Litter traits and palatability to detritivores: a case study across bio-geographical boundaries

Quadros, Aline Ferreira de; Zimmer, Martin; Araujo, Paula Beatriz; Kray, Jair Gilberto

doi:10.1590/s0104-64972014000200004

Cited by 24 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Our field experiment went a step further to resolve how the strength of an important green to brown web feedback manifests relative to the initial size of biomass and nutrient pools. We found that the response of a common detritivorous isopod to litter toughened by past herbivory was not as strong as expected (Hättenschwiler & Bretscher, 2001;Quadros et al, 2014;Zimmer & Topp, 1997).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 47%

“…Then, that litter was decomposed in field cages with and without detritivores present. A history of herbivory should affect detritivore processing of litter given that herbivory can decrease or increase plant litter quality, and that detritivores respond strongly to differences in litter quality across plant species (Burghardt, ; Quadros, Zimmer, Araujo, & Kray, ; Zimmer & Topp, ), We expect therefore that herbivore‐induced changes in litter decomposition will enhance or limit soil nitrogen availability and plant biomass if litter nitrogen is recycled directly into plant‐available forms for uptake. Alternatively, we expect that herbivore‐induced changes will have diminutive, if any, effects if nitrogen is recycled through SOM pools or buffered by large plant nitrogen stores (e.g., Ulyshen et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nitrogen recycling in coupled green and brown food webs: Weak effects of herbivory and detritivory when nitrogen passes through soil

2018

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The study of coupled green and brown food webs has improved our ability to understand how nutrient cycling and plant communities respond to perturbations. Yet, it is still difficult to predict how rapidly and consistently changes in one food web propagate to the other. An area of particular uncertainty is the response of plants to the changes in leaf litter nitrogen release caused by herbivores and detritivores. We combined a field experiment and theoretical analysis to assess how herbivory, fertilization, and detritivory changed leaf litter nitrogen release and plant growth. We produced leaf litter in greenhouse cages with a factorial combination of grasshopper herbivory and additional nitrogen fertilizer. Our experiment used the resulting 15N‐labelled leaf litter to measure isopod litter consumption, litter nitrogen release, and plant nitrogen uptake in the field. We then used a dynamical systems model to distinguish whether plant growth relied (a) directly on litter nitrogen release or (b) on other nitrogen pathways so that changes in litter nitrogen release have little immediate impact. Our empirical results show that the effect of nitrogen fertilization on isopod processing of leaf litter was stronger than the effect of herbivory. Regardless, the available soil nitrogen and plant growth were independent of litter nitrogen release. Our dynamical model attributes the independence to other nitrogen sources and sinks, which buffer the plant‐available nitrogen pool. Isopods and litter with a history of herbivory reduced above‐ground plant growth when we accounted for initial field mesocosm conditions, especially the abundance of the competitively dominant goldenrods. Consequently, the impact of isopods and litter traits do propagate to influence plant growth, but do not have a large enough effect to overcome initial differences in plant biomass and community composition in one year. Synthesis. Our results indicate animals in green and brown food webs can alter plant litter nitrogen release without any significant nutrient recycling effect on plant growth. Considering the availability of external and soil‐based nitrogen sources, as well as the current plant community and microbial biomass, may be critical to determining when plant growth will respond to animal‐mediated changes in litter decomposition.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 47%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen recycling in coupled green and brown food webs: Weak effects of herbivory and detritivory when nitrogen passes through soil

2018

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“…Palatability of leaf litter for these species might depend on several factors, such as litter nutritive value, toughness, and levels of feeding deterrents [15,26]. Quadros et al [27] reported that A. glutinosa was more attractive than Acer pseudoplatanus, Betula pendula, Fagus sylvatica, and Quercus robur leaf litter for P. scaber.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumption Performance of Five Detritivore Species Feeding on Alnus glutinosa L. Leaf Litter in a Microcosm Experiment

Ardestani

Šustr

Frouz

2019

Forests

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The present study was performed to assess the feeding performance of five detritivore species in a microcosm design. The test animals were four millipede species, Telodeinopus aoutii (Demange), Epibolus pulchripes (Gerstäcker), Cylindroiulus caeruleocinctus (Wood), Glomeris hexasticha (Brandt), and one isopod species, Porcellio scaber (Latreille), all feeding on Alnus glutinosa L. leaf litter for five consecutive weeks. At the end of each one-week interval, litter consumption, animal fresh weight, and excrement production were measured. Then, the feeding activity parameters for each species were calculated. Between big-size animal species, higher leaf consumption rates of 12.3–30.9 mg dry weight day−1 individual−1 were calculated for T. aoutii compared to those of 3.72–8.25 mg dry weight day−1 individual−1 for E. pulchripes. However, there was no difference in the consumption rates among small-size animals ranging from 0.46 to 1.65 mg dry weight day−1 individual−1. Excrement production rates followed a similar trend, as the consumption rates and the animals’ body weight remained constant during the experiment. Time was an important factor influencing the feeding activity of the animals, especially for the big-size group. Overall, the average assimilation efficiency of these species varied from 13.7% to 53.3%. The results of the present work will be the first step for understanding the ecological needs of these decomposer species in soil ecosystems.

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“…Isopod species richness was found to increase with the increase in air humidity, which is pivotal for their survival given that they need it to breathe and reduce body water loss [152]. Another key factor is food availability; their feeding habits are mostly based on decaying organic materials, with preference linked to leaf senescence, nutrient content of food and microbial colonization, so that their richness tends to increase with woody plant richness and soil organic matter [151,153]. Due to their ecological behavior, terrestrial isopods play an important role in decomposing leaf litter and mineralizing organic matter in many agroecosystems.…”

Section: Isopodamentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Health and Arthropods: From Complex System to Worthwhile Investigation

Menta

Remelli

2020

Insects

111

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The dramatic increase in soil degradation in the last few decades has led to the need to identify methods to define not only soil quality but also, in a holistic approach, soil health. In the past twenty years, indices based on living communities have been proposed alongside the already proven physical-chemical methods. Among them, some soil invertebrates have been included in monitoring programs as bioindicators of soil quality. Being an important portion of soil fauna, soil arthropods are involved in many soil processes such as organic matter decomposition and translocation, nutrient cycling, microflora activity regulation and bioturbation. Many studies have reported the use of soil arthropods to define soil quality; among taxa, some have been explored more in depth, typically Acari and Collembola, while generally less abundant groups, such as Palpigradi or Embioptera, have not been investigated much. This paper aims to evaluate and compare the use of different soil microarthropod taxa in soil degradation/quality studies to highlight which groups are the most reported for soil monitoring and which are the most sensitive to soil degradation. We have decided not to include the two most present and abundant taxa, Acari and Collembola, in this paper in consideration of the vast amount of existing literature and focus the discussion on the other microarthropod groups. We reported some studies for each taxon highlighting the use of the group as soil quality indicator. A brief section reporting some indices based on soil microarthropods is proposed at the end of this specific discussion. This paper can be considered as a reference point in the use of soil arthropods to estimate soil quality and health.

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Litter traits and palatability to detritivores: a case study across bio-geographical boundaries

Cited by 24 publications

References 49 publications

Nitrogen recycling in coupled green and brown food webs: Weak effects of herbivory and detritivory when nitrogen passes through soil

Nitrogen recycling in coupled green and brown food webs: Weak effects of herbivory and detritivory when nitrogen passes through soil

Consumption Performance of Five Detritivore Species Feeding on Alnus glutinosa L. Leaf Litter in a Microcosm Experiment

Soil Health and Arthropods: From Complex System to Worthwhile Investigation

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