The Role of Soil Arthropods in Community Energetics

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Abstract
Though the primary development of principles of energetics was pioneered in aquatic studies, considerable information has accrued from more recent investigations of terrestrial species. Studies of soil organisms—particularly arthropods—have given us some understanding of the applicability of principles of energetics to terrestrial communities. Data from soil communities have yielded an annual energy budget for oribatid mites, ecological efficiencies for two trophic levels, and a series of herbivore:carnivore ratios for a number of communities. Energy-flow analyses of the problems of species abundance in community organization, the relationship of population production and maintenance, and the energy relationships of the soil to above-ground communities have also been attempted. As data accumulate, however, the inadequacy of the Lindeman model becomes apparent, and there are prospects for change in this conceptual scheme.

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