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Published in

The Royal Society, Biology Letters, 1(12), p. 20150646, 2016

DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2015.0646

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Photoautotrophic microorganisms as a carbon source for temperate soil invertebrates

Journal article published in 2016 by Olaf Schmidt ORCID, Jens Dyckmans, Stefan Schrader ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

We tested experimentally if photoautotrophic microorganisms are a carbon source for invertebrates in temperate soils. We exposed forest or arable soils to a 13 CO 2 -enriched atmosphere and quantified 13 C assimilation by three common animal groups: earthworms (Oligochaeta), springtails (Hexapoda) and slugs (Gastropoda). Endogeic earthworms ( Allolobophora chlorotica ) and hemiedaphic springtails ( Ceratophysella denticulata ) were highly 13 C enriched when incubated under light, deriving up to 3.0 and 17.0%, respectively, of their body carbon from the microbial source in 7 days. Earthworms assimilated more 13 C in undisturbed soil than when the microbial material was mixed into the soil, presumably reflecting selective surface grazing. By contrast, neither adult nor newly hatched terrestrial slugs ( Deroceras reticulatum ) grazed on algal mats. Non-photosynthetic 13 CO 2 fixation in the dark was negligible. We conclude from these preliminary laboratory experiments that, in addition to litter and root-derived carbon from vascular plants, photoautotrophic soil surface microorganisms (cyanobacteria, algae) may be an ecologically important carbon input route for temperate soil animals that are traditionally assigned to the decomposer channel in soil food web models and carbon cycling studies.