Climatic variables
We demonstrated that soil invertebrate contributions to forest litter
decomposition are positively related to temperature and precipitation.
Climate can moderate faunal decomposition through its impacts upon
invertebrate activities (Thakur et al. 2018). Low temperature or
water-limited conditions in subtropical, temperate, and boreal forests
limit soil invertebrate activities and their decomposing effects (David
& Handa 2010; Castanho et al. 2012). The behaviour of some
invertebrate decomposers are directly sensitive to temperature. Foraging
termites, for example, show increasing discovery rates with increasing
temperature (Zanne et al. 2022). For precipitation, many soil
organisms are sensitive to low soil moisture. Protozoa, nematodes and
mites, for instance, live within water droplets or films and are
directly affected by water potential (Hoeffner et al. 2019). Some
soft-bodied meso- or macro-invertebrates (e.g. earthworms) are also
susceptible to moisture stress (Swift et al. 1979). In contrast,
invertebrates that mainly occupy the litter layer or air-filled soil
spaces (e.g. termites, isopods, millipedes and beetles), have lower
water sensitivity and are more
resistant to desiccation (Swift et al. 1979; Berg & McClaugherty
2020). Foraging discovery rates and activities of termites may even be
enhanced with increasing drought, enhancing their ecological importance
in extreme droughts (Ashton et al. 2019). Any loss of decomposer
organisms driven by climate change, therefore, may lead to a decrease in
future litter decomposition (Wall et al. 2010), but the relative
magnitude of termite impacts on biogeochemistry may increase at the
Earth’s surface with increasing tropicalization (Zanne et al.2022).