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Category: Environmental Microbiology
Microorganisms Associated with Soil Arthropods, Page 1 of 2
< Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/10.1128/9781555815882/9781555813796_Chap63-1.gif /docserver/preview/fulltext/10.1128/9781555815882/9781555813796_Chap63-2.gifAbstract:
The majority of methods that have been developed for studying microorganisms associated with arthropods in soil focus on arthropod pathogens, and these methods are emphasized in this chapter. Soil-dwelling microorganisms for which research methods are discussed in the chapter include viruses, bacteria, fungi, protists, and nematodes. All groups of arthropods are included in this chapter, but pestiferous species are the focus of the development of many methods for studying interactions with microorganisms. The chapter describes in more detail some of the major methods used for detecting, isolating, quantifying, and studying microorganisms, arthropods, and the interactions between these groups in the soil environment. Protocols for different types of microorganisms are varied based on characteristics of the specific groups of microorganisms. An effective technique often used for isolating some types of microorganisms is use of selective media. Microscopy has also been used to count arthropod-associated viruses, bacteria, and protists in soil. Soil-dwelling arthropods also exhibit behaviors to prevent infection, such as actively dislodging microorganisms from the body surface or applying glandular secretions inhibitory to entomopathogens. For ecological studies of communities of microorganisms, such techniques have principally been used to date for bacteria, but community profiling of other types of microorganisms is now also possible by using universal primers. Molecular techniques for profiling microbial communities have been used for studies of both bacterial and fungal communities.
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General categories of soil arthropods based on their relative locations in the soil and the lengths of time that different stages spend in the soil. Reprinted from reference 86 .