Diversity and Function of Collembola

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450). This special issue belongs to the section "Insect Ecology, Diversity and Conservation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2024) | Viewed by 3677

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China
Interests: Collembola; soil fauna; greenhouse gas; food web; stable isotope

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geography and Spatial Information Techniques, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Interests: community ecology; diversity maintenance; soil fauna informatics; intelligent method

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Collembola are widely distributed in forests, grasslands, wetlands, and farmland ecosystems. As one of the most ubiquitous soil arthropods in the terrestrial ecosystem, Collembola can affect carbon and nitrogen cycling through litter decomposition, microbe transmission, and microbes and microfauna. Moreover, Collembola can inhabit different soil layers and are sensitive to climate change. Therefore, springtails are good indicators of soil biodiversity. There are some studies on the responses of Collembola to climate change in the form of temperature increases, precipitation, and carbon dioxide increases. There are also many studies on land-use methods (such as farming methods, wetland reclamation, forest land reclamation, etc.). However, compared with the research on above-ground ecosystems, the research on the biodiversity and ecological functions of soil springtails is still relatively scarce, which greatly hinders the progress of the overall research on soil ecosystems. Therefore, we have decided to launch a Special Issue named “Diversity and Function of Collembola”.

The Special Issue welcomes papers on various aspects of the diversity and function of Collembola.

Prof. Dr. Liang Chang
Prof. Dr. Meixiang Gao
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Collembola
  • global change
  • diversity
  • function
  • land-use type
  • pattern
  • dynamics
  • maintenance
  • conservation

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 3851 KiB  
Article
Euedaphic Rather than Hemiedaphic or Epedaphic Collembola Are More Sensitive to Different Climate Conditions in the Black Soil Region of Northeast China
by Chunbo Li, Shaoqing Zhang, Baifeng Wang, Zihan Ai, Sha Zhang, Yongbo Shao, Jing Du, Chenxu Wang, Sidra Wajid, Donghui Wu and Liang Chang
Insects 2025, 16(3), 275; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects16030275 - 5 Mar 2025
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Abstract
Soil biodiversity is profoundly affected by variations in climate conditions and land use practices. As one of the major grain-producing areas in China, the belowground biodiversity of the black soil region of the Northeast is also affected by the variations in climate conditions [...] Read more.
Soil biodiversity is profoundly affected by variations in climate conditions and land use practices. As one of the major grain-producing areas in China, the belowground biodiversity of the black soil region of the Northeast is also affected by the variations in climate conditions and land use types. However, most of the previous studies have focused on aboveground biodiversity, and the research of soil biodiversity is limited. The main aim of this study was to investigate the effects of variations in climate conditions and land use practices on Collembola communities of different life forms in the black soil region of Northeast China. Here, we selected three climatic areas from high to low latitudes in the black soil region of the Northeast, with three variations in land use practices (soybean, maize, and rice) sampled in each area. We found that higher temperatures and higher humidity and land use practices from rice to soybean and maize are associated with a higher Collembola density and species richness. Specifically, the density and species richness of euedaphic Colmbola are higher in climate conditions with higher temperatures and humidity, while the density and species richness of all three life forms of Collembola are higher in land use practices from rice to soybean and maize. Additionally, we discovered that environmental factors and feeding resources (soil microorganisms) both have significant effects on Collembola communities, with environmental factors exerting a more substantial influence. Our results suggest that euedaphic Collembola are more vulnerable to climate differences than epedaphic and hemiedaphic Collembola. Consequently, this may alter the vertical distribution characteristics of soil fauna (e.g., increasing soil-dwelling fauna) as well as the ecological processes associated with soil fauna in different agricultural environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity and Function of Collembola)
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15 pages, 4777 KiB  
Article
Impacts of Millipedes on Acari and Collembola Communities—A Microcosm Experiment
by Wenjin Chang, Peng Zhang, Jianwei Li, Nonillon M. Aspe, Jiahua Hao, Siyuan Lu, Zhuoma Wan and Donghui Wu
Insects 2024, 15(6), 456; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects15060456 - 18 Jun 2024
Viewed by 2143
Abstract
Ecosystem engineers influence the structure and function of soil food webs through non-trophic interactions. The activity of large soil animals, such as earthworms, has a significant impact on the soil microarthropod community. However, the influence of millipedes on soil microarthropod communities remains largely [...] Read more.
Ecosystem engineers influence the structure and function of soil food webs through non-trophic interactions. The activity of large soil animals, such as earthworms, has a significant impact on the soil microarthropod community. However, the influence of millipedes on soil microarthropod communities remains largely unknown. In this microcosm experiment, we examined the effects of adding, removing, and restricting millipede activity on Acari and Collembola communities in litter and soil by conducting two destructive sampling sessions on days 10 and 30, respectively. At the time of the first sampling event (10 d), Acari and Collembola abundance was shown to increase and the alpha diversity went higher in the treatments with millipedes. At the time of the second sampling event (30 d), millipedes significantly reduced the Collembola abundance and alpha diversity. The results were even more pronounced as the millipedes moved through the soil, which caused the collembolans to be more inclined to inhabit the litter, which in turn resulted in the increase in the abundance and diversity of Acari in the soil. The rapid growth of Collembola in the absence of millipedes significantly inhibited the abundance of Acari. The presence of millipedes altered the community structure of Acari and Collembola, leading to a stronger correlation between the two communities. Changes in these communities were driven by the dominant taxa of Acari and Collembola. These findings suggest that millipedes, as key ecosystem engineers, have varying impacts on different soil microarthropods. This study enhances our understanding of biological interactions and offers a theoretical foundation for soil biodiversity conservation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity and Function of Collembola)
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