A metagenomics-based approach to the top-down effect on the detritivore food web: a salamanders influence on fungal communities within a deciduous forest.

ABSTRACT: The flow of energy within an ecosystem can be considered either top-down, where predators influence consumers, or bottom-up, where producers influence consumers. Plethodon cinereus (Red-backed Salamander) is a terrestrial keystone predator who feeds on invertebrates within the ecosystem. We investigated the impact of the removal of P. cinereus on the detritivore food web in an upland deciduous forest in northwest Ohio, U.S.A. A total of eight aluminum enclosures, each containing a single P. cinereus under a small log, were constructed in the deciduous forest. On Day 1 of the experiment, four salamanders were evicted from four of the eight enclosures. Organic matter and soil were collected from the center of each enclosure at Day 1 and Day 21. From each sample, DNA was extracted, fungal-spe

SUBMITTER: Walker DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4242563 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature