Earth's Systems / Biological processes / Terrestrial ecosystem functioning / Living soil system / Soil fauna / Springtail and mite grazing of fungi: stimulation, defence and dispersal
Springtail and mite grazing of fungi: stimulation, defence and dispersal
Collembola and oribatid mites graze fungal hyphae. Moderate grazing stimulates fungal regrowth and nitrogen release, heavy grazing cuts hyphal biomass, fungi defend with secondary metabolites, and grazers spread spores and bacteria.
Boundary: where this process starts
Starts with: Collembola and mites graze hyphae and spores; moderate grazing stimulates hyphal regrowth and respiration, heavy grazing cuts hyphal biomass
Boundary: where it ends
Ends after: Grazing mineralizes nitrogen held in fungal biomass; fauna as a whole contribute roughly a third of N mineralization in studied agroecosystems (estimate); Grazers carry spores and bacteria on cuticles and in faeces, changing which fungi colonize next
Line thickness = size of impact (1 to 5)% on a line = chance a fork takes that branch📄 = pieces of evidence on a stepNegative effectLoops backHypothesisResource used up (arrow into the step)Resource used, not used upResource made or released (arrow out of the step)
What am I looking at? The concepts on every map
- Participant
- Someone or something that takes part in a process or influences it: a plant, a microbe, a river, a machine, a force. Participants are the rows of a map.
- Resource
- Something a step uses or uses up: water, oxygen, sunlight, a tool. Each step has an arrow down to the resources it uses.
- Step
- One thing that happens in a process. Every step has at least one participant and carries evidence.
- Decision fork
- A step where the process can go several ways. Every outcome is labeled with a percentage, and the percentages add up to 100%. It is not limited to yes or no.
- Loop
- A line that carries the process back to an earlier step. We record whether it reinforces or balances, how strong it is (weak, moderate, strong), and its gain (0 to 1): the share of the effect that returns on each pass.
- Size of impact
- Every line says how much the earlier step affects the next one (1 to 5), in which direction (+, -, 0), and why. Thicker lines mean bigger impact.
- Evidence
- The support for a claim: a source and what it shows. Every step, line, change and vote needs it. Click any step or line to read its evidence.
- Boundary
- Where a process starts and where it ends. Every process, and every subprocess, has a start and an end.
- Subprocess
- A step that is itself a whole process, with its own boundary, steps and lines. Click a step marked ↘ to open it. Subprocesses nest as deep as the evidence goes.
- Description
- A plain-language summary of what a process is and what it covers.
- Hypothesis
- A proposed new connection between two parts of the map that nobody has linked. It carries a prediction, a way to test it, and a count of papers on each topic and on both. It is an unverified idea until someone tests it.
Every step, with its evidence
The same information as the map, as a list you can search and share. Click a participant or resource to see everywhere it appears.
Collembola and mites graze hyphae and spores; moderate grazing stimulates hyphal regrowth and respiration, heavy grazing cuts hyphal biomass
Evidence (1) · added by Ember
- Hanlon & Anderson 1979, Oecologia 38:93: Litter respiration rose at moderate Collembola density and fell at high density. (confidence 0.7)
Grazers fragment litter and produce faecal pellets with high surface area that bacteria colonize
Evidence (1) · added by Ember
- Seastedt 1984, Annual Review of Entomology 29:25, The role of microarthropods in decomposition and mineralization processes: Microarthropod faeces and fragmentation raise the surface available for microbial colonization. (confidence 0.8)
Grazing mineralizes nitrogen held in fungal biomass; fauna as a whole contribute roughly a third of N mineralization in studied agroecosystems (estimate)
Evidence (1) · added by Ember
- Verhoef & Brussaard 1990, Biogeochemistry 11:175, Decomposition and nitrogen mineralization in natural and agroecosystems: the contribution of soil animals: Soil animals directly and indirectly contributed on the order of a third of N mineralization in the systems compared; range wide. (confidence 0.5)
Grazers carry spores and bacteria on cuticles and in faeces, changing which fungi colonize next
Evidence (1) · added by Ember
- Crowther, Boddy & Jones 2012, ISME Journal 6:1992, Functional and ecological consequences of saprotrophic fungus-grazer interactions: Grazers disperse fungal propagules and alter fungal community structure through selective feeding. (confidence 0.75)
Fungi defend with secondary metabolites: Aspergillus nidulans lacking them (laeA mutant) was eaten far more by the springtail Folsomia candida
Evidence (1) · added by Ember
- Rohlfs, Albert, Keller & Kempken 2007, Biology Letters 3:523, Secondary chemicals protect mould from fungivory: Secondary metabolite-deficient laeA mutants were preferred and consumed more by springtails than wild type. (confidence 0.8)