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Soil Fauna of Peat-Forming Wetlands in a Natural River Floodplain

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Abstract

We assessed the response of soil fauna to natural environmental gradients triggered by different dynamics of hydrological conditions. Four sites differing in the dynamics of groundwater-surface water interactions, type of soil and type of wetland vegetation were selected along a transect running from a river channel to the margin of the valley in the floodplain. Soil macrofauna, represented by millipedes, terrestrial isopods and earthworms, and soil mesofauna (collembolans) were investigated along that transect. Our results demonstrate that soil macrofauna and mesofauna variability differ across examined peat-forming wetlands. The effect of hydrological conditions associated with flooding emerged as a significant predictor of the variability in soil macrofauna with regard to millipedes and terrestrial isopods, but not earthworms. We concluded that the interactive processes reflected in the landscape mosaic, complex spatio-temporal environmental gradients and biogeochemical factors determine the distribution of soil macro and mesofauna within peat-filled river floodplains, although soil fauna components differ in the response across the examined sites.

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Acknowledgments

The study was realised within the joint research project of the Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Soil Biology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences. The authors thank the Biebrza National Park Administration for the logistic help during the field work. Mariusz Górnicz and Thomas Cooper kindly corrected the English.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Museum and Institute of Zoology Polish Academy of Sciences, Wilcza 64, 00-679, Warszawa, Poland

    Maria Sterzyńska

  2. Institute of Soil Biology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Sádkách 7, 370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Václav Pižl & Karel Tajovský

  3. Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776, Warszawa, Poland

    Mateusz Stelmaszczyk & Tomasz Okruszko

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  1. Maria Sterzyńska
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  2. Václav Pižl
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  3. Karel Tajovský
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  4. Mateusz Stelmaszczyk
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  5. Tomasz Okruszko
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Correspondence to Maria Sterzyńska.

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Sterzyńska, M., Pižl, V., Tajovský, K. et al. Soil Fauna of Peat-Forming Wetlands in a Natural River Floodplain. Wetlands 35, 815–829 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-015-0672-0

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