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.

应当考虑到生境改变和生物相互作用变化的直接和间接影响，以了解森林人为干扰对森林生态系统的生态后果。很少有实证研究评估间接影响并考虑多种营养水平，但最近的统计和理论进展为实现这一目标提供了新途径。在这里，我们调查了人为干扰对北方森林中多营养土壤群落的直接和间接影响。我们评估了对两种人为干扰强度的短期（2年）非生物和生物响应：常规收获和收获，然后去除有机物。我们量化了包括植被和土壤动物在内的八类物种的变化及其对凋落物分解的潜在影响。我们使用基于特征的方法和结构方程模型来量化干扰强度对环境条件，地上和地下生物群落的功能响应以及凋落物分解的直接和间接影响。发现森林扰动强度对物种群落组成有自下而上的影响，从较低的营养水平（例如，有害的跳尾）到土壤动物的主要掠食者（例如，奔跑的蜘蛛）。我们的研究结果表明，干扰通过动物群落的变化而对凋落物分解产生了一些影响。我们的研究表明，对干扰影响的多营养评估提供了对生态系统对环境变化的响应的综合理解。