0000000000377181
AUTHOR
Minna-liisa Rantalainen
showing 9 related works from this author
Sensitivity of soil decomposer communities to habitat fragmentation : an experimental approach
2004
FM Minna-Liisa Rantalainen osoittaa väitöskirjatyössään, että metsämaaperän eliöyhteisöt sietävät suhteellisen hyvin elinympäristönsä pirstaloitumista. Yhtenä harvoista aiheesta tehdyistä tutkimuksista työ luo myös pohjaa mallille siitä, miten maaperäeliöillä saatuja tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää, kun halutaan ennustaa luonnonsuojelun kannalta tärkeiden eliöiden selviytymismahdollisuuksia elinympäristön pirstaloituessa.Yhtenäisen elinympäristön pirstaloitumisen pienemmiksi saarekkeiksi tiedetään johtavan lajien häviämisiin ja/tai pienempiin populaatioihin. Maaperän hajottajaeliöyhteisön vasteita pirstaloitumiseen on aiemmin tutkittu varsin vähän. Tämä on yllättävää, koska hajottajilla on tärke…
Effects of small-scale habitat fragmentation, habitat corridors and mainland dispersal on soil decomposer organisms
2006
Abstract Habitat corridors have been suggested to be one possible way to reduce the often negative effects of habitat fragmentation. In the present experiment, we focused on small habitat fragments (humus patches) inhabited by soil decomposer organisms. These fragments were either unconnected or connected with each other by habitat (humus) corridors. Moreover, these systems were either isolated from the mainland by a dispersal barrier (plastic “walls”) or were open to dispersal from the mainland. The fragments and corridors were embedded in a matrix of mineral soil that was expected to be uninhabitable or at least an unpreferred habitat for the organisms studied. Undisturbed forest soil fun…
Soil decomposer community as a model system in studying the effects of habitat fragmentation and habitat corridors
2008
Abstract Due to the practical difficulties of experimental study of habitat fragmentation and habitat corridors at the landscape scale, the use of smaller-scale model systems has been offered as a feasible alternative to uncover the ecological phenomena taking place in fragmented environments. In this mini-review, we consider the applicability of the soil decomposer community as such a model system. For the most part, this article is based on the few studies that have explicitly addressed this question by experimental manipulations of the natural habitat of soil decomposer community. However, to broaden the view, we also capitalize upon studies focusing on the effects of isolation and soil …
Colonisation of newly established habitats by soil decomposer organisms: the effect of habitat corridors in relation to colonisation distance and hab…
2005
Abstract The aim of the present 2.5-year-long field experiment was to explore the ability of various members of the detrital food web to colonise newly established habitat patches in field conditions, either in the presence or absence of habitat corridors. Patch size and distance to the “mainland” (colonisation source) were manipulated to explore the scale dependency of the corridor effects. Sterilised humus patches, embedded in mineral soil regarded as uninhabitable (or non-preferred) matrix for the soil organisms, functioned as newly established habitats. Intact forest soil served as the source of colonisers. Three kinds of patches were established: large ones situated at relatively long …
Influence of resource quality on the composition of soil decomposer community in fragmented and continuous habitat
2004
Abstract The aim of this field experiment was to explore the combined effects of two factors potentially affecting the local composition of soil decomposer community: resource quality and habitat fragmentation. We created humus (habitat) patches with three different resource quality: (1) pure homogenised humus; (2) humus enriched with needle litter; and (3) humus enriched with needle and leaf litter. These patches were embedded either in a mineral soil matrix, thus representing fragmented habitat, or in natural forest soil, representing continuous (non-fragmented) habitat. The development of faunal (colonisations/extinctions of soil animal populations) and microbial communities in the patch…
Do enchytraeid worms and habitat corridors facilitate the colonisation of habitat patches by soil microbes?
2004
Due to their high abundance and ubiquitous existence, microbes are considered to be efficient colonisers of newly established habitats. To shed light on the dispersal mechanisms of soil microbes, a controlled microcosm experiment was established. In these microcosms, the dispersal of microbes from a source humus patch to originally sterile humus patches (embedded in a mineral soil matrix) was followed for 16 months, applying 16S and 18S ribosomal DNA-based PCR-DGGE molecular methods. Specifically, the role of enchytraeid worms and habitat (humus) corridors as possible facilitators of microbe dispersal was studied. The results showed that enchytraeid worms function efficiently as vectors for…
Species richness and food web structure of soil decomposer community as affected by the size of habitat fragment and habitat corridors
2005
While most ecologists agree that the effects of fragmentation on diversity of organisms are predominantly negative and that the scale of fragmentation defines their severity, the role of habitat corridors in mitigating those effects still remains controversial. This ambiguousness rests largely on various difficulties in experimentation, a problem partially solved in the present paper by the use of easily manipulated soil communities. In this 2.5-year-long field experiment, we investigated the responses of soil decomposer organisms (from microbes to mesofaunal predators) to habitat fragment size, in the presence or absence of habitat corridors connecting the fragments. The habitat fragments …
Temperature–Time Relationship in Collembolan Response to Chemical Exposure
1999
Abstract Effects of temperature on chemical toxicity to a collembolan, Folsomia candida , in relation to time were studied in this experiment. Field soil was used as a test substrate. Collembolans were incubated at three different temperatures (+13, +16, and +19°C) and in two different dimethoate concentrations (1 and 3 mg/kg), clean soil serving as the control. Four destructive samplings were done at 2-week intervals. Dimethoate degradation was also analyzed. Dimethoate 1 mg/kg had a slight effect on both adult growth and reproduction, whereas 3 mg/kg was fatal to F. candida in the soil used. Toxic effects tended to last longer at low temperature than at high temperature, but the differenc…
Testing the usefulness of habitat corridors in mitigating the negative effects of fragmentation: the soil faunal community as a model system
2004
Abstract The corridor hypothesis predicts that habitat corridors should attenuate the negative effects of fragmentation on populations or communities by enhancing the dispersal of organisms between the habitat fragments (the ‘rescue effect’). In the present 12-month mesocosm experiment, this hypothesis was tested using the soil micro- and mesofaunal community in humus patches—either connected or unconnected with humus corridors to each other—as a model system. Of particular interest was to explore whether faunal groups with differing life strategies (e.g. in trophic position and dispersal capacity) would differ in their responses to the corridors. The results showed that enchytraeid worms w…