Microbial community structure in feces of litter-feeding soil animals.

本研究分析了以植物凋落物为食的土壤动物粪便中的细菌群落，并试图在碎屑食物链中找到土壤细菌和土壤动物之间的一种新的联系。以陆生等足目昆虫Armadillidium uggare为模式土壤动物。大头翁的粪便是从使用落叶樱桃叶作为饲料的耕作系统中收集的。使用高性能测序仪的分析结果显示了粪便中特有的细菌群，以及那些丰度比根据粪便在土壤中的处置方式而增加或减少的群组。这表明，高丰度比的细菌群导致了含有未消化植物凋落物的粪便中有机物的分解。

This study analyzed bacterial communities in the feces of soil animals feeding on plant litter and attempted to find a novel association between soil bacteria and soil animals in the detritus food chain. The Armadillidium vulgare, a terrestrial isopod, was used as the model soil animal. The feces of A. vulgare were collected from farming systems that use fallen cherry leaves as feed. The analysis results using a high-performance sequencer showed bacterial groups that are characteristically present in feces and those groups whose abundance ratio increased or decreased based on the manner in which the feces was disposed in the soil. This suggested that the bacterial groups with high abundance ratio led the decomposition of organic matter in feces containing undigested plant litter.