Feeding preferences of the collembolan Onychiurus sinensis for fungi colonizing holm oak litter (Quercus rotundifolia Lam.)



21 pages
Le téléchargement nécessite un accès à la bibliothèque YouScribe
Tout savoir sur nos offres


In: European Journal of Soil Biology, 1998, 34 (4), pp.179-188. Ten fungi isolated from decaying holm oak leaves (Quercus rotundifolia Lam.) have been presented to the collembolan species Onychiurus sinensis (Hexapoda). The attractiveness and selectivity of the ten fungi was investigated taken into account the effect of the substrate on which the fungus was,growing (malt-agar or litter) and the effect of fungal odour. Furthermore, moulting, growth, survival and reproduction of O. sinensis in the presence of each of the ten test fungi were studied. Mucor plumbeus and Trichothecium roseum were the most preferred whatever the culture substrate and their odour was the most attractive. Two fungi (Penicillium spinulosum and the Basidiomycete S41) attracted Collembola by their odour but were not preferred as food sources. The animals could survive and reproduce on a mono-diet of several of our test fungi, but not on the Basidiomycete S41 and on Trichoderma polysporum.



Publié par
Publié le 12 septembre 2017
Nombre de visites sur la page 1
Langue English
Signaler un problème
colonizing holm oak litter (Quercus rotundifoliaLam.)
a b c d a Nassima Sadaka-Laulan , Jean-François Ponge *, Marie-France Roquebert , Edith Bury , Ali Boumezzough
a Faculté des sciences Semlalia, Département de biologie, Laboratoire d‘écologie terrestre, Université Cadi Ayyad,
boulevard Prince-My-Abdallah, B.P. S/15, 40000 Marrakech, Morocco.
b Laboratoire d’écologie générale, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, 4, avenue du Petit-Château, 91800 Brunoy,
c Laboratoire de cryptogamie, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, 12, rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France.
*Corresponding author (fax: +33 1 60 46 50 09; e-mail: jean-francois.ponge@wanadoo.fr)
Abstract - Ten fungi isolated from decaying holm oak leaves (Quercus rotundifolia Lam.) have been presented to
the collembolan speciesOnychiurus sinensis (Hexapoda). The attractiveness and selectivity of the ten fungi was
investigated taken into account the effect of the substrate on which the fungus was growing (malt-agar or litter) and
the effect of fungal odour. Furthermore, moulting, growth, survival and reproduction ofO. sinensisin the presence of
each of the ten test fungi were studied.Mucor plumbeus andTrichothecium roseum were the most preferred
Trichoderma polysporum.
Collembola / feeding preferences / leaf litter / fungi / fungal odour
Résumé -Préférences alimentaires du collemboleOnychiurus sinensisles champignons de la litière de pour
chêne vert (Quercus rofundifolia Lam.).souches fongiques isolées de la litière de chêne vert ( Dix Quercus
rotundifolia) sont utilisées comme source de nourriture pour le collemboleOnychiurus sinensis. L’attrait et la
sélectivité de chaque souche sont étudiés en fonction du substrat de croissance (malt-agar ou litière) et de l’odeur du
champignon. Parmi les souches testées,Mucor plumbeusetTrichothecium roseumsont les préférées quel que soit le
substrat de culture, et leurs odeurs les mieux perçues. En revanche,Penicillium spinulosumet le Basidiomycbte S41
attirent les collemboles par leur odeur, mais sont peu consommés. L’impact de chacune des souches sur les
paramètres biologiques du collembole est significatif. La plupart d’entre elles permettent aux individus non
seulement de se maintenir, mais aussi de se développer et de se reproduire, àl’exception du Basidiomycète S41 et de
Trichoderma polysporum.
Collemboles/ préférences alimentaires / litière / champignon / odeur de champignon
Collembola (Hexapoda) used to be considered as unspecialized feeders, based on observations of their gut contents
which have been found to include fungal hyphae and spores, bacteria, decaying plant debris, sometimes added with
pollen grains, and mineral particles [8, 13, 19, 26, 361. McMillan [25] compared the gut contents of three Onychiurid
collembolan species with a random image of their immediate environment (artificial guts). He concluded that there
was a poor degree of specialization in the food of Collembola, at least in the Onychiuridae family.
Nevertheless, several studies gave a prominent place to fungi in the diet of Collembola [2, 22, 30, 32, 33,
34]. It became increasingly evident that some feeding specificity actually exists in these microarthropods. This has
been demonstrated experimentally by Farahat [12], Visser and Whittaker [41], Leonard [24], Bengtsson et al. [6],
Shaw [37], Klironomos et al. [21] and Bardgett et al. [3]. Despite this research, the diets of most Collembola in the
field remain poorly understood. For instance, even though fungal hyphae seem to be favoured in the field by the
collembolanTomocerusflavescens(=Pogonognathellus flavescens), fungal spores were preferred when this species
was grown in the laboratory [22]. Not all ingested food is completely assimilated and some components of the food
bolus may even be toxic. Kilbertus and Vannier [20] isolated three fungal species from the gut contents of field -
collectedT. minor. From these three fungi, only one allowed a normal development of individuals when fed on
fungus only, whereas the other two were detrimental to their growth and fecundity.
Factors explaining the palatability of a given fungus are still unknown, although suggestions have included:
(i) a relatively poor density of some mycelial wefts which allows animals to move here and there more easily [28];
(ii) the senescence stage of fungal colonies [30]; and (iii) the nutritional value of the strain, or more especially its
nitrogen content [9, 24]. For these animals, odour seems to be a useful clue for selecting some fungal species [4, 5,
15], as are toxic metabolites [41].
Most of the experiments on food preferences of Collembola were achieved using pure fungal cultures on
standard media such as malt-agar, potato-dextrose-agar and Czapek-Dox-agar. However, it is known that these
preferences are affected by the nature of the medium used for the fungus culture [17, 21, 24], which may be due to
changes in the spectrum of volatile compounds emitted by the fungus [4, 5, 9]. Our purpose was to answer the
following questions:
IsOnychiurus sinensisOnychiuridae) attracted to fungi commonly occurring in the litter of (Collembola:
holm oak (Quercus rotundifoliawhich constitutes its natural habitat? If yes, which species are Lam.)
Do these preferences differ according to the medium onto which the fungus has been cultured (malt-agar or
sterilized litter)?
Is odour a stimulus for the observed choices, if any?
Are these preferences reflected in survival rate, fecundity and growth of the animals when these are given a
single-fungus diet?
Four experimental series were designed, in which springtails were placed in the presence of:
A fungal strain previously grown on malt-agar (preference tests using fungus only).
A disk of leaf litter, sterilized by autoclaving then inoculated with a test fungus, compared with a control
disk, of the same origin but neither sterilized nor inoculated (preference tests using litter).
A disk of filter paper (cellulose), impregnated with the odour of a test fungus, compared with a control disk,
neutral (attraction/repulsion tests using fungal odour).
The duration of the above-mentioned experiments was 3 h.
The animals which had been used in the first experimental series (preference tests using fungi only) were
then followed daily during 9 weeks on the same substrate (fourth series) in order to estimate the nutritional
value of each fungal strain, by measuring several biological parameters: moulting rate, oviposition rate,
survival rate, and linear growth (nutritional tests).
2.1. Collembola
Tests usedOnychiurus sinensis Stach, which lives in holm oak litter (Quercus rotundifoliain Lam.)
Toufliht (higher Atlas of Marrakech, Morocco). Animals were extracted in Berlese funnels, then cultured on a
mixture of plaster of Paris and charcoal on an algal diet (Pleurococcus).
Individuals were starved for 2 d before the start of each experiment. Only young adults were used because
at this stage, which is the start of sexual maturity, animals still have a high growth rate and a higher feeding activity
than younger or older individuals [16]. The mean overall length (± SE), measured with a reticle eye-piece on a batch
of fifty individuals, was 1.36 + 0.01 mm. We did not observe any increase in body length after this young adult
stage. After the starvation period, twenty young adult individuals were transferred to a bottomless plastic cylinder (1
cm diameter) placed at the centre of a Petri dish (5.6 cm diameter) which had been partly filled with a mixture of
plaster of Paris and charcoal.
After preparation of the dishes (five replicates for each fungal strain and each substrate), the plastic cylinder
was removed, whereafter observations were made every 10 min for 3 h. Animals that were present on the test
(fungus, litter, filter paper) or on the control substrate and on the corresponding sector but not on the substrate were
counted separately. A diameter line drawn on the cover lid was used to divide the Petri dish into two sectors of equal
size. When over or under 50 % of the animals were present in a given sector, this indicated that something in this
sector might be attractive or repulsive for the animals, respectively. During the experimental run, dishes were kept in
darkness, because it was observed that the studied animals avoided light. Mean numbers of animals present in the
two sectors of experimental boxes were compared by t-tests [39]. In order to avoid artefacts due to negative
correlations between the two sectors, differences between sectors were compared to a theoretical null value (absence
of attractiveness or repulsion by the fungus). Mean numbers of animals present on test substrates (litter disks, filter
paper) in the two sectors were compared using the same procedure, as well as the mean number of animals present
on a conditioned substrate or a piece of agar culture with the rest of the sector. Attractiveness of the different fungal
species was compared by one-way ANOVA [39] using mean numbers of animals present on the corresponding
pieces of culture or conditioned substrates.
Boxes used for preference tests using fungi only (first experimental series) were maintained so as to culture
the animals over 9 weeks. Pieces of fungal culture (avoiding agar) were deposited into the dishes as often as they
were consumed. Animals, moults and eggs were counted daily. The body length of each surviving individual was
measured at the end of the experiment. Data were analysed by one-way ANOVA [39]. Means were compared
between fungal strains using the Newman-Keuls test [39]. The capability of the different fungal species to ensure
both growth, survival and reproduction ofO. sinensis, was estimated by ranking the strains for each biological
parameter. Ranks were summed up in order to classify the fungal species into several groups.
2.2. Fungi
Fungal strains were isolated from holm oak leaf litter, then grown on malt-agar at 295 K (22 “C), and
regularly sub-cultured.
A preliminary inventory of the litter-inhabiting fungal flora furnished a list of species, most of them are
commonly found in deciduous as well as coniferous or herb litter. Despite this evident lack of specificity, we
selected the following strains, which can be considered as most frequent, in terms of fungal propagules, in the
studied litter:
Dematiaceous fungi:
Alternaria alternata(Fr.) Keissler
Aureobasidium pullulans(de Bary) Arnaud
Cladosporium cladosporioides(Fr.) de Vries
Epicoccum purpurascensEhr. ex Schlecht
Trichothecium roseum(Pers.) Link ex Gray
Sterile dark mycelium S 18
Hyaline fungi:
Mucor plumbeusBon.
Penicillium spinulosumThom
Trichoderma polysporum(Link ex Pers.) Rifai
Basidiomycete S41
According to the experimental series fungal strains were tested as:
Pieces of mycelium 6 mm in diameter, picked up at the border of cultural colonies, avoiding agar which
otherwise would be heavily consumed by the animals (preliminary observations); only young (8-1o-d-old)
cultures were used;
Disks of leaf litter 6 mm in diameter, autoclaved then inoculated with the test fungi and incubated at 295 K
(22 °C) until visible fungal development;
Disks of cellulose filter paper, impregnated with fungal odour; for this purpose, disks were appressed to the
cover lid inside of boxes used for the culture of fungal strains, during a period of 20 d; they were checked
for the absence of visible fungal development.
Figures l-3examples of the course of changes observed in the distribution of animals during show
experimental runs. We selected two fungi indicating strong effects (attraction and repulsion) by the fungus, and one
intermediary case.
3.1. Fungal mycelium grown on malt-agar (table I, figures 1-3)
O. sinensisconsumed all but one (T. polysporum,figure 3) test fungi, at a varying rate according to species.
The mean number of animals present on the mycelium varied significantly from 14.8 forM. plumbeusand 13.1 forT.
roseumto 5.8 forC. cladosporioidesand only 0.1 forT. polysporum(one-way ANOVA, F = 56.95, P < 0.001).
Using the mean number of animals which had been found directly on a strain at a given time, we can
classify the fungi in a decreasing order of preference:M. plumbeus >T roseum = sterile dark mycelium S18 >A.
alternata >A. pullulans =P. spinulosum >C. cladosporioides =E. purpurascens = Basidiomycete S41 >T
polysporum. For more information on the significance of differences between fungal strains, results of a posteriori
Newman-Keuls tests were presented intable I.
The number of animals in the sector with the fungal culture was largely more than ten, thus indicating an
attraction by the fungus, with the exception of Basidiomycete S41 andT polysporum(figure 3). The latter seemed to
be actively repulsive to the animals, unlike Basidiomycete S41. Attraction was often perceptible within the first 10
min. In a number of cases (sterile dark mycelium S 18,A. alternata,A. pullulans,C. cladosporioides andE.
purpurascensnumber of animals in the sector with fungi was high from the first 10 min onwards, despite a poor), the
increase (or no increase at all) in the number of animals in direct contact with the fungal culture, thus indicating that
attraction and consumption were not necessarily correlated.
3.2. Inoculated litter disks (table I, figures 1-3)
The mean number of animals found on inoculated litter disks decreased significantly from 18.3 forT
roseum, 18.2 forC. cladosporioides, and 17.6 forM. plumbeus2 for to T. polysporum (one-way ANOVA, F =
144.77, P < 0.00l), with the following order of preference:T. roseum =C. cladosporioides =M. plumbeus =E.
pulpurascens> Basidiomycete S41 >A. pullulans>A. alternata> sterile dark mycelium S18 =P. spinulosum=T.
polysporum. Thus when grown on a litter substrate (natural habitat ofO. sinensis), animals did not exhibit the same
order of preference for fungal strains than when the latter were grown on malt-agar.
In all cases, a low number or no animals at all were found on uninoculated litter disks. Attraction and
consumption were better correlated than in the first experimental series, the two curves (sector and direct contact)
being always parallel. No repulsive effect of litter disks inoculated with T. polysporum was registered.
3.3.Odour-impregnated paper disks (table I, figures 1-3)
The most attractive odours were those ofT. roseum(3.4 animals),E. purpurascens (2.6),P. spinulosum
(2.3), Basidiomycete S41 (2. l),M. plumbeus(1.9) and the sterile dark mycelium S18 (1.8). Although these numbers
were low compared to the number of animals found on fungal mycelia growing on agar or litter disks, comparison
between odour-impregnated and neutral paper disks and between sectors where these substrates were present allowed
to conclude that odour played a role in the choice of fungal strains byO. sinensis. Nevertheless strong discrepancies
in differences between sectors were observed according to fungal strain (one-way ANOVA, F = 34.64, P < 0.001).
Among the preferred odours, that ofP. spinulosum,M. plumbeus and the sterile dark mycelium S18 seemed to be
perceived more easily than that ofT. roseum,E. purpurascens and the Basidiomycete S41, animals being more
abundant in the sector with odour-impregnated disk in the first group only.
T. roseumto be attractive whatever the substrate used. In contrast, seemed T polysporumseemed always
repulsive to the animals. The latter strain was the only one displaying a lower number of animals in its own sector
(figure 3).
3.4. Impact of fungal diet on survival, growth and reproduction ofO. sinensis(table II)
Species-specific effects of fungal strains were registered on four selected biological parameters. Although not
heavily consumed (but rather attractive by its odour,table I),E. purpurascensmaximized moulting and growth rates.
On the contrary, these life history features were minimal onT polysporumand on Basidiomycete S41, although the
latter seemed attractive by its odour (table I). The highest oviposition rate was found for animals cultured onM.
plumbeus,A. pullulansand on the sterile dark mycelium S18, while there was no oviposition on Basidiomycete S41
and onT polysporum.
Based on their stimulatory or inhibitory effect on the four measured parameters, estimated by ranking
fungal strains (see Materials and Methods andtable II), three groups of test fungi can be identified. The first group is
composed ofE. purpurascens,T. roseum,M. plumbeus,A. pullulansand the sterile dark mycelium S18. All of them
were favourable to both growth and reproduction ofO. sinensis. A second group is composed ofP. spinulosum,A.
alternataandC. cladosporioides. These fungi can have a favourable effect on either growth or reproduction, but not
on both, thus when given alone they do not constitute a sufficient food diet. The survival rate was high (at least 90 %
for 9 weeks) for both groups. The third group is composed of Basidiomycete S41 andT. polysporum. These two
strains had the lowest egg production, growth, and to some extent moulting. Only half the animals survived after 9
weeks. Thus, fungi of the third group can be considered as toxic forO. sinensis, at least when grown on malt-agar.
A food substrate can be considered to be favourable to a given species when it not only allows the survival,
growth, and reproduction of adults, but when it also results in a new cohort which will grow and reproduce. During
the 9-week culturing experiment, we noted a very low mortality of juveniles (around 1 %), which means that, except
for the two probably toxic strains,T. polysporumBasidiomycete S41, most fungi were a food source for and O.
sinensis, and may compose at least part of its natural food. Such a wide range of tolerance when animals are
constrained to eat on a single fungus has been already shown by Ponge and Charpentié [33] for the collembolan
Pseudosinella alba. The attractiveness of all fungal strains, exceptT polysporum, toO. sinensis indicates that (i)
fungi are a prominent food source for this animal, and (ii) thatO. sinensis is able to satisfy its food requirements
from a great variety of fungal species. This capability of using a wide range of food sources may be important for the
survival of fungus-eating species, as most litter fungi are not available throughout the year [14, 18], or when a given
animal species competes in the same niche with other fungivorous fauna [1]. Nevertheless, the sterile Basidiomycete
S41 does not fit this scheme since it seems to have no nutritional value, despite its strong attractiveness toO.
In our tests,O. sinensis exhibited marked preferences for some fungi which had been isolated from holm
oak litter. Nevertheless, dematiaceous fungi (with dark hyphae and conidiospores) were not systematically preferred
to hyaline fungi, contrary to results from other studies on fungivorous springtails and mites [21, 28, 29, 34, 41]. We
suspect such preferences to be not only species-specific, since results of preference tests varied according to the
substrate (agar piece, inoculated litter, odour-impregnated filter disk). In our experiments, this substrate effect was
clearly visible forC. cladosporioides,E. purpurascensBasidiomycete S41, which were preferred only when and
inoculated on litter, whileA. alternata, the dark sterile mycelium S18 andP spinulosum were preferred only when
grown on malt-agar.T. roseumandM. plumbeuswere attractive, whatever their growth substrate. It should be noted
too thatT polysporum, although the less preferred fungus, was better accepted on litter. Such discrepancies according
to culture substrate can be explained by changes in spore production and fungal biochemistry. Malt-agar favours
conidiogenesis of most moulds [38]. Conversely, in litter substrates, the high content in carbon dioxide which is
found at the inside of decaying leaves impedes conidiogenesis [31]. Leonard [24] showed that the order of
preferences of the collembolanFolsomia candidafor three saprophytic fungi depended on the nature of the culture
medium and that in the long term, laboratory strains might diverge chemically from strains recently isolated from the
soil. Reinforcing this view, Bengtsson et al. [4, 5] demonstrated that volatile compounds produced by three fungal
species varied whether they had been grown on malt-agar or on sterilized soil, which influenced their rate of
consumption by the collembolanOnychiurus armatus(=Protaphorura armata).
Concerning fungal toxicity, our results pointed to deleterious effects of the genusTrichoderma, at least in
the long term (no growth, no reproduction, higher mortality rate). Ponge and Charpentié [33] showed that
Trichoderma harzianum andGliocladium deliquescens were not consumed by the collembolanPseudosinella alba
and that reproduction of the animals ceased. Both are moulds whose spores are covered with a slimy stuff.
Elsewhere, Miller and Anagnostakis [27] demonstrated thatTrichoderma viride was toxic to nematodes.
TrichodermaandGliocladiumspecies are known to produce compounds such as gliotoxin which are toxic to other
fungi [10, 11]. Although we did not test the toxicity of this compound againstO. sinensis, we suspect that it was
responsible for the antagonistic effects observed on soil animals as well. Nevertheless, effects other than toxic
compounds can be suspected, sinceT. roseum, one of the most preferred fungi (and highly favourable to growth and
reproduction ofO. sinensis) in the present study, is also well-known for its wide range of toxicity towards animals
and fungi [35, 42]. In this case, we cannot exclude the possibility of intra-species variation [31], some strains of this
fungus being possibly toxic, others not.
Results from the second experimental series proved that fungi are not only an important food source forO.
sinensis, but that they were clearly preferred to litter itself. After 3-h observation, the surface of nearly all litter disks
had been cleared of fungi but the litter disks themselves were intact. Thus, when these animals consume decaying
litter coming from their natural habitat (unpubl. data), we can suspect that this is more due to the increasing fungal
content of litter in the course of decomposition [7] than to a decrease in its mechanical resistance.
The number of animals present on the fungal mycelium (first experimental series) was always low at the
beginning (except forM. plumbeusandT. roseum), and then increased steadily (figure 2). This increase could be due
either to a perception of the fungal odour by each individual, or to an aggregative behaviour using pheromones as an
attractant. The latter has been demonstrated for several members of the family Entomobryidae [23, 40]. In none of
the experiments, we observed such aggregative behaviour forO. sinensis, but the individuals seemed to move at
random and independently of each other. Although no aggregative behaviour has been observed, its absence could be
due to a masking effect of fungal odour against aggregation pheromones, or to the fact that different individuals do
not perceive fungal odour with the same acuteness. Tests using filter paper disks impregnated with fungal odour
(third series) revealed that attraction towards fungi was at least partly mediated by olfactive stimuli. Mostly, the
number of animals in the sector occupied by the odour-impregnated disk was higher than in the control sector.
However, the presence of animals on the paper disk itself was low. We conclude that the olfactive stimulus needs to
be supported by the presence of the fungus (and eventually its consumption) to ensure that animals cease their
wandering movements. Thus fungal odour undoubtedly helps fungal-eating Collembola to find and select fungi more
rapidly than at random [4, 5], but its intensity as a stimulus for eating fungi is probably weak. When a fungal strain is
consumed, thus when animals remain motionless on a fungal colony, possibly found randomly as well, self-
reinforcing processes associated to food consumption (and probably taste perception) probably act at a higher
intensity than odour itself.
[l] Anderson J.M., Competition between two unrelated species of soil Cryptostigmata (Atari) in experimental