Food origin influences microbiota and stable isotope enrichment profiles of cold-adapted Collembola (Desoria ruseki)

Cao Hao; Nadieh de Jonge; Dong Zhu; Lichao Feng; Bing Zhang; Ting-Wen Chen; Donghui Wu; Jeppe Lund Nielsen

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.1030429

Food origin influences microbiota and stable isotope enrichment profiles of cold-adapted Collembola (Desoria ruseki)

Front Microbiol. 2022 Nov 24:13:1030429. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1030429. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Cao Hao^{1

2}, Nadieh de Jonge³, Dong Zhu⁴, Lichao Feng⁵, Bing Zhang⁶, Ting-Wen Chen⁷, Donghui Wu^{1

2

8

9}, Jeppe Lund Nielsen³

Affiliations

¹ State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China.
² Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China.
³ Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Ningbo Urban Environment Observation and Research Station, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, China.
⁵ Forest Protection, Beihua University, Jilin, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, Peking University, Beijing, China.
⁷ Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Soil Biology and Biogeochemistry, České Budějovice, Czechia.
⁸ Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology, Ministry of Education, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China.
⁹ Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Resource Conservation and Utilization, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China.

Abstract

Collembola are a group of globally distributed microarthropods that can tolerate low temperature and are active in extremely cold environments. While it is well known that animal diets can shape their microbiota, the microbiota of soil animals is not well described, particularly for animals with limited food resources, such as Collembola active in winter at low temperatures. In this study, we explored the effects of three different food sources; corn litter (agriculture grain residuals), Mongolian oak litter (natural plant residuals), and yeast (common food for Collembola culture), on the microbiota of a winter-active Collembola species, Desoria ruseki. We found that microbial diversity and community composition of the Collembola were strongly altered after feeding with different food sources for 30 days. Collembola individuals fed on corn litter harbored the highest bacterial richness and were dominated by a representative of Microbacteriaceae. In contrast, those fed on yeast exhibited the lowest bacterial richness and were primarily colonized by Pseudomonas. The microbial communities associated with the winter-active Collembola differed significantly from those observed in the food. Collembola nutrient turnover also differed when cultured with different food sources, as indicated by the C and N stable isotopic signatures. Our study highlights microbial associations with stable isotopic enrichments of the host. Specifically, the Arthrobacter was positively correlated with δ¹³C enrichment in the host. Representatives of Microbacteriaceae, Micrococcaceae, TM7a, Devosia, and Rathayibacter were positively correlated with δ¹⁵N enrichment of the host. Our study indicates that food sources are major determinants for Collembola microbiota that simultaneously alter consumers' isotopic niches, thereby improving our understanding of the roles played by host-microbiota interactions in sustaining soil biodiversity during the winter.

Keywords: feeding ecology; host-microbiota interaction; soil arthropods; springtail; stable isotope; winter biodiversity.