Diversity and abundance of soil macroinvertebrates along a contamination gradient in the Central Urals, Russia
Citation
Vorobeichik E, Nesterkov A, Ermakov A, Zolotarev M, Grebennikov M (2022). Diversity and abundance of soil macroinvertebrates along a contamination gradient in the Central Urals, Russia. Version 1.5. Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology (IPAE). Sampling event dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/7unb96 accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-09-01.Description
The dataset includes a 2004 census for topsoil macroinvertebrates of spruce-fir forests along a pollution gradient in the Central Urals. The dataset describes soil macrofauna’s abundance and community structure (list of supraspecific taxa, list of species for most abundant taxa, and taxa or species abundance) in areas differing with toxic metal (Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd) contamination levels from the Middle Ural Copper Smelter (heavily polluted, moderately polluted, and unpolluted areas). The dataset consists of 340 sampling events (= samples, corresponding to upper and lower layers of the soil monoliths), and 64 658 occurrences (abundance of invertebrate taxa per sample (soil layer), both present and absent). Arachnids, Carabids (adults), Elaterids (juveniles), Chilopods, Diplopods, Gastropods, Staphylinids (adults), and Lmbricids were identified to species level. In contrast, Mermithids, Enchytraeids, Lepidopteran larvae, Dipteran larvae, Hemipterans, Hymenopterans, and some other insects were identified to family or order levels. In total, 8 430 individuals of soil macroinvertebrates were collected in two soil layers (organic and organic-mineral horizons), including 1 046 Arachnids (spiders and harvestmen), 45 Carabids, 300 Elaterids, 529 Myriapods, 741 Gastropods, 437 Staphylinids, 623 Lumbricids, and 4 709 other invertebrates. The presence-absence data on each taxon is provided for each sampling event. The dataset contains information helpful for long-term ecotoxicological monitoring of forest ecosystems and contributes to studying soil macrofauna diversity in the Urals.Sampling Description
Study Extent
Study sites were located on gentle slopes of ridges in spruce-fir forest. A total of nine study sites (=locationID) were established, corresponding to areas with different pollution levels. The number of sampling plots within each study site ranged from one to three; 20 samples were collected from each sampling plot. The study of soil macrofauna is part of an ongoing long-term monitoring project; the dataset covers the period from July 03, 2004, to August 16, 2004.Sampling
Soil macroinvertebrates were collected in July and August of 2004. Sampling plots 10 × 10 m in size were established in nine study sites. Soil macrofauna was hand-sorted out of soil monoliths 20 × 20 cm in area and 25–30 cm in depth depending on the presence of macroinvertebrates. A total of 340 samples and 8 430 individuals of soil macroinvertebrates were collected over 2004 year.Quality Control
All soil macrofauna specimens were stored in the depository of the Laboratory of Population and Community Ecotoxicology of the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (IPAE UB RAS). The specialists of the IPAE also performed species identification of most of the taxa: arachnids, chilopods, and diplopods were identified by Maxim P. Zolotarev; carabids and elaterids were identified by Alexander I. Ermakov; gastropods were identified by Maxim E. Grebennikov. Species identification of the staphylinids was carried out by Viktor B. Semenov from the Institute of Medical Parasitology, Tropical and Vector-borne Diseases named after E.I. Martsinovsky, Moscow. Earthworm species were identified by Elena V. Golovanova from the Laboratory of Invertebrate Systematics and Ecology of Omsk State Pedagogical University, Omsk.Method steps
- Fieldwork and processing of soil monoliths. Soil macroinvertebrates were collected in July and August of 2004. Sampling plots 10 × 10 m in size were established in nine study sites. Soil macrofauna was hand-sorted out of soil monoliths 20 × 20 cm in area and 25–30 cm in depth depending on the presence of macroinvertebrates. The sampling effort (time interval for extracting one soil monolith from the sampling plot) was approximately 5 minutes. Ten monoliths were collected from each plot randomly, excluding nearby trunk areas with a radius of 0.5–1 m around large trees (more than 30 cm in diameter) and any visible pedoturbations. During sampling, monoliths were divided into two layers: the O horizon (organic) and A horizon (organic-mineral). Monoliths were placed in plastic bags (separately for the layers), delivered to the laboratory, and stored before processing at 12°C for no more than five days (as a rule, 1–2 days). The collected invertebrates were wet-preserved in 70% ethanol; earthworms were carefully washed with water, fixed with 10% formalin, and then wet-preserved in 70% ethanol. Ants and relatively large microarthropods (springtails, oribatid mites) were left out of account. A total of 340 samples and 8 430 individuals of soil macroinvertebrates were collected over 2004 year.
Taxonomic Coverages
General taxonomic coverage is 4 phyli, 7 classes, 16 orders, 39 families, 115 genera, 142 species of soil macroinvertebrates.
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Annelidarank: phylum
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Clitellatarank: class
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Crassiclitellatarank: order
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Enchytraeidarank: order
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Arthropodarank: phylum
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Arachnidarank: class
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Araneaerank: order
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Opilionesrank: order
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Chilopodarank: class
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Geophilomorpharank: order
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Lithobiomorpharank: order
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Diplopodarank: class
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Chordeumatidarank: order
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Polyzoniidarank: order
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Insectarank: class
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Coleopterarank: order
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Dipterarank: order
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Hemipterarank: order
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Hymenopterarank: order
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Lepidopterarank: order
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Molluscarank: phylum
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Gastropodarank: class
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Ellobiidarank: order
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Stylommatophorarank: order
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Nematodarank: phylum
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Enoplearank: class
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Mermithidarank: order
Geographic Coverages
The study area is situated in the lowest uplands of the Urals (altitudes are 150–400 m above sea level) and belongs to the southern taiga subzone. Primary coniferous forests (Picea abies, Abies sibirica, and Pinus sylvestris) and secondary deciduous forests (Betula pendula, Betula pubescens, and Populus tremula) prevail. Spruce and fir forests with nemoral flora on loam or heavy loam soils dominate on the western slope of the Urals, and pine forests on sandy loam or light loam soils prevail on the eastern side. Study areas are located in spruce-fir forests. The ground vegetation layer is dominated by Oxalis acetosella, Aegopodium podagraria, Gymnocarpium dryopteris, Dryopteris carthusiana, Asarum europaeum, Maianthemum bifolium, Cerastium pauciflorum, and Stellaria holostea.
Soil formation occurs on eluvium and eluvium-diluvium of bedrock metamorphic rocks (shales, sandstones, quartzites, and silicified limestones). Soil cover is formed mainly by soddy-podzolic soils (Albic Retisols, Stagnic Retisols, and Leptic Retisols), burozems (Haplic Cambisols), and grey forest soils (Retic Phaeozems). Zoogenically active humus form (Dysmull) prevails (Korkina and Vorobeichik, 2021).
The climate is warm-summer humid continental, Dfb according to Köppen-Geiger classification (Peel et al., 2007). The average annual air temperature is +2.0 °С; the average annual precipitation is 550 mm; the warmest month is July (+17.7 °С) and the coldest month is January (–14.2 °С) (mean values for the last 40 years, 1975–2015, according to the data of the nearest meteorological station in Revda). The snowless period is about 215 days (from April to October), the maximum height of the snow cover is about 40–60 cm.
The Middle Ural Copper Smelter (MUCS), located in the suburbs of Revda, 50 km west of Yekaterinburg, has been in operation since 1940. The primary toxic emissions are gaseous compounds of sulfur, fluorine, and nitrogen and dust particles with adsorbed heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Fe, Hg) and metalloids (As). The annual amount of emissions in 1980 reached 225 × 103 t, being reduced to 148 × 103 t in 1990 and 106 × 103 t in 1991. The subsequent reduction was more significant: to 96 × 103 t in 1994, 63 × 103 t in 2000, 28 × 103 t in 2004, and, after an overhaul of the smelter in 2010, to only 3–5 × 103 t per year (Vorobeichik, Kaigorodova, 2017). Current concentrations of heavy metals in the forest litter near the MUCS are very high: Cu, 3500–5500 μg/g; Pb, 2500 μg/g; Cd, 17–20 μg/g; Zn, 600–900 μg/g; i.e., they exceed the background values by factors of 100, 40, 7, and 3, respectively (Vorobeichik, Pishchulin, 2016; Korkina, Vorobeichik, 2018).
In the moderately polluted areas, exposure to emissions from MUCS has resulted in suppressed growth of trees (decrease in the height, diameter, and stock of tree stand) and ground vegetation (decrease in species diversity and productivity). Closer to the MUCS, in the heavily polluted area, the spruce-fir forest has survived in fragments with herbaceous communities of relatively poor species composition (Equisetum sylvaticum, Deschampsia caespitosa, Tussilago farfara, Agrostis capillaris) and a moss layer formed by Pohlia nutans.
Despite the significant reduction of emissions in recent years, vegetation in the most polluted areas is not yet been recovered. However, some positive changes have already occurred in the moderately polluted zone (Vorobeichik et al., 2014). Apart from the metal accumulation and increased acidity, soil transformation manifests itself in the enhancement of the eluvial-gleying process, degradation of soil aggregates, decrease in exchangeable potassium and magnesium, increase in forest litter thickness, and shifts from zoogenically active Mull humus forms to Eumor humus forms without any signs of soil macrofauna activity (Kaigorodova, Vorobeichik, 1996; Korkina, Vorobeichik, 2016, 2018, 2021; Vorobeichik, Pishchulin, 2016).
Bibliographic Citations
- Kaigorodova S.Yu., Vorobeichik E.L., 1996. Changes in certain properties of grey forest soil polluted with emissions from a copper-smelting plant. Russian Journal of Ecology. Vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 177–183. -
- Korkina, I.N., Vorobeichik, E.L., 2016. The humus index: A promising tool for environmental monitoring. Russian Journal of Ecology. Vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 526–531. - https://doi.org/10.1134/S1067413616060084
- Korkina, I.N., Vorobeichik, E.L., 2018. Humus index as an indicator of the topsoil response to the impacts of industrial pollution. Applied Journal of Soil Ecology, Vol. 123, pp. 455–463. - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2017.09.025
- Korkina, I.N., Vorobeichik, E.L., 2021. Non-typical degraded and regraded humus forms in metal-contaminated areas, or there and back again. Geoderma 404, 115390. - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2021.115390
- Peel, M.C., Finlayson, B.L., McMahon, T.A., 2007. Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 11, 1633–1644. - https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007
- Vorobeichik, E.L. Pishchulin, P.G., 2016. Industrial pollution reduces the effect of trees on forming the patterns of heavy metal concentration fields in forest litter. Russian Journal of Ecology. Vol. 47, no. 5, pp. 431–441. - https://doi.org/10.1134/S1067413616050155
- Vorobeichik, E.L., Trubina, M.R., Khantemirova, E.V., Bergman, I.E., 2014. Long-term dynamic of forest vegetation after reduction of copper smelter emissions. Russian Journal of Ecology. Vol. 45, no. 6, pp. 498–507. - https://doi.org/10.1134/S1067413614060150
- Vorobeichik E, Nesterkov A, Ermakov A, Zolotarev M, Grebennikov M (2022) Diversity and abundance of soil macroinvertebrates along a contamination gradient in the Central Urals, Russia. Biodiversity Data Journal 10: e76968. - https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.10.e76968
Contacts
Evgenii Vorobeichikoriginator
position: principal investigator
Institute of plant and animal ecology, UB RAS
Yekaterinburg
RU
email: ev@ipae.uran.ru
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9191-1296
Alexey Nesterkov
originator
position: researcher
Institute of plant and animal ecology, UB RAS
Yekaterinburg
RU
email: nesterkov@ipae.uran.ru
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8382-8468
Alexander Ermakov
originator
position: senior researcher
Institute of plant and animal ecology, UB RAS
Yekaterinburg
RU
email: ermakov@ipae.uran.ru
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6151-7594
Maxim Zolotarev
originator
position: researcher
Institute of plant and animal ecology, UB RAS
Yekaterinburg
RU
email: zmp@ipae.uran.ru
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6823-3650
Maxim Grebennikov
originator
position: research engineer
Institute of plant and animal ecology, UB RAS
Yekaterinburg
RU
email: mt.71@mail.ru
Evgenii Vorobeichik
metadata author
position: principal investigator
Institute of plant and animal ecology, UB RAS
Yekaterinburg
RU
email: ev@ipae.uran.ru
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9191-1296
Alexey Nesterkov
metadata author
position: researcher
Institute of plant and animal ecology, UB RAS
Yekaterinburg
RU
email: nesterkov@ipae.uran.ru
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8382-8468
Alexey Nesterkov
point of contact
Institute of plant and animal ecology, UB RAS
Yekaterinburg
RU
email: ipt@ipae.uran.ru
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8382-8468
Evgenii Vorobeichik
administrative point of contact
position: principal investigator
Institute of plant and animal ecology, UB RAS
Yekaterinburg
RU
email: ev@ipae.uran.ru
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9191-1296
Alexey Nesterkov
administrative point of contact
position: researcher
Institute of plant and animal ecology, UB RAS
Yekaterinburg
RU
email: nesterkov@ipae.uran.ru
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8382-8468