Phylogeny of Australian Acerentomidae species (Protura: Acerentomidae), with a key to identification.

The materials of three Acerentomidae species from Australia and Tasmania were studied. Additional morphological characters, such as chaetotaxy of head and notal segments, shape of body setae and porotaxy, are provided based on new materials of Australentulus westraliensis from Australia and Tasmanentulus tasmanicus from Tasmania. A new species, Amphientulus markstivensi, is described from Tasmania.

Long-read sequencing sheds light on key bacteria contributing to deadwood decomposition processes.

Background: Deadwood decomposition is an essential ecological process in forest ecosystems, playing a key role in nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration by enriching soils with organic matter. This process is driven by diverse microbial communities encompassing specialized functions in breaking down organic matter, but the specific roles of individual microorganisms in this process are still not fully understood.

Results: Here, we characterized the deadwood microbiome in a natural mixed temperate forest in Central Europe using PacBio HiFi long-read sequencing and a genome-resolved transcriptomics approach in order to uncover key microbial contributors to wood decomposition.

A novel in-silico model explores LanM homologs among Hyphomicrobium spp.

Investigating microorganisms in metal-enriched environments holds the potential to revolutionize the sustainable recovery of critical metals such as lanthanides (Ln). We observe Hyphomicrobium spp. as part of a Fe/Mn-oxidizing consortia native to the ferruginous bottom waters of a Ln-enriched lake in Czechia.

Regulators of aerobic and anaerobic methane oxidation in two pristine temperate peatland types.

Despite covering <5% of Earth's terrestrial area, peatlands are crucial for global carbon storage and are hot spots of methane cycling. This study examined the dynamics of aerobic and anaerobic methane oxidation in two undisturbed peatlands: a fen and a spruce swamp forest. Using microcosm incubations, we investigated the effect of ammonium addition, at a level similar to current N pollution processes, on aerobic methane oxidation.

Long-term landfill leachate pollution suppresses soil health indicators in natural ecosystems of a semi-arid environment.

Landfills pose a global issue for soil functionality and health, especially in underdeveloped nations where limited resources impede the adoption of comprehensive waste management policies, such as waste processing and sorting techniques. Leachate emissions from waste landfills are a cause for concern, primarily due to their toxic effect if left uncontrolled in the environment, and the potential for waste storage sites to produce leachate for hundreds of years after closure. Few efforts have been made to improve waste collection and disposal facilities in the world, especially in developing countries.

Disruption of millipede-gut microbiota in E. pulchripes and G. connexa highlights the limited role of litter fermentation and the importance of litter-associated microbes for nutrition.

Millipedes are thought to depend on their gut microbiome for processing plant-litter-cellulose through fermentation, similar to many other arthropods. However, this hypothesis lacks sufficient evidence. To investigate this, we used inhibitors to disrupt the gut microbiota of juvenile Epibolus pulchripes (tropical, CH-emitting) and Glomeris connexa (temperate, non-CH-emitting) and isotopic labelling.

Ecological interactions in glacier environments: a review of studies on a model Alpine glacier.

Glaciers host a variety of cold-adapted taxa, many of which have not yet been described. Interactions among glacier organisms are even less clear. Understanding ecological interactions is crucial to unravelling the functioning of glacier ecosystems, particularly in light of current glacier retreat.

Plant roots affect free-living diazotroph communities in temperate grassland soils despite decades of fertilization.

Fixation of atmospheric N by free-living diazotrophs accounts for an important proportion of nitrogen naturally introduced to temperate grasslands. The effect of plants or fertilization on the general microbial community has been extensively studied, yet an understanding of the potential combinatorial effects on the community structure and activity of free-living diazotrophs is lacking. In this study we provide a multilevel assessment of the single and interactive effects of different long-term fertilization treatments, plant species and vicinity to roots on the free-living diazotroph community in relation to the general microbial community in grassland soils.

Tardigrade distribution in soils of high Arctic habitats.

Tardigrades are omnipresent microfauna with scarce record on their ecology in soils. Here, we investigated soil inhabiting tardigrade communities in five contrasting polar habitats, evaluating their abundance, diversity, species richness, and species composition. Moreover, we measured selected soil physico-chemical properties to find the drivers of tardigrade distribution among these habitats.

Conceptualizing soil fauna effects on labile and stabilized soil organic matter.

Fauna is highly abundant and diverse in soils worldwide, but surprisingly little is known about how it affects soil organic matter stabilization. Here, we review how the ecological strategies of a multitude of soil faunal taxa can affect the formation and persistence of labile (particulate organic matter, POM) and stabilized soil organic matter (mineral-associated organic matter, MAOM). We propose three major mechanisms - transformation, translocation, and grazing on microorganisms - by which soil fauna alters factors deemed essential in the formation of POM and MAOM, including the quantity and decomposability of organic matter, soil mineralogy, and the abundance, location, and composition of the microbial community.

Leveraging genome-scale metabolic models to understand aerobic methanotrophs.

Genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) are valuable tools serving systems biology and metabolic engineering. However, GEMs are still an underestimated tool in informing microbial ecology. Since their first application for aerobic gammaproteobacterial methane oxidizers less than a decade ago, GEMs have substantially increased our understanding of the metabolism of methanotrophs, a microbial guild of high relevance for the natural and biotechnological mitigation of methane efflux to the atmosphere.

Tolerance to environmental pollution in the freshwater crustacean Asellus aquaticus: A role for the microbiome.

Freshwater habitats are frequently contaminated by diverse chemicals of anthropogenic origin, collectively referred to as micropollutants, that can have detrimental effects on aquatic life. The animals' tolerance to micropollutants may be mediated by their microbiome. If polluted aquatic environments select for contaminant-degrading microbes, the acquisition of such microbes by the host may increase its tolerance to pollution.

Integrating depth-dependent protist dynamics and microbial interactions in spring succession of a freshwater reservoir.

Background: Protists are essential contributors to eukaryotic diversity and exert profound influence on carbon fluxes and energy transfer in freshwaters. Despite their significance, there is a notable gap in research on protistan dynamics, particularly in the deeper strata of temperate lakes. This study aimed to address this gap by integrating protists into the well-described spring dynamics of Římov reservoir, Czech Republic.

Constraining activity and growth substrate of fungal decomposers via assimilation patterns of inorganic carbon and water into lipid biomarkers.

Fungi are among the few organisms on the planet that can metabolize recalcitrant carbon (C) but are also known to access recently produced plant photosynthate. Therefore, improved quantification of growth and substrate utilization by different fungal ecotypes will help to define the rates and controls of fungal production, the cycling of soil organic matter, and thus the C storage and CO buffering capacity in soil ecosystems. This pure-culture study of fungal isolates combined a dual stable isotope probing (SIP) approach, together with rapid analysis by tandem pyrolysis-gas chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometry to determine the patterns of water-derived hydrogen (H) and inorganic C assimilated into lipid biomarkers of heterotrophic fungi as a function of C substrate.

Draft genomes of three aerobic methanotrophs from a temperate eutrophic fishpond.

Here we introduce draft genomes of three methanotrophs belonging to the a family of typically fast-growing methane oxidizers. sp. Wu1, sp.

Biotic Ligand Modeling for the Effect of Major Cations on the Uptake of Cadmium in Folsomia candida Exposed in a Sand-Solution Medium.

Biotic ligand modeling (BLM) approaches are already applied to predict the bioavailability and possible risk of metals in surface water, but need further development for soils. The present study investigated the effect of major cations (Ca, Mg, Na, K, and H) on cadmium bioaccumulation in the springtail Folsomia candida. To avoid the complexity of real soils and enable control of elemental speciation in the exposure medium, the animals were exposed to different cadmium concentrations in an inert quartz sand-solution medium.

Viral communities in millipede guts: Insights into the diversity and potential role in modulating the microbiome.

Millipedes are important detritivores harbouring a diverse microbiome. Previous research focused on bacterial and archaeal diversity, while the virome remained neglected. We elucidated the DNA and RNA viral diversity in the hindguts of two model millipede species with distinct microbiomes: the tropical Epibolus pulchripes (methanogenic, dominated by Bacillota) and the temperate Glomeris connexa (non-methanogenic, dominated by Pseudomonadota).

Enriching electroactive microorganisms from ferruginous lake waters - Mind the sulfate reducers!

Electroactive microorganisms are pivotal players in mineral transformation within redox interfaces characterized by pronounced oxygen and dissolved metal gradients. Yet, their systematic cultivation from such environments remains elusive. Here, we conducted an anodic enrichment using anoxic ferruginous waters from a post-mining lake as inoculum.

Functional similarity, despite taxonomical divergence in the millipede gut microbiota, points to a common trophic strategy.

Background: Many arthropods rely on their gut microbiome to digest plant material, which is often low in nitrogen but high in complex polysaccharides. Detritivores, such as millipedes, live on a particularly poor diet, but the identity and nutritional contribution of their microbiome are largely unknown. In this study, the hindgut microbiota of the tropical millipede Epibolus pulchripes (large, methane emitting) and the temperate millipede Glomeris connexa (small, non-methane emitting), fed on an identical diet, were studied using comparative metagenomics and metatranscriptomics.

Global fine-resolution data on springtail abundance and community structure.

Springtails (Collembola) inhabit soils from the Arctic to the Antarctic and comprise an estimated ~32% of all terrestrial arthropods on Earth. Here, we present a global, spatially-explicit database on springtail communities that includes 249,912 occurrences from 44,999 samples and 2,990 sites. These data are mainly raw sample-level records at the species level collected predominantly from private archives of the authors that were quality-controlled and taxonomically-standardised.

Climate-dependent plant responses to earthworms in two land-use types.

Plant nutrient uptake and productivity are driven by a multitude of factors that have been modified by human activities, like climate change and the activity of decomposers. However, interactive effects of climate change and key decomposer groups like earthworms have rarely been studied. In a field microcosm experiment, we investigated the effects of a mean future climate scenario with warming (+ 0.