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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Aerobic Endospore-forming Bacteria and Soil Invertebrates

subject

description

The intestinal microbiotas of only a few soil invertebrates such as collembola (springtails), earthworms, nematodes, isopods (woodlice and pill bugs), millipedes and termites have been studied by classical and molecular methods in the last decades. It became obvious that these lower members of the soil biota harbour complex microbial communities that sometimes reach counts of 1011 cells ml−1 in their intestinal tracts. The gut microbiotas of the soil fauna include a variety of microorganisms from all three domains of life (Bacteria, Archaea, Eucarya). The bacterial species can mainly be assigned to the Gram-positive phyla Firmicutes and Actinobacteria as well as the Gram-negative phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Spirochaetes. The Archaea are represented by methanogens of the phylum Euryarchaeta. Different groups of protists, yeasts and fungi represent the Eucarya. Beside the free- and particle-bound soil microbes, the gut microbiota also plays an indispensable role in the digestion and recycling of organic material, especially in the degradation of cellulose, hemicellulose and aromatic compounds. Nitrogen fixation is important for animals living on a diet of low nitrogen content such as wood. Aerobic endospore-formers represent a significant portion of the intestinal microbial community of soil invertebrates, and the present knowledge about them is described in this chapter.