title: Patterns of relative magnitudes of soil energy channels and their relationships with environmental factors in different ecosystems in Romania.
abstract: The percentage compositions of soil herbivorous, bacterivorous and fungivorous nematodes in forests, grasslands and scrubs in Romania was analysed. Percentages of nematode abundance, biomass and metabolic footprint methods were used to evaluate the patterns and relative size of herbivory, bacterial- and fungal-mediated channels in organic and mineral soil horizons. Patterns and magnitudes of herbivore, bacterivore and fungivore energy pathways differed for a given ecosystem type and soil depth according to the method used. The relevance of herbivore energy channel increased with soil depth due to higher contribution of root-feeders. Ectoparasites, sedentary parasites and epidermal cell and root hair feeders were the most important contributors to the total biomass and metabolic footprints of herbivores. Metabolic footprint method revealed the general dominance of bacterial-based energy channel in all five types of ecosystems. The influence of altitude and climatic factors on percentages of abundance, biomass and metabolic footprints of herbivores, bacterivores and fungivores decreased with soil depth, whereas the influence of humus content, cation-exchange capacity and base saturation increased. Vegetation, altitude, climate and soil physico-chemical characteristics are important factors that influenced the abundance, biomass and metabolic footprints of herbivores, bacterivores and fungivores.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Research, Branch of the National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences, 48 Republicii Street, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ciobanu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Research, Branch of the National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences, 48 Republicii Street, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Iuliana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Popovici
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, PR China.|Huanjiang Observation and Research Station for Karst Ecosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huanjiang 547100, PR China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Research, Branch of the National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences, 48 Republicii Street, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Ilie-Adrian
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Stoica
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D065928:Forests; D019441:Plant Epidermis / Q000502:physiology; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000502:physiology; D012383:Romania; D012987:Soil
chemical_list: D012987:Soil