Katarina Hedlund
Professor
Fungal odour discrimination in two sympatric species of fungivorous collembolans
Author
Summary, in English
1. Resource partitioning of two sympatric species of collembolans, Orchesella cincta and Tomocerus flavescens, was explored from differences in their food odour perception.
2. Preferences of the collembolans of odours from four fungal species and a green alga were tested in a Y-tube olfactometer. The collembolans were separated by only one dif- ference in odour preference; Cladosporium herbarum was significantly more attrac- tive to 0. cincta than the other food sources, whereas T flavescens was most attracted to Mortierella isabellina.
3. Fungal odours were trapped in an activated carbon filter, extracted with diethylether and subjected to GC-MS analysis. The analysis revealed a number of dif- ferences in the odour composition of the two fungal species but the odour of C. herbarum could not be distinguished from that of C. cladosporioides, which was lower ranked by 0. cincta.
4. Nine fungal odour compounds were used in an electroantennogram (EAG) assay. There were differences in antennal responses between the collembolan species to 2- methyl- l-propanol, dipentene, 1 -octanol and camphor. The identity of the compounds responsible for attracting 0. cincta to C. herbarum and T flavescens to M. isabellina could not be resolved. A cluster analysis of the EAG responses emphasized the physi- ological origin of the differences in food preferences between the two collembolan species and suggested that P. cincta was more variable in its odour perception than T flavescens.
2. Preferences of the collembolans of odours from four fungal species and a green alga were tested in a Y-tube olfactometer. The collembolans were separated by only one dif- ference in odour preference; Cladosporium herbarum was significantly more attrac- tive to 0. cincta than the other food sources, whereas T flavescens was most attracted to Mortierella isabellina.
3. Fungal odours were trapped in an activated carbon filter, extracted with diethylether and subjected to GC-MS analysis. The analysis revealed a number of dif- ferences in the odour composition of the two fungal species but the odour of C. herbarum could not be distinguished from that of C. cladosporioides, which was lower ranked by 0. cincta.
4. Nine fungal odour compounds were used in an electroantennogram (EAG) assay. There were differences in antennal responses between the collembolan species to 2- methyl- l-propanol, dipentene, 1 -octanol and camphor. The identity of the compounds responsible for attracting 0. cincta to C. herbarum and T flavescens to M. isabellina could not be resolved. A cluster analysis of the EAG responses emphasized the physi- ological origin of the differences in food preferences between the two collembolan species and suggested that P. cincta was more variable in its odour perception than T flavescens.
Department/s
- Department of Biology
- Soil Ecology
Publishing year
1996-01-01
Language
English
Pages
869-875
Publication/Series
Functional Ecology
Volume
9
Issue
6
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Topic
- Ecology
Status
Published
Research group
- Soil Ecology
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0269-8463