Terrestrial Isopods Porcellio scaber and Oniscus asellus (Crustacea: Isopoda) Increase Bacterial Abundance and Modify Mi
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INVERTEBRATE MICROBIOLOGY
Terrestrial Isopods Porcellio scaber and Oniscus asellus (Crustacea: Isopoda) Increase Bacterial Abundance and Modify Microbial Community Structure in Leaf Litter Microcosms: a Short-Term Decomposition Study Lauren E. Des Marteaux 1,2
&
Sigrun A. Kullik 1
&
Marc Habash 1
&
Jonathan M. Schmidt 1
Received: 17 October 2019 / Accepted: 12 May 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Invasive terrestrial isopods are likely to have altered leaf litter decomposition processes in North American forests, but the mechanisms underlying these alterations and the degree to which they differ among isopod species are poorly characterized. Using mixed-deciduous leaf litter microcosms, we quantified the effects of two common, invasive isopods (Oniscus asellus and Porcellio scaber) on short-term leaf litter decomposition and microbial community structure and function. Microcosms containing ground litter and a microbial inoculant were exposed to one of the two isopod species or no isopods for 21 days. Mass loss was then quantified as the change in litter dry mass after leaching, and microbial respiration was quantified as the mass of CO2 absorbed by soda lime. Litter leachates were plated on agar to quantify culturable bacterial and fungal abundance, and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of amplified leachate microbial DNA was used to characterize shifts in microbial community structure. Isopod presence increased litter mass loss by a modest ~ 6%, but did not affect litter microbial respiration. Bacterial abundance increased significantly in the presence of isopods, while fungal abundance was either unchanged or reduced. Overall litter microbial species richness was reduced by isopods, with O. asellus specifically reducing fungal abundance and diversity. Isopods modified the microbial community structure by suppressing four bacterial and one fungal species, while promoting growth of four other bacterial species (two unique to each isopod species) and two fungal species (one which was unique to O. asellus). Keywords Forest ecology . Bacteria . Fungi . Respiration . Decomposition . Mass loss
Introduction Most North American inland terrestrial isopod species (Crustacea: Isopoda) were introduced by European settlers as early as the 1500s [1], and they are now among the most abundant macrofauna in North American wild, agricultural, and urban landscapes [2, 3]. Like many detritivores, isopods Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-020-01527-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Lauren E. Des Marteaux [email protected] 1
School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
2
Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan
feed on fungi, decaying plant materials, and associated microbes, as well as fecal pellets (produced by themselves or other animals) [4–6]. Digestion of plant lignocellulose by isopods is facilitated
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