Latent extinction risk of soil fauna in Beijing: A 4-year study from 2013 to 2016
Soil ecosystems are far more functionally valuable than previously thought, so soil biodiversity conservation deserves more attention. Soil animals are less visible and often overlooked, so maintaining ecosystem function is essential to reducing species loss. In contrast to aboveground communities,...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Ecosystem Health and Sustainability |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20964129.2021.1878934 |
| _version_ | 1797701082498990080 |
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| author | Wei Wang Qilin Ren Runzhi Zhang Pengxiang Wu |
| author_facet | Wei Wang Qilin Ren Runzhi Zhang Pengxiang Wu |
| author_sort | Wei Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Soil ecosystems are far more functionally valuable than previously thought, so soil biodiversity conservation deserves more attention. Soil animals are less visible and often overlooked, so maintaining ecosystem function is essential to reducing species loss. In contrast to aboveground communities, the susceptibility to extinction in the belowground world to data has been dealt with only cursorily. Here, we surveyed population sizes of different animal orders in both urban and rural Beijing from 2013 to 2016, to study the impact of increasing urbanization on the ecology of soil fauna. We found 9 orders had less than 1% of soil-animal population in both urban and rural areas. The populations of 6 orders in urban areas were far smaller than those in rural areas. Between 2013 and 2016, both urban (46.9%) and rural (61.2%) areas had experienced a substantial long-term population decrease, and soil animals in Beijing suffered a 52.8% loss of population. Our study indicates 40.9% of orders may be in danger of local extinction, and 27.3% of orders seem highly susceptible to urbanization. Over just four years the soil-animal population in Beijing is shrinking fast thanks largely to increasing urbanization. This raises the worrying prospect of a future soil fauna that may be at risk of local extinction in cities. It is therefore necessary to provide a pragmatic approach to soil-animal diversity conservation. Moreover, the deeper understanding of soil extinction ecology opens up an exciting frontier of opportunities for future research. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T04:31:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d7269e7f9de54e1dbffc292028f03779 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2332-8878 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T04:31:17Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecosystem Health and Sustainability |
| spelling | doaj.art-d7269e7f9de54e1dbffc292028f037792023-09-03T10:07:25ZengAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)Ecosystem Health and Sustainability2332-88782021-01-010010.1080/20964129.2021.18789341878934Latent extinction risk of soil fauna in Beijing: A 4-year study from 2013 to 2016Wei Wang0Qilin Ren1Runzhi Zhang2Pengxiang Wu3Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of SciencesGuizhou UniversityInstitute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of SciencesSoil ecosystems are far more functionally valuable than previously thought, so soil biodiversity conservation deserves more attention. Soil animals are less visible and often overlooked, so maintaining ecosystem function is essential to reducing species loss. In contrast to aboveground communities, the susceptibility to extinction in the belowground world to data has been dealt with only cursorily. Here, we surveyed population sizes of different animal orders in both urban and rural Beijing from 2013 to 2016, to study the impact of increasing urbanization on the ecology of soil fauna. We found 9 orders had less than 1% of soil-animal population in both urban and rural areas. The populations of 6 orders in urban areas were far smaller than those in rural areas. Between 2013 and 2016, both urban (46.9%) and rural (61.2%) areas had experienced a substantial long-term population decrease, and soil animals in Beijing suffered a 52.8% loss of population. Our study indicates 40.9% of orders may be in danger of local extinction, and 27.3% of orders seem highly susceptible to urbanization. Over just four years the soil-animal population in Beijing is shrinking fast thanks largely to increasing urbanization. This raises the worrying prospect of a future soil fauna that may be at risk of local extinction in cities. It is therefore necessary to provide a pragmatic approach to soil-animal diversity conservation. Moreover, the deeper understanding of soil extinction ecology opens up an exciting frontier of opportunities for future research.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20964129.2021.1878934population sizediversity conservationurbanizationlocal extinction riskbeijing |
| spellingShingle | Wei Wang Qilin Ren Runzhi Zhang Pengxiang Wu Latent extinction risk of soil fauna in Beijing: A 4-year study from 2013 to 2016 Ecosystem Health and Sustainability population size diversity conservation urbanization local extinction risk beijing |
| title | Latent extinction risk of soil fauna in Beijing: A 4-year study from 2013 to 2016 |
| title_full | Latent extinction risk of soil fauna in Beijing: A 4-year study from 2013 to 2016 |
| title_fullStr | Latent extinction risk of soil fauna in Beijing: A 4-year study from 2013 to 2016 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Latent extinction risk of soil fauna in Beijing: A 4-year study from 2013 to 2016 |
| title_short | Latent extinction risk of soil fauna in Beijing: A 4-year study from 2013 to 2016 |
| title_sort | latent extinction risk of soil fauna in beijing a 4 year study from 2013 to 2016 |
| topic | population size diversity conservation urbanization local extinction risk beijing |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20964129.2021.1878934 |
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