Sex-related variation in δ15N values of ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae): A case study

Goncharov, Anton A.; Zalewski, Marcin; Dudek-Godeau, Dorota; Godeau, Jean-François; Sienkiewicz, Paweł; Ulrich, Werner; Tiunov, Alexei V.

doi:10.1016/j.pedobi.2015.05.002

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…B). Intraspecific variations in the stable isotope composition were attributed to developmental stage in millipedes and wireworms (Potapov et al ., ; Samoylova & Tiunov, ) and to sex in ground beetles (Goncharov et al ., ). Isotopic difference between brood and workers and between different colonies in ants has been reported by Tillberg et al .…”

Section: Trophic Niche Metricsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Another set of factors is more difficult to account for. For example, stable isotope composition can differ at different life stages or in different sexes (Potapov et al, 2014;Goncharov et al, 2015;Tsurikov et al, 2015). Further, δ 15 N and δ 13 C values of animals can vary seasonally (Albers et al, 2006;Okuzaki et al, 2009;Potapov et al, 2014;Scheunemann et al, 2015).…”

Section: Pitfalls In Data Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Uncovering trophic positions and food resources of soil animals using bulk natural stable isotope composition

2018

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Despite the major importance of soil biota in nutrient and energy fluxes, interactions in soil food webs are poorly understood. Here we provide an overview of recent advances in uncovering the trophic structure of soil food webs using natural variations in stable isotope ratios. We discuss approaches of application, normalization and interpretation of stable isotope ratios along with methodological pitfalls. Analysis of published data from temperate forest ecosystems is used to outline emerging concepts and perspectives in soil food web research. In contrast to aboveground and aquatic food webs, trophic fractionation at the basal level of detrital food webs is large for carbon and small for nitrogen stable isotopes. Virtually all soil animals are enriched in C as compared to plant litter. This 'detrital shift' likely reflects preferential uptake of C-enriched microbial biomass and underlines the importance of microorganisms, in contrast to dead plant material, as a major food resource for the soil animal community. Soil organic matter is enriched in N and C relative to leaf litter. Decomposers inhabiting mineral soil layers therefore might be enriched in N resulting in overlap in isotope ratios between soil-dwelling detritivores and litter-dwelling predators. By contrast, C content varies little between detritivores in upper litter and in mineral soil, suggesting that they rely on similar basal resources, i.e. little decomposed organic matter. Comparing vertical isotope gradients in animals and in basal resources can be a valuable tool to assess trophic interactions and dynamics of organic matter in soil. As indicated by stable isotope composition, direct feeding on living plant material as well as on mycorrhizal fungi is likely rare among soil invertebrates. Plant carbon is taken up predominantly by saprotrophic microorganisms and channelled to higher trophic levels of the soil food web. However, feeding on photoautotrophic microorganisms and non-vascular plants may play an important role in fuelling soil food webs. The trophic niche of most high-rank animal taxa spans at least two trophic levels, implying the use of a wide range of resources. Therefore, to identify trophic species and links in food webs, low-rank taxonomic identification is required. Despite overlap in feeding strategies, stable isotope composition of the high-rank taxonomic groups reflects differences in trophic level and in the use of basal resources. Different taxonomic groups of predators and decomposers are likely linked to different pools of organic matter in soil, suggesting different functional roles and indicating that trophic niches in soil animal communities are phylogenetically structured. During last two decades studies using stable isotope analysis have elucidated the trophic structure of soil communities, clarified basal food resources of the soil food web and revealed links between above- and belowground ecosystem compartments. Extending the use of stable isotope analysis to a wider range of soil-dwelling organisms, including mi...

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Section: Trophic Niche Metricsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Pitfalls In Data Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering trophic positions and food resources of soil animals using bulk natural stable isotope composition

2018

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“…Stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N), confirmed earlier trophic classification of polyphagous species of ground beetles (Sasakawa, Ikeda & Kubota, 2010; Kamenova et al ., 2018). The method also revealed high inter‐site variability in trophic niches of ground beetles (Zalewski et al ., 2016) and sex‐related differences in resource allocation (Goncharov et al ., 2015). However, neither DNA‐based techniques nor stable isotope methods were able to explain the high alpha‐diversity of ground beetles (up to 45 species per experimental site) in terrestrial ecosystems (Okuzaki et al ., 2009; Kamenova et al ., 2018).…”

Section: Synopsis Of Feeding Habitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding habits and multifunctional classification of soil‐associated consumers from protists to vertebrates

et al. 2022

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Soil organisms drive major ecosystem functions by mineralising carbon and releasing nutrients during decomposition processes, which supports plant growth, aboveground biodiversity and, ultimately, human nutrition. Soil ecologists often operate with functional groups to infer the effects of individual taxa on ecosystem functions and services. Simultaneous assessment of the functional roles of multiple taxa is possible using food‐web reconstructions, but our knowledge of the feeding habits of many taxa is insufficient and often based on limited evidence. Over the last two decades, molecular, biochemical and isotopic tools have improved our understanding of the feeding habits of various soil organisms, yet this knowledge is still to be synthesised into a common functional framework. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the feeding habits of consumers in soil, including protists, micro‐, meso‐ and macrofauna (invertebrates), and soil‐associated vertebrates. We have integrated existing functional group classifications with findings gained with novel methods and compiled an overarching classification across taxa focusing on key universal traits such as food resource preferences, body masses, microhabitat specialisation, protection and hunting mechanisms. Our summary highlights various strands of evidence that many functional groups commonly used in soil ecology and food‐web models are feeding on multiple types of food resources. In many cases, omnivory is observed down to the species level of taxonomic resolution, challenging realism of traditional soil food‐web models based on distinct resource‐based energy channels. Novel methods, such as stable isotope, fatty acid and DNA gut content analyses, have revealed previously hidden facets of trophic relationships of soil consumers, such as food assimilation, multichannel feeding across trophic levels, hidden trophic niche differentiation and the importance of alternative food/prey, as well as energy transfers across ecosystem compartments. Wider adoption of such tools and the development of open interoperable platforms that assemble morphological, ecological and trophic data as traits of soil taxa will enable the refinement and expansion of the multifunctional classification of consumers in soil. The compiled multifunctional classification of soil‐associated consumers will serve as a reference for ecologists working with biodiversity changes and biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships, making soil food‐web research more accessible and reproducible.

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“…Some carabid species exhibit female‐biased sexual size dimorphism, but other species do not (Luzyanin et al, 2022; Sota et al, 2000). In some ground beetles, stable isotope analyses suggest that males and females differ in their trophic niches (Goncharov et al, 2015), and prey consumption is important for egg production in females (Osawa, 2005). More studies are needed to test whether this is a generalizable pattern.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using museum collections to explore predator–prey relationships in snail‐eating beetles (Carabidae: Cychrini)

Keiser,

Davidson,

Pearce

2023

Invertebrate Biology

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The vast majority of species interactions in nature go unnoticed because they occur under circumstances unamenable to observation. This is unfortunate, as our understanding of trophic ecology is predicated on our ability to quantify the nature and magnitude of species interactions. Here, we use specimens from museums and private collections to estimate prey breadth and morphological patterns between predator and prey pairs of the malacophagous Cychrini beetles collected alongside their snail prey. We identified each pair, measured a series of morphological traits on each, and tested for relationships between the morphological characteristics of beetles and the snails they were found eating. Of 38 specimen pairs, we identified 12 species of Cychrini beetles from two genera (Scaphinotus and Cychrus) eating 22 species of snail prey from 12 genera and ranging from 1 to 9 species of snail prey per beetle species. We found 29 unique predator–prey species pairs. Irrespective of species identity, we found that female beetles were discovered eating larger snails compared to male beetles. We detected two trends in which larger beetles were found eating snails with relatively larger aperture openings, and beetles with more slender body shapes (longer, thinner mandibles, heads, and pronota) were found eating snails whose shells had relatively smaller aperture openings. This suggests that, even within the carabid tribe Cychrini, variation in the cychrine body form may influence prey availability. This study provides the most comprehensive list to date of predator–prey pairs in this understudied group of beetles and also demonstrates the utility of museum collections for documenting cryptic species interactions.

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Sex-related variation in δ15N values of ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae): A case study

Cited by 5 publications

References 31 publications

Uncovering trophic positions and food resources of soil animals using bulk natural stable isotope composition

Uncovering trophic positions and food resources of soil animals using bulk natural stable isotope composition

Feeding habits and multifunctional classification of soil‐associated consumers from protists to vertebrates

Using museum collections to explore predator–prey relationships in snail‐eating beetles (Carabidae: Cychrini)

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