Trophic Structure of Small Invertebrates Inhabiting Litter of a Monsoon Tropical Forest

Semenina, Eugenia E.; Rozanova, Oksana L.; Thinh, Nguyen Van; Tiunov, Alexei V.

doi:10.1134/s1067413620050112

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Within Caelifera, Tetrigidae (pygmy grasshoppers) live on the soil surface and are directly involved in soil food webs by feeding on microalgae growing on moist soils, mosses, humus or detritus (Bastow et al ., 2002; Karpestam & Forsman, 2011, 2013). Phycophagy of larval stages of Tetrigidae was confirmed by stable isotope analysis (Semenina et al ., 2020).…”

Section: Synopsis Of Feeding Habitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While Palpigradi and Schizomida are mostly small (up to 5 mm) and pale soil‐ and cave‐associated groups, other taxa are large active or sit‐and‐wait predators that feed on various ground micro‐ and macroarthropods in their own size range. A high trophic level for Scorpiones in tropical forest soils was confirmed by stable isotope data, and even small‐sized Amblypygi may occupy a very high trophic position in tropical forest soil food webs (Kupfer et al ., 2006; Semenina et al ., 2020). The roles of these groups in the context of soil food webs are poorly known, mostly due to overall limited knowledge on tropical soil communities.…”

Section: Synopsis Of Feeding Habitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Feeding habits and multifunctional classification of soil‐associated consumers from protists to vertebrates

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Soil organisms drive major ecosystem functions by mineralising carbon and releasing nutrients during decomposition processes, which supports plant growth, aboveground biodiversity and, ultimately, human nutrition. Soil ecologists often operate with functional groups to infer the effects of individual taxa on ecosystem functions and services. Simultaneous assessment of the functional roles of multiple taxa is possible using food‐web reconstructions, but our knowledge of the feeding habits of many taxa is insufficient and often based on limited evidence. Over the last two decades, molecular, biochemical and isotopic tools have improved our understanding of the feeding habits of various soil organisms, yet this knowledge is still to be synthesised into a common functional framework. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the feeding habits of consumers in soil, including protists, micro‐, meso‐ and macrofauna (invertebrates), and soil‐associated vertebrates. We have integrated existing functional group classifications with findings gained with novel methods and compiled an overarching classification across taxa focusing on key universal traits such as food resource preferences, body masses, microhabitat specialisation, protection and hunting mechanisms. Our summary highlights various strands of evidence that many functional groups commonly used in soil ecology and food‐web models are feeding on multiple types of food resources. In many cases, omnivory is observed down to the species level of taxonomic resolution, challenging realism of traditional soil food‐web models based on distinct resource‐based energy channels. Novel methods, such as stable isotope, fatty acid and DNA gut content analyses, have revealed previously hidden facets of trophic relationships of soil consumers, such as food assimilation, multichannel feeding across trophic levels, hidden trophic niche differentiation and the importance of alternative food/prey, as well as energy transfers across ecosystem compartments. Wider adoption of such tools and the development of open interoperable platforms that assemble morphological, ecological and trophic data as traits of soil taxa will enable the refinement and expansion of the multifunctional classification of consumers in soil. The compiled multifunctional classification of soil‐associated consumers will serve as a reference for ecologists working with biodiversity changes and biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships, making soil food‐web research more accessible and reproducible.

show abstract

Section: Synopsis Of Feeding Habitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Synopsis Of Feeding Habitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding habits and multifunctional classification of soil‐associated consumers from protists to vertebrates

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Trophic position, altitudinal distribution, and water dependence as determining factors for mercury concentrations in tropical montane anurans

Drummond

Meire

Braga

et al. 2022

Science of The Total Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tropical land use alters functional diversity of soil food webs and leads to monopolization of the detrital energy channel

Zhou

Krashevska

Widyastuti

et al. 2022

eLife

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Agricultural expansion is among the main threats to biodiversity and functions of tropical ecosystems. It has been shown that conversion of rainforest into plantations erodes biodiversity, but further consequences for food-web structure and energetics of belowground communities remains little explored. We used a unique combination of stable isotope analysis and food web energetics to analyze in a comprehensive way consequences of the conversion of rainforest into oil palm and rubber plantations on the structure of and channeling of energy through soil animal food webs in Sumatra, Indonesia. Across the 23 animal groups studied, most of the taxa switched to freshly-fixed plant carbon (low Δ13C values) indicating 'fast' energy channeling in plantations as opposed to 'slow' energy channeling through the detrital pathway in rainforests (high Δ13C values). These shifts led to changes in isotopic divergence, dispersion, evenness and uniqueness. However, earthworms as major detritivores stayed unchanged in their trophic niche and monopolized the detrital pathway in plantations, resulting in similar energetic metrics across land-use systems. Functional diversity metrics of soil food webs were associated with reduced amount of litter, tree density and species richness in plantations, providing guidelines how to improve the complexity of the structure of and channeling of energy through soil food webs. Our results highlight the strong restructuring of soil food webs with the conversion of rainforest into plantations threatening soil functioning and ecosystem stability in the long term.

show abstract

Trophic Structure of Small Invertebrates Inhabiting Litter of a Monsoon Tropical Forest

Cited by 3 publications

References 16 publications

Feeding habits and multifunctional classification of soil‐associated consumers from protists to vertebrates

Feeding habits and multifunctional classification of soil‐associated consumers from protists to vertebrates

Trophic position, altitudinal distribution, and water dependence as determining factors for mercury concentrations in tropical montane anurans

Tropical land use alters functional diversity of soil food webs and leads to monopolization of the detrital energy channel

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About