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Where are the decomposers? Uncovering the soil food web of a tropical montane rain forest in southern Ecuador using stable isotopes (15N)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 July 2005

Jens Illig ,
Reinhard Langel ,
Roy A. Norton ,
Stefan Scheu  and
Mark Maraun
Jens Illig
Affiliation:
Technische Universität Darmstadt, Institut für Zoologie, Schnittspahnstrasse 3, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany
Reinhard Langel
Affiliation:
Universität Göttingen, Forschungszentrum Waldökosysteme, Kompetenzzentrum ‘Stabile Isotope’, Büsgenweg 2, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Roy A. Norton
Affiliation:
State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Faculty of Environmental and Forest Biology, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse NY 13210, USA
Stefan Scheu
Affiliation:
Technische Universität Darmstadt, Institut für Zoologie, Schnittspahnstrasse 3, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany
Mark Maraun
Affiliation:
Technische Universität Darmstadt, Institut für Zoologie, Schnittspahnstrasse 3, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany
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Abstract

Trophic relationships among animals, plants and microflora are the basis for the construction of terrestrial and aquatic food webs, but both the structure and dynamics of food webs remain contentious. Examples of issues include how the overall nutrient status of a system affects the number of trophic levels, whether trophic-level omnivory and intraguild predation are rare or important, if different animal species can be aggregated into functional groups according to their taxonomic affiliation, how large numbers of decomposer animal species can coexist and why there are so many parthenogenetic taxa in soil.

Keywords

δ15Ndecomposer animalsfeeding guildsgamasid mitesGraffenrieda emarginataoribatid mites
Type
Brief Report
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 21 , Issue 5 , September 2005 , pp. 589 - 593
Copyright
2005 Cambridge University Press

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