Collembola (Hexapoda) as Biological Drivers between Land and Sea

• Published in: Biology
• Main Authors: Izabella Olejniczak, Maria Sterzyńska, Paweł Boniecki, Anita Kaliszewicz, Ninel Panteleeva
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021
• Subjects: microarthropods; macroalgae; costal tundra; Biology (General); QH301-705.5; Arctic; Tundra
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10070568; https://doaj.org/article/de3b83a8c4f5435a86931490eac7858e

Macroalgae debris accumulated onshore function as points of interaction between marine and terrestrial ecological systems, but knowledge of the importance of detritivores facilitating the introduction of organic matter via the detritus pathway into neighbouring ecosystems, is still poorly understood. In particular, not much is known about biodiversity patterns and the colonisation of macroalgal debris by terrestrial, detritivorous soil microarthropods in the harsh environmental conditions in the subpolar Arctic region. We hypothesised that (i) soil microarthropods of the coastal tundra, including Collembola, can cross the ecosystem boundary and colonise decaying and freshly exposed macroalgae; and (ii) various inundation regimes by sea water, microhabitat stability and decaying of macroalgae drive distribution patterns of collembolan species. Our results suggest that environmental filtering influences collembolan species’ distributions across the examined gradient and induces sorting of species according to their functional traits, including dispersal ability, resistance to disturbance and environmental tolerance.