Growth, reproduction and mortality in marine littoral Collembola at different salinities

Abstract

ABSTRACT. 1. A comparative study was performed on growth, reproduction and mortality of three species of marine littoral Collembola: the grassland species, Isotoma viridis (Bourlet), the littoral Hypogastrura viatica (Tullberg) and the intertidal Anurida maritima (Guérin), at different salinities.2. I. viridis and H. viatica both occur in salt marshes that are only inundated by seawater at very high tides. The first species lives in the higher less saline area and the second in the lower area, where during summer brackish and even hypersaline conditions may occur. The intertidal A.maritima is mainly found at salinities similar to the local seawater.3. I.viridis and H.viatica both show maximal growth and reproduction and a very low mortality at low salinities, but the latter species is better adapted to higher salinities. A difference between A.maritima and the other two species is that A.maritima is unable to survive freshwater conditions; rather it has an ecological optimum at salinities similar to seawater.4. A salt‐marsh population of I.viridis showed a better survival and a slightly better growth at saline conditions than an inland population of this species.5. We suggest that H.viatica, living in a very unstable environment, can be considered as a typical r‐strategist, while A.maritima, living in a predictable habitat, is more a K‐strategist.

Water‐extractability, free ion activity, and pH explain cadmium sorption and toxicity to Folsomia candida (Collembola) in seven soil‐pH combinations

“…Although no pore‐water samples could be analyzed, from the agreement between pore‐water and eluate conductivities found for the OECD soils (see above), the conclusion can be made that the pore water of the control PANH3.5 soil also must have had a high conductivity, in the order of 17,000 μS/cm. Witteveen and Joosse [28] demonstrated that growth and reproduction of the collembolan Isotoma viridis are affected at salinities in soil pore water of ≥25% and that survival starts to decrease at seawater salinities of ≥50%. Seawater has an estimated chloride content of 0.58 M [12], which may result in an estimated conductivity of 44,000 μS/cm.…”

The effect of counterion and percolation on the toxicity of lead for the springtail Folsomia candida in soil

“…Witteveen and Joosse [20] found that a salinity‐intolerant springtail ( Isotoma viridis ) was reduced in growth at salinities above 4.9 g Cl − /L (25% seawater). Feeding activity and egg production were negatively affected at 25% seawater (though not significantly).…”

The Impact of the Salinity of Soil-Water and Food on the Physiology, Behaviour and Ecology of Salt-Marsh Collembola

“…Depending on climatic and spatial conditions (Witteveen & Joosse, 1987), H. viatica can be found at soil-water salinities between 1 and 1000% S.W. viatica can be found throughout the year.…”

“…They absorb water and ions from the soil by abdominal vesicles (Houlihan, 1976;Verhoef & Witteveen, 1980;Eisenbeis, 1982). From the point at which osmoregulation breaks down, growth, reproduction and longevity of these animals decrease (Witteveen & Joosse, 1987). Witteveen, Verhoef & Letschert (1987) showed evidence that the salinity of the soil-water has a profound effect on the water balance of Collembola.…”