Palatability of selected alpine plant litters for the decomposer Lumbricus rubellus (Lumbricidae).

On alpine pastureland the decline in large-bodied earthworm numbers and biomass after abandonment of management might be the result of a shift from highly palatable grass litter to poorly digestible leaf litter of dwarf shrubs. To test this hypothesis, we analysed nitrogen, phosphorous and total phe...

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Autores principales:	Alexander Rief, Brigitte A Knapp, Julia Seeber
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/6bfab5906b9d4b5bb5d71244ef82ea6b
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:6bfab5906b9d4b5bb5d71244ef82ea6b2021-11-18T07:05:08ZPalatability of selected alpine plant litters for the decomposer Lumbricus rubellus (Lumbricidae).1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0045345https://doaj.org/article/6bfab5906b9d4b5bb5d71244ef82ea6b2012-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23028949/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203On alpine pastureland the decline in large-bodied earthworm numbers and biomass after abandonment of management might be the result of a shift from highly palatable grass litter to poorly digestible leaf litter of dwarf shrubs. To test this hypothesis, we analysed nitrogen, phosphorous and total phenolic contents of fresh and aged litter of eight commonly occuring alpine plant species and compared consumption rates of these food sources in a controlled feeding experiment with Lumbricus rubellus (Lumbricidae). Furthermore, we analysed the microbial community structure of aged litter materials to check for a relationship between the microbial characteristics of the different plant litter types and the food choice of earthworms. Plant litters differed significantly in their chemical composition, earthworms, however, showed no preference for any litter species, but generally rejected fresh litter material. Microbial community structures of the litter types were significantly different, but we could find no evidence for selective feeding of L. rubellus. We conclude that L. rubellus is a widespread, adaptable ubiquist, which is able to feed on a variety of food sources differing in quality and palatability, as long as they have been exposed to wheathering.Alexander RiefBrigitte A KnappJulia SeeberPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 9, p e45345 (2012)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Alexander Rief Brigitte A Knapp Julia Seeber Palatability of selected alpine plant litters for the decomposer Lumbricus rubellus (Lumbricidae).
description	On alpine pastureland the decline in large-bodied earthworm numbers and biomass after abandonment of management might be the result of a shift from highly palatable grass litter to poorly digestible leaf litter of dwarf shrubs. To test this hypothesis, we analysed nitrogen, phosphorous and total phenolic contents of fresh and aged litter of eight commonly occuring alpine plant species and compared consumption rates of these food sources in a controlled feeding experiment with Lumbricus rubellus (Lumbricidae). Furthermore, we analysed the microbial community structure of aged litter materials to check for a relationship between the microbial characteristics of the different plant litter types and the food choice of earthworms. Plant litters differed significantly in their chemical composition, earthworms, however, showed no preference for any litter species, but generally rejected fresh litter material. Microbial community structures of the litter types were significantly different, but we could find no evidence for selective feeding of L. rubellus. We conclude that L. rubellus is a widespread, adaptable ubiquist, which is able to feed on a variety of food sources differing in quality and palatability, as long as they have been exposed to wheathering.
format	article
author	Alexander Rief Brigitte A Knapp Julia Seeber
author_facet	Alexander Rief Brigitte A Knapp Julia Seeber
author_sort	Alexander Rief
title	Palatability of selected alpine plant litters for the decomposer Lumbricus rubellus (Lumbricidae).
title_short	Palatability of selected alpine plant litters for the decomposer Lumbricus rubellus (Lumbricidae).
title_full	Palatability of selected alpine plant litters for the decomposer Lumbricus rubellus (Lumbricidae).
title_fullStr	Palatability of selected alpine plant litters for the decomposer Lumbricus rubellus (Lumbricidae).
title_full_unstemmed	Palatability of selected alpine plant litters for the decomposer Lumbricus rubellus (Lumbricidae).
title_sort	palatability of selected alpine plant litters for the decomposer lumbricus rubellus (lumbricidae).
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2012
url	https://doaj.org/article/6bfab5906b9d4b5bb5d71244ef82ea6b
work_keys_str_mv	AT alexanderrief palatabilityofselectedalpineplantlittersforthedecomposerlumbricusrubelluslumbricidae AT brigitteaknapp palatabilityofselectedalpineplantlittersforthedecomposerlumbricusrubelluslumbricidae AT juliaseeber palatabilityofselectedalpineplantlittersforthedecomposerlumbricusrubelluslumbricidae
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Palatability of selected alpine plant litters for the decomposer Lumbricus rubellus (Lumbricidae).

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