1. Carrion is a frequent but overlooked source of nutrients to the soil. The decomposition of carrion is accelerated by invertebrate scavengers, but the impact of the scavengers on below-ground biota and its functions is scarcely known.
2. We conducted a laboratory experiment to investigate the effects of the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides on the soil community of a temperate broadleaved forest. We assembled microcosms from soil collected from an oak woodland and treated them with mouse Mus musculus carcasses and mating pairs of burying beetles (♀+♂) in a factorial design with control soils. We sampled independent replicates over time to investigate how the beetles affect soil microarthropods and microbial biomass (bacteria and fungi) in relation to soil pH and organic matter content.
3. The beetle treatment initially reduced the total microbial biomass and abundance of major groups of microarthropods relative to the control soil. At the same time, organic matter increased in the beetle treatment and then dropped to the pre-beetle level (i.e. soil baseline) at the end of the beetle breeding cycle (2 weeks). The rapid temporal changes in organic matter were mimicked by the relative abundances of the dominant microarthropod groups, with Oribatida relatively more abundant than Collembola and predaceous mites in the beetle treatment. The overall final effect of the beetle (relative to the laboratory control) on microarthropods was negative but the beetle kept these variables within the levels observed for freshly collected soil (baseline), while the final effect on pH was positive, and most likely driven by the surplus of nutrients from the carcass and biochemical changes triggered by the decomposition process.
4. In nature, scavenging invertebrates are widespread. Our study demonstrates that beetles breeding in carcasses regulate the dynamics of key components of the soil food web, including microbial biomass, changes in the relative abundances of dominant microarthropods and soil organic matter and pH. Given the abundance of these beetles in nature, the study implies that the distribution of these beetles is a key driver of variation in soil nutrient cycling in woodlands.

中文翻译：

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食腐甲虫控制土壤群落对腐肉分解的时间响应

1. 腐肉是一种常见但被忽视的土壤养分来源。无脊椎动物清道夫加速了腐肉的分解，但清道夫对地下生物群及其功能的影响鲜为人知。
2. 我们进行了一项实验室实验，以研究埋藏甲虫Nicrophorus vespilloides对温带阔叶林土壤群落的影响。我们从橡树林地收集的土壤中组装了微观世界，并用小鼠Musculus尸体和成对的埋葬甲虫 (♀+♂) 对它们进行了处理，以使用对照土壤进行因子设计。我们随着时间的推移对独立的重复进行采样，以研究甲虫如何影响土壤微节肢动物和微生物生物量（细菌和真菌）与土壤 pH 值和有机质含量的关系。
3. 相对于对照土壤，甲虫处理最初降低了微生物总生物量和主要微节肢动物群的丰度。同时，甲虫处理中有机质增加，然后在甲虫繁殖周期结束时（2周）下降到前甲虫水平（即土壤基线）。有机质的快速时间变化通过优势微节肢动物群的相对丰度来模拟，在甲虫处理中，Oribatida 比跳虫和捕食螨相对更丰富。甲虫（相对于实验室对照）对微节肢动物的总体最终影响是负面的，但甲虫将这些变量保持在对新鲜收集的土壤（基线）观察到的水平内，而对 pH 的最终影响是积极的，
4. 在自然界中，清除无脊椎动物是普遍存在的。我们的研究表明，在尸体中繁殖的甲虫调节土壤食物网关键组成部分的动态，包括微生物生物量、优势微节肢动物的相对丰度以及土壤有机质和 pH 值的变化。鉴于自然界中这些甲虫数量众多，该研究表明这些甲虫的分布是林地土壤养分循环变化的关键驱动因素。