Land-use change reshapes communities and guild structure of Collembola across a wide geographic range of the temperate zone

Abstract

Soil biodiversity is crucial for maintaining ecosystem functions and soil health, yet it is increasingly threatened by global change drivers such as land-use intensification. However, research on how land-use intensification affects belowground communities across biogeographic regions is scarce. This study investigates the response of Collembola, a highly abundant and ecologically significant soil animal taxon, to land-use changes across a broad latitudinal gradient (39°N to 48°N) in northeast China. Our findings show that agricultural intensification significantly reduces Collembola richness, density and Shannon-Wiener diversity, with pronounced differences between farmlands and planted forests. Notably, the response of Collembola of different life forms (epedaphic, hemiedaphic and euedaphic) to land use and climate factors varied markedly with latitude. In particular, epedaphic Collembola were negatively impacted by land-use intensification, while hemiedaphic Collembola were influenced by both land use and climate, with their density increasing with latitude. By contrast, euedaphic Collembola were largely unaffected by these factors. Agricultural land use also led to homogenization of Collembola communities and significantly altered their community composition, mainly due to shifts in epedaphic Collembola. Overall, our results indicate that agricultural land use reduces biodiversity, promotes biotic homogenization, and leads to distinct community compositions due to the varying response of Collembola fauna life forms to land-use change along latitudinal gradients.