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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 6, 2025

Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter

Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter

Published on: March 12, 2013

Top-down predators shape soil bacterial community composition while bottom-up nutrients drive bacterial abundance.

Seda Ozer Bodur¹, Kazuki Suzuki², Naoki Harada²

¹Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan.

The Science of the Total Environment

|November 21, 2024

Summary

Top-down protist predators alter soil bacterial community composition, while bottom-up nutrients control bacterial population size. Both factors together shape the overall soil bacterial structure.

Keywords:

Bacterial abundance Bacterial community Bottom-up Predatory protists Top-down

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A Lipid Extraction and Analysis Method for Characterizing Soil Microbes in Experiments with Many Samples

A Lipid Extraction and Analysis Method for Characterizing Soil Microbes in Experiments with Many Samples

Published on: July 16, 2017

Area of Science:

Soil ecology
Microbial food webs
Bacterial community dynamics

Background:

Top-down (predation) and bottom-up (resource availability) concepts are key in ecology but less understood in soil.
Protists are major soil predators of bacteria, influencing community composition.
Nutrients are primary drivers of bacterial growth and population limits.

Purpose of the Study:

To test the hypothesis that protists modulate soil bacterial community composition (top-down) and nutrients control bacterial population (bottom-up).
To investigate the independent and combined effects of nutrient availability and protist predation on soil bacterial communities.

Main Methods:

Utilized inert soil substitutes (calcined clay and sand) with controlled nutrient additions (C, N, P) and absence/double amounts.
Introduced specific protist species (Acanthamoeba castellanii, Vermamoeba vermiformis, Heteromita globosa) to microcosms.
Analyzed bacterial communities using high-throughput sequencing and real-time PCR over five weeks.

Main Results:

Protist predators significantly altered soil bacterial community composition.
Bacterial population size was primarily controlled by nutrient availability (bottom-up factors).
Both top-down and bottom-up factors influenced bacterial community structure, with similar families affected by both.

Conclusions:

The study confirms that top-down predators modify bacterial community composition.
Bottom-up nutrient availability is the main driver of bacterial population dynamics.
Combined top-down and bottom-up forces shape the structure of soil bacterial communities.