| Folsomia candida | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Entognatha (?) |
| Family: | Isotomidae |
| Genus: | Folsomia |
| Species: | F. candida |
| Binomial name | |
| Folsomia candida Willem 1902 | |
Folsomia candida is a species of springtail in the family Isotomidae. It is found in soil in many locations around the world, having been spread inadvertently by humans. It reproduces by parthenogenesis and has been used as a model organism in research.
Folsomia candida has an unpigmented, slender body up to 3 mm (0.1 in) in length. The head bears a pair of four-segmented antennae and a pair of post-antennal organs but no eyespots. The dorsal part of the first thoracic segment is reduced and the posterior three abdominal segments are fused. The ventral side of the fourth abdominal segment bears a furca, used in jumping, and it is the number of bristles on this organ that distinguishes this species from others in the genus. [1]
This springtail has been called a "tramp" species as it has spread around the world in soil and in plant pots and its original distribution is unclear. It occurs in mines and caves, and in soils with a high organic content, on farms, in leaf litter in forests and on stream verges. [1]
Populations consist only of females, which reproduce by parthenogenesis. The globular white eggs take about one week to hatch at 21 °C (70 °F) and three weeks to reach maturity, having moulted five times. Development takes longer at lower temperatures. Adults continue to moult, doing so about 45 times during their lives, including shedding the lining of the midgut. They may live for 110 to 240 days, depending on the temperature, and each may lay about a thousand eggs. The diet consists mainly of the hyphae of fungi including grazing on root mycorrhizae. [1]
Invertebrates living among the soil particles in underground habitats often experience raised levels of carbon dioxide, which tends to increase with depth. Researchers have found that the surface-dwelling springtail Allacma fusca can tolerate a 10% level of carbon dioxide for a few hours while in contrast, Folsomia candida, which lives deeper in the soil, can survive under the same conditions for more than six weeks. [2]
It is unclear whether springtails in soil are on balance beneficial to crops or disadvantageous. In the case of Folsomia candida, beneficial actions include feeding on plant-pathogenic nematodes and mites. [3]
Folsomia candida is easily kept in the laboratory where it can be maintained on granulated baker's yeast. [1] Researchers have developed strains bred from single individuals. [4] It has been used for over forty years to test the effects, on non-target soil invertebrates, of pesticides and soil pollutants. It has also been used as a model organism to investigate many different characteristics including cold tolerance, carbon dioxide tolerance and the effects of its grazing activities on soil fungi and mycorrhizae growing on roots. [1] It has been used to study the processes involved in the decomposition of leaf litter, circadian rhythms, circaseptan (weekly) rhythms, the palatability and nutritious value of different plant residues and species of fungi, the effects on ageing of different environmental conditions, population dynamics and behaviour. Strains have been kept growing in cultures for upwards of five years, and excess individuals can be used as invertebrate food for other organisms kept in the laboratory. [5]
Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus or fungus-like bacterial colony, consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. The mass of hyphae is sometimes called shiro, especially within the fairy ring fungi. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other substrates. A typical single spore germinates into a monokaryotic mycelium, which cannot reproduce sexually; when two compatible monokaryotic mycelia join and form a dikaryotic mycelium, that mycelium may form fruiting bodies such as mushrooms. A mycelium may be minute, forming a colony that is too small to see, or may grow to span thousands of acres as in Armillaria.
A mycorrhiza is a mutual symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plant's rhizosphere, its root system. Mycorrhizae play important roles in plant nutrition, soil biology and soil chemistry.
The order Diplura is one of three orders within the class Entognatha. The name "diplura", or "two tails", refers to the characteristic pair of caudal appendages or filaments at the terminal end of the body.
The Protura, or proturans, and sometimes nicknamed coneheads, are very small, soil-dwelling animals, so inconspicuous they were not noticed until the 20th century. The Protura constitute an order of hexapods that were previously regarded as insects, and sometimes treated as a class in their own right.
Decomposers are organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms, they carry out decomposition, a process possible by only certain kingdoms, such as fungi. Like herbivores and predators, decomposers are heterotrophic, meaning that they use organic substrates to get their energy, carbon and nutrients for growth and development. While the terms decomposer and detritivore are often interchangeably used, detritivores ingest and digest dead matter internally, while decomposers directly absorb nutrients through external chemical and biological processes. Thus, invertebrates such as earthworms, woodlice, and sea cucumbers are technically detritivores, not decomposers, since they must ingest nutrients - they are unable to absorb them externally.
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora. Flora, fauna and other forms of life such as fungi are collectively referred to as biota. Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess Shale fauna". Paleontologists sometimes refer to a sequence of faunal stages, which is a series of rocks all containing similar fossils. The study of animals of a particular region is called faunistics.
Detritivores are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus. There are many kinds of invertebrates, vertebrates and plants that carry out coprophagy. By doing so, all these detritivores contribute to decomposition and the nutrient cycles. They should be distinguished from other decomposers, such as many species of bacteria, fungi and protists, which are unable to ingest discrete lumps of matter, but instead live by absorbing and metabolizing on a molecular scale. However, the terms detritivore and decomposer are often used interchangeably but they are different organisms. Detritivore are usually arthropods and help in the process of remineralization. Detritivores perform the first stage of remineralization, by fragmenting the dead plant matter. Allowing for decomposers to perform the second stage of remineralization.
An arbuscular mycorrhiza is a type of mycorrhiza in which the symbiont fungus penetrates the cortical cells of the roots of a vascular plant forming arbuscules.
The soil food web is the community of organisms living all or part of their lives in the soil. It describes a complex living system in the soil and how it interacts with the environment, plants, and animals.
In biology, detritus is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts communities of microorganisms that colonize and decompose it. In terrestrial ecosystems it is present as leaf litter and other organic matter that is intermixed with soil, which is denominated "soil organic matter". The detritus of aquatic ecosystems is organic material that is suspended in the water and accumulates in depositions on the floor of the body of water; when this floor is a seabed, such a deposition is denominated "marine snow".
Soil biology is the study of microbial and faunal activity and ecology in soil. Soil life, soil biota, soil fauna, or edaphon is a collective term that encompasses all organisms that spend a significant portion of their life cycle within a soil profile, or at the soil-litter interface. These organisms include earthworms, nematodes, protozoa, fungi, bacteria, different arthropods, as well as some reptiles, and species of burrowing mammals like gophers, moles and prairie dogs. Soil biology plays a vital role in determining many soil characteristics. The decomposition of organic matter by soil organisms has an immense influence on soil fertility, plant growth, soil structure, and carbon storage. As a relatively new science, much remains unknown about soil biology and its effect on soil ecosystems.
The furcula, or furca It is a forked, tail-like appendage. It is present in most species of springtails, and in them it is attached ventrally to the fourth abdominal segment. The organ most often is present in species of Collembola that lives in the upper soil layers where it is used for jumping to avoid predators. While at rest, it is retracted under the abdomen and held there by a structure variously called the retinaculum or hamula, which in turn is located beneath the third abdominal segment. When the furcula escapes from retinaculum, it swings downwards and hits the substrate, propelling the springtail into the air. The animal does not use this mechanism for ordinary locomotion, but only for escaping from predators or severe stress.
Soil respiration refers to the production of carbon dioxide when soil organisms respire. This includes respiration of plant roots, the rhizosphere, microbes and fauna.
Springtails (Collembola) form the largest of the three lineages of modern hexapods that are no longer considered insects. Although the three orders are sometimes grouped together in a class called Entognatha because they have internal mouthparts, they do not appear to be any more closely related to one another than they are to all insects, which have external mouthparts.
Orchesella cincta is a species of springtail present in North America and Europe. They average 4 millimetres (0.16 in) in length, which is extremely large as most springtails don’t grow past 1 millimetre. The specific name cincta means "belted" and refers to the distinctive colouration of the third abdominal segment.
Allacma fusca is a species of springtail. This species is endemic to western areas of Continental Europe and the British Isles, where it lives in the surface layers of the soil in moist habitats such as among leaf litter.
Soil microbiology is the study of microorganisms in soil, their functions, and how they affect soil properties. It is believed that between two and four billion years ago, the first ancient bacteria and microorganisms came about on Earth's oceans. These bacteria could fix nitrogen, in time multiplied, and as a result released oxygen into the atmosphere. This led to more advanced microorganisms, which are important because they affect soil structure and fertility. Soil microorganisms can be classified as bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, algae and protozoa. Each of these groups has characteristics that define them and their functions in soil.
Soil mesofauna are invertebrates between 0.1mm and 2mm in size, which live in the soil or in a leaf litter layer on the soil surface. Members of this group include nematodes, mites, springtails (collembola), proturans, pauropods, rotifers, tardigrades, small araneidae(spiders), pseudoscorpions, opiliones(harvestmen), enchytraeidae such as potworms, insect larvae, small isopods and myriapods They play an important part in the carbon cycle and are likely to be adversely affected by climate change.
The root microbiome is the dynamic community of microorganisms associated with plant roots. Because they are rich in a variety of carbon compounds, plant roots provide unique environments for a diverse assemblage of soil microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi and archaea. The microbial communities inside the root and in the rhizosphere are distinct from each other, and from the microbial communities of bulk soil, although there is some overlap in species composition.
Mycorrhizae and changing climate refers to the effects of climate change on mycorrhizae, a fungus which forms an endosymbiotic relationship between with a vascular host plant by colonizing its roots, and the effects brought on by climate change. Climate change is any lasting effect in weather or temperature. It is important to note that a good indicator of climate change is global warming, though the two are not analogous. However, temperature plays a very important role in all ecosystems on Earth, especially those with high counts of mycorrhiza in soil biota.