ABSTRACT
It was found that ants significantly affect the physiological activity and functional diversity of soil microbial communities, and redistribution of biophilic elements (C and N) down through the profile occurs in anthills compared to the control soil, as well as their accumulation in the underground part of the ant nests. A high urease activity was revealed in ant nests and ants. Functional dissimilarities of bacterial communities in all studied objects were determined by the miultisubstrate test.
Subject(s)
Ants/physiology , Bacteria/isolation & purification , Microbiota , Nitrogen Fixation , Soil Microbiology , Animals , Bacteria/metabolism , Carbon/analysis , Carbon/metabolism , Ecosystem , Nitrogen/analysis , Nitrogen/metabolism , Soil/chemistrySubject(s)
Gastrointestinal Tract/microbiology , Hares/microbiology , Microbiota , Nitrogen Fixation , Animals , SeasonsABSTRACT
The characteristics of microbial communities of the anthills of Lasius niger compared to the soil beyond the area of the strong effect of ants is given.
Subject(s)
Ants , Ecosystem , Soil Microbiology , Soil/analysis , Streptomyces/metabolism , Animals , Flavobacterium/metabolism , Gram-Positive Bacteria/metabolismABSTRACT
Normal vital activity of termites Neotermes castaneus requires the presence and continuous replenishment of transient nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their digestive tract, which is realized by coprophagy and repeated utilization of substrate enriched in termite feces. This is the first demonstration of significant changes in the complex of aerobic and facultatively anaerobic nitrogen fixers mediated by an extension of microbial group composition and a shift in dominant taxa in termites that cannot reutilize their feces.
Subject(s)
Bacteria, Anaerobic , Gastrointestinal Tract/microbiology , Isoptera , Nitrogen Fixation , Animals , Bacteria, Anaerobic/classification , Bacteria, Anaerobic/growth & development , Bacteria, Anaerobic/isolation & purification , Isoptera/growth & development , Isoptera/microbiologyABSTRACT
We studied specific features of microbial nitrogen fixation and denitrification in laboratory cultures of the termites Neotermes castaneus, Zootermopsis angusticollis, and Reticulitermes lucifugus, as well as in their nest materials. The nitrogenase activity in the termites was much higher than in the materials of termitarium. Denitrification was found only in the nest materials of termitarium. Studies of the bacterial community of gut nitrogen fixers Neotermes castaneus have shown the predominance of anaerobic and facultatively anaerobic bacteria that amount to up to 60% of the total number of "gut" bacteria. In the materials of termitarium, aerobic cellulose-destroying myxobacteria predominated, which are typical inhabitants of plant substrates, a food for the termite.
