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，试图在腐质食物链中发现土壤细菌与土壤动物之间的新联系。陆生等足类动物Armadillidium vulgare被用作土壤动物的模型。野田鼠的粪便是从以樱桃落叶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，以及根据粪便在土壤中的处理方式其丰度比例增加或减少的细菌群。说明高丰度菌群对未消化植物凋落物粪便中有机物的分解起主导作用。

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.