Responses to light in a soil-dwelling springtail
Résumé
It has been widely assumed that Collembola respond to light, but until now there has been very little experimental proof of this. Field observations allowed to distinguish soil-dwelling species that would escape from light from surface-dwelling species that would be attracted to light. However, the supposed effect of light could be due to other factors such as temperature or dryness. We demonstrated that individuals of the collembolan species Heteromurus nitidus (Entomobryidae), when placed in a light gradient (temperature and moisture being homogeneous), clustered in the darker area. This effect occurred rapidly and changes in the distribution of animals persisted after illumination ceased. This shows light to act as a strong repellent for this soil-dwelling collembolan species.
Domaines
Science des sols
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