While carbon flow through soil decomposition channels is well studied, the associated energy fluxes are less considered. In particular, how microbial substrate and energy turnover are linked to higher trophic levels has hardly been investigated to date. Soil nematode communities can serve as a model group to address this knowledge gap. As important microbial grazers nematodes hold a central position in soil food webs. The present study relates the structure and function of the micro-food web to microbial carbon and energy use efficiency. Microbial biomass (phospholipid fatty acids), activity (substrate-induced growth) and energy flow (substrate-induced heat release) are linked with the nematode fauna, i.e. population density, ecological indices and metabolic footprints. Soils from four agricultural sites in central Europe were compared, either long-term unfertilized or fertilized with farmyard manure.

中文翻译：

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镜头下：土壤微食物网中的碳和能量通道


虽然通过土壤分解通道的碳流得到了很好的研究，但相关的能量通量却很少被考虑。特别是，迄今为止，几乎没有研究过微生物底物和能量周转如何与较高的营养水平相关。土壤线虫群落可以作为解决这一知识差距的模型组。作为重要的微生物食草动物，线虫在土壤食物网中占据中心位置。本研究将微食物网的结构和功能与微生物碳和能源利用效率联系起来。微生物生物量（磷脂脂肪酸）、活性（底物诱导的生长）和能量流（底物诱导的热释放）与线虫动物群有关，即种群密度、生态指数和代谢足迹。比较了来自中欧四个农业地点的土壤，无论是长期未施肥的还是用农家肥施肥的。