Incorporation of plant carbon into the soil animal food web of an arable system

Ecology
Derk AlbersS Scheu

Abstract

We used stable isotopes to examine the incorporation of plant carbon into the belowground food web of an agricultural system. Plots were established and planted with maize (Zea mays) in a rye field (Secale cereale) near Göttingen (northern Germany) in May 1999. In October 1999, April 2000, and October 2000, meso- and macrofauna and maize and rye litter were collected in each plot and analyzed for 13C and 15N content. 15N signatures suggested that the soil animal species analyzed span three trophic levels with the trophic position of species varying little in time. The species investigated formed a continuum from primary to secondary decomposers to predators. On average, predator species differed from primary and secondary decomposers by 3.9 sigma15N suggesting that they fed on a mixed diet of both decomposer groups. The combined analysis of 13C and 15N signatures allowed us to identify links between prey and consumer species. In October 1999, shortly after maize residues had been incorporated into the plots, maize-born carbon was present in each of the animal species investigated, including top predators. The incorporation of maize carbon into the belowground food web increased during the following 12 months but the concentrati...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 3, 2009·Oecologia·Maité LohmannCaroline Müller
May 29, 2012·Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology·Manar Arica AlattarRadu Popa
Jul 25, 2007·Ecology·Graham H R Osler, Martin Sommerkorn
Jan 7, 2015·The American Naturalist·Valentina SechiChristian Mulder
Jun 28, 2007·Ecology Letters·Melanie M PolliererStefan Scheu
Aug 13, 2015·Oecologia·Nicole ScheunemannOlaf Butenschoen
Jun 20, 2018·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Anton M PotapovStefan Scheu
Mar 24, 2017·Ecology and Evolution·Klaus BirkhoferMattias Jonsson
Jan 22, 2022·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Anton M PotapovStefan Scheu

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