Microarthropod communities associated with biological soil crusts in the Colorado Plateau and Chihuahuan deserts

Biocrusts in the Context of Global Change

“…In addition to relationships among biocrust species, climatic changes are likely to affect multiple classes of organisms concurrently; for example, the relationships between biocrusts and microfauna suggest important but rarely studied interactions (Neher et al 2009;Darby et al 2010). Nematodes, tardigrades, and rotifers survive extreme temperature by entering a dormant state called anhydrobiosis, while protozoa survive extreme temperatures as cysts (see Chap.…”

Microfauna Within Biological Soil Crusts

“…8.3c), but it remains unclear which species of cyanobacteria are acceptable prey items and whether cyanobacteria are necessarily preferred over other potential foods (such as moss, fungi, or green algae). (Darby et al 2011;Neher et al 2009). The width of the arrows linking prey to their consumer is proportional to the biomass nitrogen of that trophic link, and the width of the border around the consumer text box is proportional to the amount of inorganic nitrogen (N) being released from the consumer functional group [according to the results of the model as computed by Hunt et al (1987) for the Moab, Utah, biocrust food web].…”

“…Second, the organism sucks out the cytoplasm of the segments adjacent to the initial stylet piercing. Finally, the ends of the filaments regrow into and out of evacuated segments, effectively creating two new ends from which the cyanobacteria grows nematodes, detritus, mammals, carrion, arthropods, lichens, pollen, and plants (Neher et al 2009). Larger invertebrates, including mollusks such as snails and macro-arthropods such as ants and pseudoscorpions, can also be significant components of some biocrusts .…”

“…Second, the generation time of all protozoa was decreased from 6.67 days to 2 days, which is a conservative estimate of the maximum growth rate (0.5 per day) of these desert protozoa (Darby et al 2006). Finally, microphytophagous prostigmatid and oribatid mites, collembolans, tardigrades, and tylench-and dorylaim-type omnivores were assumed to prey on cyanobacteria with the same preferences as on saprophytic fungi (Neher et al 2009;Wood 1973a;Yeates et al 1993). Microarthropods were assumed to be active and growing for 365 days per year because they are thought to be active even in dry, air-filled pores.…”

La vida temprana en la Tierra y los primeros ecosistemas terrestres

“…) y en suelos (Belnap y Lange, 2001). Las cubiertas criptogámicas (Cryptogamic Ground Covers o CGC; Elbert et al, 2012) han demostrado ser sistemas complejos y dinámicos que contienen varios grupos funcionales distintos de procariontes y eucariontes, desde los productores primarios hasta los descomponedores de materiales específicos y los herbívoros (Fritsch, 1922;Fletcher y Martin, 1948;Campbell, 1979;Bamforth, 1984Bamforth, , 2004Nagy et al, 2005;Tirkey y Adhikary, 2005;Chanal et al, 2006;Reddy y Garcia-Pichel, 2006;Bates y Garcia-Pichel, 2009;Neher et al, 2009;Meadow y Zabinski, 2012). Esta diversidad es variable según las condiciones ambientales locales, pero todos tienen en común la presencia de cianobacterias, con pocas excepciones (i.e.…”