Soil Macrofauna Patterns of Functional Diversity Across Forest Systems
		Kelly Inward Supervisors: Paul Eggleton (The Natural History Museum), Julian Park, Simon Mortimer Soil macrofauna are increasingly recognised to be of critical importance for the healthy functioning of soils. Many soil processes (e.g. bioturbation of all kinds) are mediated by functionally similar macrofauna groups of phylogenetically diverse origins However, the exact functional similarity between these groups is poorly understood as most studies of their functional ecology tend to be confined to individual taxonomic groups. There is a vital need to expand studies in order to understand combined patterns of soil invertebrate function This project will concentrate on the functional ecology of eight major orders of soil invertebrates (ants, beetles, worms, millipedes, centipedes, woodlice, termites and spiders) sampled using standardised soil and litter sampling protocols. These samples are from (a) UK woodlands, and (b) tropical forests Integrated functional classifications will be constructed for the target groups using UK data and patterns of functionality assessed. Subsequently the more general applicability of these classifications will be tested using tropical data, with a special emphasis on ants and termites: the two dominant tropical rain forest soil invertebrate groups. OBJECTIVES To examine and integrate functional group classifications of the target groups within the UK in order to create a framework for cross-taxon comparisons To use these to examine functional patterns in the NHM’s UK Soil Biodiversity Macroinvertebrate Database. UK samples are an appropriate place to start as our knowledge of the taxonomy and biology of UK invertebrates is very well developed To transfer the UK functional classifications to other forest samples (also collected by the NHM team), predominantly from tropical rain forest. Ants and termites will be used as the primary focus groups for this study as they are taxonomically tractable and ecologically dominant in tropical rain forests. Other groups will be included as available Following on from the above, to identify NHM tropical ant soil samples to morphospecies within genera and relate this to the NHM’s existing Global Termite Database. METHODS Data will be obtained from standardised soil and litter samples from temperate and tropical sites (based on the NHM’s Soil Biodiversity Programme’s RBA protocol). A large number of these sites will be in UK woodlands, especially from our flagship site in the New Forest, Hampshire. Functional classifications will be derived from the literature and from existing NHM unpublished classifications. Multivariate analysis will be used to analyse functional diversity patterns. Identification work will be from published keys and using the NHM’s global collections. OUTPUTS Research papers on: (a) functional classifications of UK soil macroinvertebrates, (b) patterns in UK woodland soil invertebrate function, (c) the application of UK functional classifications to tropical forest systems, (d) patterns of co-variation of ants and termites in global forest systems. Fieldwork has been funded by the Department of Entomology, The Natural History Museum; Biota (Biodiversity Monitoring Transect Analysis in Africa); Darwin Initiative and the European Union.