High dimensionality of stoichiometric niches in soil fauna
Citation
Zhang, Bing et al. (2022), High dimensionality of stoichiometric niches in soil fauna, Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.g1jwstqsx
Abstract
Methods
Before elemental analyses, each individual animal was freeze-dried for 72 h. Specimens larger than 20 mg were grounded individually into a homogenous powder using a bead mill homogenizer (Bead Ruptor 12, Omni International, USA). Approximately 2 mg of powder was used to quantify C and N contents (percentage of dry mass) using a vario EL cube CHNOS Elemental Analyzer (Elementar Analysensysteme GmbH, Germany). Another ~2 mg of powder was digested with nitric acid (2 ml and 70% by weight) and used to quantify the contents of Ca, Cu, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, and Zn using an iCAP 6301 ICP-OES Spectrometer (Thermo Fisher, USA). During the grinding process, a fraction of powder cannot be retrieved and thus lost, making it difficult to quantify all elements for small individuals. Thus, for individuals smaller than 20 mg, we used the whole body or pooled a number of individuals from the same sampling plot (thus forming an “aggregated individual”) to measure either the C and N contents or contents of other eight elements.
Funding
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Award: 31988102
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Award: 32122053
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Award: 31870505