Towards a global synthesis of Collembola knowledge – challenges and potential solutions

Soil fauna in lowland rainforest and agricultural systems of Sumatra: Changes in community composition and trophic structure with focus on Collembola

“…All these traits of large mobile species were also associated with plantations in our study. Presence of more Collembola with patterned coloration in plantations in comparison to rainforest was in line with more pigmented ground spiders at these sites (Potapov et al, 2020). Presumably, coloration patterns in grounddwelling arthropods (epedaphic Collembola and spiders) function as camouflage in rubber and oil palm plantations with more open canopies and shallow litter layer.…”

“…Another explanation for the high density of Collembola in soil of oil palm plantations may be reduced top-down control by predators. In fact, the density of small soil-dwelling spiders, one of the main Collembola predators (Lawrence and Wise, 2000), is low in plantations (Potapov et al, 2020).…”

“…Lowland rainforest in Jambi province, Sumatra, has been converted in large into oil palm (16% of total area) and rubber plantations (12%) (Gatto et al, 2015). Conversion of rainforest into oil palm and rubber plantations is associated with a strong decline in plant and animal diversity above the ground (Fitzherbert et al, 2008;Rembold et al, 2017;Clough et al, 2016), but also alters soil habitats and detrimentally affects soilassociated biodiversity, as shown for nematodes (Krashevska et al, 2019), testate amoebae (Krashevska et al, 2016), ground spiders (Potapov et al, 2020) and litter macroinvertebrates (Barnes et al, 2014). Extensive compared to intensive management of agricultural systems, such as rubber plantations, however, can mitigate alterations in community composition and negative effects of the conversion of rainforest into agricultural production systems on biodiversity (Nazarreta et al, 2020;Schulz et al, 2019;Krashevska et al, 2016).…”

“…Collembola is a dominant group of soil animals globally, being very abundant in forest soils (Hopkin, 1997;Rusek, 1998;Devi et al, 2011). Collembola significantly affect soil microbial communities, nutrient cycling and soil fertility by feeding on soil microorganisms and dead organic matter (Rusek, 1998;Coulibaly et al, 2019;Potapov et al, 2020). In particular, the presence of different ecological groups of Collembola (soil or surface dwellers) can affect microbial-driven ecosystem processes, such as decomposition and nutrient cycling (Coulibaly et al, 2019).…”

“…In this study, we investigated species and trait composition of Collembola communities from litter and soil layers in rainforest, rubber agroforestry ('jungle rubber'), rubber and oil palm plantations, in Jambi province, Sumatra, Indonesia. Based on previous studies on the impact of land-use changes on invertebrate communities (Barnes et al, 2014;Krashevska et al, 2016;Krashevska et al, 2019;Potapov et al, 2020)…”