Soil Micro-Arthropod Field Studies - Eurofins Scientific
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Soil Micro-Arthropod Field Studies

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At Eurofins Agroscience Services, soil micro-arthropod field studies are conducted with species occurring naturally at the test site

Soil micro-arthropods, such as mites (e.g. Oribatida, Gamasina) and springtails (Collembola), fill important ecological niches in almost all terrestrial ecosystems. They affect decomposition processes directly and indirectly, e.g. by breaking down litter, feeding on micro-organisms and dispersing microbial propagules.

At Eurofins Agroscience Services, soil micro-arthropod field studies are conducted with species occurring naturally at the test site. The focus of this type of study is on soil organism community level. Springtails (Collembola), soil mites and other micro arthropods in the soil are sampled using soil cores from treated plots. Extraction and determination to a certain level are done in house. The sampling is done according to ISO guideline 23611-2 and 23611-3. So far studies have been performed in Southern Spain, France, Netherlands and Germany.

Regulatory Context

In light of the new EFSA opinion (EFSA PPR Panel, 2017) on in-soil organisms, there will be more focus on the possible impact of plant protection products (PPPs) on the structure of the relevant soil communities (in-crop and off-crop). To address those questions, many field studies focusing on soil dwelling organisms have been carried out in recent years based on a design suggested by Römbke et al. (2009).

The main targeted organism groups are soil-dwelling mites and Collembola. Additionally the impact on the development of nematodes and/and enchytraeids can be monitored within the same study. It is also possible to combine a soil microarthropod study with an earthworm field study. Soil microarthropod studies usually run for one year with one pre-application sampling followed by samplings at one, three, six and twelve months after application. The soil micro-arthropods are sampled with soil cores. The soil cores measure five centimetres in diameter with a depth of five centimetres. The arthropods are extracted from the soil using a high gradient extractor (MacFadyen 1961). Complementary information may be gained by sampling surface-active microarthropods using pitfall traps or soil dwelling microarthropods using slide or mine traps. Nematodes and enchytraeids are extracted from the soil by wet extraction.

The determination of Collembola and soil mites is done in-house at one of our dedicated laboratories. Study designs may be adapted and tailored to your specific needs.

Special Studies

  • Long-term studies
  • Special study designs for persistent compounds

Special skills

  • Determination of soil mites (Oribatida and Gamasina to species level) and Collembola (species level)
  • Special application techniques (granule application in furrow or wide spread, application of spray liquid in furrow, fumigation, application of non-soluble substances on carrier substance etc.)
  • Potential to develop and adapt test designs to special requests
  • Cost-efficient combined study designs (combination of soil micro-arthropod field and earthworm field studies)
  • Statistics using SAS, Canoco etc.

For further information, please contact us

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References

EFSA PPR Panel (EFSA Panel on Plant Protection Products and their Residues),

Ockleford,C., Adriaanse, P., Berny, P., Brock, T., Duquesne, S., Grilli, S., Hernandez-Jerez, A.F., Bennekou, S.H., Klein, M., Kuhl, T., Laskowski, R., Machera, K., Pelkonen, O., Pieper, S., Stemmer, M., Sundh, I., Teodorovic, I., Tiktak, A., Topping, C.J., Wolterink, G., Craig, P., de Jong, F., Manachini, B., Sousa, P., Swarowsky, K., Auteri, D., Arena, M. and Rob, S., 2017: Scientific Opinion addressing the state of the science on risk assessment of plant protection products for in-soil organisms. EFSA Journal 2017;15(2): 4690, 225 pp. doi:10.2903

MacFadyen, A., 1961: Improved funnel-type extractors for soil arthropods. J. Anim. Ecol. 30, 171-184. Römbke, J., Schmelz, R.M., Knäbe, S. 2009: Field studies for the assessment of pesticides with soil mesofauna, in particular enchytraeids, mites, and nematodes: Design and first results. Soil Organisms, Volume 81 (2), 237-264.