Purpose

To build a more holistic understanding of soil pH change we assessed the synchronised effects of a contrived soil pH change on soil chemistry, vegetation growth and nutrition, and soil faunal abundance and diversity.

Methods

We established a fifteen year old field experiment with a contrived pH gradient (pH 4.3 to 6.3) and measured the effect on soil chemistry, plant biomass and elemental composition and the impact of these changes on soil fauna (earthworms, nematodes, rotifers and tardigrades) and biological indices (based on ecological group structures of earthworms and nematodes). A single 20 × 20 × 20 cm soil block was excavated from each sample site to directly attribute biotic parameters in the block to the abiotic (soil) conditions.

Results

Acidification affected the extractable concentrations of Al, Ca, Mn and P and the C:N ratio of the soil and caused a reduction in plant Ca (r_s for pH vs Ca = 0.804 p < 0.01), an increase in plant Mn (r_s = −0.450 p = 0.019), along with significant decrease in root:shoot ratio (r_s = 0.638, p < 0.01). There was a significant positive correlation between pH and earthworm index (r_s = 0.606, p < 0.01), and a negative correlation between pH and nematode index (r_s = −0.515, p < 0.01).

Conclusion

Soil pH influenced the mobility of Ca, Al, Mn and P, which in turn has impacted on plant tissue chemistry and plant biomass ratios. Linked changes in soil chemistry and vegetation had a corresponding effect on the abundance and diversity of nematodes and earthworms in the soil blocks.

中文翻译：

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植物，土壤和动物对人为pH梯度的反应

目的

为了建立对土壤pH值变化的更全面的了解，我们评估了人为的土壤pH值变化对土壤化学，植被生长和营养以及土壤动物群落丰富度和多样性的同步影响。

方法

我们建立了一个具有人为pH梯度（pH 4.3至6.3）的十五年野外实验，并测量了其对土壤化学，植物生物量和元素组成的影响以及这些变化对土壤动物（ear，线虫，轮虫和节肢动物）的影响。和生物学指标（基于earth和线虫的生态群结构）。从每个采样点挖掘出一个20×20×20 cm的土壤块，将块中的生物参数直接归因于非生物（土壤）条件。

结果

酸化影响了Al，Ca，Mn和P的可提取浓度以及土壤的C：N比，并导致植物Ca的减少（pH相对于Ca的r _s = Ca = 0.804 p  <0.01），植物Mn的增加（r _s  = -0.450 p  = 0.019），并且根：茎比率显着降低（r _s  = 0.638，p  <0.01）。pH与earth指数之间存在显着的正相关（r _s  = 0.606，p  <0.01），而pH与线虫之间存在负相关（r _s  = -0.515，p  <0.01）。

结论

土壤pH影响Ca，Al，Mn和P的迁移率，进而影响植物组织化学和植物生物量比率。土壤化学和植被的联系变化对土壤块中线虫和earth的丰度和多样性具有相应的影响。