-broadleaf mixed forest (migrant communities) into coniferous forest soil containing native high-altitude communities, either separately or together. We assessed treatment-induced changes in soil functioning by combining gas chromatography-based measurements of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with high-throughput sequencing of microbial communities and an evaluation of ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF). Relative to the mesofauna-free control, native mesofauna increased CO₂ and N₂O emissions by 71.33% and 252.19%, respectively, and enhanced EMF by 26.02%. When native and migrant communities co-occurred, cumulative CO₂ and N₂O emissions were 36.18% and 26.08% lower than expected from additive expectation based on their individual effects, suggesting strong non-additive interactions between migrant and native communities. These functional changes were accompanied by shifts in microbial community assembly, with contrasting responses between bacterial and fungal communities. Random forest models further indicated that mesofaunal diversity explained more variation in CO₂ and N₂O emissions, as well as EMF, than the measured microbial variables. Overall, our findings highlight soil mesofaunal community dynamics as an important predictor of functional changes in mountain coniferous forest soils under climate-driven range shifts.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Changbai Mountain / coniferous forest soils / soil mesofauna / greenhouse gas emissions / non-additive effects

Highlight

	● The coexistence of native- and low-altitude mesofauna exerted non-additive effects on soil GHG emissions.
	● Native mesofauna enhanced ecosystem multifunctionality in coniferous forest soil.
	● Soil mesofauna altered microbial community assembly processes.
	● Mesofauna diversity better predicted CO2, N2O emissions and EMF than microbial diversity.

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