Food webs in soil are complex, a high number of polyphagous species of different trophic groups coexist on small spatial scales. In recent years the analysis of natural variations in 13C and 15N clarified the structure of the decomposer community and helped in understanding the interrelationships between the above- and the below-ground system. The talk will document the usefulness of the technology to investigate (1) the trophic structure of decomposer communities, (2) the differenciation of niches between invertebrate taxa, (3) the flux of carbon from plant residues into the soil animal food web, and (4) the integration of an invasive plant into the arthropod community of grassland systems
Keywords: stable isotopes, soil food webs
Back to Section C Symposium: Stable Isotopes in Basic and Applied Entomology
Back to Section Symposia
Back to The 2003 ESA Annual Meeting and Exhibition