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Soil ciliated Protozoa as bioindicators of desertification

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Colpodid species comprise the majority of individuals in coniferous, arid and many cropland soils. The association of colpodids with arid soils implies that the expansion and concentration of arid biomes indicate changes in the areas of colpodid-dominated soils. With the present conversion of cropland, and with soil abuse (leading to desertification), colpodid habitats are increasing. The encystment capability of these ciliates is the main reason for the association of colpodids with arid soils. Therefore, it is thought that this group of ciliates might make good desertification bioindicators.

The problem can be defined briefly as follows: until now no-one has described ciliates as bioindicators of natural and/or human influenced terrestrial ecosystems. Identification tools for soil ciliates are poorly developed.

It is known that colpodid ciliates are very ubiquitous soil ciliates and a biodiversity study of them might be very useful to find ciliate soil bioindicators. Soil desertification is a very important and urgent problem in several European countries and, therefore, to find microbial bioindicators to detect a soil desertification process might be very useful. An association of colpodid ciliates with arid soils exists. Therefore it may be possible to find colpodid species as desertification bioindicators.

The project will include: the study of the biodiversity of colpodid ciliates from very different kinds of soils, mainly from soils leading to desertification; the development of and application of new identification methods (molecular methods) for colpodid ciliates, using both vegetative cells and resting cysts; the selection of the most appropiate species of colpodid ciliates to be used as desertification bioindicators.

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Universidad Complutense de Madrid
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Av. Complutense S/N
28040 Madrid
Spanien

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Letzte Aktualisierung: 19 September 1996

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Permalink: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/INTAS-94-3747/de

European Union, 2024