- Title
- Effects of digging by a native and introduced ecosystem engineer on soil physical and chemical properties in temperate grassy woodland
- Creator
- Ross, Catherine; Munro, Nicola; Barton, Philip; Evans, Maldwyn; Gillen, John
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Text; Journal article
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/182727
- Identifier
- vital:16186
- Identifier
-
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7506
- Identifier
- ISBN:2167-8359 (ISSN)
- Abstract
- Temperate grasslands and woodlands are the focus of extensive restoration efforts worldwide. Reintroduction of locally extinct soil-foraging and burrowing animals has been suggested as a means to restore soil function in these ecosystems. Yet little is known about the physical and chemical effects of digging on soil over time and how these effects differ between species of digging animal, vegetation types or ecosystems. We compared foraging pits of a native reintroduced marsupial, the eastern bettong (Bettongia gaimardi) and that of the exotic European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). We simulated pits of these animals and measured pit dimensions and soil chemical properties over a period of 2 years. We showed that bettong and rabbit pits differed in their morphology and longevity, and that pits had a strong moderating effect on soil surface temperatures. Over 75% of the simulated pits were still visible after 2 years, and bettong pits infilled faster than rabbit pits. Bettong pits reduced diurnal temperature range by up to 25 ° C compared to the soil surface. We did not find any effects of digging on soil chemistry that were consistent across vegetation types, between bettong and rabbit pits, and with time since digging, which is contrary to studies conducted in arid biomes. Our findings show that animal foraging pits in temperate ecosystems cause physical alteration of the soil surface and microclimatic conditions rather than nutrient changes often observed in arid areas. © 2019 Ross et al. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Philip Barton” is provided in this record**
- Publisher
- PeerJ Inc.
- Relation
- PeerJ Vol. 2019, no. 8 (2019), p.
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- Rights
- Copyright @ 2019 Ross et al.
- Rights
- Open Access
- Subject
- 31 Biological Sciences; 32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences; 42 Health Sciences; Digging; Eastern bettong; Ecosystem engineer; European rabbit; Grassland; Grassy woodland; Soil nutrients
- Full Text
- Reviewed
- Funder
- This work was supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP0561817, LP110100126, LP140100209). Catherine Ross was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship, and an additional scholarship top-up from the ARC (LP140100209). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.
- Hits: 526
- Visitors: 582
- Downloads: 76
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Published version | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |