Organic and Inorganic Nitrogenous Losses by Microbivorous Nematodes in Soil

Abstract
To examine the relationship between primary and secondary decomposers and N mineralization in soil, amino acid-N, NH4+-N, and population dynamics were measured in a soil microcosm system employing: bacteria, and bacteria + microbivorous nematodes. Appreciable amino acid-N (19 .mu.g amino acid-N/g soil, was detected in the presence of nematodes at day 5 of the experiment. After 35 days the nitrogenous waste products of the nematodes shifted primarily to NH4+-N because of food stress and a shift in the nematode population structure. More N was mineralized in the system containing nematodes and bacteria than in the system containing bacteria alone.