Links between above and belowground communities: tree-driven impacts on food webs and ecosystem processes

Corrected PhD thesis originally submitted in May 2007.

Examining the mechanistic links between above and belowground communities is important for understanding how land-use change may influence the diversity and structure of belowground food webs, and in turn, how key ecosystem processes may be altered. The expansion of native woodland is encouraged by conservation policy in the United Kingdom, but the consequences of tree regeneration for belowground communities are poorly understood. This thesis explored the relationship between above and belowground communities, and tested potential mechanisms by which the plant community may control nematode community structure and decomposition, using i) a correlative study on a natural chronosequence from moorland to birch woodland, ii) a manipulative litterbag experiment in the field and iii) an outdoor mesocosm experiment.