Size-specific mortality patterns in two species of forest floor Collembola

Forest floor populations of Orchesella cincta (L) and Tomocerus minor (Lubbock) (Collembola; Entomobryidae) have been sampled over two generations and from length frequency distributions survivorship curves were constructed for each generation. Size-specific mortality rates were computed from size-specific survivorship data. The results reveal an asymmetrically U-shaped mortality pattern, with disproportionally high juvenile mortality. The pattern changes from one generation to the next, in particular the post-hatching mortality. Evidence from behavioural ecological research on a Collembola-specialized ground beetle is cited in favour of the hypothesis that size-specific mortality patterns are moulded by size-specific predation.