Stable isotopes revisited: Their use and limits for oribatid mite trophic ecology

Maraun, Mark; Erdmann, Georgia; Fischer, Barbara; Pollierer, Melanie M.; Norton, Roy A.; Schneider, Katja; Scheu, Stefan

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2011.01.003

Cited by 162 publications

(135 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…This is similar to the range of signatures measured by Sandmann (2007) in a litter food web (11.1 d units), in a study conducted in the same region as ours but at a higher analyzed spanned over 10.30 d units, which is close to the value of 9.5 found by Davidson et al (2003) in a Peruvian ant assemblage. We distinguished 4 trophic levels, which is consistent with the number of trophic levels commonly observed in terrestrial food webs -between 3 and 4 -in both tropical and temperate systems (Scheu and Falca, 2000;Illig et al, 2005;Maraun et al, 2011). This suggests that the number of trophic levels is not determined by the productivity and energy flow, but that it is rather limited by the low energy-use efficiency of consumers in detrital systems (Illig et al, 2005).…”

Section: Trophic Position Of Bfw Taxasupporting

confidence: 84%

“…In this regard, stable isotopes are a useful tool for determining trophic habits of animals, since the combined measurement of N and C stable isotope ratios in animal tissue provides a time integrated and detailed information on their diet and trophic position. (Post, 2002;Maraun et al, 2008Maraun et al, , 2011. In this study, our objectives were (a) to determine, through an isotopic approach (d 15 N signature), the number of trophic levels that are occupied by leaf-litter ants in a tropical BFW, and to determine their trophic positions relative to other taxa of the litter fauna; (b) by performing nutrient addition experiments, to evaluate the effect of increased food availability on the density of various actors of the BFW, at different levels: grazing mesofauna, predatory mesofauna, ants and non-ant macrofauna; (c) to study how food flows from microbes to predators through the BFW, by tracing carbon fluxes using an isotopically distinct carbon source (cane sugar) in the nutrient addition; (d) to study the response of the ants according to their trophic group and to determine which factor is more limiting for leaf-litter ants: prey availability or volume of microhabitat.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Differential response of ants to nutrient addition in a tropical Brown Food Web

Jacquemin

Maraun

Roisin

et al. 2012

Soil Biology and Biochemistry

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a b s t r a c tIn tropical ecosystems, access to nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) limits the decomposition rate of leaflitter. Leaf-litter ants are abundant in this microhabitat and present a wide variety of diets. Our aim was to study the response of various ant trophic groups to an increased nutrient availability which boosts the decomposition of their habitat and selectively affects the abundance of their prey.A 6-month nutrient addition experiment (CN, CNP) was performed in a tropical montane forest of the Ecuadorian Andes. The density of ants, of other predators (e.g. arachnids, beetles) and of their potential prey (mesofauna, ranging from 0.1 to 2 mm) was measured in treatments and control plots.The litter volume in fertilized plots decreased significantly. Collembola and total mesofauna density were enhanced by the CNP addition. Ants responded differentially according to their trophic group: despite increased prey availability, predatory species in general and collembolan hunters in particular were negatively affected by both treatments. Other ant trophic group densities did not change. By contrast, the density of Dermaptera increased with the treatments. A complementary isotopic approach allowed us to trace carbon fluxes through the food web.Our results suggest that the nutrient input enhanced the litter decomposition rate, leading to reduction of habitat size. They also suggest that predatory ants in tropical leaf-litter food webs are limited by habitat size rather than by prey availability, and that these ants are more affected by habitat loss than their prey, other ant trophic groups and other macrofauna taxa.

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Section: Trophic Position Of Bfw Taxasupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential response of ants to nutrient addition in a tropical Brown Food Web

Jacquemin

Maraun

Roisin

et al. 2012

Soil Biology and Biochemistry

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“…Recent studies have documented evidence of feeding guilds among the animals of brown food webs (11,15,25), and this finding sets up questions as to the trophic positions of the resident microbiota. For example, when microbes feed on a resource, do they register trophically just as animals do?…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbes are trophic analogs of animals

Steffan

Chikaraishi

Currie

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

117

151

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In most ecosystems, microbes are the dominant consumers, commandeering much of the heterotrophic biomass circulating through food webs. Characterizing functional diversity within the microbiome, therefore, is critical to understanding ecosystem functioning, particularly in an era of global biodiversity loss. Using isotopic fingerprinting, we investigated the trophic positions of a broad diversity of heterotrophic organisms. Specifically, we examined the naturally occurring stable isotopes of nitrogen (15N:14N) within amino acids extracted from proteobacteria, actinomycetes, ascomycetes, and basidiomycetes, as well as from vertebrate and invertebrate macrofauna (crustaceans, fish, insects, and mammals). Here, we report that patterns of intertrophic 15N-discrimination were remarkably similar among bacteria, fungi, and animals, which permitted unambiguous measurement of consumer trophic position, independent of phylogeny or ecosystem type. The observed similarities among bacterial, fungal, and animal consumers suggest that within a trophic hierarchy, microbiota are equivalent to, and can be interdigitated with, macrobiota. To further test the universality of this finding, we examined Neotropical fungus gardens, communities in which bacteria, fungi, and animals are entwined in an ancient, quadripartite symbiosis. We reveal that this symbiosis is a discrete four-level food chain, wherein bacteria function as the apex carnivores, animals and fungi are meso-consumers, and the sole herbivores are fungi. Together, our findings demonstrate that bacteria, fungi, and animals can be integrated within a food chain, effectively uniting the macro- and microbiome in food web ecology and facilitating greater inclusion of the microbiome in studies of functional diversity.

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“…Although stable isotope studies on soil animals are increasingly common (e.g. Maraun et al 2011), corresponding studies on parasites are less so. Parasite studies have included the trophic relationships of endoparasites within the gut of herbivorous lizards (O'Grady & Dearing 2006), ectoparasites with their pelagic seabird hosts (Go´mez-Dı´az & Gonza´lez-Solı´s 2010) and larval stages of seabird parasites found off-host in soil (Hawke & Clark 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new epizoic laelapid mite from the New Zealand sand scarabPericoptus truncatuslarvae and its isotopic ecology

Clark

Hawke

2012

New Zealand Journal of Zoology

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A new genus Mumulaelaps (Mesostigmata: Laelapidae: Hypoaspidini) is proposed to hold large, pale, agile, gregarious mites associated with the larvae of the endemic xylophagous sand scarab Pericoptus. Mumulaelaps ammochostos sp. n. is described and illustrated as its type species from P. truncatus (Fabricius) from Southshore, Christchurch, New Zealand. The new genus bears a novel mix of characters shared with Hypoaspis G. Canestrini, 1884 and Coleolaelaps Berlese, 1914 but differs from both by having, in both sexes, stout terminal spines al1 and pl1 on legs IIÁ IV and bearing long or macrosetae of the dorsal series on femora and genua of legs IIÁIV. Both sexes have leg IV longest and leg II shortest with III never longer than I. The posterior edge of the sternal shield is deeply concave; the post anal seta is longer than the paranals; the hypostomal seta h3 clearly longer than h1 or h2. Stable isotopic ( 13 C/ 12 C; 15 N/ 14 N) analysis showed that the new species is not parasitic, but its trophic association with P. truncatus is unclear. It may feed on the hypopodes of Sancassania ( 0Caloglyphus) or nematodes associated with P. truncatus.

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Stable isotopes revisited: Their use and limits for oribatid mite trophic ecology

Cited by 162 publications

References 60 publications

Differential response of ants to nutrient addition in a tropical Brown Food Web

Differential response of ants to nutrient addition in a tropical Brown Food Web

Microbes are trophic analogs of animals

A new epizoic laelapid mite from the New Zealand sand scarabPericoptus truncatuslarvae and its isotopic ecology

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