Elevation determines the diversity of soil fauna

Looking for soil fauna in the Val Müschauns. Beetles, millipedes or ants are hugely important for the functioning of soils. This is especially true in mountain forests, which are being particularly affected by climate change. The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL and the University of Basel have now jointly investigated how soil fauna diversity has evolved and been distributed across the altitudinal zones. Quite a lot of research has been done on plant occurrences in mountains, but little on soil-dwelling animals. "The fauna groups we studied are relevant to ecosystem functioning, and some of them have important roles in nutrient cycling, such as millipedes, or in relation to soil structure, such as soil-dwelling ants," says co-author Stephan Zimmermann of WSL's Soil Functions and Protection research group. He further points that these groups are representative of numerous other arthropod groups: spiders are predators, while millipedes break down litter to provide nutrients.