Imperial College London
Alternate

ProfessorThomasBell

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Life Sciences (Silwood Park)

Professor of Microbial Ecology
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 2268thomas.bell

 
 
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Location

 

MunroSilwood Park

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Slade:2015:10.1111/oik.02640,
author = {Slade, EM and Roslin, T and Santalahti, M and Bell, T},
doi = {10.1111/oik.02640},
journal = {Oikos},
pages = {629--635},
title = {Disentangling the "brown world' faecal-detritus interaction web: dung beetle effects on soil microbial properties},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.02640},
volume = {125},
year = {2015}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Many ecosystem services are sustained by the combined action of microscopic and macroscopic organisms, and shaped by interactions between the two. However, studies tend to focus on only one of these two components. We combined the two by investigating the impact of macrofauna on microbial community composition and functioning in the context of a major ecosystem process: the decomposition of dung. We compared bacterial communities of pasture soil and experimental dung pats inhabited by one (Aphodius), two (Aphodius and Geotrupes), or no dung beetle genera. Overall, we found distinct microbial communities in soil and dung samples, and that the communities converged over the course of the experiment. Characterising the soil microbial communities underlying the dung pats revealed a signicant interactive eect between the microora and macrofauna, where the diversity and composition of microbial communities was signicantly aected by the presence or absence of dung beetles. e specic identity of the beetles had no detectable impact, but the microbial evenness was lower in the presence of both Aphodius and Geotrupes than in the presence of Aphodius alone. Dierences in microbial community composition were associated with dierences in substrate usage as measured by Ecoplates. More-over, microbial communities with similar compositions showed more similar substrate usage. Our study suggests that the presence of macrofauna (dung beetles) will modify the microora (bacteria) of both dung pats and pasture soil, including community diversity and functioning. In particular, the presence of dung beetles promotes the transfer of bacteria across the soil–dung interface, resulting in increased similarity in community structure and functioning. e results demonstrate that to understand how microbes contribute to the ecosystem process of dung decomposition, there is a need to understand their interactions with larger co-occurring fauna.
AU  - Slade,EM
AU  - Roslin,T
AU  - Santalahti,M
AU  - Bell,T
DO  - 10.1111/oik.02640
EP  - 635
PY  - 2015///
SN  - 0030-1299
SP  - 629
TI  - Disentangling the "brown world' faecal-detritus interaction web: dung beetle effects on soil microbial properties
T2  - Oikos
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.02640
UR  - http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000375087800004&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/49670
VL  - 125
ER  -
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