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Abstract
Mite-fungal interactions play a key role in structuring core ecosystem processes such as nutrient dynamics. Despite their ecological relevance, these cross-kingdom interactions remain poorly understood particularly in extreme environments. Herein, we investigated feeding preferences of a novel genetic lineage of aquatic oribatids obtained from an oligotrophic freshwater system in the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin (CCB) within the Chihuahuan Desert, Mexico. During in vitro diet preference bioassays, transient aquatic microfungi (Aspergillus niger, Talaromyces sp., and Pleosporales sp.) recovered from the same mesocosm samples were offered individually and simultaneously to mites. Gut content was analyzed using classic plating and culture-independent direct PCR (focusing on the fungal barcoding region) methods. Our results indicated that oribatids fed on all tested fungal isolates, yet the profusely developing A. niger was preferentially consumed with all fungal components being digested. This feeding habit is particularly interesting since A. niger has been reported as an unsuitable dietary element for population growth, being consistently avoided by mites in previous laboratory experiments. It is possible that our mites from the CCB have adapted to exploit available resources within this oligotrophic site. This work confirms the trophic relationship between microfungi and mites, two rarely investigated major components of the microbial community, shedding light on the niche dynamics under low-nutrient conditions.
Highlights
As a keystone concept in ecology, vast literature has accumulated around the concept of the ecological niche
Based on morphological and molecular characteristics, Cuatro Cienegas Basin (CCB) mites were placed into the genus Trhypochthoniellus (Willmann, 1928), following basic trhypochthoniid characters as presented by Norton & Behan-Pelletier (2009) for Trhypochthoniidae
The niche space created as a result of the trophic interactions between mites and microfungi is often overlooked or ignored despite the regulation of important community dynamics and ecosystem processes by these organisms (Warnock, Fitter & Usher, 1982; Finlay, 1985; Harris & Boerner, 1990; Gange & Brown, 1992)
Summary
As a keystone concept in ecology, vast literature has accumulated around the concept of the ecological niche (reviewed by Soberon, 2007). Extending this framework to microbes is relevant as these organisms represent the vast majority of the taxonomic, genetic and metabolic diversity and biomass on the planet. For their part, are a dominant group of soil invertebrates (Strenzke, 1952; Schatz, 2002) that play an active role in litter decomposition (Wallwork, 1970), vertical translocation of organic matter for deeper soil (Wallwork, 1967), humus formation (Kubiena, 1953) and dispersion of decomposer taxa (Healey, 1970; Harding & Stuttard, 1974)
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