NDLI: Effects of the presence and community composition of earthworms on microbial community functioning

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Scheu, Stefan Schlitt, Natalie Tiuv, Alexei V. Newington, John E. Jones, Hefin T.
Copyright Year	2002
Abstract	Earthworms are a major component of many terrestrial ecosystems. By modifying decomposition processes and soil structure, they function as driving factors of the soil microbial community. Using microcosms, we investigated the effects of the presence and community composition of earthworms on the in situ respiratory response of a microbial community to an array of organic substrates including carbohydrates, amino acids, a polymer and an amide. Both the actual in situ catabolic response of non-growing microorganisms and the potential response of growing microorganisms were investigated. Three questions were studied: (1) does the presence of one of the main functional groups of earthworms (endogeic species) affect microbial community functioning; (2) does the presence of two functional groups (endogeic and epigeic species) alter microbial community functioning; (3) does the number of species within functional groups matter. The presence of endogeic earthworms significantly reduced microbial biomass and affected the physiological profile and functioning of the microbial community. In contrast, in the presence of endo- and epigeic species microbial biomass was not reduced significantly, indicating that epigeic species counteracted the effect of endogeic species. The physiological profile of the microbial community significantly differed between the treatment with endogeic species only and the treatment with both endo- and epigeic species. Also, the physiological profile of the microbial community was significantly affected by the number of species per functional group, which at least in part may have been caused by a sampling effect. Overall, the actual in situ catabolic response of non-growing microorganisms appears to be more sensitive than the potential response of growing microorganisms. In addition, the direction of the actual response (negative) was diametrically opposed to that of the potential response (positive). We conclude that the catabolic response of growing microorganisms does not reflect the actual case in situ. For earthworms, loss in both species number and functional group number has the potential to change soil microbial community functioning.
Starting Page	254
Ending Page	260
Page Count	7
File Format	PDF
ISSN	00298549
Journal	Oecologia
Volume Number	133
Issue Number	2
e-ISSN	14321939
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2002-10-01
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Ecology Plant Sciences Hydrology/Water Resources
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Do alterations in mesofauna community affect earthworms?

Rapid plant evolution in the presence of an introduced species alters community composition

Microbial community composition and function beneath temperate trees exposed to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide and ozone

Studying the effects of plant species richness on ecosystem functioning: does the choice of experimental design matter?

Plant phylodiversity enhances soil microbial productivity in facilitation-driven communities

Direct and indirect effects of zooplankton on algal composition in in situ grazing experiments

Differential effects of insect herbivory on arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization

Mutualistic rhizobia reduce plant diversity and alter community composition

Predicting community outcomes from pairwise interactions: integrating density- and trait-mediated effects

Effects of the presence and community composition of earthworms on microbial community functioning

Similar Documents

Do alterations in mesofauna community affect earthworms?

Rapid plant evolution in the presence of an introduced species alters community composition

Microbial community composition and function beneath temperate trees exposed to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide and ozone

Studying the effects of plant species richness on ecosystem functioning: does the choice of experimental design matter?

Plant phylodiversity enhances soil microbial productivity in facilitation-driven communities

Direct and indirect effects of zooplankton on algal composition in in situ grazing experiments

Differential effects of insect herbivory on arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization

Mutualistic rhizobia reduce plant diversity and alter community composition

Predicting community outcomes from pairwise interactions: integrating density- and trait-mediated effects

Effects of the presence and community composition of earthworms on microbial community functioning