Asterisks denote significance levels: * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001.

Figure 1. Experimental design. Control (C), litter removal (L), root trenching (R), and combined treatment (RL) were established at 12 sites, four of each rainforest, rubber and oil palm plantations in Jambi Province, Sumatra.

Figure 2. Effect sizes of litter removal and root trenching on abundance and richness of soil fauna in each layer and in total. Effect sizes are given as log-response ratios of litter or root exclusion compared to litter or root inclusion, respectively [ln (value in litter or root exclusion /values in litter or root inclusion)]. Asterisks indicate significant effects, with (*) p < 0.1, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001. Bars represent 95% confidence intervals (n = 8).

Figure 3. Principal component analysis of soil animal community composition varying with land-use types across experimental treatments (a), and among the different experimental treatments in rainforest (b), rubber (c) and oil palm plantations (d). Experimental treatments are coded by different line types: Control (solid line), litter removal (long dash), root trenching (dot dash) and litter removal + root trenching (dotted).

Figure 4. Effects of litter removal and root trenching on different taxonomic groups. Relative changes in abundance due to (a) root trenching and (b) litter removal, values represent mean effects across groups. (c) Effects of litter removal and root trenching on abundance of individual taxonomic groups. Effect sizes are given as log-response ratios of litter or root exclusion compared to litter or root inclusion [ln (value in litter or root exclusion /values in litter or root inclusion)]. Soil fauna abundance were summed across three depths (litter, 0–5 and 5–10 cm soil depth). Asterisks indicate significant effects, (*) p < 0.1, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001. Bars represent 95% confidence intervals (n = 8). Taxonomic groups are ordered by increasing mean body mass.

Figure 5 Relationship between the responses of animal groups to litter removal or root trenching and animal traits or community parameters: body mass (a, b), abundance (c, d), vertical distribution (e, f), Δ¹³C (g, h) and Δ¹⁵N (i, j). Black dashed lines denote overall model fits and coloured lines indicate different land-use types. The model outputs are reported in Table S4.