Tardigrade distribution in soils of high Arctic habitats
Abstract Tardigrades are omnipresent microfauna with scarce record on their ecology in soils. Here, we investigated soil inhabiting tardigrade communities in five contrasting polar habitats, evaluating their abundance, diversity, species richness, and species composition. Moreover, we measured selec...
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Wiley
2024-07-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.11386 |
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| author | Michala Tůmová Veronika Jílková Petr Macek Miloslav Devetter |
| author_facet | Michala Tůmová Veronika Jílková Petr Macek Miloslav Devetter |
| author_sort | Michala Tůmová |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Tardigrades are omnipresent microfauna with scarce record on their ecology in soils. Here, we investigated soil inhabiting tardigrade communities in five contrasting polar habitats, evaluating their abundance, diversity, species richness, and species composition. Moreover, we measured selected soil physico‐chemical properties to find the drivers of tardigrade distribution among these habitats. In spite of reported tardigrade viability in extreme conditions, glacier forelands represented a habitat almost devoid of tardigrades. Even dry and wet tundra with soil developing for over more than 10 000 years held low abundances compared to usual numbers of tardigrades in temperate habitats. Polar habitats also differ in species composition, with Diaforobiotus islandicus being typical species for dry and Hypsibius exemplaris for wet tundra. Overall, tardigrade abundance was affected by the content of nutrients as well as physical properties of soil, i.e. content of total nitrogen (TN), total organic carbon (TOC), stoniness, soil texture and the water holding capacity (WHC). While diversity and species composition were significantly related to soil physical properties such as the bulk density (BD), soil texture, stoniness, and WHC. Physical structure of environment was, therefore, an important predictor of tardigrade distribution in polar habitats. Since many studies failed to identify significant determinants of tardigrade distribution, we encourage scientists to include physical properties of tardigrade habitats as explanatory variables in their studies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0cf654d197834a76b102c2d4ac1b1df7 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-07-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
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| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj-art-0cf654d197834a76b102c2d4ac1b1df72025-08-20T03:13:48ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582024-07-01147n/an/a10.1002/ece3.11386Tardigrade distribution in soils of high Arctic habitatsMichala Tůmová0Veronika Jílková1Petr Macek2Miloslav Devetter3Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia České Budějovice Czech RepublicInstitute of Soil Biology and Biogeochemistry Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences České Budějovice Czech RepublicInstitute of Hydrobiology Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences České Budějovice Czech RepublicInstitute of Soil Biology and Biogeochemistry Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences České Budějovice Czech RepublicAbstract Tardigrades are omnipresent microfauna with scarce record on their ecology in soils. Here, we investigated soil inhabiting tardigrade communities in five contrasting polar habitats, evaluating their abundance, diversity, species richness, and species composition. Moreover, we measured selected soil physico‐chemical properties to find the drivers of tardigrade distribution among these habitats. In spite of reported tardigrade viability in extreme conditions, glacier forelands represented a habitat almost devoid of tardigrades. Even dry and wet tundra with soil developing for over more than 10 000 years held low abundances compared to usual numbers of tardigrades in temperate habitats. Polar habitats also differ in species composition, with Diaforobiotus islandicus being typical species for dry and Hypsibius exemplaris for wet tundra. Overall, tardigrade abundance was affected by the content of nutrients as well as physical properties of soil, i.e. content of total nitrogen (TN), total organic carbon (TOC), stoniness, soil texture and the water holding capacity (WHC). While diversity and species composition were significantly related to soil physical properties such as the bulk density (BD), soil texture, stoniness, and WHC. Physical structure of environment was, therefore, an important predictor of tardigrade distribution in polar habitats. Since many studies failed to identify significant determinants of tardigrade distribution, we encourage scientists to include physical properties of tardigrade habitats as explanatory variables in their studies.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.11386bird cliffsoil microfaunasoil structurewater bears |
| spellingShingle | Michala Tůmová Veronika Jílková Petr Macek Miloslav Devetter Tardigrade distribution in soils of high Arctic habitats Ecology and Evolution bird cliff soil microfauna soil structure water bears |
| title | Tardigrade distribution in soils of high Arctic habitats |
| title_full | Tardigrade distribution in soils of high Arctic habitats |
| title_fullStr | Tardigrade distribution in soils of high Arctic habitats |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tardigrade distribution in soils of high Arctic habitats |
| title_short | Tardigrade distribution in soils of high Arctic habitats |
| title_sort | tardigrade distribution in soils of high arctic habitats |
| topic | bird cliff soil microfauna soil structure water bears |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.11386 |
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