Data from: Bridging the divide between models of animal-driven and microbial-driven biogeochemical cycling: a zoogeochemistry-informed framework
Data files
Jun 26, 2026 version files 38.95 KB
-
Lienau_et_al._2026.csv
29.69 KB
-
README.md
9.26 KB
Abstract
The dataset contains empirical values that can be used to calculate effect sizes, to synthesize the magnitude of effects of aboveground animals on belowground biogeochemical processes relative to conditions in which animals are absent. The data were extracted from peer-reviewed published scientific articles on animal and soil microbial ecology. The data set reports the references for the sources of the data, the study type (i.e., controlled experiment, animal exclusion, or natural experiment), ecosystem type, taxon (vertebrate vs invertebrate) and animal species name, the animal's trophic functional role, animal density (when available), the biogeochemical response variable type (e.g., greenfall litter input, soil nitrogen concentrations by chemical form [e.g., ammonium and nitrate], microbial biomass and respiration rate, total soil carbon, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus]), the measured value of each response variable and units of measurement, the statistical error associated with the response variable measurement in the original article, and effect size (whenever reported in the article). The dataset were derived from scientific articles that are in the public domain. The data are therefore free to use.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.k3j9kd5r4
Description of the data and file structure
The data file contains the published sources and extracted values for variables that allow a comparison of biogeochemical effects in the presence vs. absence of focal animal species, and estimation of animal effect size. The data are grouped by study type (controlled experiment, exclosure study, or natural experiment), by terrestrial ecosystem type, by broad taxon (vertebrate vs invertebrate), and by species, and by trophic functional group. The data can be sued to estimate effect magnitudes to conduct emprical syntheses of aboveground animal effects on belowground biogeochemical processes.
Files and variables
File: Lienau_et_al._2026.csv
Description: Published sources and data used to estimate the magnitude of aboveground animal effects on belowground biogeochemistry
Variables:
- The biogeochemical response variables include greenfall litter input, soil nitrogen concentrations by chemical form (e.g., ammonium and nitrate), microbial biomass and respiration rate, total soil carbon, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus.
- Full details of all variables, including units of measurement and abbreviations used, can be found below the data within the file.
Data were derived from the following sources:
Aldezabal, A., Moragues, L., Odriozola, I., & Mijangos, I. (2015). Impact of grazing abandonment on plant and soil microbial communities in an Atlantic mountain grassland. Applied Soil Ecology, 96, 251–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2015.08.013
Augustine, D. J., & McNaughton, S.J. (2006). Interactive effects of ungulate herbivores, soil fertility, and variable rainfall on ecosystem processes in a semi-arid savanna. Ecosystems, 9, 1242–1256. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-005-0020-y
Buchkowski, R. W., & Schmitz. O.J. (2015). Detritivores ameliorate the enhancing effect of plant-based trophic cascades on nitrogen cycling in an old-field system. Biology Letters, 11, 20141048. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2014.1048
Burghardt, K. T., Bradford, M. A., & Schmitz, O. J. (2018). Acceleration or deceleration of litter decomposition by herbivory depends on nutrient availability through intraspecific differences in induced plant resistance traits. Journal of Ecology, 106(6), 2380-2394. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13002
Cárcamo, H. A., Abe, T. A., Prescott, C. E., Holl, F. B., & Chanway, C. P. (2000). Influence of millipedes on litter decomposition, N mineralization, and microbial communities in a coastal forest in British Columbia, Canada. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 30, 817-826. https://doi.org/10.1139/x00-014
Chen, J., Wang, Q., Li, M., Liu, F., Li, W., & Yin, L. (2013). Effects of deer disturbance on soil respiration in a subtropical floodplain wetland of the Yangtze River. European Journal of Soil Biology, 56, 65-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejsobi.2013.02.007
Fonte, S. J., & Schowalter, T.D. (2005). The influence of a neotropical herbivore (Lamponius portoricensis) on nutrient cycling and soil processes. Oecologia,146, 423–431. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0203-4
Forey, E., Chauvat, M., Coulibaly, S. F., Langlois, E., Barot, S., & Clause, J. (2018). Inoculation of an ecosystem engineer (Earthworm: Lumbricus terrestris) during experimental grassland restoration: Consequences for above and belowground soil compartments. Applied Soil Ecology, 125, 148-155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2017.12.021
Frank, D. A. 2008. Evidence for top predator control of a grazing ecosystem. Oikos, 117:1718–1724. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2008.16846.x
Frank, D. A., & Groffman, P.M. (1998). Ungulate vs. landscape control of soil C and N processes in grasslands of Yellowstone National Park. Ecology, 79:2229–2241. https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(1998)079[2229:UVLCOS]2.0.CO;2
Frank, D. A., Groffman, P. M., Evans, R. D., & Tracy, B. F. (2000). Ungulate stimulation of nitrogen cycling and retention in Yellowstone Park grasslands. Oecologia, 123, 116-121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s004420050996
Frouz, J., Lobinske, R., Kalčík, J., & Ali, A. (2008). Effects of the exotic crustacean, Armadillidium vulgare (Isopoda), and other macrofauna on organic matter dynamics in soil microcosms in a hardwood forest in central Florida. The Florida Entomologist, 91, 328-331. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20065979
Hodel, M., Schütz, M., Vandegehuchte, M. L., Frey, B., Albrecht, M., Busse, M. D., & Risch, A. C. (2014). Does the aboveground herbivore assemblage influence soil bacterial community composition and richness in subalpine grasslands? Microbial ecology, 68, 584-595. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-014-0435-0
Ilardi, M. O., Cotter, S. C., Hammer, E. C., Riddell, G., & Caruso, T. (2021). Scavenging beetles control the temporal response of soil communities to carrion decomposition. Functional Ecology, 35(9), 2033-2044. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13849
Kaštovská, E., Mastný, J. & Konvička, M. (2024). Rewilding by large ungulates contributes to organic carbon storage in soils. Journal of Environmental Management, 355, 120430. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.120430
Lenoir, L., Persson, T., Bengtsson, J., Wallander, H., & Wirén, A. (2007). Bottom–up or top–down control in forest soil microcosms? Effects of soil fauna on fungal biomass and C/N mineralisation. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 43(3), 281-294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-006-0103-8
Lienau, J. R., Duguid, M. C., & Schmitz, O. J. (2025). Ground beetle trophic interactions alter available nitrogen in forest soil. Oikos, 2025(1), e10638. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.10638
Liu, C., Wang, L., Song, X., Chang, Q., Frank, D. A., Wang, D., Li, J., & Du, F. (2018). Towards a mechanistic understanding of the effect that different species of large grazers have on grassland soil N availability. Journal of Ecology, 106, 357-366. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12809
Liu, S., Chen, J., He, X., Hu, J., & Yang, X. (2014). Trophic cascade of a web-building spider decreases litter decomposition in a tropical forest floor. European Journal of Soil Biology, 65, 79-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejsobi.2014.10.004
Long, M. S., Litton, C. M., Giardina, C. P., Deenik, J., Cole, R. J., & Sparks, J. P. (2017). Impact of nonnative feral pig removal on soil structure and nutrient availability in Hawaiian tropical montane wet forests. Biological Invasions, 19, 749-763. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-017-1368-6
Manier, D. J., & Hobbs, N.T. (2007). Large herbivores in sagebrush steppe ecosystems: livestock and wild ungulates influence structure and function. Oecologia, 152, 739–750. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-007-0689-z
Marks, E. A. N., Barbosa, J. M., Garcia-Orenes, F., Mataix-Solera, J., Arcenegui, V. I. C. T. O. R. I. A., Albolafio, S., Velamazán, M., García-Carmona, M., & Sanchez-Zapata, J. A. (2024). Ungulate herbivores promote contrasting modifications of soil properties and organic carbon stabilization in a grazed grassland versus rewilded woodland environment. Agriculture,
Mohr, D., Cohnstaedt, L., & Topp., W. (2005). Wild boar and red deer affect soil nutrients and soil biota in steep oak stands of the Eifel. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 37,693–700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2004.10.002
Risch, A. C., Haynes, A. G., Busse, M. D., Filli, F., & Schütz, M. (2013). The response of soil CO2 fluxes to progressively excluding vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores depends on ecosystem type. Ecosystems, 16(7), 1192-1202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-013-9676-x
Stark, S., Männistö, M.K., & Eskelinen, A. (2015). When do grazers accelerate or decelerate soil carbon and nitrogen cycling in tundra? A test of theory on grazing effects in fertile and infertile habitats. Oikos, 124, 593–602 https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.01355
The data were obtained by searching for studies involving two groups of aboveground animals (vertebrates and invertebrates), with the aim to provide as balanced a representation of the two groups as possible. We further searched for invertebrate studies using the Web of Science Core Collection with the following text string for this search: “TS = ((("soil") AND (“invertebrate” OR “fauna”) AND (“microbial” OR “fungal”)) NOT (people or human) NOT (aquatic or marine or wetland))” for invertebrate experiments.
In all, 204 candidate articles were screened from which nine duplicates were removed.The final selection of data to include was based on the following criteria: i) the studies needed to report on a belowground biogeochemical process in the absence and presence of an animal. This criterion required studies to be treatment (animal present) – control (animal absent) manipulative experiments or observational studies comparing locations with similar biophysical conditions but with and without animals; ii) the study needed to record a metric of animal density; or enable obtaining density estimates from related published research conducted concurrently with the experimental manipulation; iii) the study needed to report on a measure of soil microbial response to animal treatment including one or more of the following: substrate-induced respiration (SIR), microbial biomass, C-mineralization, N-mineralization. The criteria resulted in a near even representation of vertebrate and invertebrate studies. Data were first extracted from the main text, followed by the use of PlotDigitizer (“PlotDigitizer” 2025) to obtain means and error responses from article figures.