Collembola Field Study
Introduction
Collembolans are said to have direct and indirect effect on organic matter breakdown and soil nutrient recycling, with their faecal pellets creating favorable habitat for microorganism development.
Study Design
- The study design is according to ISO 23611-2 (2007) and de Jong F.M.W. et al. (2010).
- The basic experimental design comprises three treatment groups; a negative control (water treated control), a positive control (reference substance) and the test item.
- The test is designed as a randomized complete block with at least four replicates for each treatment (10 m * 10 m per plot), with at least 3 m bdistance between each plot and 10 m distance to adjacent fields.
Sampling
Collembolans are sampled from the soil by combining two different methods, to cover the ecological groups:
- Soil core samplers
(eudaphic collembolans)
Collembolans are extracted from the soil cores using the Mac Fayden heat extraction method.
2. Pitfall traps
(epedaphic collembolans)
Identification/Endpoints
- Identification of the collembolans are done down to suborder, family or species level depending on study design and objective.
- Collembola field study focuses on the recovery rate of the soil organism over a time period.
- The results are carefully evaluated using both univariate and multivariate statistical methods.
