Early decomposer assemblages of soil organisms in litterbags with vetch and rye roots

Slavka Georgieva; Søren Christensen; Henning Petersen; Peter Gjelstrup; Kristian Thorup-Christensen

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2004.11.012

Early decomposer assemblages of soil organisms in litterbags with vetch and rye roots

Slavka Georgieva, Søren Christensen, Henning Petersen, Peter Gjelstrup, Kristian Thorup-Christensen

27 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The assemblages of microbial (bacteria and fungi), microfaunal (protozoa and nematodes) and mesofaunal (microarthropods) populations were studied in decomposing root residues from hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) and rye (Secale cereale L.) in a litterbag field experiment. Litterbags containing vetch or rye root residues were buried in soil at the same day as either vetch or rye winter catch crops were incorporated into the field soil from which the materials were gathered. The litterbags were sampled after 6 weeks in the field. In vetch, bacterial and fungal biomasses were similar whereas fungi dominated microbial biomass in rye. The biomass of the bacterial consuming fauna dominated by nematodes and microarthropods was similar to the biomass of bacteria in vetch as opposed to in rye where bacterivore biomass was lower than bacterial biomass. This suggests a much higher bacterial production in vetch compared to rye. Furthermore, in vetch dauer larvae of bacteria feeding nematodes prevailed, which is also a sign of high bacterial production followed by food shortage for the bacterivores. Bacterivorous and predatory nematodes with capability of consuming protozoa showed an inverse relationship to flagellated protozoa. This suggests that these nematodes controlled the protozoan biomass constituting a lower fraction of the bacterivore biomass in vetch compared to in rye. Such intraguild predator-prey relationship is therefore indicated for microbivorous organisms among bacterivorous and predatory nematodes (the intraguild predator) protozoa (the intraguild prey) and bacteria (the common prey). The much higher fungal biomass in rye than in vetch litterbags was not reflected in the biomass of the fungal feeders. Due to the generally lower intrinsic rate of increase of the fungivores, as well as of the omnivores and predators, in comparison with the bacterial feeders, they were not able to generate dense populations at this early stage of decomposition.

Original language	English
Journal	Soil Biology & Biochemistry
Volume	37
Issue number	6
Pages (from-to)	1145-1155
ISSN	0038-0717
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2004.11.012
Publication status	Published - 2005

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10.1016/j.soilbio.2004.11.012

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@article{35630c5074c311dbbee902004c4f4f50,

title = "Early decomposer assemblages of soil organisms in litterbags with vetch and rye roots",

abstract = "The assemblages of microbial (bacteria and fungi), microfaunal (protozoa and nematodes) and mesofaunal (microarthropods) populations were studied in decomposing root residues from hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) and rye (Secale cereale L.) in a litterbag field experiment. Litterbags containing vetch or rye root residues were buried in soil at the same day as either vetch or rye winter catch crops were incorporated into the field soil from which the materials were gathered. The litterbags were sampled after 6 weeks in the field. In vetch, bacterial and fungal biomasses were similar whereas fungi dominated microbial biomass in rye. The biomass of the bacterial consuming fauna dominated by nematodes and microarthropods was similar to the biomass of bacteria in vetch as opposed to in rye where bacterivore biomass was lower than bacterial biomass. This suggests a much higher bacterial production in vetch compared to rye. Furthermore, in vetch dauer larvae of bacteria feeding nematodes prevailed, which is also a sign of high bacterial production followed by food shortage for the bacterivores. Bacterivorous and predatory nematodes with capability of consuming protozoa showed an inverse relationship to flagellated protozoa. This suggests that these nematodes controlled the protozoan biomass constituting a lower fraction of the bacterivore biomass in vetch compared to in rye. Such intraguild predator-prey relationship is therefore indicated for microbivorous organisms among bacterivorous and predatory nematodes (the intraguild predator) protozoa (the intraguild prey) and bacteria (the common prey). The much higher fungal biomass in rye than in vetch litterbags was not reflected in the biomass of the fungal feeders. Due to the generally lower intrinsic rate of increase of the fungivores, as well as of the omnivores and predators, in comparison with the bacterial feeders, they were not able to generate dense populations at this early stage of decomposition.",

author = "Slavka Georgieva and S{\o}ren Christensen and Henning Petersen and Peter Gjelstrup and Kristian Thorup-Christensen",

note = "Keywords: Decomposition; Plant residues; Bacteria; Fungi; Protozoa; Nematodes; Microarthropods; Decomposer assemblages; Resource quality; Intraguild predator–prey interactions; Hairy vetch; Rye",

year = "2005",

doi = "10.1016/j.soilbio.2004.11.012",

language = "English",

volume = "37",

pages = "1145--1155",

journal = "Soil Biology & Biochemistry",

issn = "0038-0717",

publisher = "Pergamon Press",

number = "6",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Early decomposer assemblages of soil organisms in litterbags with vetch and rye roots

AU - Georgieva, Slavka

AU - Christensen, Søren

AU - Petersen, Henning

AU - Gjelstrup, Peter

AU - Thorup-Christensen, Kristian

N1 - Keywords: Decomposition; Plant residues; Bacteria; Fungi; Protozoa; Nematodes; Microarthropods; Decomposer assemblages; Resource quality; Intraguild predator–prey interactions; Hairy vetch; Rye

PY - 2005

Y1 - 2005

N2 - The assemblages of microbial (bacteria and fungi), microfaunal (protozoa and nematodes) and mesofaunal (microarthropods) populations were studied in decomposing root residues from hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) and rye (Secale cereale L.) in a litterbag field experiment. Litterbags containing vetch or rye root residues were buried in soil at the same day as either vetch or rye winter catch crops were incorporated into the field soil from which the materials were gathered. The litterbags were sampled after 6 weeks in the field. In vetch, bacterial and fungal biomasses were similar whereas fungi dominated microbial biomass in rye. The biomass of the bacterial consuming fauna dominated by nematodes and microarthropods was similar to the biomass of bacteria in vetch as opposed to in rye where bacterivore biomass was lower than bacterial biomass. This suggests a much higher bacterial production in vetch compared to rye. Furthermore, in vetch dauer larvae of bacteria feeding nematodes prevailed, which is also a sign of high bacterial production followed by food shortage for the bacterivores. Bacterivorous and predatory nematodes with capability of consuming protozoa showed an inverse relationship to flagellated protozoa. This suggests that these nematodes controlled the protozoan biomass constituting a lower fraction of the bacterivore biomass in vetch compared to in rye. Such intraguild predator-prey relationship is therefore indicated for microbivorous organisms among bacterivorous and predatory nematodes (the intraguild predator) protozoa (the intraguild prey) and bacteria (the common prey). The much higher fungal biomass in rye than in vetch litterbags was not reflected in the biomass of the fungal feeders. Due to the generally lower intrinsic rate of increase of the fungivores, as well as of the omnivores and predators, in comparison with the bacterial feeders, they were not able to generate dense populations at this early stage of decomposition.

AB - The assemblages of microbial (bacteria and fungi), microfaunal (protozoa and nematodes) and mesofaunal (microarthropods) populations were studied in decomposing root residues from hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) and rye (Secale cereale L.) in a litterbag field experiment. Litterbags containing vetch or rye root residues were buried in soil at the same day as either vetch or rye winter catch crops were incorporated into the field soil from which the materials were gathered. The litterbags were sampled after 6 weeks in the field. In vetch, bacterial and fungal biomasses were similar whereas fungi dominated microbial biomass in rye. The biomass of the bacterial consuming fauna dominated by nematodes and microarthropods was similar to the biomass of bacteria in vetch as opposed to in rye where bacterivore biomass was lower than bacterial biomass. This suggests a much higher bacterial production in vetch compared to rye. Furthermore, in vetch dauer larvae of bacteria feeding nematodes prevailed, which is also a sign of high bacterial production followed by food shortage for the bacterivores. Bacterivorous and predatory nematodes with capability of consuming protozoa showed an inverse relationship to flagellated protozoa. This suggests that these nematodes controlled the protozoan biomass constituting a lower fraction of the bacterivore biomass in vetch compared to in rye. Such intraguild predator-prey relationship is therefore indicated for microbivorous organisms among bacterivorous and predatory nematodes (the intraguild predator) protozoa (the intraguild prey) and bacteria (the common prey). The much higher fungal biomass in rye than in vetch litterbags was not reflected in the biomass of the fungal feeders. Due to the generally lower intrinsic rate of increase of the fungivores, as well as of the omnivores and predators, in comparison with the bacterial feeders, they were not able to generate dense populations at this early stage of decomposition.

U2 - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2004.11.012

DO - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2004.11.012

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0038-0717

VL - 37

SP - 1145

EP - 1155

JO - Soil Biology & Biochemistry

JF - Soil Biology & Biochemistry

IS - 6

ER -

Early decomposer assemblages of soil organisms in litterbags with vetch and rye roots

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