Collembola and seed germination: relevance of substrate quality and evidence for seed attack
Keywords:
Folsomia candida, Hypericum perforatum, Plantago major, seed germination, soil fungiAbstract
Besides species-specific characteristics and abiotic conditions, germination rate of seeds depends on biotic interactions such as seed predation and fungal-induced mortality.
We investigated the influence of Folsomia candida Willem, 1902 on the germination rate of four grassland plant species (Agrostis capillaris L., Hypericum perforatum L., Plantago major L. and Vicia cracca L.) in grassland soils and in artificial soil under laboratory conditions. Just one of the selected plant species, H. perforatum, showed a significant positive increase in germination rate in presence of the euedaphic F. candida in the artificial soil substrate whereas no effect was found in natural soils. The influence of Collembola on seed germination therefore appears highly dependent both on the experimental conditions and on the Collembola species studied.
However, the study at the same time revealed an unexpected observation which opens another aspect under which Collembola might directly influence seed mortality: Pictures made during the germination experiment gave evidence that individuals of F. candida fed on the mucilaginous seed coat as well as on the seed embryo of P. major under the prevailing conditions. This effect was confirmed in a second experiment in the natural soil Lufa 2.2.
The overall impact on seed germination was only small, but significant. Besides one hidden hint in a book, so far it has not been reported in the literature that Collembola use seeds as a food source and therefore can potentially act as seed predators.
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