The combination of nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios with fatty acids (FA) analysis is a useful tool for food web studies in cryptic belowground systems. The study investigates trophic niche diferentiation of Collembola communities from the litter of two Romanian beech forests and determines the origin of posible food sources consumed by springtails using fatty acid technique. δ15N signatures of Collembola taxa in the investigated food web spanned

The paper reports a feeding experiment showing that Heteromurus nitidus, a widespread and common springtail species found in a variety of habitats rich in organic matter, was capable of feeding upon nematodes in the laboratory. DNA/PCR based molecular gut analysis of Heteromurus nitidus for two nematode species, namely Phasmarhabditis hermaphodita and Steinernema feltiae, and one soil alga, Chlorococcum infusionum, was done in the laboratory using

The description of two new species of the genus Deuteraphorura Absolon, 1901 from Doftana Valley, Romania is given. Deuteraphorura dianae sp. nov. has the pseudocellar formula dorsally: 32/033/33353 and ventrally: 3/011/3112. Deuteraphorura doftana sp. nov. is characterized by its dorsal (33/033/33354) and ventral 3/011/3212) pseudocellar formulae. A proposed key to the all species of Deuteraphorura from the world without pseudocelli on the thoracic

A new species of the Tetracanthella pilosa group is described from Romanian Carpathians. T. doftana sp. nov. is similar to T. andalusiaca Deharveng, 1987. They differ by the number of sublobal hairs, size of macrochaetae and distribution. A key to Carpathian Tetracanthella Schött, 1891 species is also given.

Using a large database on the spatial distribution of European springtails (Collembola) we investigated how range sizes and range distribution across European countries and major islands vary. Irrespective of ecological guild, islands tended to contain more endemic species than mainland countries. Nestedness and species co-occurrence analysis based on country species lists revealed latitudinal and longitudinal gradients of species occurrences across

Aim. Species-body size distributions (SBDs) are plots of species richness across body size classes. They have been linked to energetic constraints, speciation-extinction dynamics and to evolutionary trends. However, little is known about the spatial variation of size distributions. Here we study SBDs of European springtails (Collembola) at a continental scale and test whether minimum, average and maximum body size and the shapes of size distributions

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of pollutants on the abundance and diversity of Collembola in urban soils. The research was carried out in three parks (Cismigiu, Izvor and Unirea) in downtown Bucharest, where the intense car traffi c accounts for 70% of the local air pollution. One site in particular (Cismigiu park) was highly contaminated with Pb, Cd, Zn and Cu at about ten times the background levels of Pb. Collembola were

Our knowledge about environmental correlates of the spatial distribution of animal species stems mostly from the study of well known vertebrate and a few invertebrate taxa. The poor spatial resolution of faunistic data and undersampling prohibit detailed spatial modeling for the vast majority of arthropods. However, many such models are necessary for a comparative approach to the impact of environmental factors on the spatial distribution of species

Protaphorura ionescui sp. nov. is described from Romania. This species is closest to Protaphorura glebata (Gisin, 1952) which is redescribed, and P. fimta (Gisin, 1952). A key for Protaphorura with dorsal pseudooellar formula like 33/022/33333 is given.