DOI: 10.5061/dryad.f4qrfj6vj
title: Indonesian soil and litter Collembola species and trait matrix with environmental data

description: Rainforest conversion and expansion of plantations in tropical regions is
 associated with changes in animal communities and biodiversity decline. In
 soil, Collembola are one of the most numerous invertebrate groups that
 control microbial processes and support arthropod predators. Despite that,
 information on the impact of changes in land use in the tropics on species
 and trait composition of Collembola communities is very limited. We
 investigated the response of Collembola to the conversion of rainforest
 into rubber agroforest (‘junge rubber’), rubber and oil palm plantations
 in Jambi province (Sumatra, Indonesia), a region that experienced one of
 the strongest deforestation globally during the last decades. Collembola
 from litter and soil layers were collected in 2013 and 2016 using heat
 extraction. In the litter layer, density and species richness in
 plantation systems declined by 25-38% and 30-40%, respectively, compared
 to rainforest. By contrast, in the soil layer, density, species richness
 and trait diversity of Collembola were only slightly affected by land-use
 change contrasting the response of many other animal groups. Species and
 trait composition of Collembola communities in litter and soil layers
 differed between all land-use systems. Water content and pH were
 identified as main factors related to the differences in species and trait
 composition both in litter and soil layers, followed by the density of
 micro- and macropredators. Dominant Collembola species in rainforest and
 jungle rubber were characterized by small body size, absence of furca and
 absent or intense pigmentation, while in plantations larger species with
 long furca and diffuse or patterned coloration were more abundant. The
 trait-based responses were similar to those observed in Collembola from
 temperate regions and to those in a similar study on spiders at our study
 sites. Overall, land-use change negatively affected Collembola communities
 in the litter layer, but only little affected Collembola communities in
 soil. Several pantropical Collembola genera (i.e., Isotomiella,
 Pseudosinella and Folsomides) dominated across land-use systems,
 reflecting their high environmental adaptability or efficient dispersal
 calling for studies on their ecology and genetic diversity. The decline in
 species richness and density of litter-dwelling Collembola with the
 conversion of rainforest into plantation systems calls for management
 practices mitigating negative effects of the deterioration of the litter
 layer in rubber but in particular in oil palm plantations.
description: Animals were extracted by heat for three days and
 stored in 70% ethanol until further processing. Environmental variables
 were measured in composite samples of each litter and soil (five cores per
 plot within a radius of ca. 2 m around the soil animal sample), including
 abiotic factors (pH, water content, C:N ratio) and biotic factors
 (microbial community composition in litter and soil as indicated by
 phospholipid fatty acids. Litter and soil pH
 (CaCl<sub>2</sub>) was measured using a digital pH meter.
 Aliquots of litter and soil material were dried at 65 °C for 72 h, milled
 and analyzed for total C and N concentrations using an elemental analyzer
 (Carlo Erba, Milan, Italy). Amount of litter and water content of litter
 and soil were determined gravimetrically. All collected
 animals were sorted to high rank taxonomic groups and identified using
 traits analysis. Collembola were sorted
 into morphogroups under a dissecting microscope (Zeiss, Stemi 508) at 50x
 magnification based on basic morphlogical characters (body shape,
 morphology of furca, antennae, and number of eyes). A number of
 individulas of each morphogroup from each sample were subsequently cleared
 with Nesbitt solution on a heating plate (50<sup>⁰</sup>C) for
 3-10 min. Then, the animals were mounted on slides with Hoyer’s solution
 (for details see Glime and Wagner, 2017). Collembola were identified to
 species level using a compound microscope (Axiovert 35, Zeiss, Jena,
 Germany) at maximum 400× magnification, using the checklist for Indonesian
 Collembola (Suhardjono et al., 2012) and additional articles containing
 keys for Collembola of southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia (Potapov and
 Starostenko, 2002; Potapov, 2012; Mateos and Greenslade, 2015). Along with
 the identification, each species was described using a set of
 morphological traits. The same selected set of traits was used for each
 species across land-use systems for statistical analysis, including:
 presence/absence of empodial appendage, sucking/chewing mouthpart,
 presence/absence of post-antennal organ (PAO), presence/absence of scales,
 elongated/normal abdomen IV, elongated/spherical abdomen, separate/fused
 abdominal segments, presence/absence of furca, straight/curved and
 short/long furca, presence/absence of pigmentation, diffuse/patterned and
 intensive/light pigmentation, normal/modified antennae, small/medium/large
 body size.
description: These data are about species composition and trait composition of
 Collembola from Indonesia (including litter and soil Collembola in two
 sampling years, 2013 and 2016). These data are available in excel and can
 be use for analyses, for example with R analyses. The data about
 environmental condition (biotic and abiotic) also were provided for the
 analyses.