Soil erosion decreases soil microbial respiration in Japanese beech forests with understory vegetation lost by deer

ABSTRACT Increases in the number of wild herbivores resulted in understory degradation because of their overgrazing in forest ecosystems. Deer overgrazing has occurred soil erosion in Japanese beech forests where dwarf bamboo used to be densely covered. Soil erosion can result in a decrease in soil carbon and nutrient contents, causing the soil microbial respiration in such forest ecosystems to be degraded. The objective of this study was to clarify the effects of soil erosion, which sporadically occurs within the forests, on soil properties and microbial activity. Soil erosion indices, such as the maximum height of exposed roots from the soil surface (MAXH), tree and soil properties, microbial basal and substrate-induced respiration, were measured under the canopy of 16 beech trees in each of three deciduous broadleaved forests on southern Kyushu Island, Japan. Soil properties such as the humus mass and the organic matter contents of soil and humus decreased with MAXH. Basal and substrate-induced respiration decreased with increases in MAXH. Soil properties associated with organic matter increased with basal and substrate-induced respiration. These results suggest that soil surface layers that were rich in organic matter ran off because of soil erosion, resulting in the degradation of soil microbial activity. This study suggests that increases in wild herbivore populations degrade soil ecosystem functioning owing to the soil erosion induced by understory disappearance.