Influence of agricultural soils on the growth and reproduction of the bio-indicator Folsomia candida

Soil organisms have been recommended as bio-indicators of soil quality due to their sensitivity to anthropogenic influences and their high degree of site-specificity. The objectives of this study were to determine if the relationship between the soil Collembola, Folsomia candida, and forest soil could be extended to other soils and, if not, to determine the relationship between its life parameters and soils from the different phases of an agricultural rotation sequence. A comparison of growth, reproduction and survival of 1 day old neonates and 10 day old juveniles subjected to a series of different soils (composted manure, pasture soil, forest soil, sand alone, and sand supplemented with yeast) established that the association between F. candida and forest soil quality cannot be automatically transferred to soils from other ecosystems. The test also showed that neonate (1 d) individuals were more sensitive to the different soil treatments than 10 d old juveniles and should be used in future tests. On this basis, neonate F. candida individuals were used to determine if the species could be employed to characterize the agricultural soils from the different phases of an organic or conventional rotation sequence. Results demonstrated that changes in body growth and reproduction constituted suitable criteria to characterize the soil quality of these different phases. The research required to develop these results as a standard bio-indicator test of agricultural soil quality is discussed.