Influence of soil properties on the performance ofFolsomia candida: Implications for its use in soil ecotoxicology testing

Abstract

Nineteen Mediterranean natural soils with a wide range of properties and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) artificial soil were used to assess the influence of soil properties on the results of avoidance and reproduction tests carried out with the soil collembolan species Folsomia candida. Compared to natural soils, the OECD soil was mostly rejected by individuals when a natural soil was offered in avoidance tests, and the number of offspring produced was generally lower than the one obtained in natural soils. None of the soil properties assessed showed a significant influence on the avoidance behavior. More precisely, only soil moisture was included in the model explaining the avoidance response (avoidance increased with increasing differences in moisture), but its contribution was marginally not significant. The model derived explained only 16% of the variance in avoidance response. On the contrary, several soil properties significantly influenced reproduction (number of offspring increased with increasing moisture content, increasing coarse texture, and decreasing nitrogen content). In this case, the model explained 45% of the variance in reproduction. These results, together with the fact that most of the selected soils fulfilled the validity criteria in both avoidance and reproduction tests, confirm the literature experience showing that this species is relatively insensitive to soil properties and hence highly suitable to be used in ecotoxicological tests with natural soils. In addition, our study highlights the need for accuracy in soil moisture adjustment in soil ecotoxicological tests with this species. Otherwise, results of both avoidance and reproduction tests might be biased.

Short-term mesofauna responses to soil additions of corn stover biochar and the role of microbial biomass

“…Similarly, reproduction in this species has been shown to be not affected at this pH (Crouau et al, 1999;Domene et al, 2011). On the other hand, salinity was not included in the models for collembolan avoidance even though reproduction and survival may change in this species at the observed range of salinity (Owojori et al, 2009) which increased from less than 100 to 800 mS cm À1 .…”

“…Values over 1 indicate higher values in the biochar-mixture, while values below 1 imply higher values in the control soil. This approach has been shown to be useful for the analysis of avoidance data Domene et al, 2011), since the choice or rejection of the test soil is influenced by the magnitude of the differences compared to the control soil.…”

“…Data are mostly obtained with earthworms in avoidance tests, by introducing individuals in a vessel containing soil and a soil-biochar mixture and assessing their distribution after a period of time. Avoidance tests with soil fauna are based on the ability of organisms to escape from unsuitable environments due to pollution (Amorim et al, 2005;Loureiro et al, 2005;Lukkari and Haimi, 2005;Natal-da-Luz et al, 2008a) or due to unsuitable environmental conditions outside their ecological preferences (Natal-da-Luz et al, 2008b;Chelinho et al, 2011;Domene et al, 2011). Avoidance tests are based on the chemoreception capacity of most soil animals and have a high ecological relevance (Natal-da-Luz et al, 2009) since avoidance responses under field conditions are equivalent to mortality in terms of ecosystem composition and function.…”

Application of a battery of biotests for the determination of leachate toxicity to bacteria and invertebrates from sewage sludge-amended soil

“…Also, studies conducted so far do not provide an answer to the question what is happening with the toxicity of sewage sludges after their application in soils over longer periods of time. It is a known fact that the type of soil may significantly determine the mobility and bioavailability of contaminants and, indirectly, also their toxicity (Domene et al 2011). Therefore, it is important to conduct estimations of the toxicity of various soils amended with sewage sludges, in order to determine the potential risks involved in their application as fertilizers.…”

An Alternative Approach to Assess the Habitat Selection of Folsomia candida in Contaminated Soils

“…Also for collembolans, which contribute to the fertility of soils through decomposition and nutrient cycling processes (Culik and Zeppelini 2003), standardized test guidelines have been developed assessing their potential avoidance behavior of a contaminated soil by preferring a control soil as habitat (ISO standard 17512:2 (ISO 2011)). This procedure provides information comparable to the one obtained with other more complex ecotoxicological soil tests but requires less experimental efforts (Domene et al 2011).…”