Carbon flux through the soil animal food web: meso- and macrofauna

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The proposed project examines the trophic transfer of carbon into the soil meso- and macrofauna food web of arable systems. In the field trophic links and the flux of carbon from major basal resources to higher trophic levels of the decomposer system are investigated by stable isotope and lipid analyses. Using manipulations in the field the project aims at (1) quantifying the relative importance of above- and belowground plant carbon resources as basis of the decomposer system, and (2) evaluating the role of the presence of living plants as driving factor for the transfer of plant residue carbon into the decomposer food web. Further, in laboratory experiments the project investigates (3) the flux of carbon from major bacterial and fungal taxa into the decomposer food web, thereby opening the structure of microbivore food chains and quatifying food web links between microorganisms and meso- and marcofauna consumers. The complement of field and laboratory manipulations will allow insight into the structure and functioning of soil meso- and macrofauna food webs of model arable systems in unprecedented detail, and provide essential information on pools and fluxes of carbon through the decomposer system for modelling the dynamics and carbon flux through the full soil decomposer food web.