Ciliated protozoa are ubiquitous eukaryotic microorganisms, which constitutes an essential component of aquatic and soil ecosystems. Ciliates are very sensitive to any change in their habitat and fluctuations in their communities can affect the food web and energy transfer within the ecosystem. Thus, the monitoring of the structure of ciliate communities can represent a valuable tool to assess ecosystem quality and functioning. Currently, few studies have been addressed to the analysis of soil ciliate communities and in particular, in agricultural soils under organic management. In our study, the first one to be performed in Italy, the ciliate communities in three fields under organic management located in a hill area (300-550 m asl) of the province of Macerata (Marche), were investigated by means of qualitative and quantitative methods. Soil samples were taken twice in autumn and spring. Furthermore, six more sites representative of natural and seminatural soils were sampled for comparison. Our surveys showed a total of 79 species belonging to 3 classes, 19 orders, 42 genera from all sites under study with the dominance of the ciliates genus: Colpoda, Gonostomum, Oxytricha, and Halteria. The species richness ranged from 37 to 15 and it is higher in agricultural fields as compared with the natural habitats. These results highlight the high bio-indicative potential of ciliate species number. This research aims to develop molecular profiling assay of ciliate communities and finally to merge taxonomic and molecular data to evaluate, more rigorously, soil ciliate biodiversity.
CILIATE COMMUNITIES AS A TOOL TO ASSESS SOIL QUALITY IN AGROECOSYSTEM: INVESTIGATION ON AGRICULTURAL SOILS UNDER ORGANIC FARMING
BHARTI, DAIZY;LA TERZA, Antonietta
2012-01-01
Abstract
Ciliated protozoa are ubiquitous eukaryotic microorganisms, which constitutes an essential component of aquatic and soil ecosystems. Ciliates are very sensitive to any change in their habitat and fluctuations in their communities can affect the food web and energy transfer within the ecosystem. Thus, the monitoring of the structure of ciliate communities can represent a valuable tool to assess ecosystem quality and functioning. Currently, few studies have been addressed to the analysis of soil ciliate communities and in particular, in agricultural soils under organic management. In our study, the first one to be performed in Italy, the ciliate communities in three fields under organic management located in a hill area (300-550 m asl) of the province of Macerata (Marche), were investigated by means of qualitative and quantitative methods. Soil samples were taken twice in autumn and spring. Furthermore, six more sites representative of natural and seminatural soils were sampled for comparison. Our surveys showed a total of 79 species belonging to 3 classes, 19 orders, 42 genera from all sites under study with the dominance of the ciliates genus: Colpoda, Gonostomum, Oxytricha, and Halteria. The species richness ranged from 37 to 15 and it is higher in agricultural fields as compared with the natural habitats. These results highlight the high bio-indicative potential of ciliate species number. This research aims to develop molecular profiling assay of ciliate communities and finally to merge taxonomic and molecular data to evaluate, more rigorously, soil ciliate biodiversity.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
