Collembola

Soil Health

Biological

Summary

Collembola are ubiquitous, found in various habitats, making them suitable indicators for different ecosystems (Cicconardi et al., 2013).

Collembola occupy various trophic levels within the soil food web, including herbivores, bacterivores, and fungivores. They provide insights into nutrient cycling, microbial activity, and the overall structure of the soil food web, and are sensitive to environmental changes (Li et al., 2022).

Involved in organic matter decomposition, they primarily feed on fungal hyphae, playing a crucial role as facilitators of microbial succession during decomposition. They are also sensitive to physical soil degradation caused by various pressures, such as land-use intensity and unsustainable agricultural and forest practices (Bispo et al., 2009).

Methodology summary

Described by ISO: Global standards for trusted goods and services:
Soil samples are collected in the field using a split corer. Soil cores are placed in plastic tubes (or plastic bags) and transported to the laboratory. Afterwards, Collembola and Acarida are rapidly (within a few days) extracted by behavioural methods, using a MacFadyen apparatus, and preserved for future identification. Preparation techniques are also described. Finally, abundance values can be recalculated related to area (usually 1 m2), volume or weight (usually 1 kg) ISO 23611-2:2006 – Soil quality — Sampling of soil invertebrates.

Metric threshold or direction of change

Not applicable

Agricultural
Forest
Grassland
Peatland
Saltmarsh
Wetland

Scale

Community
Genetic
Population

Cost

High

Tier

Future

Technical expertise

High