Oribatids in Forest Ecosystems
Oribatids in Forest Ecosystems
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森林生态系统中的奥利巴科动物
DOI：
10.1146/annurev.en.28.010183.000545
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发表时间：
1983
影响因子：
23.8
通讯作者：
J. Wallwork
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
J. Wallwork
最复杂的陆地生态系统存在于温带和热带的森林中。这些系统是如此复杂，以至于我们对它们的结构和功能的理解还远远没有完成。即使把研究范围缩小到甲螨的种源--枯落物-土壤子系统，这项任务也没有简化多少。两个特殊的问题增加了确定甲螨作用的难度。首先，与其他土壤节肢动物相比，关于它们与其他土壤生物区系的关系的信息很少。要解开这样一个相互关联的网络，需要多学科研究人员团队的关注（56，66），或者应用系统分析。然而，对于生态学家来说，将系统分析的理论发展应用于他自己的生态问题常常是困难的。第二，甲螨的体型不大于它们所生活的枯枝落叶层和土壤颗粒，只有极少数的甲螨体长超过1毫米。因此，在大多数情况下，在研究它们之前，必须将它们从环境中移除，这就需要使用实验室或现场微观世界及其伴随的人工程度（20，43）。与绝大多数其他蛛形纲动物不同，它们采取了食肉的生活方式，螨目甲螨目（更常见的是隐气门目）的成员在很大程度上是素食主义者。有鉴于此，而且由于它们在丰度和多样性上通常超过大多数其他土壤微节肢动物，它们应该是分解者食物链中的“关键工业”动物。然而，它们仍然是一个谜，因为尽管它们无处不在，但它们在与分解者活动相关的能量流过程中的参与是最小的。那么，雇用这些动物的“关键产业”的性质是什么呢？答案可能在于
The most complex terrestrial ecosystems occur in forests, both temperate and tropical. These systems are so complex that our understanding of their structure and functioning is far from complete. Even by narrowing the terms of reference to the litter-soil subsystem, the provenance of oribatid mites, the task is not much simplified. Two particular problems add to the difficulty of defining the role of oribatids. First, in comparison with other soil arthropods rather little information is available on their relationships with other soil biota. To untangle such a web of interrelationships requires the attentions of multidisciplinary teams of research workers (56,66), or the application of systems analysis. However, it is frequently difficult for the working ecologist to apply the theoretical developments of systems analysis to his own ecological problems (64). Second, oribatids are no larger than the litter and soil particles among which they live, only rarely exceeding 1 mm in body length. Thus they have to be removed from their environment in most cases before they can be studied, necessitating the use of laboratory or field microcosms with their attendant degrees of artificiality (20, 43). Unlike the vast majority of other Arachnida, which have adopted a carnivorous mode of life, members of the acarine order Oribatida (more commonly known as Cryptostigmata) are, for the most part, vegetarian. In view of this, and since they normally exceed most other soil microarthro pods in abundance and diversity, they should be "key industry" animals in decomposer food chains. However, they remain something of an enigma since, despite their ubiquity, their participation in energy flow processes associated with decomposer activity is minimal. Just what then is the nature of the "key industry" that employs these animals? The answer may lie in